Pertinax

:fish: that is amazing!

I was going to suggest that my remark about helmets did not extend to "late type" mass produced "cavalry" style The manica are I think very important, they are of the same "nature" as kote in kendo, get a crack (or blade ) across that area and you have lost your weapon and possibly your life: in quick succesion. Not much use against a gladius though.

"an army thrives on hard work" ( somebody remind me who said it please!) and weve talked about pilae in the thread previously, in particular lethality against non-dispersed targets ( sorry to do that backwards but Im trying to emphasise that the "ancient " battlefield was very compact versus machine age ), and counter shock to an aggressing assault formation even if lethality is not great. The falxe was fearsome ,but again the same "target availability " factor comes into play.Does anyone have any sources on wound locality for Legion casualties, I recall some debate about the tendency of Romans to suffer slash wounds to legs, hands and exposed face areas ( ie: an opponent was obliged to stab at the face where possible , in a melee,because of the excellent protection of the various helmet types). We know that like the Japanese (medieval) the Romans learnt fast from enemies and assimilated ideas rapidly.

I suggest a height difference would work against any non-Roman "slashing" attacker, ie:greater potential target area opened to gladius thrust, for a longer period of time the taller the assailant and the longer his sword.Whatever the height though the required short travel stab of the gladius can be accomplished with minimal mechanical motion,and little opening up of one's body as a target: slashing might look scarier but attack rate is reduced and far more surface area exposed. Are we perhaps saying "Romans " are mesomorphs with a stocky body built for endurance and long range marching in various weather conditions ? whereas "Germans " are Ectomorphs given to more immediate spectacular dissipation of energy and less inclined to build stamina?And that training built on these charachteristics to the most efficient use of this body type? How does that square with Virgil's experience of battalion training,sound plausible? I left out the Endomorphs, theyd be providing logistical and tactical support.

If I was a true Roman I dont suppose I would have been offended by the execution-given Alesia-but it was the first time in the series that I thought ,"this is not really needed" as a demonstration of power.I suppose the logic is implacable though ,publicly humiliate and execute the King of all the Gauls whilst having a seriously large party certainly lets everyone know you are top banana.

My copy of "Fall of Rome" has arrived , very nicely presented book ,thank you!

Triumph just screened-1.never surrender , die with your sword in your hand. 2.treat your ex-soldiers fairly, give them land and a little money 3.dont kill your Friends slaves ,its very bad manners. I think this episode made me like Julius a little less and Titus and Lucius even more.The plotting women you can keep. Also what emetic do you give an elephant?

Nope, he's a fraud. You can have Friday, but not Rogue Trooper. Hang on ,these guys have the same Blue complexion and homicidal tendencies!

anyone who ever made lead or plaster soldier figures in a cast will tell you the nose always falls off. or has an air bubble on it. seriously:a neat ,concise appraisal of Egypt :it must have taken a serious effort to try and edit down to such sparse but correct bones.

So do you have quite a number of artefacts to hand or catalogued in other ownership? I was wondering as to what quantity or quality would be needed to be considered significant in "cultural" terms ? Or would a handful of accredited finds be sufficient to back up your request?

Rouge Trooper-does he count? hes bio-engineered AI and an odd blue colour, also rather anti-social.

When I was very young I was given a book to "colour in" medieval and roman costumes, that was the start of being drawn to history as a topic .My school had a field trip to Housesteads when I was 12 years old, that was it for a specific addiction to Rome! Ive just made it worse over time by visiting the British Museum constantly, the Ashmolean in Oxford likewise and visiting Pompeii,Ercolano and Rome . Marcus Aurelius brought me to UNRV, I was looking for references to various editions of his "Spiritual Teachings".I lost the site bookmark and took a while to identify it again. I didnt spot the forum for a while, I was too busy trawling the front end of the site.

a request please- what would "bringer of wisdom from the sea " be translated as?