GhostOfClayton

Check out a few of those words on Glossa. A superb Latin website.

Story? Do tell. Artimi. where have you been? I can tell that you (a) weren't a child in the 1990s, and (b.) don't have children/grandchildren that were children in the 1990s. Alternatively, you must live the life of a hermit on an atoll somewhere. Or possibly Wales. They were a craze that kids pestered their parents to death for money just to buy. Massively overpriced small coloured discs. They wanted them because their peers had them, and for no other reason. We're a crazy, mixed-up species!

How about: Laquearius / Paegniarius Samnite Scissor

This one is on Wednesday 2100 (GMT) on BBC2 (and will be on the iPlayer for those outside this green and pleasant land.) Ancient Worlds

So that's what Mrs OfClayton gets up to while I'm working away!

He who passes for our local "Lord of the Manor" is sadly lacking when it comes to performing his Parish duties. The residents here in Aquis-of-the-Romans are simple village folk who need a steady hand on the manorial tiller. Perhaps you could attempt to usurp his position? A pretty big manor house does go with the position (I bet you could nearly fit OfClayton Towers into the entrance hall,) though I'm sure it would be a bugger to heat.

Dash! The title of this thread wrote a cheque the content couldn't cash. Seriously now . . . Is there a list of the masculine words you'd like the feminine forms of?

I take it back. I thought they were just little bits of cardboard. Mind you, the ability of modern marketing organisations to create a MASSIVE demand amongst children for small, easy-to-produce tat that sells in hundreds of millions for many times the manufacturing cost - now that would be the envy of many a Roman-era cult religion. Does that make me sound like a grumpy old man who's dreading Christmas?

Just a minute, Trethiwr . . . I didn't spot it on the first reading, but "Pogs!" Really?

I bet there are plenty of 'geezers' down there in "that London" who would have the door open faster than you could say "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"! and by the way . . . reinforced concrete! It's only the smallest of steps from your bog-standard run-of-the-mill concrete, to concrete with lumps of ironwork stuck in it. Why didn't they think of it? Maybe they did.

Hmmm . . If you're thinking of challenging me to a gray hairs competition, it's only fair to bring Exhitbit 'A' to your attention.

Electrical stuff (and possibly also the internal combustion engine) would be the magic of the Gods, so I think they would be especially impressed by anything that had an immediate use for them, something it would be obvious would make their lives easier: To expand on the magnets theme, a compass. The legionaries had to wade across the Abus Fluvius, so the Humber Bridge would be extremely impressive (it still impresses me, and I see it every day from OfClayton Towers). Pneumatic tyres. A game of darts or snooker in the local tavern. A box of Matches. I'm sure there would also be some things that would make a Roman (especially one from a Patrician family) think that a backward step had been taken. If one were to visit OfClayton Towers, the lack of slaves would be a concern to them. I do my own ironing, cut my own lawn, etc. Also, sorry to put an unwelcome image in your heads, but the use of paper to wipe your derri

Congratulations to The Giants. Given the end of season form of my local sporting team ("Aquis-of-the-Romans" Cricket Club) I should probably switch my allegiance to the Giants.

Surely achieving ten things in a day easily matches believing six impossible things before breakfast. It sounds to me like that baguette is well deserved!

Ah, I see. Thanks, Klingan - good recommendation. PS I thought you meant you had an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that caused you to learn historical dates. That would have been useful! Possibly more so than the book.

What's an OCD?

This is at the villa north of Hadrian's Wall, right? Yep, that structure would probably have been referred to as an ergastulum (though it was a pretty broad term and no doubt used for a wide range of structures used to secure slaves - that one seemed to be used as a punishment rather than secure storage.) As far as the timing is concerned, the villa owner was undoubdtedly what my Dad would refer to as "a bit of a rum lad". Given his remote location, such an individual would be happy to use these structures with impunity, even if they were illegal. The main historical inaccuracy, I feel, is the remote location. Would a Villa/Estate be built so far into territory that, by late 4th/early 5th century, was increasingly hostile? The evidence points to them being very rare even during the period when they had the protection of the Antonine Wall.

There should be less pedant's!

A quick experiment with Cursiva Nueva (new [Roman] cursive) gives the following: This a little more readable to an English script reader than the older Cursiva Antigua. Less obviously Roman, but more readable to the modern reader is the type of font you see carved into monuments (Times New Roman is about the best likeness I can find - anyone?) .

Just to let you all know that I had a quick word with my good friend Steve Jobs, and between him and Tony Riches, they seem to have sorted the iBooks problem out. Arrows of Fury is now available to download to iBooks.

It's Monday, so it's time for my weekly blog, and this week, I have two stories to tell you all. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin . . . . Limericks I'm very fortunate that, no matter how bloody awful things get outside it, the stuff going on inside my skull is always pretty entertaining. When my mind is not otherwise occupied, it gets caught up with little tasks and trivia, and I can't seem to stop it. I don't want to seem like some kind of old letch, so I won't dwell on my recent, delighted realisation that, at the age of 64, (having not clapped eyes on her since 'The Good Life'), Felicity Kendal is still one outrageously hot lady. No. . . such blokey banter is not appropraite here, and I shall say no more on the subject. A much more sutable topic here is what was passing through my mind whilst doing the washing up the other day. I found myself composing a Roman Limerick. However, by time I was rinsing the suds away, I was struggling to think of a last line, so I'm throwing it open to the Congniscenti that I know call by here. Suggestions please: A young lass of the Corieltavi, Sold her virtue for 20 denari, A Centurion bought it, and said, "who'd've thought it!", Blah-DI-blah-blah . . di blah-blah . . . di blah-blah. By the way, I'm aware of the proper plural form of 'Denarius', but that doesn't scan! Next week, Pompeiian Haiku! I said at the beginning of the thread that I had two stories to tell, and those of you who've been counting will know that you still have another one owing. So here it is: Limes The reason I'm spending so much time on UNRV is that my current task involves putting together a proposal for an 8-day walking holiday along the German-Raetian Limes, along similar lines to our Hadrian's Wall tour. Am I using UNRV for research? No. The trouble is, at the early stages of this sort of job, it's all done on the computer. "Why is that a problem?", I hear you ask. The problem is that my computer, like most nowadays, is connected to the internet, and (to quote Dave Gorman) the internet contains everything in the whole world, ever. I don't know about you, but I find 'everything in the whole world, ever' a bit of a distraction. Hence my far-too-frequent visits to this fine website, when I should be researching. I should be identifying the best 'section' of the 550km trail (my section needing to be walkable by the average hiker in 6 days), based on: scenic quality, historical value, access to accomodation and transport, length and height gain of individual days, etc. etc. . . . and I soon found out just how rusty my German was (it's been 3 years since I lead a tour in a German speaking country), when I discovered just how little information there is to be had in English. So, if anyone has any real-life experiences of this fascinating Roman border, it would be great to hear from them. Call me! We'll do lunch. Couple more things to add: 1. 85 more shopping days to The Eagle of the Ninth (if I keep reporting this figure every week, it's bound to be wrong!) 2. For the nostalgic among you, my Asterix book of the week is "Asterix and the Laurel Wreath".

D

The 2 sites are only 200m or so apart, and both are (where you would expect cemeteries) along one of the roads out of the colonia. Timing-wise, the 'headless' article is saying about 200AD, but I can't remember a dating for the 'Gladiator' find. Anyone?

Thanks for giving me my first real belly-laugh of the weekend, Nephele.

Another one for you . . . Auntie is staying quite tight-lipped about when these are going to be aired, but there's a new season of History Prgrammes being trailed for BBC2. There are two of specific interest to this forum: Pompeii