Pertinax

were the mutilations of the same pattern on each body ? or were they similar in size and depth?

immunisation! If you had an innoculation for polio in the last 30 or 40 years its pretty similar-pus in effect.Same goes for a lot of other vaccines Dr Cass Ingram has written a number of books related to the problems of immunisation by using "toxic" materials-gulf war syndrome being a case in point.

Either eat cabbage-or buy very expensive L-Methionine capsules to clear your blood of homocysteine acid (precursor to PMS and in very severe cases heart attacks). Cabbage has remarkable anti ulcerative properties also, and is used to detoxify persons with lead poisoning.

I was initially undecided to nominate Churchill or John Duke of Marlborough his great ancestor-I decided on Churchill because he triumphed in totally adversity in the blackest of moments, Marlborough was just a stunningly great soldier and statesman ! Also because Churchill represents the lost Britishness of utter , grumbly, cussed unrepentant, dogged , uprightness . As Dr Johnson said " a person with Bottom" .

I have to go with Newton as the greatest of all-the reasons have been given above -most importantly because he is the best representative of the polymath and an unfettered mind. Now we all trudge in our narrow specialisations but the great mind is omnivorous, questing, not afraid of conjecture ( and therefore error) and thereby able to travel mentally "out of the box"-over it and back in the other side. I indulge my Britishness by naming Churchill also -old,rude and fat with a brain like a razor. Ruthless, clear sighted , unwavering and a hero in a narrow time frame- but what an analytical mind. The moral fulcrum of a now unfashionable world that would not bow to wrongness. Linnaeus gets an honourable mention as you would expect but it is Aristotle who is the great light bad guys? will Stalin prove ephemeral as a mass murderer on a huge scale-Mao? or perhaps people who shaped continental destinies by default? Cortez? Timur The Lame I suggest as a candidate for top bad guy in terms of numbers killed to total population.

A small aside from the commentary disc on the film "Gladiator" , Russell Crowe opines ,not unreasonably I suggest, that the life of an accomplished gladiator might be of a similar brutality to that of a heavyweight boxer. Death is of course possible, (but more remote than in the arena) but degradation and brutality are pre-eminent, (not just in the bout -which can be awe inspiring) -but in the life of the participant. The desire for public spectacle combined with the desire of the plebians (now and then) to mythologise and idolise an individual as a sporting hero are perhaps undiminished. I have suggested previously that if death in the arena were available as a public entertainment contemporary society might be more vicious and vacuous than any Roman games. The spectacle at that time was the "brand " of Rome along with Baths and the Forum , as the very marks of Romanisation.I am inclined to follow the slaves and criminals for bloody spectacle, gladiators for careful ( in terms of skill levels ) if sometimes deadly combat.What of the role of gambling? we know it was commonplace, the fixing/coreography of bouts to sucker the punter seems an eminently feasible activity-why shed well trained blood if bouts can bring in cash? I dont argue for non-fatal encounters but perhaps modern habits were not so modern.

This is the very route that the Flavians ejected the Venetii from as an economic precursor to the physical invasion of Britain .

My seeds have arrived today from the Nursery in Broadstairs . If all goes well-not too much rain in the spring-I should hope to replicate some of the features of a Romano-British Physic garden , and have some definitive photographs for the Roman Herbal Gallery by summer. We have Betony, the Celtic favourite for those given to "visions and dreams" (anti psychotic/nervine). Yarrow-the Roman Soldiers'Herb for the "wounds made by iron weapons". Woad-the Pictish and Brythonic choice for combat advertising (and a ready use wound salve) . Comfrey-the herb of Mercurius (sacred to travellers) for deep bruising and torn ligaments. Henbane-the Roman anaesthetic/pain killer. Foxglove-ancient cardiac tonic. Deadly Nightshade- beautiful but deadly. Borage-Celtiberian beer addittive for pre-combat use. The Yarrow and Borage I intend to add to homemade beers - it will be interesting to see what flavours they impart. Henbane -described as the "submerged Leviathan " of ancient fermentation I think I will avoid as an addittive.

You might flick through my Vindolanda/Vircovicium pics (gallery) and blog entry -are the Frisii you speak of distinct at this time from Batavii? http://www.roman-britain.org/places/vindolanda.htm-have you seen this info source? Try scrolling through the Wall epigraphic evidence per fortlet.As you can see Northern Europe was well represented by Auxilliae.

Ill try and keep it simple- 1.Irving persisted in saying daft things but ive never met anyone who considers him to be an "influential historian" 2. Europe has an anti-semitic problem , but the Liberal status quo dont seem keen on tackling that originating from Islamisist sources. 3. punish Irving by all means for being stupid but ensure you mete out justice to anyone regardless of race and religion.-That was the idea of justice in the first place wasnt it? I fear liberal relatavism again note on British Teeth: my teeth are notably regular and well maintained (Virgil please note) ,thus marking me as irredeemably middle class. Were I a toff or an oik they would be irregular and green (and partly absent).

PPs post and quote is the scene seting for the "Whicker Man" (as in the film of that name) which is a sacrifice of the living to ensure fertility of the land , the moot point here is the status of the victims-defeated enemies? criminals? chosen and honoured community members? As ive mentioned elsewhere the Gallic Auxilliary cavalry (as illustrated on Trajans column) still head hunted to show military prowess within the tradition of their forefathers.The head hunting seems a clear cut activity-you lose ,they take your head. It is interesting to note that the Romans might have enjoyed the spectacle of the arena as a reinforcement of "brand loyalty" but they are contemptuous of the Celtic "sacrifices" as a barbaric spectacle.

part ye thirdde Gruit, now here is a thing ,I find that the natural range of the three main semi-psychotropic ingredients of Gruit seems to overlap quite remarkably with the territory of the Brigantes-especially the coastal areas .Sweet Gale (Myrica gale) also called bog myrtle ,is the most elusive nowadays ,yet here I am quite close to its restircted range Yarrow (see my gallery and herbal notes in the blog-the soldiers herb par excellence ) is adittive number two,and wild rosemary is the third. Gruit producers had individual formulae and tweaked add-ons (ginger, juniper,aniseed etc). Now gruit is highly intoxicating,narcotic and very aphrodesiacal-enhancing sexual activity and leading to a euphoric state. So far so good you may say. Gruit was the main ale of Europe for 700 years and hops were unknown as an addittive, the Holy Catholic Church was the official Monopoliser of the production of gruit. So we se a splendid religious congruity betwen the scriptural exhortation to multiply fruitfully over the earth and the provision of a useful popular drinkable supplement to enhance this laudable aim. The rise of Protestantism is the rise of the hop- indeed a flavoursome and useful plant , but alas no servant of Priapus. Indeed the sobriety of Luther is paralleled by the somnolence of the hopped beer drinker, and of course the destruction of a rival creeds fund raising mainstay. Pantagathus has linked in an article on his site http://www.thenectarofgods.com/index.asp and you can check Buhners essay via a second link. Bremetenacum Veterenorium was therefore a very well sited Roman settlement if local beer was available to the Sarmatian veterans...

My use of speech marks was indeed semi ironic-yeasts will invent alcohol given half a chance whatever the circumstances. I suppose the comment was really to drive home the "non culture specific " nature of getting a skinful (is my British slang translatable?). Please tell us about the cider in Hora Postiliae! ps: fermentation often starts accidentally but in some areas of the world where the base starch is very difficult to break down ,the use of saliva to start a "pre-digestion" sequence was needed to initiate the fermentation cycle. So-bite size "rissoles" of the appropriate plant/root would be masticated till mushy then left outside to dry to be used as the basis for a fermented product. and I think this has drifted beerwards again!

several small points- interesting that we have more simultaneous discovery as the "invention" of fermentation also seems to be independent but contemperaneous in many areas across the globe .Buhner cites simultaneous fermentation evidence for every continent save Australasia. good point about fruit -a wide range:(my omission) apples ,pears ,damsons,apricots, figs and pomegranates also olives and a range of nuts.Looks lke a very anti-oxidant rich diet , add to that the fish (which I also forgot) which appears locally in abundance if connected to a local source and I suspect no Troopers had "attention deficit disorder" from eating trash.A very wide range of products,some from remote localities-doesnt look like these men went too short of rations in garrison at least.ADs point about making pasta struck me -perhaps you only have time and leisure to do so in a garrison? Hadrian was keen on garisson troops being kept up to speed as we know-perhaps a diet of pasta and celtic gruit was debilitating the patrols