Pertinax

Im afraid I feel the same way. Still owning the stopper , whilst viewing the machinations of Augustus would perhaps make guests suffer a frisson of terror as regards the wine they were consuming.

Welease Woderick! so...I now understand what Gaia asked for to use as an abortifactant on Eirenne, it was our old friend Siliphium the extinct herb. We know from surviving coin images thet the plant was an umbilliferer (that is one of the genus that runs from Hemlock to Angelica via Yarrow and Wild Carrot) .We might surmise that it holds some place between flavouring spice (which role we know it was most desired for ) and to be semi poisonous in greater quantities ..though I would have anticipated its use as a pessary and a tincture to cause abortion. http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?automo...=si&img=107 Here is the deadliest of the genus: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?automo...si&img=1861

Quite a lot of the senior cast were indeed British, but more particularly Irish and Scottish. Hinds, Condon, McKidd, Duncan.

As Homer (Simpson ) would say "me wanteee" . Another must-have consumerist gewgaw.Is it specially adapted for poisoning your enemies wine or something useful like that?

In the past I have asked if any forum members can tell us of the lead technology of the East, (either in water delivery systems/storage or food technologies) .If anyone has any references it would be most useful if you could bring them to light.

So! You dare to waid us! What? Stwike him wougly Centurion! Im sorry sir? Stwike him woughly! Oh dear. This was not a good contrast to the execution of Cicero (sadly done as that was in itself) . The horror ...

I have just re-watched Phillipi. To my growing horror I realised that the brawl in the Synagogue had direct echoes of the brawl in Pilate's House in "Life of Brian" where the PPFJ and the JPPF etc fight each other whilst the Romans look on bemused. I actually couldnt stop laughing ..alas I suspect this was not the intention of the good people at HBO.

So am I to assume the plucking of nostrils to be a separate occupation? I jest ye not.

No , merely a reference to my inordinate longevity.

Well well, look at this: http://www.yorkromanfestival.com/cgi-bin/t...d2006&ID=24 also please note that if you backtrack on the site the Roman Festival is in late October this year

Thank you , no wonder I feel so tired.

Im going to get the set for 2 anyway..but season one was pretty good, maybe an unedited 2 will look good later? Shame I think they missed a great opportunity.Did Vorrenus die , or did Pullo just tell it that way to Octavian?

As a keen parasitologist I forbore to mention this particualr topic, especially as I am about to eat as well.

I must also mention ergotism , my March 8th entry below gives some thoughts: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?automo...;blogid=19& I suggest the argument that lead as a "weakening" co-factor in a morbid population cohort might be viable, but that the huge mortality of ergot "primed" plague outbreaks is a more likely "catastrophe" based model.That is of course if we accept disease as a primary factor in decline as opposed to a coup de grace to a structurally(economically and demographically) morbid Empire.

Further musing.. AD will be the man to tell us the extent of vessels/pans/storage containers for the processing and storing of food and wine , and I suspect there will be a strong correlation between value of passum (for example) and "sweetening" by contact with lead, (speaking from personal experience I can confirm the subtle hint of sweetness in water from old lead pipes..this may account for my excessive use of parenthesis), There certainly was a known and viable lead technology : this extract from a critique of Jerome Nirigau's 1983 article on Lead Poisoning in the New England Medical Journal: "Cato gives directions for reducing must in "a copper or lead vessel" over a slow fire, "stirring constantly to prevent scorching; continue the boiling, until you have boiled off a half" (CVII). Columella thus: "Some people put the must in leaden vessels and by boiling reduce it by a quarter, others by a third. There is no doubt that anyone who boiled it down to one-half would be likely to make a better thick form of must and therefore more profitable for use....But, before the must is poured into the boiling-vessels, it will be well that those which are made of lead should be coated inside with good oil and be well-rubbed, and that then the must should be put in....The vessels themselves in which the thickened and boiled-down must is boiled should be of lead rather than of brass; for, in the boiling, brazen vessels throw off copper-rust and spoil the flavour of the preservative....Must of the sweetest possible flavour will be boiled down to a third of its original volume and when boiled down, as I have said above, is called defrutum" (XII.19.1, 19.6, 20.1, 21.1). Pliny recommends that must be prepared in a lead vessel. "Also boiled-down must and must of new wine should be boiled when there is no moon, which means at the conjunction of that planet, and not on any other day; and moreover leaden and not copper jars should be used, and some walnuts should be thrown into the liquor, for those are said to absorb the smoke" (XIV.136)." so quite a heavy concentration of continued exposure if this is the accepted norm of production for quality goods. My argument is , I suppose, one that suggests the social structure would tend to be preserved even if individual persons (or particular socio-economic groups) had a greater incipient morbidity. Skin ingestion seems to me to be an overlooked factor in poisoning, likewise inhalation ..both potentially more directly toxic than ingestion (where I have also argued that a population with a rugged pulse(and especially brassica) diet would tend not to have the compromised gut walls so commonplace nowadays from lousy processed food...perhaps plebs excreted lead more readily? (Im trying to think of some cutting remark that Cato made in "Rome" ah yes.."what a dreadful noise these plebs make..") A thing that strikes me also is what about foetal viability ? Would that be affected by having very young (by our standards) mothers..without a heavy accumulation of lead themselves (a "geriatric mother" is 25 nowadays technically I think?), speed and number of births (versus heavier infant mortality) might keep population numbers up?

I may have touched upon this point elesewhere, forgive me if I ramble. The exposure to lead seems to have been skewed towrads the more prosperous members of society..if we postulate the (likely) calcification of main water supplies drawn form any mineral rich strata (not an unreasonable assumption in Italy itself) then it is the enhancement/storage of food by exposure to lead that reflects more in terms of higher value consumables (wine especially) . If we also accept an early age-at-marriage and at conception might this not tend to mean an age sex pyramid skewed toward the young of both sexes , less likely to suffer chronic poisoning (even if poisoned to a degree)? Could we argue that the reproductive base was therefore always quite wide even if some lead toxicity were apparent .and the Romans certainly knew its signs if not its pathogenic origin. So adoption and inclusion of non-blood persons into a family was acceptable , if continuity of a hierarchy (as opposed to a blood line ) is needed then do we not have ample possible candidates from a base heavy age/ sex population pyramid? So if the elite did consume (and accumulate lead-which I argue against earlier in the thread ) would this degrade the social hierarchy?

I think Caldrail's "big elephant thingies " is the most accurate scientific statement on this thread. However I have to ask as to the bio-engineered capabilities of said BET's...you know , laser cannons, gatling implants, excessive oestrogen, violent mood swings, irrational consumption of chocolate...

Remember this chap? http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?automo...=si&img=923 neat bridgework, later period of course but a "nothing new under the sun" thing.

I echo Ursus' sentiments and add that the "full" version should be purchased (the then risque "oysters/snails" interlude now looks very naff). The cinematography is wonderful, if you "step back" and look at the shot composition (just letting the story get on with itself) it is masterful. Laughton and Ustinov are a joy to watch. I am Lentulus!

There has been some discussion previously, Ive hunted the thread down and merged it with Klingan's latest post . Scrolling backwards now gives some hint as to arguments previously considered in the debate.

A key prosthetic..perhaps the original was lost to gout if the person was of exalted status? I am reminded of the suggestion that Henry VIIIth died due to malnutrition because of his adherence to a high status diet of meat, abjuring fruit and vegetables as commonplace foods (and a prodigious intake of fine wines and beers). The loss of a big toe is profound to balance .

Skarr, take the family to the Via Condotti , they will faint with fashion envy whilst you examine the forum.

Would this not be a "sica" , curved sword used by a Thrax? I suspect Longbow or Caldrail will have the information at their fingertips.If Irecall correctly this sword is to "get round" an opponents shield. but more importantly to strike upward as a "punch" weapon to the chin.

Latest Managerial Report from Ignavus Entertainments! http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?automo...si&img=1824 Brutus! Brutus ! Hes our man , if he cant kill it no-one can! (rates negotiable ...Religious minorities a speciality!)

The appearence of the Emperor before the people in this context is of huge significance, almost symbiotic in terms of the accessibility of the "two parties" to each other .That the person of the Emperor should make himself seen and be within earshot of the crowd was of great weight, it should be noted that when this duty was abrogated during grain shortages violence ensued ie: officials could not placate the people the duty of civitas could not be ignored . I mention this toward the end of this review:- http://www.unrv.com/book-review/famine-food-supply.php Such an occasion would , potentially, be therefore quite emotive if some crisis were afoot. What would over excited Plebs shout? Oi Guvnor? Boss (Patron?)? Fly boy?