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GhostOfClayton

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Posts posted by GhostOfClayton

  1. Britain 'is experiencing same decline as Rome in 100BC'

    in Historia in Universum

    Posted

    I take it all back.  Watching the Brexit fiasco unravel over the past 3 years had lead me to think my fellow country-men and women are not the giants I'd previously thought them to be.  The whole thing is humiliating, and the rest of the world have every right to laugh heartily at us.  I can only apologise profusely in embarrassment.  Sorry!

    PS The worst may be yet to come.  Boris Johnson is odds-on favourite to be the UK's Prime Minister within the month!  The shame of it all!

    PPS If you don't know what 'Brexit' is, it's a contraction of BR (BRitain), EX (EXit), and IT (all turned to s*IT).

  3. Roman military ranks vs. modern ranks

    in Gloria Exercitus - 'Glory of the Army'

    Posted

    I like this question.  Allow me to stick my oar in.

     

    My first comment would revolve around your use of Centurion as Captain.  I always saw the Centurionate as the highest ranking proffessional soldiers - what we would refer to as Non-Commisioned Officers.  Maybe Sergeant-Major or some such.  Camp Prefects, especially auxilliaries tended to be drawn from the Centurionate.

     

    I'm interested in how you differentiate Ground Troops from Marines in a sci-fi context.  if you see Marines as similar to ground troops, but they get carried about in boats to support naval operations, how much use is there for actual ground troops who never see the inside of a spaceship (I'm assuming that's where you were going with this.)

     

    Generals tended to be people like Julius Ceasar in his invading days, so well above Prefect, and probably one above a 'Legate'.

     

    Admiral of the fleet (Pliny was one of these if you want to do research).  Interesting one.  Maybe praefectus classis?

  4. Living like Legionaries

    in Colosseum

    Posted

    Many years ago (I'm going to say 15, but that really is a complete guess - when you get past the halfway mark, all the years blend into one), there was a reality TV show where they took modern men (maybe soldiers, but my memory is hazy), and forced them to live exactly like Roman Legionaries for a few weeks.

     

    Anyone remember anything about it?

  8. Britain 'is experiencing same decline as Rome in 100BC'

    in Historia in Universum

    Posted

    I really am unaware of anything, outside of firearms and graphite, the Brits are being innovative at.

     

    Well, I’m not sure you’re looking in the right place.  But let’s assume you’re not going down to your local library to do your research.  You’re probably using the world wide web to do that, which was an invention of Tim Berners-Lee.  And you’d be doing that on hardware whose design can be traced in an unbroken line through Alan Turing right back to Charles Babbage.

     

    But what have the Brits done for us lately?  Let’s limit our thoughts to the last half century (it would be cheating if we were allowed to include such things as the BBC or the NHS).  I’m going to start with my local wonder of the modern world, the Humber Bridge.  When it went up in 1981, it was the longest bridge in the world (1.4km; a record it was set to hold until as late as 1998).  To this day, it is longer than any bridge in the Americas.  While we’re talking about bridges, there’s the highest bridge in the world, the Millau Viaduct in France.  Designed by Norman Foster (who also gave us the Hearst Tower in New York).  Sticking with engineering, I really should mention the only rotating boat lift in the world, the quite remarkable Falkirk Wheel.

     

    If you live in the US, and would like to see the Falkirk Wheel, it will take you bloody ages to get there, because you’d have to fly at sub-sonic speeds.  Back in the day, of course, you could have chosen to fly on the world’s only ever supersonic passenger jet, Concorde.  No-one has managed to get a supersonic passenger jet up and running since.  And who invented the jet engine?

     

    Best leave the field of Engineering behind (otherwise, we’d be here all day), let’s move on to DNA.  Obviously, Watson, Crick, Wilkins and Franklin discovered DNA (2 of whom were Brits), but that’s too early.  DNA fingerprinting was invented by a Brit, and human DNA was sequenced by British researches.  All that stem cell research (e.g. stem cell replacement into bone marrow for cancer sufferers)?  British.  MRI and CT scanners?  British.  The cancer gene map?  Brits.  Omega-3’s effect on the brain?  Discovered by a Brit.

     

    Fermat’s last theorem?  Solved by a British mathematician.

     

    The iPod?  Designed by a Brit.

     

    I could go on, but you get the idea.

     

    I'll leave you with a fascinating statistic:

     

    Around half of the US population have a below average IQ, whereas conversely, the same proportion of UK citizens have an ABOVE average IQ.

  10. Did the Roman Army Ever Venture into Saudi Arabia?

    in Gloria Exercitus - 'Glory of the Army'

    Posted

    You should make a tourism brouchure to attract roman history minded tourism to the area after that last post.

     

     

    Sadly, it's hard enough to attract tourism to Roman sites, even where there are extensive visible remains.  English Heritage pull off tourism better than most but I can't think of any of their sites (please do try to prove me wrong here, everyone) where there's nothing but interpretion to see.

     

    The best job was pulled off in Colchester, at the Archaeology Park (outlines of theatre and temple complex along with very good interpretation), but Colchester Tourist Board don't really make much effort to use that site to bolster tourism.

  11. Events (UK and Europe)

    in Vacatio

    Posted

    Segedunum are about to kick off a new exhibition.  'Roman Empire: Power & People'.

     

     

    This exhibition explores the story of one of the most formidable empires the world has ever seen. Featuring over 130 pieces from the British Museum, including sculpture from the villas of the Emperors Tiberius and Hadrian, coins from the famous Hoxne treasure, beautiful jewellery and near-perfectly preserved children’s clothing.

    These religious, military and personal objects from across the Roman world offer a glimpse into the lives of the Roman people and reveal how the wealth, power and organisation of the Empire made it irresistible and mostly unstoppable.

     

     

    Details here:

     

    http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/home.html?utm_source=TWAM+Communications&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Must+See+Exhibitions+May+2015

    • Like 1

  12. Britain 'is experiencing same decline as Rome in 100BC'

    in Historia in Universum

    Posted · Edited by GhostOfClayton

    I've been wondering about certain countries like Britain and the Netherlands, they more or less experienced a very sharp and brutal selective curtailment of their best breeding stock due to the success of their empires and ease to immigrate away.

     

    <snip>

    So I expect to see a general cognitive and physical decline of select features in such societies.

     

    It's all well and good getting Darwinian on our asses, but how would your theory account for me:

     

    a ) being a Brit

    b )  having a telephone number IQ?

  13. Five books on daily life

    in Quintus Libri...

    Posted

    Hi Nick, and welcome to UNRV.  Do you mind if I hijack this thread to ask a question? 

     

    You only have one 'Agent of Rome' novel currently out in audiobook format, and seems to be neither the earliest, nor the latest.  Do you have plans to release the rest of the series in that format?

  16. Romans first to use surnames?

    in Nomina et Gentes

    Posted

    Gleaned the following from Wikipedia: The oldest gentes originated before the foundation of Rome (let's say 753 BC), and claimed descent from mythological personages as far back as the time of the Trojan War (let's say 1184 BC). However, the establishment of the gens cannot long predate the adoption of hereditary surnames. The nomen gentilicium, or "gentile name," was its distinguishing feature, for a Roman citizen's nomen indicated his membership in a gens.

  18. Julius Caesar: Ministrokes not Epilepsy

    in Imperium Romanorum

    Posted · Edited by GhostOfClayton

     

     

    I'm not sure if I agree with the conclusions, but it is an interesting article, nevertheless.

     

     

    guy also known as gaius

     

     

    It's the Daily Mail, Guy, so you're right to be skeptical, but I'm going to have to ask you, what are your grounds for not agreeing with the conclusions?

  20. The Ides of April

    in Libri

    Posted

    It's worth reawakening this thread.  There was a second Flavia Albia novel 'Enemies at Home', and the third 'Deadly Election' is fresh out.

     

    Here's my review of The Ides of April audiobook that I posted on www.audible.com:

     

     

     

    It’s different antagonist in a different time. There’s a different emperor on the throne, and his paranoia bleeds through to the day to day life of Rome’s 1st Century inhabitants. Davis has to work hard to convince the reader that it’s credible for a young woman to succeed in the very masculine world of her father during these troubled times, but through a combination of her great skill as a writer, and a small degree of suspended disbelief on the audience’s part, we soon settle in and start to enjoy the ride. It DOES work. You DO believe the characters. You CAN believe the plot. Who’d’ve thunk it? All in all, though this first Flavia Albia novel is a little of a faltering start to the series, but anyone who has been with Falco from the word ‘go’ will trust that this is just a settling in period, and all will be back to the usual excellence, come the next outing.

    Helping us into this new Rome is the perfectly formed voice of Lucy Brown. It's a joy to listen to, and (if I'm honest), I'm just a little bit in love with those dulcet tones. However, it's just a little too perfect for a first person narrative by a London street child. Lacks that streetwise edge I imagine Albia to have. You can't have everything.

  21. Simon Scarrow

    in Libri

    Posted

    Since the last posting in this thread, which referred to the last book as 'Gladiator', there have been more:

     

    1. The Legion (2010)

      • Blood Debt (2009, short story)
    2. Praetorian (2011)
    3. The Blood Crows (2013)
    4. Brothers In Blood (2014)

    Two reasons I've raised this now.  The first being that a lot of water has flown under the bridge since this thread was last active, and some of our newer members may have an interest.  The second is that I tried my arm with this series, and am enjoying it very much.  It probably takes him a few books to really get into his stride, but then they become proper page turners.  All very exciting boys-own style adventures.  My only criticism is that I do find myself thinking 'here we go - yet another battle'.  There's a lot of fighting, and it's all a bit samey after a while.  But becoming desensitised to the stabbing is only a minor hurdle.  In short, my advice to you would be "Get it read!".

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