Pertinax

Ive put an illustration of the Clibanarius in the gallery area.

Was the goat particularly attractive?

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2951 there is a lead discussion that has been dormant for a while! Everyones been drinking too much hopped Beer.

stamp on it moon! :sniper:

CD have a look at my notes appended to the Mistletoe entry in the "Roman Herbal " gallery (its Viscum album ) and also cross check to blog entries-its by no means complete but there is some more useful info.

phew! great to see everyone again! ps-what is the "palette html" file that keeps opening up every time I post or edit?

Beer, cows milk and butter were all "looked down" upon.

try "Romes Enemies " (3) Parthians and Sassanids (Osprey Men at Arma series), this will give you the lead into the subject.The allusion to the "clay oven" pun is given in that volume.Witness the splendour of the Sassanid Clibanaphoroii!

loading weapons with toxins as nerve agents seems reasonable ( curarae, ricin, hycosine, strychnus ( brucine would be my nerve agent of choice) or many other very toxic substances -the Vietcong stored some munitions in cadavers for example,poison arrow frog we all know ) but using combatants seems to be a very long haul investment in a medium that would be most effective only as a last resort in intense hand to hand combat.Ill have a hunt through my texts but this really is a new one - ..I vote poisoned weapons! Arsenic would fit the bill as a poison which can be "tolerated" if ingested steadily, but id rather kill someone from a safe distance with a pilum (or ballista best of all) rather than bite them.

This is an aside to the thread but I must mention it in the context of the "preserving" abilities of the environment, the best shoe leather from Eire is Croaghan Bog Leather -wonderfully supple and durable and of an exquisite colour -I only mention this as I had a pair of shoes made incorporating this most excellent product. By the way Croaghan means "gadfly" . . The chemical/environmental qualities of the bog were obviously fully understood by the Hibernian natives-a remark I may have faiked to make is that if the peson is inhumed in the bog the soul cannot depart the body-ie: beatitude is denied-worse than any torture to a believer.Inhumation after the departure of the soul though would not be such a dreadful event.. thanks for the link Doco

For the Cavalry and Officer class hunting was very important socially and militarily , and was encouraged in Britain as an "all terrain" exercise for man and horse-and to bring fresh meat to the table.

They were often engaged in major engineering works-Hadrians Wall is the first that springs to mind.The Emperor Hadrian ( in this example) was very keen to encourage unit cohesion and esprit whilst keeping garisson troops busy.They had policing and communication roles to fulfill "behind the lines" as no regular police force existed.

Hello Professor, like Moonlapse I was wondering about sources of information.However, my question was about museums/artefacts -in Western Europe -which sites or collections would you suggest as most evocative of Roman life/military activity/culture-to you personally (and this doesnt have to be as a scholar!)?

That might be more the idea of the "breath of life" (perhaps) , I wonder if when people spit (or pretend to ) on their hands prior to a tricky task this is some sort of "offering of substance"(pneuma) to the gods-certainly in Kenya the reflex of offering ones own spittle ,(on the open hands ) to the rising sun is a survival of an old belief system. Human beings can take a tremendous amount of antagonistic bacteria and shrug them off-but intravenous medication does not fill me with either hope or faith. The product of the Bath floor might not be too far removed from some "modern" ideas, ie the culture of bacteria in a supporting matrix. In the UK the government has only just announced that children will not be innoculated with substances in a mercury carrier, I didnt even know anyone could be insane enough to contemplate it as a medium for injections! If you google you will find it is banned in many countries, and has been for many years due to its gross toxicity. http://www.noamalgam.com/ heres an example.

This is a hard one to call, you need enough quality people to draw on, they have to be well equipped and properly drilled , you must be open to tactical and strategic nous .. but esprit de corps is the most elusive thing, if morale is good and your chums will back you up in a tough spot and you likewise for them ..then my vote is for morale.

I wish I could remember being 18-

I am jealous-we have ice and snow showers and a northerly wind here!