GhostOfClayton
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Posts posted by GhostOfClayton
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The devine Charlie Brooker is also having a good old moan in The Guardian about Dickie 3's funeral.
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Oh - you mean the Constantinople Hippodriome.
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The relationship between a society's health and its wealth are very complex. We're all living longer, and it's widely believed this is due to improved standards of healthcare made possible by a wealthier society. Is that the end of the story? Of course not. We also eat and drink more, making us far more overweight than previous generations. If you look at the post WW2 populations, they were all very poor, with very little food about the place and loads of manual work to do. Pre-NHS and very poor, yet very healthy (apart from too many ciggies). Yet there are plenty of counter examples of populations where poverty is causing shortened lifespans.
The relationship between wealth and tax levels is also complex. A higher nett income after tax is no indicator of what we usually think of as 'wealth'. Availability of goods/housing/services, inflation, social infrastructure, crime, etc. all impact on how wealthy we feel, whether or not we have money in our pocket.
Lastly, we're all human beings, so we never feel 'wealthy'. We percieve the world in relative terms, so we only ever feel 'wealthier' or 'less wealthy' than other individuals, other countries, or ourselves last year/next year.
I think we've now reached consensus that this study is b*ll*cks.
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For reasons I won’t go into, Hiking-Hols-R-Us will be sending me to a place called Sestri Levante (just south of Genoa, Italy), later this year, and it’s quite possible I just might get some free time. Does anyone know of any Roman stuff round there that’s worth seeing? Or know of somewhere i can look to find out?
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Don't get too hung up on the rear ditch. (NB It's technically known as 'The Vallum' for reasons I won't go into here). It was not part of the original wall design, but added some years later. it isn't a ditch in the classic sense, and is certainly not a mirror to the northern ditch (a traditional V shape with ankle breaker in the bottom). In fact, in the central section, it runs almost a kilometer south of the curtain wall.
There has been plenty of speculation why it exists at all, but no answers.
It's an easy trap to fall into to think of the wall as serving the same purpose as a city- or fort wall, and then try to draw parallels based on the function they served. Limes, and especially Hadrian's Wall, did not serve the same function.
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Just to expand on my postulation. The turf part of the turf wall was designed to be a barrier in its own right. Any woodwork placed on top of that would have been for the purposes of protecting soldiers patrolling atop the wall (and not to add to the invulnerability of the rampart itself.)
There is negligible evidence of any wall-top patrolling taking place, and certainly it's difficult to find any value that such patrolling would add.
As I mentioned, the Lunt guys blamed rabbits for their turf rampart reduction. Someone from Vidolanda once told me (before I spoke to Lunt) they'd lost half a metre in 25 years. At the time, I assumed it was due to drying out, rotting of vegetation, spread, and general settling that must happen with turf ramparts. However, from the photos posted by Onosander, it's apparent that rabbits are present at Vindolanda, and so they are surely to blame there.
To touch on the funding question at The Vindolanda Trust. They will need funding for many years to come, and use the vast majority of funding for further archaeological excavation. They've still got many decades of digging to do at Vindolanda itself, and even when they've finished that, they also own the largely untouched Hadrian's Wall/Stanegate fort of Magnis. It's my impression that funding isn't a huge issue for them at the moment, but obviously the more they get, the faster they can dig.
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For completeness' sake, I should point out that English is just one of the languages traditionally spoken in 'Britain'. The other widely spoken language is Welsh, which stills owes a lot to Latin (or Llattinn, which is no doubt Welsh for Latin - joke.) The same could be said of Cornish (no longer spoken as a native language) and Scottish Gaelic (rarely spoken as a native language, if ever). presumably, this is due to the westward displacement of the Roman-influenced Celtic natives by Anglo-Saxon invaders.
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I spoke to the guys at Lunt Roman Fort, who had a smilar issue with turf rampart 'sinkage'.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Lunt_fort_baginton.JPG
Unlike Hadrian's turf wall, in a fort context, the wooden pallisades would clearly be needed, and Lunt seem to be sidestepping the sinkage problem using planking. They deliberately didn't fix the problem, as an experiment to see how the ramparts would age. Not sure what the value of that experiment is, given the contemporary presesnce of rabbits. (Which they blamed as the main culprits, and weren't present in Roman times - allegedly)
If I were a betting man, I would say that there were no wooden installations of any kind on top of the turf walls. That is a very controversial, but far from unique, theory.
Unlike the stone wall, there is evidence of provision of access to the top of the turf wall. I am happy to expand on that evidence, if requested.
I will ask Vindolanda next time I'm there (not this year, sadly), but I suspect the original build was an archaeological experiment, rather than an ongoing visitor reconstruction, and they weren't prepared to spend money on upkeep once it was complete. It is totally falling down now.
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Keep this under your hat. There are a number of political parties that would peddle this as scientific proof that ordinary citizens thrive in a low tax economy, conveniently ignoring JK Galbraith's slightly more contemporary works.
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William Bell Scott "The Building of the Roman Wall"
If you really work on the wall, kindly ask the park maintence guys to close the gap between the wooden walls and the mounds, it's causing OCD Anger Fits in me seeing such a absurdly useless defensive array being on display. If the Romans actually used it, they all deserved to be ambushed and die. Rule 1 for any defensive fortification: The Defensive Walls has to reach all the way to the ground. It's about the worst place I can imaging for a shortcut. Its almost as bad as forgetting to put a lock on the city gates.... or making them so they can only be locked from the outside only, your just asking for problems.
Of course, this is the same wall that built a defensive ditch to the REAR of the wall (????), and took delight in plastering the front of the wall. It's a shameful wall.
Good work on the painting, though the full title is "The Romans Cause a Wall to be Built for the Protection of the South". A typically over-verbose William Bell Scott title. Do please PM me while I desperately try and think of a prize.
I'm not sure quite where you're thinking about wooden-wall-wize. All I can think of is the recreation of the turf wall at Vindolanda. This was built in the 70s, and to my knowledge hasn't been repaired since, Not a realistic archeological experiment, given the presence of rabbits in the UK that weren't (arguably) there in 122AD.
The turf wall should have been a defence in and of itself, but it has been argued that it may have had a wooden pallisade along the top for patrolling. I won't go into the various arguments for and against that here.
I don't go to Vindolanda very often, but I know the turf wall has lost over half a metre in height since it was built, so I imagine gaps have appeared beneth the pallisade. Do you think that's what you meant? If not, do you have a photo or some such i can have a look at?
The wall itself was very much a cowboy job. Very poor quality.
I once had a job in an Engineers' Stores. The odd-job man was asked to brick up a hatch and, not being a skilled brickie, made a total mess of it, with no brick ending up parallel to any other, or indeed perpendicular to the force of gravity. So, he rendered it, got a plank of wood, and dragged his thumb along it in the wet plaster to create a perfect brickwork effect. he then painted it white. It looked pretty convincing in the end. I often think that's what was happening with the plaster they found at Wallsend. For completeness, I will say that there's no evidence of render anywhere else along the wall.
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Can I recomend a visit to Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake, if you're ever visiting Niagara Falls. Easy to get to by bus.
There's also Old Fort Niagara on the US side, but I haven't been, so can't give a recomendation.
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Tough one. Stories of what all the Gods got up to have evaded me thus far, and Wikipedia (which is where I learned everything I know) isn't much help. We therefore must deal with statistical likelihoods. Most likely, based on sheer volume of accessible remains and relevance to Nike, would be Ephasus.
Therefore my guess is Ephesus.
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I read several of your blog entries to become more familiar with you. They are very entertaining and informative. I promise I will never again recline my airlines' seat without first looking to see who's back there. If it's a tall guy with an English accent, the seat will remain upright!
Good lad!
Your avatar has to do with Rosemary Sutcliff's Eagle of the Ninth and your guide duties at Hadrian's Wall. Naxos Audio Books cover art.
Whilst you're right that you'll find the centurion in question on the cover of some editions of Eagle of the Ninth, the truth is that it and my Avatar share the same original source. Identify that source, and the mystery prize will be yours (if the Christmas present from the blog wasn't enough - what a munificent man I am!)
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Hmm.
I must admit, it seems quite an academic way of stating a distance, and I haven't seen it done before in a fictional context. I'd aim for a much more touchy-feely way of representing distance. Most of the time in fiction, lengths are stated to give the reader an idea of the distance involved, rather than a an actual 'hard-and-fast' measurement. This could be done by using such phrses as "a days's march" and still get the concept right over to the reader.
One star just for that is tough criticism, though.
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Hmm . . . you didn't mention the key word, but I'll let you have it anyway (if you promise another cryptic in return.)
The key word was 'Lincoln' . . . a shortened form of Lindum Colonia, itself a shortened form of Colonia Domitiana Lindensium. Lindum became the provincial capital of Flavia Caesariensis when the province of Britannia Inferior was subdivided in the early 4th century.
It is one of only 3 cities that retain its identity as a Colonia in its modern name. The other two are (as stated above) Cologne and Colchester.
Back to you.
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Important to point out that this was found under Cardiff (Wales). UK residents can (and, I'm sure, will) insert their own jokes about the Welsh at this point.
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Roman Britain: A Timewatch Guide
Country: UK
Channel: BBC 4 (and BBC 4 HD)
Date: Tuesday, 17th Februaryat 2100 GMT, repeated 0300 the next morning and 2200 on the 19th.
Episodes: 1 (60 minutes)
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b052vcbg
Using 50 years of BBC history archive film, Dr Alice Roberts explores how our views and understanding of Roman Britain have changed and evolved over the decades.Along the way she investigates a diverse range of subjects from the Roman invasion, through Hadrian's Wall, the Vindolanda tablets and the eventual collapse of Roman rule. Drawing on the work of archaeologists and historians throughout the decades, Alice uncovers how and why our views of this much-loved period of our history have forever been in flux.
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.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Alice Roberts can do no wrong in my eyes, though she seems odd for Auntie Beeb to keep rolling her out to front Roman History programmes, even though she has a sound knowledge of palaeopathology (in a Renaisance woman kind of way), there are many more excellent presenters with a broad Roman background swilling about the corridors of W1A. Still, this programme will no doubt be yet another of BBC4's staple offerings, where they mine the archives for interesting titbits, edit them together, and pop a charaismatic, clever and photogenic 'expert' in front of the camera in a relevant location. Mark my words, there will be nothing new on offer here, but it will be 60 minutes' worth of interesting telly. -
Yeah, to be honest, I just knew it, and i wanted to let it run a little longer.
Anyway, while we're being a bit cryptic, try this place:
My first is in Hell, but not in Hades,
My second’s in Latins, but not Pelagones
My third is in Novum but not in Homo
My fourth’s not in Major, but is in Domo
My fifth’s in Dracunculus, though not in Artemisia
And my last’s in Maritima, but not in Caesaria.
‘The Place by the Pool’ is how I am known.
And I’m the third in the list: Colchester, Cologne. . .
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Would this cityhave been home to Artemisia Dracunculus?
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Most convincing answer so far, Meneer Arrectibus.
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Thrax overlapped each of their reigns. He was a douchebag. Thrax the Douche.
We don't use the word 'douchebag' half enough over here. It's a great word! Personally, I would welcome it into our vernacular.
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Maybe "Orbis terrarum" (also Cicero) is better in this context, but I have to study on that.
I know that the Orbis Terrarum was Agrippa's (I think) map of the known world, but how does 'Orbis' literally translate into English. I'm guessing it isn't 'map'.
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Is this for the second book in the series, Cinzia?
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It was covered very well on a documentary called Rome's Lost Empire (see http://www.unrv.com/forum/topic/11550-coming-up-next/?p=122617).
I can't find it on Youtube or any of the usual sources. You may have something over that side of the pond.
Sestri Levante
in Vacatio
Posted
OK. I'm going to nudge this one back to the top of the list with another question. How do I search for Roman remains in Italy? Websites? Literature? Maps?