Pertinax

Finally I have been able to get to the site of Mediobogdvm. This is the best preserved site in Cumbria south of the Wall.The earliest fort is likely to have been Trajanic , and finished under Hadrian. The initial Hadrianic garrison was the 4th Cohort of Dalmatiae. The fort may well have been one of those abandoned during the reign of Antoninus Pius , as troops pushed northward into modern Scotland to secure a new frontier at the Antonine Wall.The fort was reoccupied circa 160 AD and appears to have been sacked or deliberately razed in 197. Its life was therefore quite limited in comparison to other sites I have illustrated . As can be seen from the images of the Fort this is probably one outpost that ,despite its scenic glory, could without understatemant be described as "remote". http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...&cmd=si&img=840 Its function appers to have been as a staging post on the tough march ,over very high ground , from Glannaventa ( Glannaventa) toward Borrans (Ambleside) and either thence to Alavanna (Watercrook) or northwards toward Luguvallum. If the area was under reasonable "police" control the fort would hardly have had sway over anything but a scattered rural population , hence I suggest its short life .Fort layout is the usual playing card shape. If you approach by foot it is a warm days work to walk up the valley from Dalegarth (terminal of the narrow guage railway from Ravenglass). As can be seen there was little need to dig defensive earthworks around the fort as two sides are precipitous , and its not easy to find any other flat land in the vicinity http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...&cmd=si&img=843 http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...&cmd=si&img=842 The weather was very changeable and a cold, lashing rain descended , just as you would expect in mid-June in Britain. For a bulk upload of more photos from this trip my msn blog will be updated soon. http://triclinium.spaces.msn.com/ edit: now uploaded and annotation to follow soon. Due to one of those unusual strokes of fortune that occur from time to time , I happened to arrive at the secondhand book dealers, who cheerfully announced that he had just taken delivery of an extensive array of Romanophile tomes. I purchased amongst others PS Fry's "Roman Britain" (what you say thats three books with the same title now ? The answer is yes) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0715382...glance&n=266239 I am part way through this work which is part history and part gazetteer-still a useful addition despite having Salway and De La Bedoyere's titles of the same name. The North West Frontier of Rome (a military study) D Divine . http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0356023...glance&n=266239 and most usefully Sheppard Frere's "Brittania". http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0712650...glance&n=266239 on top of that an armful of smaller books and maps, especially a 1956 OS "Roman Britain" in top notch condition.Yet more reading for the long , wet , dark summer nights. Just to produce a tiny frisson of envy -I hope to report from my forthcoming hawk handling trip next week...

Excellent suggestion, see how those schooled in the implacable military logic of Rome can deploy specialist troops in any climate or situation.

I read today (Sunday Times Magazine) that James Purefoy (Mark Antony) has signed a 5 year contract for the HBO production schedule for Rome. So it looks like we are in for plenty of entertainment.

Ive perused a number of shots I took of this event and I notice that the Auxilliae are ready to stab with the Gladius but in a "relaxed " posture but that the regulars , because of their body shape (imposed by the scutum grip) , are in a position I would describe as "cocked" ie: immediately ready to stab , directly -the body shape they display suggests that they are primed to strike at once, I can only describe the stance as being "coiled" , full of potential energy. I will try to give you an image that hints at this .The key is that the elbow is drawn up and backwards ready to deliver a blow.

Amen...although Mexico did their usual performance: flashes of brilliance along with flashes of idiocy. Too many times, especially when 1-man up, they would kick the ball right into Angola's defence. Duh. Anyway, moral victory for Angola...and now I need the USA/Italy game to be a good one. Well ,considering how few people were left on the pitch it was pretty good!

I had to post this shot! http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...&cmd=si&img=839

Yes but unlike a real pub it can be hosed down and re-used for obscene Saturnalia time and again! Shame on me as well. edit: the question is -will it float? Could Classis UNRV amphibious units achieve a European beachhead with this remarkable device whilst still drinking beer? Could a flotilla of such units threaten to land at remote tropical locations and debouch drunken Romanophile scholars onto an unsuspecting bikini clad population? Imagine this weapon in the hands of the Venetii! They would have sailed directly to Ostia and got very drunk.

I posted this if it helps-if you cant make out the grip I will enlarge it! http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...&cmd=si&img=838

If you leave a power vacumn , something/someone will always step into occupy that space.

I should like to praise Angola for "pluck and guts" .Well done chaps. The goalkeeper trains at home and doesnt have a club?

As Ive said previously, I believe Mons Graupius signified the destruction of an entire generation of combat capable troops ( a cohort in fact, in the true demographic definition) and that for a term of years there was no "real" enemy to chase or to police -that would have made any strategic or tactical sense-nor I suggest more importantly ,of any commercial merit in terms of control of a region producing wealth.(Oh dear I sound like a marxist historian :bag: ). Policing is the probably the best option if you have no desire to hold a "poor" territory and wish to stop incursions, a frontier has to be given physical form in a useful spot-the Antonine Wall was an excellent barrier in terms of compactness and command of navigable waters but required backup through a large hinterland without a great deal of discernible wealth (ok it annexed the decent lowland grazing/cultivation zones-but id want to know much more about population density before deciding if it held a reasonably sustainable population). Hadrian certainly wanted to keep units that were not fighting busy and in decent shape, "team building" doesnt come bigger than Hadrian's Wall.I refer to earlier in the thread when I mentioned the dates of incursions at Vindolanda as to how "difficult" the area was.

I commented elsewhere about the number of serious "flare ups" affecting Vindolanda, involving possibly Brigantes, Selgovae, Votadinnii and incursions from the far North by the Pictii, Venniconii and Maetae. These events occured roughly in , something like, AD 79, 179, 220 , 280. Four serious conflicts or rebellions -but look at the spread of the dates.Epigraphic and dig evidence confirms these "minor" uprisings. It must surely be that other areas under military government had times of tribulation , especially whilst Romans fought each other for Rome.However to what extent these "rebellions" were about tribal independence versus the evasion of customs duties (or a residual slave/cattle raiding warrior culture) there is little mention, I doubt that much thriving materialistic culture evaded Rome's mercantile or fiscal grasp.

I rifled through the OUP "Roman Britain" to see if it had any military references-(not really being a Welsh "expert") and can find no references to disturbances after the subjugation.Though scholars of the classics may be aware of some such event. I did note with interest that the next reference source is around AD550 suggesting that the area was the effective limit of Saxon conquest. I think the role of the Classis Brittania is quite important, once Deva was fully established as a major port/fortress and major commercial centre ,command of the seas around Wales effectivley closed the net on any further discontent .The ability to strike from the sea seems to have totally demoralised the Brythonic tribes.Again I also suggest that once Romes mercantile tentacles spread the industrial and commercial influence of setlement would have weighed against previous traditional tribal forms.

Best of luck for the trip old chap.

A factor in the number of installations , might be, terrain and visibility -if you know Wales it has one characteristic that the Lake District shares-rain (and mist if that counts as a separate entity), and lots of it . I dont deny that the province as a whole is damp and cloudy but Wales and the Lakes win any competition for sheer soaking wetness.

I think "area denial" (for want of a better description in a strategic sense) and the usual "policing sub-division" approach ,(construction of roads/communication posts) pushed the Brythonic tribes toward the set piece engagement desired by Rome. The difficulty thereafter remains that no residue of combat capable males are tucked away in the hills waiting to raid and disrupt .AD 69 certainly caused any Roman heads to turn away from the provinces and look to Rome itself.

The very fish alleged to have thwarted Marcus Antoninus at Actium (not his person I hastily add , but by fouling his flagship rudder) . That is one dangerous animal.