caldrail

Caesar never being emperor? There's a good reason why Suetonius included him in the list.

They had a limited form of citizenship. It was however prety much in name only as there was little they could do with their rights other than proclaim them.

That was mostly the cause of it, as imunera had pagan religious connotations, and also was a show in which blood was spilt. However the arena was becoming less popular as a result of changes inn style, moving away from the expensive spectacles of the past and toward smaller more modest shows, not to mention to trend toward 'wounding' fights with bizarre weaponry rather than good clean sword fights. Others point at the loss of social purpose in that the games celebrated Roman martial spirit, which was distinctinly lacking in the late empire.

I ought to point out however that 5th century gladiators were outside the law and no longer a central part of Roman society. They still existed, especially in the provinces, usually as wandering troupes of lower quality. The former schools had closed.

The last few days have been quite warm, a typical British summer, and that wa quite enough for me. Luckily the nights cooled things down. A bit. Before the weekend however, the weatherman on television was beaming with malicious delight. Watch out for the weekend - it's going to be a scorcher. Okay. yawn. I got up late this morning having been up all night. As usual in summer, the air within my home was a little stuffy but I had things to do, so the atmosphere was of little concern. As soon as I opnened the front door to go to the shops - Woah! A blast of hot air hit me. That weatherman wasn't kidding. This is seriously warm folks. Turning Into Ash At the bottom of the hill traffic was held up. Roadworks? There's been some further down. I was wrong however, as a small fleet of fire engines were parked up on the road junction. On the pavement, a burned out sports car. The local lap dancing club gutted by fire. It turns out some guy reversed his car into the premises and poured pertol over the vehicle before setting it on fire. Good grief, as if it wasn't warm enough around here already.... Turning Toward Triump Andy Murray has won the Mens Singles at Wimbledon. I apologise for the late news but since it took Mr Murray seventy years to win the match, I thought no-one would mind if I neglected to tell you immediately. Unfortunately David Cameron was a bit quicker off the mark. His suggestion to give Mr Murray a knighthood for winning at Wimbledon has left me a bit peeved because I won a game of conkers when I was twelve and the letter confirming my OBE still hasn't arrived. Oh yes, I forgot, the Health & Safety Executive made the game of conkers a threat to civilisation as we know it. I'll shut up before I get jailed for living dangerously. Vote for Murray - Turning Britain around. Turning Countries Around The dramatic events in Egypt have been the subject of considerable news footage. During an interview with some guy who apparently understood what was going on, the scrolling headline underneath said "Britain does not support regime change". Really? So we were right about those weapons of mass destruction in Iraq after all? My advice to the people of Egypt is to keep practising. Eventually you'lll get this military coup business right and finally win. Turning Jobseekers Around Our local library has been hosting a job club for a few years now. It's useful getting an extra couple of hours to search the world wide web for all those vacancies the jobsite adverts promise are out there. It's easy too. Unfortunately the library service have decided it's too easy as well, and now we're only going to get eight weeks each. How exactly does that assist me getting a job? By giving the opportunity to everyone else? And I've got a claims advisor who seems to believe I spend the entire day sat in front of a computer waiting for the next vacancy to appear.

This is not a well documented issue. On the one hand, we know that a contubernium of eight legionaries would share an animal between them to carry heavy loads (sometimes even their armour and weapons - the Romans mention this themselves) which implies they led the animals themselves. However, ordinary soldiers might own a slave (some were handed out from POW's as rewards though most would have been sold for profit quite quickly), and it isn't beyond reason that such dutioes fell to servants. An enterprising entrepeneur might even arrange for civilian labour to haul legionary equipment though in fairness I don't have any source material to confirm that. Oxen were powwerful beasts but probably too large and costly for common use in the legions. Mules would have been preferable and Cicero sympathises with a man whose mule was appropriated by the legions, which implies the soldiers didn't just use an allocated animal, but whatever animals they could get hold of. The odds of a mules owner getting any justice from a military tribunal were not good either, and might resuit in outraged soldiers beating him up later. Horses weren't used for draft work. I don't know whether camels were. As for commands given by the drover, that's probably open to speculation. Petronius does mention in his Satyricon that if a handler can't reach the donkeys back, he must thrash the donkeys pack, which does rather suggest that animals were given physical inducement rather than verbal.

Not normally. Contract gladiators might already be citizens (albeit temporarily enslaved and rendered infama). Rudiarii (Gladiators given freedom) had the same status as freedmen but probably didn't on the whole benefit from patronage in the same way as other freedmen, and I note many such men tended to fail outside the arena and so often drifted back to the life they knew best. As such, full citizenship was beyond their grasp, although I have heard of a few examples of gladiators having citizenship confrered upon them as a gift.

Plain old chemistry has always existed - I could not disagree - however it has always been to cause of the illicit romance which has long predated the rather ridiculous medieval version. There was of course the story of a rich daughter who gave up a life of luxury to run away with her favourite gladiator, a man not blessed with good looks or health, but a Gladiator! We also know that women of high birth sometimes discreetly attended gladiator schools for that very reason, hoping to get a session (or maybe more) from her favourite arena hero. Nonetheless at the higher echelons of society there's a definite trend toward expedience. Notice how, to use an extreme example, Cleopatra seduces Caesar and Antony, and even tried to see if she could get her claws into Octavian at one point. To her the realtionship, however much fun, was for practical purposes. She was a queen and needed the Romans to bolster her power inn Egypt on the edge of dynastic war. Roman women on the whole weren't particularly well regarded in some aspects, being somewhat infantile by modern standards (and often deliberately encouraged to remain so). Some of course had a brain in their skull and we do have examples of women who did more with their lives or who had real influence - I'm thinking of one in Pompeii who after her husband died inherited his business, and contrary to normal tradition, ran it for herself. She was however planning a marriage, purely for appearances (or possibly to avoid difficuklties for her children).

There is an element in these rare occurences that can't be ignored in the Roman tontext - to assume these people were marrying for love is a bit overly romantic and a modern hollywood-derived view. Marriage in older cultures was rarely for such concerns (witness the blossoming of the illicit romance in medieval fiction, such as Lancelot and Guinevere). Whilst I accept I don't know what was going through these peoples heads at the time, marriages were sought at that level for social, political, or financial gain .

Those sweaty summer nights are with us again. I blame America - we always get our weather secondhand from them. Hiowever I can't blame them for the behaviour of the locals. As soon as the warmth kicks in they start behaving like they're on a mediterranean holiday, shouting, throwing, or generally hitting each other. You might not be suprised to hear that happened last night. Again. Clearly the way to improve social behaviour is not by fines or visits to a magistrates court, but banning summer. When is our government going to do something useful? Move Along Please There's a bunch of african lads who've moved into the area turning our little preserve of working class England into some kind of Los Angeles in red brick and elm trees. They were out in the yard behind my home last night, enjoying themselves in a rowdy fashion and without having anywhere else to go in the wee small hours. They went quiet all of a sudden. Certainly wasn't down to me. i was too busy trying to find a comfortable sleeping position. Move Along, Please As the British normally do any hint of sun means we get into this strange contest to see who can wear the least clothing. I can't help thinking that people do that because it's merely fashionable or simply their way of fitting in with the crowd of aimless citizens wandering around town for no better reason than to justify minimising their wardrobe. Move Or Else Sorry lads. Not your house.

Hi ya'll. Guess ah'll be headin' down to MRs Miggins fer tea an' crumpet. Maybe a coke with cheese too. Have a good day. Hmmm... Does sound a bit odd doesn't it? Actually I have heard people adopting americanisms, especially the young lads aping the gangsta style, but they always add their own english twist to it.

"Our house!" For a while now I've been hearing that phrase. Usually I hear it from young males in the street outside. I must admit I thought it was just kids being silly with some kind of catch-phrase. On one occaision however a shiny black car pulled over to the side the road as I wandered on my way to a local supermarket. It was driven by a youngster, which was unusual in itself. How many eighteen year-olds in Britain can afford any car insurance whatsoever? Kids drive bangers or their parents second car. That's the way it is. But anyway the youth at the wheel poked his head out and and asserted confidently "Our house!". Just last night it all got a bit more menacing. A passer in the street said to his mate "It's all right, he'll be out of there by the end of the year". Clearly they meant me to hear it too. Well the flat doesn't belong to the local bad lads any more than it does me, it's the property of the landlord and whatever financial agencies he chooses to do business with. However I do have a long term tenancy (I've been there a decade) and a rental agreement. Anything more than polite negotiation and these individuals are in breach of anti-social, criminal, and property law. Chances are those idiots can't read beyond the fatuous world of tabloid newspapers, or indeed understand that there's a world beyond gangsta rap, but assuming they happen to be keeping their eyes on my activities - sorry boys - you're out of order. And now everyone knows it. Hey - I can shout too. The Camp Fire The unsettling development put me in a pensive mood as you might imagine. Shakespeare might of had me wandering around my camp incognito, listening to the troops conversing and gauging their mood for the ensuing struggle. Instead I have to make do with opening the back window and watching the world go by as the daylight fades. It didn't take long to spot Mr Fox, busy searching his new domain dutifully. Against the pale dry gravel it's difficult to miss him even in low light. Sure enough I spotted the cat too. It seems the feline instinct is to leave the area when the fox hoves into view. The cat was already heading for home, leaping up onto a weed infested earth bank on the public side of the fence. Then I saw something else appearing onto the stage. No! It can't be! It was. Mr Fox is actually Mrs Fox, and there, not far away, was a youngster, already with his bushy tail and busy copying the searching tactics of his mum. Thing is though, if there's one fox cub, there must be... Yes! Two more came into view. Playfulness got the better of them and the gravel pile became a kingdom to win. Mother wasn't bothered. Her cubs are old enough to watch out for themselves now and there's a dinner to be found and caught. They probably won't survive much longer given they've taken up home on a major building site, what with the local vermin problem and all. Having written this, there's an outside chance I've sealed their fate. C'est la vie. But it was a genuinely uplifting sight nonetheless. Actually right now they're probably doing more good than harm. So Mrs Fox, if you wouldn't mind eating the pesky little varmint that keeps piddling on my kitchen floor, I'd be grateful. Dawn Breaks Well, I must be on my way. My appointment is drawing nigh and I must do bloody battle with the evil Claims Adviser and his minions of officialdom. Once more unto the job centre dear friends, once more...

Most streets in Rome were not lit. However there was activity requiring lamplight held by a colleague or retainer, such as people retruning home from social functions (in whatever state of inebriation), young lads spoiling for whores or trouble (beating people up at night was a typical activity for macho lads in their teens - it got Nero seriously embarrased), knifemen waiting for some fool walking home alone in the dark. Vigiles might be patrolling in an ineffectual attempt to curb crime or watch for fires. and of course, the supply of businesses by wagons not permitted to to enter the city by day. The Romans complained that sleep was impossible at night - there was always something going on even if the streets were badly lit or not at all. I do recall one or two religious rites held at night, obviously with lamplight (There was one in earlier times where foxes had brands tied to their tails, let off across the fields as a rite to ward off vermin) but these were spread over the year. Processions for the most part were held in daytime and entertainment was only in the hours of darkness when performed privately. There were however occaisions when Caesars had an event staged at night. These were of course one-offs. Lucky for the christians in that respect, as Nero once had christians tarred and burned on a crucifix along the streets as lamps.

Citizenship couldn't be bought directly, and given his location, obtaining citizenship by joining the legions was a difficult oproposition (that was common practice in the east where recruitment was harder). However, you're right in that if the father agrees to the marriage, for whatever reason, then political pressiure, a word in someones ear, or a big fat bribe could secure Frank his citizenship. The most important thing in that event is that everyone would know full well that the official reason for his promotion was a private deal, partially acceptable as a process of adopting Roman culture, but also potentially a matter of scorn from those who earned their rights a harder way.

What's with the columns? I don't know of any Roman arena that obstructed the view of the combatants like that. If they existed, then there was a practical purpoise, such as hanging nets to keep animals from getting into the crowd (which I seem to remember did happen in at least one case). Also your arena is rather large (most were quite modest in size) and there's no awning to keep the sun off the audience (who I notice aren'rt present in that practise session ).

I like a bit of Time Team, and I've lerned a thing or two from him indirectly. A great shame.

Another day, another jobsearch. My claims advisor doesn't like me doing anything other than seeking gainful employment and is trying to force me to waste more of my time looking for jobs I applied for last week, but you see, all work and no play makes Caldrail a dull applicant. So my claims adviosor can... well... off. As I write this I'm entertained by the efforts of a young man to woo the pretty young blonde sat next to him. He started quite well - she liked the attention - but he hasn't gone in for the coup de date and she's starting to lose interest. Ahh - he's realised the attempt is flagging, and is now deflecting her attention by helping her with a problem on the PC. Good move actually - he's drawn closer to her. Oh no, he's run out of technical details he can get away with, and backs off having achieved nothing. She's replying in shorter and quieter sentences - disaster. Well young man, you tried. Both have stopped talking and all he does now is glance at her occaisionally. I feel like interrupting and teling her that the guy next to her wants a date. A part of me thinks I should ask her for myself and to heck with him, but of course she's a lot younger and probably wouldn't dream of dating her granddad. Mind you, I would probably tire of her mobile phone activity and empty conversation quite quickly, so the only real option I would have would be to bankrupt myself with a child. At least the first twenty minutes is fun even if dealing with messy breakups and conversations with authorities isn't. Ohhh... Hang on... She hasn't lost interest completely. Funnily enough, he has, because it turns out her conversation is horribly monotone and nasal. The thought of discussing which side of the bed to use puts me off as well. Oh well, back to the job website. There's a job for a customer service advisor going somewhere. No. Me neither. Back On The Site Lately I've been watching developments on the old college site. The local cat has been prowling around, slowly, sniffing at almost every lump of gravel, almost as if it's exploring the new enviroment. The fox I saw the other night doesn't care about new sights and smells, it wants dinner, and trots here and there looking for likely spots to nab a furry rodent or two. It spots me at the window - I wonder if that's the same fox that prowled around my home last year? - but after an appraisal decides I serve no useful purpose, and continues his search for lunch, zigzagging over the angular gravel terrain. Back on the Farm The rat has been sighted. twice in my bedroom - which was an alarming sight to say the least - and it left a calling card on the floor of the kitchen a few nights ago. So far I haven't figured out where the little monster is getting in but mark my words rodent - you future is grim.

The reason it's difficult is that in the ancient world there is no real time communication sophisticated enough to coordinate such action. On the one hand, as many people as possible need to understand what they need to do before hand, on the other, the more people you tell, the more likely the enemy will get to know. In my limited experience of film making making sure everyone understands what's required isn't easy at all, as many will interpret what you say in a different way, or respond differently under pressure, and in any case, a plan always assumes the enemy will do something you expect.

Or becoming a slave voluntarily It was possible, if you had the right character and conduct, that your owner might make you a freedman. That would only make you a partial citizen (your children would be full citizens) and although you could not hold public office because of the taint of slavery, there was nothing to prevent yu from reaching senatorial rank, wealth, and success - though I suspect few actually did.

How things are changing outside my window. For some time now the Old College site has been no more than a mountainous lanscape of crushed college, but now that work is ubnder way to develop the site (at last), the hillside is being cut into and levelled. It's extraordinary how much gravel and dirt has been removed. Even more extraordinary are the metal bolsters that are used to shore up the alleyway at the back of the site. They must be something like fifty feet in length or more and each is being driven into the ground until the top disappears. All in all a fascinating sight. Trouble At Mill Somewhat less impressive is my claims advisor at the job centre. He clearly has no intention of taking any notice of what I tell him, and indeed, delights in rubbishing everything I say. This has happened before and is a precursor to having my payments stopped. There's a sense of injustice about this, not just because the advisor is known to me as a dishonest person, but because I exceed the requirements of my jobseekers contract by a factor of three or four. More Trouble At Mill Some of the youths in my area are getting a bit above themselves. In the hours of darkness they've taken to claiming property as their own and announcing their ownership at the top of their voices. Sometimes they taunt and threaten quite brazenly. Someone in my street is being told to leave their house or face the consequences. And the Police? You may well ask.

I would have thought the biggest problem was social convention. A woman under Roman law was more or less the property of a father, guardian, or husband, that they could not officially run their own affairs, although I agree that Roman women weren't as restricted as that might imply, and that legal loopholes existed that women did at times exploit. However, appearances are very, very important to the Romans. A senatorial daughter marrying some foreigner had better choose a worthy partner. So your Frank had better be noble indeed, and further, have some career that the senatorial family will approve of. However - if the daughter was willful, there were precedents for such wayward women to drop their status and follow their heart.

There very differing degrees of citizenship... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_citizenship

The Romans only persecuted christians intermittently and then only to thopse unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Such events were either examples of intolerance or expedience, but I do note that Natlie Haynes appears to regard christianity as essentially 'good', an assumption christianity likes (it doesn't like drawing attention to the blacker side of their adherents behaviour, such as we sometimes see in the media today, and why assume christians were any better in the past?). To say that Rome 'clashed' with christianity is also a strange thing to say - there wasn't an organised christian movement to mount hostilities of any kind against Rome - although in fairness early christianity had its own share of religious extremists among them - some things never change. The persecution of Nero was to 'punish' the not-liked-very-much-and-very-secretive christians for the Fire of Rome in 64. There is some debate over this. Traditionally Nero simply used them as scapegoats. However, modern research has suggested zealots among christianity had a hand in it, although in fairness the event was complex and political sehahigans were the order of the day. In other pogroms, it was distaste for a sect that apparently drank blood, human flesh, and sacrificed babies, or perhaps that christian sects were getting too influential. The idea that christian sects wouldn't flourish under persecution isn't necessarily the case. The acts of Nero made a lot people feel sorry for christians and thus lessened their 'dark' image. Further, the social worship of christianity was as popular as the same for Mithras, both religions benefitting from seeking a more confortable communal form of service than the relatiively unfulfilling personal worship of graeco-roman paganism. Syrian religions were not on the whole especially successful and those that were appealed to slaves more than citizens, thus assuming a negative image in that respect, but I can't comment about the popularity of Isis because I know almost nothing about it. You see, if persecution was such a deterrent, why is anyone jewish today?

So this would be a pro-christian series then? The fact is Rome put a lot of noses out of joint. They habitually interfered and dominated neighbouroing solcieties if not setting one against the other to keep them off their own backs, and plied them with export goods to soften them as well as make a profit. As for the early christians, if you want to know how angry they were, check out the Book of Revelations - it's a thinly disguised politicakl call to revolt against the empire (and not a prophecy for our time as christian sects do love telling us)

In the ancient world, there was a high degree of emphasis on trickery when trying to gain advantage on the battlefield. There had to be really because command and control were in their infancy, if they existed at all, and thus surpising the enemy meant he couldn't do an awful lot to prevent the situation going bad. Most people have this image of generals in a tent pointing daggers at maps, but that scenario simply didn't happen back then. Both sides either had a pre-prepared plan or formed up to fight with less of a gameplan (to say the least). In reference to Cannae, Paullus and VArro were able commanders but I don't recall either being especially good. In any case, Rome far preferred cautious commanders who didn't take risks, both to prevent military disasters (you have to laugh) and also to put men in charge who weren't dangerously ambitious with lots of armed men. With such a large combined army the Romans rotated supreme authority daily. Varro was in charge on the day and considered the lesser of the two men. Whilst he might have listened to Paullus' advice, Paullus had no choice but to defer to Varro's decisions that day. The Romans far outnumbered the Carthaginians and in all probability felt no need to be clever - complex battle plans were very risky without much real time communication, not to mention a time when generals often fought alongside their men rather than lead from a tent way off at the back. The Roman plan at Cannae was simple - just steamroller the hap;ess Carthaginians and trample them underfoot. Such a large formation is however unwieldy and Hannibal had the foresight to exploit that. Firstl;y his' thin punic line' would look weak and very tempting from the other side, and by retreating, would draw the Romans on. The stronger side formations only had to maintain place - as the cohorts marched past, they began to turn to face them, thus causing disruption and disorder in the mass Roman formation. By winning the cavalty bout, it allowed Hannibal to close the Romans into the trap. Varro had not forseen the disorder that would result at the edges. Hannibal was in all likelihood hoping he wouldn't. Those cohorts in the middle would have been blithely unaware iof difficulty until the mass of men began to squeeze them together, with a resulting loss of any command and control whatsoever (indeed, it was reported that Roman legionaries were refusing orders from centurions they didn't recognise)