Leguleius

The Romans were well aware of the principles of trigonometry (thanks to Euclid) which are still used today to survey land for mapping. Thales of Miletos supposedly used trigonometry to calculate the height of the Cheops pyramid, by comparing the length of the pyramid's shadow with that of his own shadow at the time of day when his own shadow was equal to his height. This technique was probably not of much use in mapping coastlines and mountains though(!) Tom

Really interesting topic. Caldrail must I think be refering to the Tabula Peutingeriana, a 12th entury copy of a schematic map showing the imperial road system (the cursus publicus) from the early 5th Century. Given the Roman's surveying ability (see e.g. the Forma Urbis Romae) and military needs it seems strange that they would not have created good maps of the provinces (and particularly of the frontier zones). However, you would imagine any such maps would have been useful to later medieval rulers and so would have been copied. Yet we have to explain why no such copies exist! There are also numerous references to the legions being led by local guides and relying on personal knowledge (e.g. Ammianus 16, 2.1) when venturing across the frontiers, so perhaps the Romans rather neglected cartography?? Tom

You may be thinking of Pytheas, a Greek from Marseille (Massilia), who explored Britain and the Baltic c.330 BC and went on to 'Thule', six days' sailing from northern Britain (possibly Iceland?). His 'On the Ocean' is lost but Prof. Barry Cunliffe has written a speculative recreation of his travels from the references that survive in other works: The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek. It's an interesting read though the source material is rather thinly spread. I'm not familair with Roman contacts with China. When did they happen and what came out of them? Tom

Yes, it was an unusual policy, which I suppose demonstrated his desire to cut Christians out of the mainstream of Roman life. I'm interested to see that Gibbon says (chapter 23), "In all the cities of the Roman world the education of the youth was intrusted to masters of grammar and rhetoric, who were elected by the magistrates, maintained at the public expense, and distinguished by many lucrative and honourable privileges." Forgive my ignorance, but were there really public schools in every Roman city? It seems a very enlightened and modern concept. Julian the Philosopher/Apostate is a fascinating character. His obvious military skill and confidence makes an intriguing contrast with his neo-platonic beliefs, humanity and apparently self-depricating nature. If anyone hasn't seen it already there's an excellent note on him at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_the_Apostate And his humerous poem 'Misopogon' ('Beard hater') in which he pokes fun at himself (as a beardy philosopher) is online here: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/julian-mispogon.html Like Marcus Aurelius with a sense of humour What a shame for the Empire that he didn't reign longer or appoint a successor before his death. Tom