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Melvadius

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Posts posted by Melvadius

  1. I have to agree with Ghost here.

     

    We know that route maps of the Empire existed such as the Antonine Itinerary as well as the Tabula Peutingeriana.

     

    Such determined map and route listing would not have stood in isolation especially when you consider that many mile stones would originally have been painted providing distances to major towns nearby. We also have a series ofperiplus (sailing instructions) surviving from the period.

     

    These survivals argue for large quantities of documentary evidence being lost which would have provided general information for travellers giving them sufficient information to plan their journeys to the far flung areas of the empire and beyond.

     

    The Cursus Publicus being an imperial authorised route would definately have had routing information to ensure public messages ended up in the right place.

  2. The BBc is reporting the discovery of more fragments whcih appear related to the major Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard

     

    Staffordshire Hoard: Gold fragments found in Hammerwich

     

    About 90 more pieces of gold and silver believed to belong to the Staffordshire Hoard have been found.

    The discovery was made by archaeologists in the same Staffordshire field at Hammerwich where 3,500 pieces were found in 2009.

    Some of the new pieces are fragments that fit with parts of the original hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver.

    They include a possible helmet cheek piece, a cross shaped mount and an eagle shaped mount.

    ..continued

     

    A slightly different version of the report is here for the Stoke & Stafford area.

     

    And a video report here

  3. Not that I have read it except in very small extracts but possibly the 1922 'Oxford Text' of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom would provide some enlightenment since it runs to 335,000 words rather than the 'first' abridgement (1926 edition) which got cut to 250,000 words while the second abridgement of 1927 Revolt in the Desert only runs to 130,000 words.

     

    It is very dangerous to base any assessment of an individuals views on what is presented in popularistic film adaptations of books let alone the books themselves. Often changes are made wholesale in them - especially when the original author is dead.

     

    There is a separate issue that authors state views and opinions which may have little reality to how they thought or felt at the time of events. Although Lawrence kept notes of events and used them as the basis of his work he burnt them after writing the original draft of the Seven Pillars but then lost the original draft so had to re-write it from memory.

     

    There is a site which is dedicated to T E Lawrence which seems to contain academic discussion and lots of information on the man that you may find of interest here.

  4. The BBC is carrying this report on recent research into Ramesses IIIs death

     

    Conspirators murdered Egyptian King Ramesses III by slitting his throat, experts now believe, based on a new forensic analysis.

     

    The first CT scans to examine the king's mummy reveal a cut to the neck deep enough to be fatal.

     

    The secret has been hidden for centuries by the bandages covering the mummy's throat that could not be removed for preservation's sake

     

    The full report is in the British Medical Journal

  5. It's that time of year again when Archaeology Magazine randomises all the discoveries of the previous year whcih they ahve reported on to pick out what is always open to debate but which they consider are the '>top 10.

     

    This year there is Roman related interest with the inclusion in the list of Caesar's Gallic Outpost, Hermeskeil, Germany .

  6. I agree that the vegetation looks French but there are other parts of Europe it could be.

     

     

    The tiles and specifically the tile covers on the chimney stacks look similar to those found in several areas unfortunately the open bell tower also isn't really specific to any one area either.

     

    Just to spread the risk I will plump for Northern Italy.

  7. Not necassrily I would draw your attendtion tothis article by Valerie Hope in whihc she specifically states that

    The use of physical structures to commemorate battle sites, specifically victorious battles,

    was a long-held Roman tradition, influenced by Greek prototypes. In its original form, a

    trophy was a lopped tree adorned with captured weapons and to which prisoners were

    chained (Picard 1957). With time such structures took on a more monumental and

    permanent form. Mounds of earth might provide a locus for the display of the trophy. In

    AD 16 the troops of Germanicus, the emperor's nephew, erected a mound on which they

    set up arms with the names of defeated German tribes (Tacitus Annals II, 18).

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