GhostOfClayton
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Posts posted by GhostOfClayton
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Hi Crispina. I read the first and second, but am yet to read the third. I'll echo what has been said so far. Well read, and quite exciting. Well researched. Good characters. I very much enjoyed reading them, though I didn't rush out for the third book. I won't bore you with a full review, but some of the gory scenes are very gory, and as a lady of delicate constitution, you may be advised to skip ahead once things start getting too 'wet'.
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Has anyone here actually worn any? How useful was it when the action started? Too heavy? Too cumbersome? It's defensive properties seem to be well documented in this thread, but to what extent will it inhibit an offence?
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and how are "DIVO, DIVVS, DEVS" Pronounced
My money is on:
DIVO = Dee-Vo (Vo rhymes with 'No')
DIVUS = Dee-Vuss (Vuss rhymes with 'Bus')
DEUS = Day-uss (again, rhymes with 'Bus')
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You are exactly on the nose there, Melvadius. I'm pretty certain that's the entire 3 (obviously, most people forget Lincoln). If there are more, I need to know about it pronto (that's your homework!)
Well done. Whilst there is no material prize available, you've won the respect and admiration of your peers, which is much, much more valuable
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I'm not going to add anything to this thread, Fulvia. Sorry about that. What I will say is firstly, lucky old you, and secondly, it's an excuse to bump this post back to the top. I've always had a hankering to spend my 50th birthday in Rome, and so if anyone adds any tips/tricks to your thread, rest assured I'll be taking careful note, so that I can wet-noodle them myself.
Enjoy your time there.
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I seem to remember it was amongst the propeganda of one of those 'Metric martyr/UKIP' types, so its authenticity is in serious doubt.
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That's OK then. Carry on. As you were.
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This is a little off topic, but here's a quiz question for you. Cologne is one of three cities whose modern name has retained the COL of COLONIA. What are the other two? I'll give the answers (if no-one gets it) some time in the indeterminate future, depending on wifi availability.
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OT: How is your summer of tours going so far, Ghost? You mainly guide tours of the wall right? what other sites, if any, were you able to visit?
I'll PM to not clog up this thread, but to put it in a nutshell: Wet.
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Did I read somewhere that the pound (weight) came from the ideal weight of a stone to be used in a sling?
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Can I just check my facts here? Do you guys doubt the existence of trade between Britannia and areas under Roman control in 150AD?
I'm not going to go out and trawl the internet for evidence, but surely the distances and obstacles were not great enough to impede trade as late as 150BC.
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In this episode of the BBC programme Who Do You Think You Are", Mayor of London Boris Johnson finds records taking his ancestry back to God (yes, you did read it right).
Disclaimer: The above makes me sound like a krank. That may be the case, but rest assured the persona I adopt on this forum is perfectly normal, logical, and capable of reasoned argument.
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Not sure how much of a Roman slant this one will have, but anyone interested in Roman flora should give it a listen.
'Gardeners' Question Time from Fishbourne Roman Palace'
Country: UK
Channel: BBC Radio 4
Date: Friday, 3rd August, repeated Sunday 5th August
Time: 1500 GMT and 1400 GMT respectively (for 45 mins)
Episodes: 1
Link: BBC Radio 4
Eric Robson and the team answer gardening questions in Fishbourne Roman Palace and Gardens. Bob Flowerdew, Christine Walkden and Anne Swithinbank are on the panel.
As usual, this one will be on iPlayer, but if you're living outside this green and pleasant land, you may not be able to get it.
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Not for any acedemic reason, but I'm sure you'll be interested if you read Asterix in Britain. It purports to answer your exact question, even though it is intended to be taken with a pinch of salt (the story, not the tea, which should be taken with a twist of lemon.)
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found this long series of podcasts about ancient Rome.
Can anyone vouch for the quality of this, like by choosing a bit of history you are familiar with and see how true his story is? Probably this is fine, but I remember downloading all kinds of Roman history in the early days of podcasts and gradually realized they were often questionable accounts by enthusiasts just skimming thru a book and stereotyping at will. Sure, that is what I do in this very forum, but at least here it is exposed for people to dispute and correct.
OK - a follow up on my previous post. My area of so-called expertise is the time of Hadrian. Moving backwards, it tapers off slowly back to late Republic, and forwards I'm not really too comfortable past the Severans.
I've now listened as far as the co-emperor-ship of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. I haven't changed my opinion one jot. If anything, I now recommend it more highly.
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Even if the statue itself appears exactly as it did 2000 years ago, what's to say the person who painted it had ever laid eyes on the lad himself? I would guess he had a not-too-dark brown hair colour, and the painter just used what he had available that most approximated it. That said, the skin tone is pretty realistic for a limited colour pallette.
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It's a massive sweeping generalisation, but I can broadly split my clients into 2 camps . . . and this is where language fails me a little, so bear with me at this point . . . there are those who are 'Interested' and those who are 'Intellectually Curious'. The Interesteds listen to what you tell them, and are happy to know it, but there it ends. No obvious desire to know more and few clarification questions. If I take them to a museum, they look round the place, report back that they enjoyed it, but never report that there wasn't enough time, or they plan to go back another day.
The Intellectually Curiouses, show that extra interest, ask questions, chat to the Guide about the subject of the tour, rather than general conversation, that kind of thing. The more of them I see, the more I seem to be able to pigeonhole them into one camp or the other. As an experiment, have a think about the people you interact with, can they be similarly pigeonholed?
Now here
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Thanks - I have one in mind - just need a photo, which shouldn't be too long now. Watch this space.
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A yellow dress did not mean a Roman prostitute any more than a red dress means one today. In fact a Roman bride wore a long veil of bright yellow on her wedding day.
The common yellow dye came from a plant called Weld, and was popular with both men and women, since despite the idea of Romans wandering around draped in bedsheet-white togas, a tunic - preferably brightly coloured - was everyday wear for most men. Roman erotic wall paintings, some of which are believed to depict prostitutes, show clothes of various colours.
The ancient sources tell us where prostitutes worked, what they wore, how they were licensed and when they were allowed to operate (after the ninth hour). I've never heard of a statuatory colour for their clothing.
(Incidentally, the name comes from the small rooms where the women worked - stabula - from whence we also get the word 'stable'. A woman looking for trade would stand in front of the room, as a prostabula. The cheaper ones worked under archways - fornices - and their semi-public couplings were 'fornication'.)
This is Tour Guide gold, Maty. Thankyou for that - I'm very impressed by your knowlege of prostitution!
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Just a quick note to report on 'Two For The Lions', which I finished some time ago, but didn't update this thread. Although Davis had set the bar pretty high with '3 Hands in the Fountain', I have to say that she has pulled it out of the bag once again with 2-4. This mixes the best of her gritty Rome location writing with the evocative destinations visited by Falco and friends. The best of both worlds, and in 2-4, done very well indeed. i won't try and choose between '2-4' and '3 Hands', (OK, I will - it was 3-Hands), but suffice it to say, if you liked the one, you would love the other.
In summary: Keep 'em coming.
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If it's not French, it could only be the The Roman Theatre in Volterra (located at Vallebuona), which was built in the late first century BC, and fell into disuse in the 3rd century, leaving room for baths to be built. These days, it's used for the annual celebration of International Festival of Volterra.
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During the Republican period, before there was a standing army, the appointed tribunes conducted an ad hoc draft, or dilectus, to recruit men into the consular army.
Ta.
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What's a Dilectus?
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Was he the "Lucullus dines with Lucullus" Lucullus?
Lindsey Davis
in Libri
Posted
It's been a while since I visited UNRV, and I feel I must bring you up to date with my journey through Falco's adventures. Back in June (was it that long ago?) I reported on 'Two for the Lions'. I took a bit of a break from Falco after that, but recently returned and picked up 'One Virgin Too Many'. This wasn't a return to the olive oil theme covered in 'A Dying Light in Corduba', but a story set against the world of the Vestal Virgins. A cracking read with all the standard murder, political and religious intrigue (much the same animal in ancient Rome), but also a race against time to save a young girl's life. Exciting stuff, but 3-hands is still my favourite.