Marcus Caelius

Hey! I'm an Equites now. How did that happen? Thanks, guys!

The best single compilation and critique of these tales may be Morison's "The European Discovery of America." Besides evaluating the stories academically, Morison (an accomplished naval historian and retired admiral) attempted to reproduce the various landfalls in his own boat. His ultimate conclusion was, essentially, that there's no reason to vigorously dispute conventional wisdom on this subject.

Well, that does me, I'm afraid. Since joining, I've been finding out I don't know anywhere near what I thought I do.

Oh, that's it. How long is "long enough"? Another forum I belong to has a 50-post threshold; I'm heading for my 4-thousandth post there, so being a newbie again is a bit of a culture shock.

Is there anyone who didn't get to America before Columbus? So far, I've heard about the Norse, Welch, Irish, Egyptians, Greeks, Atlanteans, Polynesians, and Japanese. Now, the Carthaginians. It's beginning to look like Peter Minuit didn't buy Manhatten from the Indians, so much as he paid off their mortgage.

I've been out of bed for about 5 hours, now, and it had completely slipped my mind until reading this thread that today is Easter. Now that I've remembered, well... Gee, I dunno. Got any suggestions?

First, if you don't already, learn to recognise what it is you're looking for. I suggest you start here. Second, learn something about the market. Third, just start looking. eBay is an obvious place, but you can also just Google. As talked about in previous posts, the trick is to hook up with a reputable dealer so that neither you nor the archeologists and historians get screwed. Fourth, realize that this advice is being offered by someone who has purchased precisely one Roman coin, which he has yet to receive. Having said that, the rules appear pretty similar to other hobbies of this type: don't buy what you don't know or aren't attracted to, have an idea of what the market is, know how to recognise a fraud, and so on. Myself, I do have some skepticism about the coin I bought, but I don't plan on getting much further in. Vespasian is my "favorite" emperor, and it just seems rather "convenient" that I found something satisfatory for so little effort and money. Still, I figure I can afford to believe that the coin is as it appears. I'd post a photo, but I don't seem to have access to any album utility.

Thanks to everyone who replied. After digging around on the 'net and checking out the links provided (btw, the Tantalus at Dirty Old Coins should be considered indispensable for coin identification), I found a bronze coin with an adequately clear depiction of Vespasian (reverse Pax, seated) whose price ($35) seemed to match its condition and purported authenticity. Neil, I hope I have not offended you by buying the coin! I am in full sympathy with you and completely understand; I've chased more than one treasure hunter out of more than one historical park, myself. I am also aware that no individual raindrop considers itself responsible for the flood. Having said that, I purchased from what I judged to be a reputable dealer, which I take to mean that all his dealings, including his sources, were reputable. By analogy, yes, there are plenty of pushers out there, but there are also pharmacists. I had no more ethical qualms buying the coin than I did buying a lump of coal from the Titanic, a piece of hull from the USS Constitution, or a lump of concrete from the Berlin Wall. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I see no reason to suppose my coin might have been wrongly obtained.

I'm starting to get interested in coin collecting, and would kind of like to have a few ancient pieces. Problem is, I know absolutely nothing about them (I'm a bit better with current issues). A quick look at eBay fills me with far more trepidation than anything else. For instance: That last bit, especially, has me wondering, and I suppose it's really the first question I should ask: How do ancient coins and other artifacts cross the Atlantic, legally? Or do they? And where do I go from there? BTW, the "Buy It Now" price for the lot from which the quote was taken is $29.95. Seems cheap for the real thing, and expensive for a fake.

Meh. The Russians had lost the Black Sea 50 years before, and it hadn't proved fatal. The British could have retaken it any time since; problem was, once taken it would have had to have been kept. Not hard to do, but it would have tied up at least a squadron that could have been better put to use elsewhere. The British, especially at that period, were not known for their interracial egalitarianism; in fact, IIRC, the word "n*****r" applied to virtually anyone who wasn't white. It was absolutely inconceivable that any "slanty-eyed little brown monkey" (the racism isn't mine, I'm just illustrating) would be able to operate modern weaponry well-enough to defeat one of the premier White naval forces of the day (Port Arthur, remember, was a cheap little trick that no decent white man and Christian would have pulled). I believe the British were far more afraid of the possibility that the Russians, now that they had the measure of their racially-inferior enemy, would quickly mop the floor with Togo, then do a quick about-face and head for India and/or Suez.

The precise ins and outs of that family have always escaped me. However, I believe the Russian threat in the Indian subcontinent (ie "the Great Game") was more of a British consideration than any ephemeral Japanese threat to China. With the Russians pushing by land from the northwest, the English wouldn't have been too happy about the possibility of a victorious post-Tsushima Russian fleet, with no Japanese counterbalance, cutting India off from the sea lanes and effectively isolating the British garrison. Also, rather than pushing at India directly, the Russian army could have turned to the right and made for the Persian Gulf, there to join with the Navy and make a flank attack on either India or, even easier, Suez. Regarding coaling stations, I'm at work right now and don't have any references with me, but I believe there were several coaling stations available other than British. Bearing in mind the colonial geography of the time, Spanish, Dutch and German spring to mind, especially German.

Thanks, it's been many years since I studied the war. As for the Suez, we're getting into pre-WW1 European politics, and you know how convoluted that was. Besides, I have this vision of the entire Russian fleet piling up at the northern entrance to the Canal as the British let them through one at a time.

Odd, no problem for me. Here it is in plain English, as it were: http://www.euratlas.com/shop/01roma.htm Here you go: http://www.maquettes-historiques.net/page10de.html

True, but it's a little more involved than that. First, at sea, the Japanese made a sneak attack (sound familiar?) on the Russian base at Port Arthur, wiping out the Russian Pacific fleet. The Russians then sent their Atlantic (can't remember whether it was Baltic or Black Sea) fleet around Africa to Korea. This took the equivalent of forever, because the Russian ships were older, coal-fueled and comparatively short-range; they left their home ports literally stuffed and covered with coal (imagine life aboard!), and had to make frequent stops at foreign coaling stations to replentish. Several vessels were lost to breakdowns, and he survivors just sort of straggled to Tsushima looking as if they'd already been defeated. Meanwhile, the Japanese had received frequent reports of the Russians' progress (try keeping a voyage like that secret!) and were waiting for them, with brand-new ships manned by well-trained and well-rested crews, in nice, orderly formations. On land, the Japanese took advantage of their complete mastery of the sea lanes and the fact that Russian communications consisted of a single rail and telegraph line that reached all the way back to Moscow, by laying siege to Port Arthur and finally taking it. With these two victories under their belts, and with the Russians finally in the process of sending a massive army across Siberia via that single rail line, the Japanese were only too glad to agree to peace in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

By day? And if by night?

Just took a quick run through the site's index and didn't see that this has been mentioned, yet, so I thought I'd bring it to folks' attention. It's apparently a multi-generational story that begins with Romulus and ends with the fall of the Empire. I'm anticipating a month's idle spell shortly, and just ordered it to occupy my time. My mistake: It apparently ends with the onset of the Empire.

An almost completely irrelevent derail: Devotees of "The Late, Great Planet Earth" held that the Biblical Last Battle between Good and Evil, Armegedon, would occur on the plain of Meggido, and be fought between America and the Soviet Union. I have no idea how America got dragged into it, but apparently Soviet Union -> Hammer and Sickle -> Scythian. I understand the real reason the Scythians are mentioned in the Bible at all (Colossians 3:11) is that they represented the most-remote non-Greek peoples in the known/rumored world.

This is about the closest thing, so far. Too bad it requires Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw; those suckers are expensive. HEY! I just took a look at the model's home page; the builder is somewhere in Quebec, and I live almost directly on the Quebec border. I may be able to see the thing, in person!

Unfortunately, it's not. I did some more digging around, looking for a trustworthy independent source, and I found one . However, the sky is still firmly in place. Down toward the end of the article, it is apparent that the law is aimed at sites that require personal profiles for membership.

Uh guys? I took a look at the first page of the thread this was posted on. It's all complete BS. Who proposed it? What is its designation (all bills are given "names," such as "Senate Bill S-1234")? Where was this reported (newspaper, etc)? Also, "...as quoted in an article on Wired News "? Where's the link? Why aren't there any links at all in the OP? I just took a look at the front page of Wired News, and guess which Really Important Story That Should Be All Over The Internet isn't there? You know, the article that was quoted? Where is it? Relax. I just looked, and the sky is not falling. BTW: The top story on Wired is that New Mexico is designating Pluto a planet. Yawn.

I haven't seen it, yet, but that recommendation matches my own regard for the entire 2nd season. I doubt I'll be buying the DVD set. It has been pretty soapy and, unlike others, I was fairly disgusted with Phillipi.

I have, in the past. However, I do have an active eBay account. The key is that authentic eBay email will *always* address you by name ("Dear Member," etc, is a giveaway that it's fake). Also, the same message will be in your "My Messages" section of your "My eBay" page. As to how/why you got the email in the first place, the sender really is "f(ph)ishing." (Hundreds of)Thousands of people have eBay accounts, so a generic spammer's address list will suffice for a phishing message; if you get other kinds of spam, then it's not surprising you'd get this kind.

I started it. I think it was combined with one or two older threads on the same subject.

They couldn't, because Vorenus' children are not dead. I'm betting they're going to turn up in a later episode in a fairly dramatic fashion. Erastes had to die quickly as a plot device, because torture would have convinced Vorenus that Erastes initial answer, that he didn't know their whereabouts, was true, and the entire series would then have become Vorenus' search for his children, or would otherwise spoil the incident which will involve their dramatic return. As for Erastes' motivation, repeated denials would have led to his torture, so he goaded Vorenus into giving him a quick death.

My wife said I could build a Roman soldier, on the condition I don't get more than one piece per month. What's been stopping me is that I can't find a decent mannequin at a reasonable price. Since I'm 76 inches tall, and almost 300 lbs, there's no chance I'll ever wear the stuff, and it seems ridiculous to start buying before I have a place to display it.