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agamemnus

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Posts posted by agamemnus

  4. Another irresponsible "return" of artifacts

    in Archaeology

    Posted · Edited by agamemnus

    Western caretakers of artifacts continue their appeasement of every half baked claim for returning artifacts, in this case Yale to Peru. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12438695 (not just the borrowed stuff)

     

    Nothing will please them more than to give away every speck of research or museum material that originates from more than a stones throw away. Not concerned to diversify risks for natural or political disasters - just pull everything back to it's own place of origin. Not concerned whether the peoples of the world can see samples of artifacts from other cultures without a globetrotting journey - just let empty shelves be a proud badge of political correctness.

     

    This is an ever increasing trend, even leading to artifacts vanishing forever. For example US Indian legal claims have increased on old skeletons, regardless of whether they appear to be of non-Indian origin. So they are snatched away from scientific review, to be reburied by people who also may be substantially non-indian (exaggerating percentage of genetic links for reasons of fashion or access to casino profits).

     

    I think this collapse of western scientific responsibility should be punished. Any college president, professor, or staff that gives into this should have their own titles of ownership scrutinized. If they own land, homes, or objects that doesn't have 5000 years of exactingly clear title transfer history, it should be confiscated. If this excessively self deprecating attitude isn't challenged, it will be the end of both local and overseas museum trips. The same "we are unworthy to tread" attitude threatens to kill air travel with brutal green taxes.

     

    Agreed. You know what else bothers me? China claims ownership to every Panda ever born and receives rent from them...

  5. Roman trade ships -- how did they control the rudder?

    in Academia

    Posted · Edited by agamemnus

    I just figured out a very simple and elegant solution. I can simply add four or five "gear-like" wedges to the top of the oar/rudder. Pair that with a ring formed in the shape of a circle with some matching outside wedges and you have a way to rotate the oar/rudder at both a variable weight and rudder angle. Model pics will come later-ish!

     

    Edit: Here are the pics at the bottom. Not really sure what's to hold the bottom part of the whole contraption (the gear) to prevent it from snapping under the weight. Perhaps some manually adjusted rigging lines attached to the mast, somehow.

     

    p5.png

     

    p6.png

     

    Connecting the right and left controls would help disperse some of the weight. If it was a large wooden rod, it might snap, so I think it'd be iron. I really don't know whether any such iron rods were found in any shipwrecks, though. Still, I'm not sure what the largest recovered ship was... as far as I can tell the ships in the shipwrecks weren't really too big. (excluding the Nemi ships)

  6. Ordering of a Roman House Can Be Considered as a

    in Romana Humanitas

    Posted · Edited by agamemnus

    ASIDE.

     

    If the modern inconsideration of some lower middle-class neighbors in the US is any indication (blowing smelly cheap detergent out of your house, blowing gas in a neighbor's window with a loud and gas-powered leaf-trimmer while they are asleep, etc.) of how these same people acted in Roman times, I would not be surprised that villa owners chose to block off their outward-windows -- from both un-intentional and malice-driven sights and smells. In the Roman times, I guess it would be horse manure & human waste (sometimes unavoidable, depending on where your villa is.. location, location, location!), and various cat-calls and prank jeering.

     

    It's really no surprise at all that most Roman villae (especially city ones) were built inward. Walled in villae and shuttered windows keep the "barbarians" at bay.

  7. Roman trade ships -- how did they control the rudder?

    in Academia

    Posted · Edited by agamemnus

    Indeed interesting.

     

    I am starting to wonder how big the real average size of these things were.

     

    Tiny:

    http://www2.rgzm.de/Navis/Ships/Ship050/Image/050F0026.jpg

     

    Well, at least they had fish wells!:

    Fiumicino 5 is characterised by a well positioned in the middle body of the boat. This is an aquarium-container which was used to keep fish fresh until the sale of the catch.

    The fishing well, troncopyramidal in shape with a squared base (1 m x 1m), is a box made of very thick planks (5 cm) assembled with mortise-and-tenon joints. The corners are stiffened with iron nails. The bottom transversal elements are shaped with the curvature of the hull and are fastened to the planking by copper nails driven in from the outside. The upper elements have angular recesses for a wooden lid (not preserved). The bottom of the well has 19 holes (diameter 2,5/3 cm), some with wooden plugs, to fill it with fresh sea water.

     

     

    Edit: holy frack!

     

    http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/archeosm/archeosom/imatges/archeosm/mule.jpg

     

    THE FOURMIGUE C SHIPWRECK

    Salomon Reinach said that "the sea is the most immense museum in the world." Actually, beginning in the nineteenth century, the bottoms of the sea, of rivers and lakes, have surrendered numerous masterpieces of ancient sculpture, such as the Ephebe of Agde, to fishermen and divers.

     

    At the beginning of the first century BC, a Roman ship capsized near the Gulf of Juan, not far from the turret of La Fourmigue. It transported a magnificent cargo of pieces of furniture.

     

    Several of the pieces that were raised belong to bronze beds that were decorated with finely carved sculptures.

  8. Roman trade ships -- how did they control the rudder?

    in Academia

    Posted · Edited by agamemnus

    I'm not sure that your first option would work as the internal support could severely restrict the turning of the rudder when the ship was in danger of running ashore. Don't forget that in this period at, least with smaller vessels, you have to be able to unship the rudder at times when working close to a shelving beach especially if you may intended to ground the vessel for loading and unloading.

    Yes, that's a problem. After reading Mott's 1991 paper more thoroughly, I also realized that the rudder needs to move along its support (which I haven't added yet) depending on the weight of the ship: a low weight means that the ship is high above the water and there is no pressure on the rudder. A large weight (when the ship is full of stuff) means the ship is riding low on the water and there is a lot of pressure on the rudder to move up.

     

    I thought of a solution to this -- make the top part of the rudder into two planks, and place the jutting out plank in the center to allow it to slide up and down.

     

    Another problem that I saw after I thought about this is that the rotation of the rudder would cause the iron pipe to move slightly up or down, and that would break the current casing.

     

    Given that you are dealing with a very large vessel is it not possible that the Roman made use of the rear platform to centrally mount a single rudder sweep fixed by a 'universal joint' made out of over-crossed hawsers/ large ropes?

    I didn't realize that universal joints were a possibility. Apparently, from the Wikipedia article on them, they were known since Greek times! This may solve the problem of the rod/paddle/oar/rudder not staying at one height.

     

    I'm not sure how you'd design a central rudder sweep, though... care to make a crude drawing? (maybe I could just join the two parts I have into one part? For such a long piece, it might have to be either made of crude steel or a thick piece of wood to hold together, though. Probably crude steel.

     

    Alternatively doing a general web search I stumbled across this image apparently of a later Byzantine Droman which seems to show a different rudder arrangement. The original source of the image is apparently from The Climax of Rome by Michael Grant

    The plate is from The Mansell Collection.

     

    A possible better source is this site which is the R

  11. Roman rise and fall 'recorded in trees'

    in Academia

    Posted · Edited by agamemnus

    The instability caused by the Antonine Plague probably contributed much more than any of the climate change in that period ever could. The sheer amount of soldiers that Roman armies could field (before this) was an enormous advantage against the Germanic tribes and against the Scythians.

     

    I don't really see how the Antonine plague could have been caused by climate change. (malnutrition wasn't a problem.. it was apparently caught by soldiers returning from the eastern border)

     

    Many cities in that era were devastated by earthquakes (especially in North Africa), as well... earthquakes aren't caused by climate changes as far as we know.

     

    Crop failure is a factor, I guess, for the Germanic tribes to resettle. But, they would never be able to do this without a weak Imperial army. The Roman Empire obliterated and/or re-settled whole tribes sometimes...

  14. Roman trade ships -- how did they control the rudder?

    in Academia

    Posted · Edited by agamemnus

    I am trying to make a realistic Roman trade ship model.

     

    Does anyone know how Roman trade ships -- especially large ones (ie, around 50 meters in length) -- controlled the rudder? I have been trying to figure this out for a while now.

     

    I know that they used massive oars on the side of each ship, and that a helmsman situated on the roof of a small tent structure controlled the oars.

     

    From all the pictures and descriptions I have seen, though, the helmsman is seen controlling a wooden plank attached to an oar, and the oar is held in place by a series of ropes (tackling). The problem is that the helmsman could not possibly maneuver the oar more than a handful of degrees, because he'd otherwise need to have huge arms in order to move the planks. The planks would need move circular fashion, at an angle to the ship, since the oars are also at an angle.

     

    My conclusion is that some sort of rope system was used that controlled the attached planks, but I have no idea how it would work.

  16. map issues: northwest africa

    in Renuntiatio et Consilium Comitiorum

    Posted

    I believe the wikipedia map is incorrect. Sala was located on the ancient Salat river (modern Bou Regreg) near the modern Moroccan city of Rabat. Banasas is near modern Sidi Aji Boujnon and Mount Maatga on the Sebou River.

     

    Morocco Map of Sidi Ali Boujnoun

     

    Just scroll out a bit to get the full perspective of Rabat to the southwest. It's difficult to find this stuff in English Google mapping... the true Arabic is probably much easier.

     

    Ah, you are right. I found the ruins on the map now.

     

    So.. anyway.. I sent you a test pm. Please tell me if you got it or not.

  18. map issues: northwest africa

    in Renuntiatio et Consilium Comitiorum

    Posted · Edited by agamemnus

    Well, I bought the map to help me as a reference.

     

    I am currently looking through Africa, and I have found that Banasa is not in the correct place, and possibly Sala needs to be further up.

     

    I have determined that the Sala site ("Sala Colonia") is in Rabat, Morocco.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chellah

    http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&biw=800&bih=469&q=morocco&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

     

    Banasa is to the east of Sala, not north. The Banasa site is located in "El Gara Jenoun", Morocco:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banasa

    http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&biw=800&bih=469&q=morocco&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

     

    Edit: Of course, I could be wrong... I'm not quite sure. There are a few conflicting sources. This one here:

    http://www.cs.ccsu.edu/~gusev/SciVis/PtolemyWestAfricaReconstructed.pdf

    ...places Banasa in the current spot, and it's based on Ptomley's "Geography".

     

     

    PS:

    Primus Pilus, I've sent you several PMs after the first one. Did you receive any? I don't think the PM system is working correctly.

     

    PPS:

    Not sure if this is the right forum...

  20. Error Corrections

    in Renuntiatio et Consilium Comitiorum

    Posted

    Indeed, the use of the term "no doubt" is clearly too strong. I've modified it.

     

    Thanks.

     

    Chris

     

     

    I think, after reading the above article I mentioned, that this statement is too strong, as well: " and it obviously had a major presence in manor facets of Roman life."

     

     

    Regardless of whatever you decide about that, I caught some spelling errors/typos in the same paragraph, bolded:

     

    It's not surprising that lead (lower case L..) has been associated as a potential major factor in the fall of the Roman Empire. Lead is known to cause a variety of disastrous illnesses along with sterility, which was prevalent in late Roman society, and it obviously had a major presence in many (manor --> many [?]) facets of Roman life. It's (Its --> it's) likely that lead played a minor role in comparison to other factors, but when combined with all other pressures, it may have added (add --> added) a compounding effect, even if a minor one.

  21. Error Corrections

    in Renuntiatio et Consilium Comitiorum

    Posted · Edited by agamemnus

    Hi Primus,

     

    Not sure if the message system is working... I sent you two messages so far. Anyway, I'll post here.

     

    Under the lead article, http://www.unrv.com/economy/lead.php, you have this:

     

    It's not surprising that Lead has been associated as a potential major factor in the fall of the Roman Empire. Lead is known to cause a variety of disastrous illnesses along with sterility, which was prevalent in late Roman society, and it obviously had a major presence in manor facets of Roman life. Its likely that lead played a minor role in comparison to other factors, but when combined with all other pressures, there is no doubt that it had an impact.

     

    However, the impact of lead on the fall of the Roman Empire was apparently quickly disproven, or cast into major doubt, almost as soon as it was popularized in the 80s, according to the research here:

     

    http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/leadpoisoning.html

  22. Forum Upgrade Issues Help List

    in Renuntiatio et Consilium Comitiorum

    Posted · Edited by agamemnus

    IMO, there is a very significant amount of clutter of both features and extra text/images with regards to the thread design; for instance, I find the feature of upvoting and downvoting of posts adversarial at best and a forum destroyer at worst. But first, please take a look at this screenshot of my message area. (I am using the latest public Firefox version)

     

    http://img838.imageshack.us/i/sadcat.jpg/

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