Pertinax

An exam in English? As Homer (J.Simpson ) said "what do I need to learn English for, im never going to go there?" Best of luck

I have now also watched "Germanicus" and "Tiberius" -the continuity is direct through these episodes. The producers have been very cunning in selecting the actor to platy Germanicus, (Eric Flynn) , someone with a superficial handsomeness but lacking in true weight , square jawed , courageous but not a maker of "events" rather a fortunate passenger (somewhat like Pompey Magnus perhaps?). Morell continues to impress , someone has tried very hard to write the contradicitons of Tiberius into a coherent "imagining" and Morell brings him to life: irritatingly difficult to work for ( sometimes fatally so) but always a lucid intelligence in his own centred self. I suggest that any members under 30 may find the production serious/sombre (in some ways ) but I think this is a real lifetimes achievement by Philip Mackie who wrote and produced it. Sejanus is very well done, a real corporate climber invisible and indispensable but ever present. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0533524/ the "naked civil servant" is probably his best known work but I personally found it a bit "overwrought" . also good advice to new Emperors everywhere: have your Mother strangled as soon as decently possible . edit: Ive just got Hopkins in "Titus Andronicus" dirt cheap ill see what I make of that. http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?&autom...&cmd=si&img=705 heres an outtake.

I must add that the patrician women, in this series (so far), are every bit as vindictivley poisinous and deadly as in the HBO series. If I was an old sceptic id say someone has perhaps cast an eye over this collection prior to the charachter development writing of Servillia and Julia . edit: Livia and Agrippina are reptilianly splendid

A not unreasonable suggestion is :that as urban areas could not be sustained as centralised authority disintergrated and communities devolved to rural self sufficiency (in terms of basic survivability) no maintenance of the very core of Romaness could be maintained ( trade/civic growth/conspicuos consumption/education) so stasis was the order of the day .

Well now this is an interesting purchase, for a start its one of the last major TV series shot in black and white-this doesnt detract from it at all, in fact its austere sets give the action a documentary graininess.If you buy this , and its worth consideration on what I have seen so far, I doubt you will get a better charachterisation of Tiberius . He is portrayed ( in his early elevation to the Purple) as a tremendously subtle person in a very tricky situation , aware of his historical role , sceptical of human foibles , stoic , measured , vastly intelligent. I look forward to seing his later years portrayed. The series is full of intrigue and is much more "talking heads" than HBO but as an attempt at the claustrophobia of power it works well. You have top notch British actors delivering un mannered but controlled dialogue. So far Andre Morell (Tiberius -previously Prof Quatermass) is outstanding but a young Freddie Jones (Thufir Hawatt to you ) is amazing as Claudius.It has a very English class consciuos feel to it (which I thought was reflected in the class divisions in HBO) but this works perfectly with the dramatisation of Tacitus. I have watched "Augustus" , showing his last days as Emperor and the "disposal" of Aggripa , Tiberius' rise and most interestingly his use of Auguries and "the exact science of Astrology".I have started to watch "Germanicus" which is an interpretation with some similarities to Marcus Antoninus in HBO .More reprts to follow. I would add if you dont want to read but want history on a DVD this might do the job for you.

No Arthurian hints in either of the named locations-most locals dont even know Alavanna (Watercrook ) even exists! Carvetorium is a big pivotal maritime/Wall defence fulcrum but , (and this is my pet theory) has no record of Sarmatian auxiliae in late period history.I was trying to find a name from lowland Scotland that had a hint of "camelot" about it but it eludes me at present (the Sarmatiae were in this area).

In direct contrast to my previous epicurean excursions , I have been eating a "Roman " styled spelt bread with all my meals in the last week. Its unsurprisingly called "Hadrian's Bread" and needs cutting with a power tool. I have chipped a tooth on it when toasted.However I can say that if you were eating this type of spelt/sourdough as a staple you do not need to supplement with any high sugar snacks! In fact you dont need any snacks at all, I had porridge and two slices for breakfast and that got me to lunchtime without thinking about my stomach,

THe Caesars has arrived " an everyday story of sex, madness and regicide" . Bodes well for a quiet evening in.

I was unable to shoot at Ambleside or Carlisle, which I was keen to do for the blog, but the rain was never ending. However I did see a hawking display near Penrith and as the gallery shows , I visited an Alpaca farm, hence I commend alpaca wool socks to you all. http://www.axos.co.uk/sykehouse/alpcent.html I also found that I enjoy Ostrich pate with Jennings Beer.

So ~100ish BC is when Roman trade goods start penetrating Britain? Correct, with a great increase in penetration into the hinterlands after the demise of the Venetii.However I ask myself, did the Venetii tranship or re-package any goods prior to that ? We are inclined to think they were a crafty and resourceful folk who liked to make sure they were "well placed" in transactions. Perhaps the Amphorae were too good a container to bother "load braking" especially if wines are involved.

Yes indeed the early "expeditions" were only preceeded by the clearing of the Channel in short order , but the germination of trade was relativley long haul after the second expedition returned. The Claudian invasion was of course not until AD 43 so I suppose you could paraphrase "The Godfather" and say that the Venetti like all good businessmen understood the benefits of monopoly instead of wasteful competition, and kept clients well apart save for their brokerage. GJC just "moved in" on them and absorbed the trading network for Rome. However I havent been as clear as I should in explaining the earlier trade -the amphorae actually have a 50 year preceeding date to the first Caesarian expedition ( not Claudian invasion) , but trade really hots up and pushes North after the Venetii are muscled out.St Servan to Hengistbury Head is the pre-Roman route with "industrial depots" in the British landfall.Kent , Essex and Hertfordshire were the ( so far recorded) extent of this early trade. Im willing to bet that it was in fact earlier still as we rely on amphorae shards for most of this evidence ( as " carboard box/packing case/beer barrel substitutes").

More like freedom to be offensive id say.

Appalling weather again in Brigantia , but I havent returned entirely empty handed. I have some shots of the site of the Fort at Alavanna. This is a bit of a problem in terms of naming, as you will be aware Alavanna Carvetorium is modern Maryport, and if my shakey Latin is any good I understand Alavanna tends to be interpreted as "the beautiful place" -fair enough (and please comment accordingly Latin scholars) because a lot of the sites are gloriously set in verdant landscapes. Here though we have a problem , Mediobogdum( fort in a bow?) would seem to be an appropriate name given the location within an oxbow bend of the River Kent, but that name seems to have stuck to the Hardknott pass fort further west toward Glannaventa (Ravenglass).The Fort is mostly unexcavated but we do now know that a Flavian construction date is strongly supported, on the ground the soft outlines of the decayed outer defences mark the area .The Kent would have supported water borne traffic in shallow draft craft to this site. http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...&cmd=si&img=696 http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...&cmd=si&img=697 this site will repay a visit on a sunnier day. It is possible that the XXth made a tactical "retreat " here from their unfinished Inchtuthill fortress in the far north.

I hope as PP says we get the grubby politics kept in , as opposed to heading for the cutting room floor as they did in series 1 here.Yes and more properly researched ccmbat even if small scale.

Pertinax, When you say in the review that even prior to the invasion Roman Merchants were present in Britain, did you/the author mean Roman trade goods or actual Roman traders? And how long before the invasion does the author say this is borne out? Great review by the way. Thank you for the compliment. The traders were in situ as soon as the Venetii ceased to control the shipping lanes-and amphorae finds bear this out quite definitiveley.Trade tended to spread out from modern day Poole into southern Britain. So the commercial bait was there for the hungry mouse-or rather aspiring tribal sophisticate .Traders (if not Roman then Romanised) are the first "artefact certain" Roman inland finds-the GJC invasions have , surprisingly, virtually no "hard" evidence on the ground.

What! Dinosaurs and Raquel Welch in a fur bikini did not exist at the same time? Oh no, what have I been thinking about geological time. Everything I know about vaccines ( and there effects in inter generational use) is grimly borne out by the "non-science " of the scientific method.