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votadini

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Posts posted by votadini


  1. Thanks for all the opinions so far.

     

    I generally prefer my historical fiction (admittedly, I generally prefer history works themselves) along the lines of Umberto Eco, but I have delved into Cornwell et al in the past. Never, in my opinion, going to win a Nobel but any ripping yarn will sometimes do to pass the time.


  2.  

    Not really my cup of tea either, but it's an art museum so only to be expected they were going to adopt a styling not suited to more conservative tastes. And, after twenty years everyone will probably be used to it (see the Sydney Opera House or the Pompadou Centre) and be outshone by a new wave of architects trying to make their name.


  3. Yet, Britain has some of the worst preserved remains--all because of those stupid Anglo-Saxons!!!

     

    The Angles, Saxons, etc certainly turned away from the civites to the tribe-based kinglets, but much of Roman Britain survived their ravages and it was later generations who also hold much responsibility; I doubt the Norse paid much attention to Roman antiquity, and, later, much of the stonework quarried for the military bases between the Tyne and the Solway will be found in the post-medieval farmhouses of Northumberland and Cumbria.


  4. Most of the authordox theories of Anglo-Saxon England have become very unpopular during the last few years, but the fact that England has some of the poorest Roman remains is evidence to me that, when the Romans pulled out, the land really was overun by Barbarians.

     

    Also, assuming that Britannia had a wealth of architecture on a par with the continental empire.


  5. Where to go next in Britain for Roman remains? As a northerner, can't go wrong with Hadrian's Wall and the adjoining areas; Vindolanda (Chesterholm) for its variety of exhibits, Cilurnum (Chesters) or Vercovicium (Housesteads) for the forts, or Mediobogdum (Hardknott) for the sheer beauty of its location (get the hiking boots on!)


  6. The far reaches of my memory tell me that at the time of the Emperor Julian, 'icebergs' (not the Titanic kind) were seen in the Seine River. (?)

     

    Even as late as the 18th Century there were still markets and festivities taking place on the frozen Thames in London (the end of what I believe they call the last Mini-Ice Age).


  7. I've been thinking about how the weather conditions were in the roman empire, over the time. Considering that Sicily, and northern Africa were large exporters of grain, it would seems that it was generally colder. However I've never seen or heard about any fact on the subject, so I was wondering if anyone here could fill me in?

     

    Just 'thinking' off the top of my head, Egypt was a famous exporter of grain due to the fertility of the banks of the Nile, and Sicily was probably more forested in those days and thus the soil was more firmly secured to the earth.


  8. Nonetheless those legions were posted to britain. Therefore the romans considered it worthwhile. Britain was part of the empire but it was potentially troublesome, plus the picts and possibly the irish were sources of conflict that needed warding off.

     

    But the issue is whether the Picts, Scottis, et alia, would have been so troublesome had the Romans not invaded in the first place.


  9. Traianus, don't worry about 2030-2040, I have it from reliable sources that the world will end in 2012.

     

    Just typical, after I pay all the extra Council Tax to fund the flipping Olympics and then the World goes and ends. :ph34r:

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