Pertinax
-
Posts
4,161 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
2
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Static Pages
News
Blogs
Gallery
Events
Downloads
Everything posted by Pertinax
-
yes indeed Scipio, it reflected the solemn posture of the dead.Have a look at the "Around the Roman Table" thread in the Colesseum and possibly the "Moray Eel " thread.I have noted different dining styles. Dinners reclined on the left elbow and ate only with the right hand -never both hands ,this was considerd barbaric. Position at the Triclinium was a matter of very strict etiquette.Clients,freedmen and slaves would possibly sit to the rear of the Triclinium.
-
webshots would be ok as well they will give a free account.Exactly the same route applies.
-
For those of you with particularly arcane interests I will be posting the squirting cucumber in the gallery section in due course.
-
episode 3 here (4 in USA) -excellent , more small scale than before but riveting. I liked the slimey chief augur and Caesers gift to his wife( odd that the omens turned out so well), Pullo turns up on time and gets his old Centurion out of a nasty fix, Caeser plays Don Vito and tells Antony not to disagree with him in front of "strangers" and I still want to run Cato through with my gladius. Also of course the warm testicles were tres amusant (poor Octavian). I would have liked to have seen more of the party preparations at both houses.Nice attention to detail .
-
this supply port may have been the next coastal staging post from Portus Setantiorum (fleetwood). -
A brief note here, I am reading Cruse"s 'Roman Medicine" at present whilst awaiting a copy of the Pompeian Herbal.I was intending to drop some photos into the gallery of plants known to the Romans for medicinal purposes (though not neccesarily the same contemporary usage). As luck would have it I was checking the squirting cucumber (Ecballium eraterium) a plant of amusing and explosive habit. This lead me to find that the plant was employed as an abortifactant by Roman prostitutes( if you took the sap of the fruit your bowels would be purged rather violently). This in turn lead me to find that the Stoics believed the foetus resembled a plant and only became an animal at birth when it started breathing, this was the moral underpinning of abortion in Rome till the time of Severus, abortion being allowable on grounds of health and to keep a youthful appearence . Oxford Companion to Classical Civilisation (Hornblower and Spawforth) has a reference.
-
Use your Brain:- Wash two calf's brains under cold running water .Remove the veins and the membrane,then leave to soak for an hour.Wash again.Poach the brains in salted water for 15 minutes.Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Remove them from the liquid then pound to a smooth paste.Pound lovage seed in a mortar, add anchovies and peppercorns to form a paste.Grind into this paste some oregano and add 3 eggs.Combine with the brains and reblend. Line a baking tin with papyrus (greaseproof paper)pour in the mix ,cover with more papyrus steam in a bath of water for 45 minutes.Take out and leave to cool. Sauce of hot wine /anchovies and pepper ,stir into this tractum ( a type of cracker, breadcrumbs nowadays) allow to absorb all fluid.Serve the pate sliced with the sauce .Voila! Regarded as a most subtle and flavoursome dish. Barbarian readers ,greetings! As always I have tips for you when visiting a Roman Civitas or if you are very wealthy,Rome itself. I know that in Gaul you might well wash even on a daily basis, and change your trousers with the turning of the seasons, however in Rome during a meal you will probably be obliged to wash three times! Do not be alarmed this is not Womanish affectation.So prior to aperitifs( wormwood-will kill your intestinal parasites) you wil wash,then sample hors d'oeuvres( oysters ,olives ,snails,sea urchins) and have perhaps two more separate courses of food( firstly perhaps moray eel and roast meats then to follow roast hare or a tastey pig's womb).Then you must wash again. Then dessert will be served(figs ,peaches ,rare fruits, snails ,tripe) during this course the children of the house will sacrifice to the household Gods .After this expect a few snacks and then finally supper with drinks.You should wash again at this point.You might find you have stayed up all night and your fellow guests are quite drunk and vomiting decorously to squeeze a little more in ,this is fine it shows they appreciate the effort made by the host. Better than a wattle hut in Gaul eh?
-
King of spices -though the Romans had a fondness for "long Pepper" from India ,black pepper was the cheapest type available to poorer people. An excellent digestive aid and constituent of many Roman recipes. Oddly many people are unaware that pepper is a climber like the vine. -
Ok Flavius, this is the Foxglove (common British name) a member of the Figwort family. Known as Digitalis purperea .It flowers in June-August and prefers open woodlands and waste land (so partly overlapping with the poppy which escaped from Roman garden cultivation). The plant is common in Europe.Its medicinal quality is centred on use for cardiac glycosides. It does have an orchid like appearence doesnt it? However it doesnt have any strong identifying odour and is a tough Temperate plant. It is very poisinous (like Figwort itself) so must be handled with respect. -
the whole of the Vallum is filled with blooms in spring- around a great part of the city In the Eboracvm album this is the section between Bootham Bar and Monk Bar (gates). -
Campbell-, noted from the 13th century as holding lands near Loch Awe. Descended from Colin of Lochow knighted 1280 known as "Caielean Mor". I cant find anything earlier in my genealogical tables of the clans.
-
bringer of sleep and calmer of pain-found in the excavated gardens and stores at Pompeii. A strong nervine still in commercial use today. This root is synthesised to produce Vallium.Readily available in its true state as a herbal medicine in Britain. Quite a bundle of chemical components-the sedative properties appear to be due to the valepotriates (and some of their degradation products).Iridoids and alkoloids are also present.There is an interesting cytotoxic and antitumor activity associated with the valepotriates (as it inhibits synthesis of DNA and proteins). NB: I use it also (with a very high dose of Vitamin B full complex) to reduce the intense nerve pain of shingles (herpes zoster).Pliny says to be used for "pains in the chest or side" so I merely follow his directions!Dioscorides concurs. heres a quote on the origin of the name -phu! as in yuck ..."The derivation of the name of this genus of plants is differently given. It is said by some authors to have been named after Valerius, who first used it in medicine; while others derive the name from the Latin word valere (to be in health), on account of its medicinal qualities. The word Valeriana is not found in the classical authors; we first meet with it in the ninth or tenth century, at which period and for long afterwards it was used as synonymous with Phu or Fu; Fu, id est valeriana, we find it described in ancient medical works of that period. The word Valerian occurs in the recipes of the AngloSaxon leeches (eleventh century). Valeriana, Amantilla and Fu are used as synonymous in the Alphita, a mediaeval vocabulary of the important medical school of Salernum. Saladinus of Ascoli (about 1450) directs the collection in the month of August of radices fu, id est Valerianae. Referring to the name Amantilla, by which it was known in the fourteenth century, Professor Henslow quotes a curious recipe of that period, a translation of which runs as follows: 'Men who begin to fight and when you wish to stop them, give to them the juice of Amantilla id est Valeriana and peace will be made immediately.' Theriacaria, Marinella, Genicularis and Terdina are other old names by which Valerian has been known in former days. Another old name met with in Chaucer and other old writers is 'Setwall' or 'Setewale,' the derivation of which is uncertain. Mediaeval herbalists also called the plant 'Capon's Tail,' which has rather fantastically been explained as a reference to its spreading head of whitish flower" -
ancient and modern life saver , and deadly poison. In modern use as various synthetic drugs Digitoxin being the most commonplace.Freely available in Victorian and Edwardian times.
-
Timur The Lame, The Ottomans And The Byzantines
Pertinax replied to Tobias's topic in Postilla Historia Romanorum
I was thinking of his charming vote winner of building huge mounds of skulls from butchered captives ,80,000 allegedly at Delhi , a tactic repeated against any enemy even co-religionists.His alleged intention was to restore Mongol power including subjugating China His religious inclinations seem to heve been tinged with a primitive shammanism.I believe his father was responsible for the excellent saying "the world is a beautiful vase full of scorpions" before retiring in disgust to a Muslim monastery. Colin Wilson in " a Criminal History of Mankind " has a jaw dropping piece on Timur. Wilson's " History of Violence" is worth a look.Both the titles mentioned are worth reading even if you disagree with Wilson's approach and sensational style, he at least attempts to look into the mind of the vicious or driven powerful individual. These texts were very fashionable when I was a student and considered ground breaking at that time , I might try and re-read them now to see if time has been kind to the authour -
Favonius has a very good point here, a critical theme running through any of the works on food and pleasure is that if you throw a dinner party you dont just get a select bunch of people turning up. An invitation to a man of power and influence would result in the possibility of numerous clients of various status arriving and their hangers on ,freedmen and slaves. I know Frateres that you dont want another excursion into gorging and feasting but a most important consideration was to make sure all your potential guests got something according to their rank -the Collegia attempted to fulfill this role for those not so fortunate, so we have certain "spheres of influence" either by direct patron/client relationships or the emulation of same.
-
Would the Collegia perhaps be an appropriate body to look at here? The "local " association of your particular crossroads they certainly had aspects of mob/political action about them ( though I risk being vetoed here as many were also "dining " clubs open to persons free/unfree or in trade specialisms).
-
Timur The Lame, The Ottomans And The Byzantines
Pertinax replied to Tobias's topic in Postilla Historia Romanorum
Oh dear what a mess that post is-I apologise. What was I doing? :bag: -
Timur The Lame, The Ottomans And The Byzantines
Pertinax replied to Tobias's topic in Postilla Historia Romanorum
I suggest his use of terror tactics on a scale never seen before( and that is saying something), his progress was marked by massacres beyond the wit and scope of the Mongols,(he was himself a Turcified Mongol aristocrat).Two remarks to throw into the thread-he was astonishingly deadly in battlefield effectiveness but never actually destroyed a major foe in totality( ie: he destroyed armies and cities ). Timur was unusual also in not starting to campaign before the age of 40. -
Well done Flavius -that is what I call an earnest reply.I think Spectato Repoisitorio is very neat and tidy . "consider" is a good enough word and the indrect usage is what I sought.As "awe" has no direct translation "consider" sounds to have a cool and scholarly weight to it . I note your remarks about the interpretation of Latin as a language, mentally I have always tried to see it as I would if attempting to speak an Italian phrase ,I see this is not a strictly proper method -so thank you very much for your exposition .
-
Thank you for your comments-my ISP failed for a while so I was unable to reply to the tread till now. Germanicus-my location is in terms of the images posted is nearest to Castercliffe and Pendle Hill they are close by , Ribchester ( Bremetennacum-a settlement of Veterans, cavalry mount breeding area and policing point to keep possible sedition under control) is 15 minutes by car and York (Eboracum-Legionnary Fortress and Civitas laterly walled medieval City is 60 miles away). I only wish my photos of Herculaneum and Pompeii were digital , they have not been improved by scanning from indifferent negatives, so I console myself with a projected journey to Neapolis.
-
Robert Neill's 'Mist Over Pendle" is the fictionalised tale.The events are alleged to have taken place during the reign of James the First (of England) and Sixth (of the Scottish Throne) when the crown was amalgamated. -
This is the museum of Scotland (Edinburgh)-part of its very elaborate clock -
I re-watched episode 2 last night (parts 2/3 in USA): im sure its been said before but I do enjoy the clever device of the graffito at the start ,its a very well observed link to what we see in Pompeii and in the Valley of the Kings: and all over tube trains today.
-
A city awash with history: Roman , Viking , Medieval -with many historic buildings. -
a section of the wall around York