Melvadius

Amongst ancient writing on bees and beekeeping the obvious sources are in Pliny Natural History where he makes several mentions of both including in one section how the honeycombs would be weighed and a decision made on how much to put back into the hive. Something any modern apiarist presumably knows only too well. Specifically in Book XXI, 47, Pliny declares his view that the best beehives are made from bark, the next best from fennel-giant and the third of osier although also mentioning some made from translucent stone and the need to apply cow dung over winter. There is a short article on Finds of Graeco-Roman Beehives from Sphakia, SW Crete Although it is based on fragmentary surface finds it is described as This item from Malta Inside Out has a photograph of a style of apiary which was used in Malta from at least the Roman period up to recent times in which recesses are built into walls where beehives were placed. The style of construction of both the recesses and how the bee hives are placed in the recesses allows the rear of the hive to be accessed and the honeycombs extracted. There is actually evidence for beekeeping going back long before the Roman period as this Israeli item indicates describing the discovery of three rows of beehives

Either date has nothing to do with Romans and their temple. The article states no construction date, but it can't be earlier then 51 BC and is probably much later. Agreed unfortunately I wrote in haste what I meant to indicate was that the only stated date of 800 BC seemed highly unlikely to fit with the Roman's presence in the area. Even if they meant AD 800 that seems equally improbable for a Roman temple finally going out of usein the area.

An interesting turn on practice archaeology from German online magazine The Local which just goes to prove that just about everywhere which is currently habitable is liable to have had someone either occupying it or at least passing through at some point in its history:

Who's attempting to be a sneaky Ghost - unfortunately Leptiminus (Lamta) is in Tunisia so wrong Hint - This site is off the beaten track so you also need to look a lot further away from the coast

No Ghost these are interlocking ceramic tubes which can be used to form a 'vaulted' curved roof such as you might find in a bath house. I took some photographs of a few broken examples when I went to leptiminus (Lamta) a few years back and included them in my gallery such as in this example. When they are concreted together and a skim of plaster applied over them they form a very respectable and strong curved roof which usally has a very distinctive ripple pattern as can be seen from this broken section which I photographed at the El Djem museum.

Right country but Leptis Magna is a bit too refined to be this site.

Discovery News is carying this report that Roman sailors were apparently paid so poorly that they smuggled what were high value tubi fittili (ceramic reinforcing tubes used in vaulting) from North Africa into Italy probably in the second century AD. Unfortunately the article is not explicit on how they knew that they were being smuggled but I presume they must have been found in small caches scattered all over a fairly recently discovered but very well preserved shipwreck.

Welcome Augusta I can sympathise having an essay to submit within the next few days and still 2,000 words short

Not this time

We could but that would be in the wrong part of the Empire - you are too far East.

Possibly they were but if you look at the fragments shown in the photograph attached to both articles you should realise that they are highly unlikely in this instance to have been the result of cutting.

I knew I shouldn't have answered OK try this one which is hopefully a bit more out of the way:

More details of this pre-production turkey potentially thrilling interpretation of the Ancient Roman veneration of wolves connected with the birth of Romus and Remus can be found here

As reported in the Brisbane Times a really important discovery has been made by an Egyptologist visiting the Queensland Museum in Brisbane to open an exhibition on ancient Egypt.

D*mn I didn't expect it to be there but then again its not an area I know - Dorchester villa

I take it that doesn't mean it is in Spain so how about Switzerland?

Is it in France?

As part of the advertising for Mary Beard's new TV series Meet the Romans' the BBC is carrying this article pointing up the fact that child prodigies even in the Roman period were both known and also suffered problems with pushy parents leading in some cases to unfortunate outcomes...

Given the Black labrador almost hidden behind the Spartan seems to be wearing a Pirate's hat I suspect it could be some form of Fancy Dress event? BTW Wikipedia claims 'Cosplay' as a Japanese invention (SIC) which has spread into other cultures that 'is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea.' This description totally loses the point that 'Cosplay' is a term used by someone from Japan attending the 1984 World Science Fiction convention where people wearing costumes representing fictional characters was a long established part of the 'culture' of some participants. In its 'home' territory of SF and Fantasy conventions depending on the circumstances it is called it either wearing 'Hall costumes' or 'participating in the masquerade'.

Deeply disappointing report. When I saw the title I thought it meant they were going to be giving away cash and if so I was quite happy to take some off their hands BTW it is not just America who still use cheques - despite various attempts by the banks to do away with them completely there is still a perceived need to keep them in use in the UK for several purposes.

Or just photoshopped it in or out? Seriously there were several of the Roman temples which either incoprotated sacred groves witihn their precincts or else had cult centres built within groves. Virgil, Aeneid VII.81-101 talks about the grove sacred to Faunus at Albunea and Ovid's Fasti, IV 649-72 covers the same cult centre but with some differences. There was a major cult centre of the Arval Brothers in a woodland clearing a few kilometers from Rome. Religions of Rome (Vol 2) by Mary Beard, John North and Simon Price gives more details of the above.

In a supplement to an earlier report announced in a University of Oxford press release in 2011 entitled Tudor England's 'Darwin Awards' - project studies fatal accidents from Oxford University; the BBC is carrying this story on how dangerous it could be for someone in the Tudor period during the summer months. NB As the project has apparently received funding for four years one wonders what other little gemns of Tudor mortality will be teased out and announced in future years.

Welcome to UNRV Kevin. Look around and if you have any questions ask away. Someone should be able to help at least point you in the right direction for an answer.

I must confess I Googled it probably as "magister pecoris camelorum" and maybe added Calocaerus outside quotes then just scrolled through the result screens until something more interesting came up than the usual repititions of Wiki.

There seems to be some discussion of the references for the passage from Aurelius Victor on page 244 of a book by George Hill 'A history of Cyprus' which is available on Google Books. Although not specifically referring to the 'Magister' in question you may find this item on Hierarchy in the Late Roman army, 300-550 AD by Robert Vermaat, posted on the Vortigern Studies website, of interest as it discusses the development High Command of the magister titles used in the later Empire.