Pertinax

1. excellent posts Ruthe, I now understand my great emotional attachment to Imperial measures, (and my total inability to mentally assimilate decimal systems). What a splendidly civilised way to divide up a dark winter day, by reducing the hours to manageable sizes. 2. I first bought petrol at 77pence per gallon , and that made me mad! Does this instrumentation ring any bells? http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...=si&img=907

:blowup:

I have always borne in mind an axiom (picked from the history of military medicine) that an "ancient army was a walking health hazard", to itself and whomsoever it aggressed. This is not to say that this was unknown by our ancestors , but that those who failed to plan for medical eventualities would quickly have enteric problems in abundance (and contagion by unknown viral agents in remote localities) . The Macedonians must have been tough customers, probably due to all that outrageous wine imbibing they did, instead of using suspect water. Here is a quote regarding the poppy "It is unexcelled as a hypnotic and sedative, and is frequently administered to relieve pain and calm excitement. For its astringent properties, it is employed in diarrhoea and dysentery, and on account of its expectorant, diaphoretic, sedative and antispasmodic properties, in certain forms of cough, etc." Dysentry being the first thing that came to mind . Water from gravel would at least have the virtue of some natural filtrattion.

No , fraid not-but you may catch me on site from time to time, probably videoing some dig work.

I must own this sacred garment! My dignitas will be greatly enhanced.

Pantagathus is completely correct, indeed the flax is probably even better than we suppose (probably having anticarginogenic effects when ingested), I suggest that apart from stopping any bacterial infection of broken tissue , even a deep wound would be more likely to heal with this mix. If your troops expected poor quality water this mix along with mastik would be a useful preventitive for enteric problems. As an external hot compress for a severe fever or abdominal pain (ie: poisoned honey!) it would be useful as well. The flax is of course a 3/6/9 omega oil substitute and very nourishing. Id be interested to have a further breakdown on poppy species types .

ok ok , some honey glazed dormice and two women.

Beer is a delicious "Energy Drink" , whenever I take it I completely get rid of all my energy.

Just to clarify the sexual shennanigans here, the actual fungus is a subterranean network of hyphae , that can be many yards wide in all directions.The hyphae are the mycelium, when hyphae of different branches meet the resultant node is the tuber in question.There is a symbiotic relationship tween tree roots( of defined types) and the filaments. The truffle supplies nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and other trace elements-it receives carbohydrates in return. Maple , birch, lime , elm but most of all it is oak that is the dining and sexual partner of choice. You may have seen something similar with Merulys lacrymans (dry rot) the mycelium look like film set cobwebs in dank rotting timber. I hope we do not veer off time frame here, excellent as the conversation is...

We have the option of removing an inappropriate thread to another area of the board, if it misses the mark.

Alas you did . You smote us mightily.I just hope we stay in the championship.

Well , I got hold of a copy of "First Man ", for exactly one pound sterling today . Awful lot of bonking (as we say in Britain) so far , Sulla with various people in cupboards etc, im waiting for some history to break out.

The "double posting " has gone to Tartarus-not your topic!

Some obscure but interesting "histories" , the link is of obvious interest to myself http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=107 for example: "Christopher STONEHOUSE, apoth (qv), denied a charge of giving physic. He 'sayes from Matthias a Dutchman there was flores antimonij for a vomit to one Venge in May last ...' (He also accused Jeffray THROUGHGOOD, qv.) All should be summoned for the next meeting". But the main resource is useful for "later periods"

The white (Tuber magnatum pico) is perhaps the most valued, but in Umbria ( where it is deemed to be paramount) I believe the number of species is in the seventies, with considerable colour variation. I quote " [the] white truffle is even rarer and more valued. The production area is the Tevere Valley, the regions of Gubbio, Gualdo and Orvieto". The rule as per quality is in direct opposition to the quality of the wine from the same year. I have scanned AD's "Empire of Pleasures" for a reference to trade , alas in vain, perhaps the fount of gustatory knowledge will appear in persona and assuage our thirst for knowledge. If however Roman truffle hunters were as coy as their modern bretheren we may wait in vain,,,

A native variant ? I note that Pliny (Elder) make descriptive note of our excellent culinary grail, but did Plutarch make mention of its creation by " thunder and lightning?" The Middle Ages of course saw contumely heaped upon the sacred fungus and called it a "monstrous creation of the Devil". I hope AD can give us a roman recipe here or possibly a hint on usage in Rome or Greece.

seconded.

Carcopino is , I suggest, very much a product of his time and place. He has the virtues of excellent expression, if of a sonorous nature, but the mindset of what seems to be a remote era. I have to hazard that many of the semi-obssessional gender focused works of recent years will sound just as "bizarre" and arcane to future generations.

Impressive is it not?