Pertinax

I can add a little more to the folk origins of naming of the Hop as Humulus Lupulus, "the wolf amongst sheep" , the hop if growning particularly amongst osiers , stealthily strangles them with a light ,climbing, grip-as the wolf is said to "take down" a sheep .( Pliny the Elder ,who else!).

My Friend, you are too kind to a site that is woefully lacking in content and too often neglected by it's author... Now, as to M. Porcius Cato's question about keeping the dryness down; the wine soaked roll helps as does keeping the temperature down when cooking but I would say the key is to not use too lean of meat. (Which kinda of contradicts my comment about using kibbeh fine meat but just ignore that!) So 70/30 for juicy and 80/20 if you insist on keeping the fat content down... I presume the meat must have a fine marbling of good fat then to impart flavour? ( Our Paterfamilias ruled only meat of a deep garnet colour with rich yellow fat generously veined like an augen gneiss)

This is one for Sumptuary Tablet entry

Aha-my favourite Biblical Injunction "take not water , but a little wine ..for thy stomach's sake...."

the "po-boy" is unknown to me can you elucidate please?

I was taught Imperial but use metric for measuring small quantities of fluid and solids. I can only conceive of anything, (ideas of distance and landholding) in Imperial terms if it is being described in some abstract way.Although ive used metric for years its somewhat like speaking a foreign language reasonably well without knowing any colloquial meanings-lifeless.

the unconquered frontier thread overlaps with this thread! and can I cross refer to my Roman Frontier Map in the Gallery (under Miscellenia), some notes and references applicable.

good thing the mammal house wasnt doing any specials that day.

I did have a woodlouse sauce made for me -tasted like shrimp. Oysters are tricky -my opinion-ultra fresh is wonderful (best ive had Achill in the west of Ireland) , smoked is very nice if nothing that ultra fresh. I think I previously mentioned prawns in custard? Heng Fa in Hong Kong-exquisite. Im glad this thread is back to life!

the point is as regards different technological capabilities.

The Romans wished to fight a conventional war, as they would win.The situation is a "vietnam" scenario or Normans in Ireland Scenario, avoid the firepower/technology and try not to lose, by not losing (or appearing not to lose) keep your opponent moving from small brushfire to the next till they leave you alone out of sheer irritation, and a desire not to commit expensively trained troops/logistics backup to a marginal area with few obvious resource or taxation returns (vietnam fits the bill on technology if not political weight, Norman Ireland is a similar scenario in terms of potential pecuniary gain). When conventional battles were fought , Mons Graupius is the obvious choice , the Romans annihilated the Caledonii. The other side of this though is that the next move was the division of Britania into "superior" and "inferior" provinces , the latter with a predominantly Auxiliary troop presence. You fight irregulars with your non-Roman auxiliary troops , getting fighting men away from their own home areas (Sarmatia and Batavia for example to Ribchester and The Wall (Hadrian's)) thus pacifying two areas at one stroke. I mention Salway as an excellent source on this era in my blog on "Hadrian's Wall" -have a look , though a little dry the scholarship is razor sharp. note: as far as Vietnam goes I wish to mention the book "Hell in a very Small Place" on Dien Bien Phu (Bernard Fall)-this is as regards the French campaign in Cochin China (as was).

I have a suggestion harking back to the very first post of this thread -the death of Severus whilst campaigning in the "debatable lands" (as they became) and the ensuing Caracalla/Geta contretemps was perhaps the reason for the Romans failure to finally crush the Caledonii and Maetae. The tribes refused to give battle , an appropriate strategy of course , but Severus was adamant that a policy of extermination would be pursued (the fate of the Ordovices many years previously after stubborn and bloody resistance), his death left Britain as a peripheral issue at the moment that it could have been resolved.

There is a publication in Britain called "Crap Jobs"-may I share this link with you: http://www.idler.co.uk/ I personaly own many of the publications from this estimable libertine site. '" Crap Towns" is also an excellent read. and back to the original thread : a patrilineal great-grandfather of mine died in the workhouse (see victorian entry).

I watched some of this and I nominate the wattle and daub hands on dung smearing operative as the worst of the lot, never mind mixing the collected excrement with straw , making the hurdles was back breaking. At least gold miners wern't out in the rain. I am personally aquainted with a person whos ancestor was Groom of The Stool to Henry The Eighth, ok its not nice but at least it was for the richest most influential person in town.

almost constantly in my personal experience of urban life in Britain! I think the vomitorium thing is and always was, an anti-rome "ooh how decadent they are !" censurious religious attitude.

I used to regularly visit Senate House ,the Library of the University of London when I was an Undergrad, until amazon came along I have never been able to get hold of such an amazingly diverse range of books ( on general or seriously arcane subjects), the range of scholarly work available is excellent . Incredibly a lot of Grants books are readily available in very cheap reprints in "remaindered" bookshops in the uk.

the thread has covered quite a bit of ground -can those who are scholars of Byzantium tell us something of the use of lead in the Eastern Empire? Favonius Cornelius has pointed out previously the use of lead ,almost to the threshold of contemporary use , in the West -and I would like to mention the rather significant factor of mercury amalgam fillings (for teeth) as not yet having killed off Western Civilisation despite gross potential toxicity.

could this thread be moved to join the humanitas thread (water supply)?

If you drop into the "Humanitas " area and check down for the "poisoning " thread there is quite a bit of information -however further debate regarding continued use in Byzantium is needed. roman water supplies is the title

Yes there is an element of fashion about this sort of thing, The Elgin Marbles were lucky not to be ground up for concrete in the hands of the Orthodox Church. Greece should praise Britain for saving a cultural item it would have thrown away. And on a lighter note I thought " how has Mexico got a hairdresser into diplomatic difficulties in Austria of all places?" Thes new spex are taking some geting used to.