Pertinax

Right! It's Lady Farrow. :blowup: As you can see I now post in the manner of Gaius Octavius

Uh oh. Looks like I'm going to have to stay up all night getting Baldrick to help me fnish off my roller coaster of an essay in four hundred sizzling chapters.... Dont let Balders use your manuscript to start the fire! I implore everyone to submit lurid and lascivious Romanophilic jottings to the essay contest sponsored by the Pater Arcanae, lest he indulges in wearing especially terrific trousers! A plate of Mrs Miggins best pie to the winner. Second prize is a kipper from MacAdder the Mad. The essay can be on any Romanophilic subject and ideally wants to be over 1500 to 5000 words with clear references to selected texts.Submit to PP , a Great Prize is offered! (No its not a date with Lady Whiteadder).

You suspect they are Evil Twins?

You are full of years and of exalted rank!

Best Posca moment? " Maps seldom redraw themselves if that is what you are waiting for ", I felt this showed the dynamic of the mutual understanding of GJC MA and Posca nicely or perhaps GJC "no blood this time", Posca "perhaps you should wait for Pompey to shave you himself?".Nicely tempered by his gravitas in covering the head of Pompey when it is presented by the "Mighty Lion" and his sexually ambiguous lickspittles. His pragmatic approach was nicely shown when he says "you must kill some rich men soon, very soon". Still no 2nd series date for the UK.

Your lupins or your life! :2guns: http://www.research.deakin.edu.au/gateway_...w.deakin.edu.au

Yeah, but many in rural China (and, through migration, much of eastern Asia) also have some sort of bean curd to add to the protein level in their diet. If I recall, lentils are high on protein, and I would guess other legumes would be, too, but what else would supplement their protein needs? Lentils and lupins Gracious Madam! We forget the lupin as a staple now, but then it was a major legume crop.

All the alkaloids are poisinous, but all have medicinal virtue. As Paracelsus said "the poison is in the dose".

Indeed yes, and weve touched on the parasitic "fogg" on heather that was integral to its excellence as a basic brewing requisite.

Meat certainly doesnt get much of a mention as any sort of staple for ordinary people, we tend to find meat as an additional food more for the soldiery (but id add, when available perhaps dependent on locality and the fruitfulness of the hunt). Remains dug over from the Gask Ridge/Antonine fortifications ( in modern Scotland) are long on grains (though inclusive of imported items-olives being the most obvious). I was inclined to suggest that the situation might be likened to more developed parts of modern China outside the main cities, a lot of basic staple and some greens , and meat when you could catch it . The staple grains were underscored by the need to revert to a barley diet in times of dearth, a very unedifying diet.Cabbage is mentioned as an omnipresent staple of course along with any other complex vegetable proteins available (lentils in particular).Quite a heavy diet! Barley was unloved ( certainly it was an army punishment diet) , oats were deemed a Germanic weed (though later used for fodder and food), spelt and rye were the true staples emerging in the baking trade as it shaped up as a distinct trade (as opposed to household task) in the mid Republican times. All the "recipe" section is the food of the wealthy urbanite, and perhaps the perceived "decadent" diet of the uncritical modern.

As ive said in the blog we can only surmise on the basis of probabilities, the poor ate mostly grains, we know that crop failure /shortage was frequent and we know civil war caused terrible famine. The ergot growth affects many grasses and is almost universal. It doesnt seem totally unreasonable to suggest that its infiltration into the food supply of an unhealthy population would leave that same population susceptible to an aggressive disease, perhaps the plagues are a climactic package of weakened population (with diminished fertility and infant mortality "enhanced") then afflicted by a new or mutated baccilus , finished off by snowballing social disruption.

The Salem trials are discussed by MacInnis in his work ("On Poisons") as definitive ergotism, he is also at pains to point out that the craze for medieval European witch hunts is (he suggests) due to the (apparent) random nature of "plague" morbidity and a population willing to believe that those who knew plant lore might also be poisoners for diabolic purposes.The Chrisitian Church having no answer to epidemic disease other than to suggest it was the "wages of sin" , the flawed reasoning was , those who were protected had diabolic charms ( literally , not that they were especially cute) extrapolated or intimacy with Satan.

:notworthy:

Certainly. I was hoping the whole event would be the inebriation phase.

Thanks to those who have sent mobile numbers. I will try and "talk you in" if you are unfamiliar with the City and its layout. PS how could I forget! Our Divine Imperator will descend from Noricum...who knows what favours and preferments He may bestow on us . Perhaps he might buy a round?

Am contemplating itinerary, but I have the following general guidelines: those arriving Friday- an unhurried drink down by the Ouse and possibly a curry? Saturday: Perigrination of the Walls (at a leisurely pace), a visit to the Museum of Yorkshire ( best Roman collection in the County), a visit to the Undercroft of the Minster (original Roman street level and centre of the Colonia)..interspersed with lunch . Possibly a quick look at the Roman Bath museum and pub (the bath is small , the pub is big). also (depending on weather for actual site of delivery) learned discourse from Dalby A (starring as Serious Academic), not so learned item from myself , NN to display his remarkable collection of scale buildings. Sunday: hangover, stroll by River . Castle Museum and/ or Yorvik Centre visit ( the former museum is huge!). I was hoping for further informal discursions from AC regarding his great affection for Segedunum, Rome in Film by Phil 25. Bring your cameras! We must prepare a great blog/gallery of our bad behaviour.

As long as he wasnt in the closet (with Tom Cruise, in South Park of course , did you imagine I meant something else?).

Skin suffocation would be the difficulty, block a large percentum of pores and you have problems... , remember Goldfinger?

Hexham is of course near to Corbridge (you shouldnt forget that GO!) , hence Corstopitum ; Haltwhistle is mid-wallish and the usual stop for Banna and Aesica. Bardon Mill is the railway station between these two , and from there its a brisk uphill walk to Vindolanda. http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h...ficial%26sa%3DG How could you forget Corbridge? Hoad is in NN territory, indeed it is a signifying landmark, nay it is NNs very backyard!: http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h...ficial%26sa%3DG

You hadnt prized the bricks loose yourself had you, in some Cunning Plan to become Archbishop of Bath and Wells? Whilst singing "cunning plans are here again?'

What a ghastly thread. However as regards drawing/quartering etc ...I have to add that the Medieval practice was to burn the entrails of the condemned (if treason had been the cause) ,before continuing with the remaining ceremonial.

"Plague" as an event in altering the possible course of history looms large in the Roman and Medieval Worlds. Elsewhere on this blog and in the Forum discussion has occurred touching "what the plagues might have been?"That is can we be sure that bubonic plague is the identifiable catastrophic disease? The short answer is no we cant. Bubonic plague might well be a co-factor in a given incidence of plague, a taker of life and a causative factor in economic ruin , but certain other possibilities suggest themselves to us. Several factors suggest that in the medieval plague two morbid strains of disease were immanent, namely the very visible bubonic element (gross lymphatic swellings in particular) from which some persons survived ; and a further pneumonia like respiratory infection which was possibly co-terminus with the buboes (and possibly not) but nearly always fatal.Hence we might have the appearence of death from an ostentatiously visible disease actually caused by another invisible vector. One of the most widespread and easily percieved toxins in nature is Ergot of Rye (actually a resting stage in the life of Claviceps purperea )It is actually a sclerotium ie: a dormant hibernating form.As many of you will know the ergot replaces individual ears of rye and was for most of history not recognised as being a separate biological entity(1850 in fact). One may find ergot everywhere, there are more than 30 species afflicting grasses and there are a lot of grasses! All these species form mycotoxins(as all poisinous fungii), but they dont normally get into the food chain at all. So far so good , what of LSD you ask then ? Well lysergic acid amides can be produced from ergot along with ergotamine and ergocristine, ergot as such holds no "true" LSD but can nevertheless trigger hallucinatory convulsions. Regrettably happy hippy trips can also be partner to gangrenous ergotism from direct ergot consumption.Ergonovine another ergot product may cause spontaneous abortion (either by accident or design) and also is highly toxic to nursing infants , indeed skilled Germanic Midwives used it from the 16C to ease labour though obviously dosage calculation had to be most exacting. Matossian of the Maryland University has done extensive demographic work into the Medieval era : http://www.hulford.co.uk/ergot.html but her findings resonate justifiably to earlier time frames.Ergot produces upward of twenty different alkaloids in different mycotoxinal mixes, infecting host populations in different ways.Given that such a large ,but variable ,range of toxins might be produced by a common, but unrecognised , fungus can we interpret any historical patterns where populations have been weakened (and left in a "morbid" state ) where advetitious infections could thus have been rendered far deadlier ? Anthropologist James Woods has argued that the Black Death was not in fact bubonic plague, on statistical grounds.The mortality rate recorded from Parish registers shows a 45 fold increase in morbidity, a factor way in excess of the known fatality rate for Plague. Even if the disease had hit a non-immune population the death rate is colossal.Modern plague (and we must infer from the modern as best we can) reaches a high morbidity in the rat population before it spills over into the human sphere.Modern epidemics are always preceeded by a noticeable die off of rodents, and the Black Death attracts no such commentary (and I would be pleased to hear if someone can find any source commenting on the like regarding the Plague of Justinian).Clue patterns are reflected geographically also. cold dry areas tend to be immune.The geographic spread of the Black Death also appears to follow a dissemination pattern in relation to transportation routes.According to Woods the Bubonic Plague can only be reliably identified as late as the early 19th C, the original "Black Death" was a massive killer with a very patchy morbidity distribution...so were those who died actually weakened by some underlying common factor? Hence I offer you immunosuppression by mytotoxins on the commenest of foods...rye. Ergot tends to flourish in damp conditions and the modern disaster of 1666 followed two apallingly wet winters. So could the early Classical Era plagues be of multiple causation? We have 1. a staple crop(s) subject to various forms of (sometime) toxic parisitism 2. Poor weather , ie: damp winter in a warmish climate 3. Poor storage (ie: partial fermentation). 3. A heavy reliance on the affected crops as a staple for the poor 4. Immune system suppression on a wide scale, spontaneous abortion, infant deaths via toxin ingestion 5. Viral infection from a previously isolated source on top of (4) above ....heavy morbidity. Food (or mycotoxin) for thought. ref: Macinnis "The Killer Bean of Calabar" http://www.amazon.co.uk/Killer-Bean-Calaba...5251&sr=8-1 an excellent ripping yarn collection for the toxophagus. PS: I was just perusing some toxicology notes regarding the Justinian "episode" and the "episode" was not a single event rather a series of diminishing epidemics spread over a period of (at least ) 100 years starting in 541 CE , this "ripple effect" is evident in all major outbreaks of "Plague" .Epidemologists suggest that the arrival of the second major event (1340 CE ) echoed on for a 300 year epoch of "plagues". Both these episodes profoundly changing social, religious and demographic dynamics. Lax "Toxin" OUP refers.

The main enemy on the Wall is the weather (now as it was then). Dont get caught outdoors without the right clothing and footwear, this might sound trite but its an exposed area. In one of my gallery entries I mention that I was photographing the Mithraium at Procolita (near Vircovicium , and a couple of miles from Vindolanda) having had bright but clear weather for the earlier part of the day, when I was driven off by driving sleet and hail. http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...=si&img=656 thats the shot in question. If you wander around in the gallery area you wil find quite a lot of Vindolanda shots. http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...si&img=1449 Badgers certainly, adders (mostly black) indeed (but they are grumpy and dont hang about if you get near them).Panthers , well maybe NN has seen some around Hoad, but I havent noticed any myself....

I havent! Still no sign?Is your mailbox full?

Where to stay? Well this is good if your hungry (and thirsty). http://www.twicebrewedinn.co.uk/home.html http://www.bardonmill.ournet.co.uk/tourist%20index.htm and Bardon Mill is the nearest village . If you want to know what the site looks like visit my msn blog and scroll down to the "Vindolanda " gallery.My blog here on UNRV has entries also. ps:if you are in the UK in mid April you are welcome (as all members are) to the UK meet in York, check this site for good background: http://hadrians-wall.info/hadrianswall/segedunum/index.htm