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Northern Neil

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Posts posted by Northern Neil

  1. Segedunum, Hadrians Wall

    in Gloria Exercitus - 'Glory of the Army'

    Posted · Edited by Northern Neil

    Just as a footnote, there is an excellent website which devotes itself solely to Hadrians wall and the continuation of the frontier down the Cumbrian coast. Here is the link: http://www.hadrians-wall.info/

    There is a vast amount of information on the Wall here - not just history and site information, but also travel itineraries and bus/hotel availability. There is also a cheerful little forum to be found in the 'of interest' section. One or two familiar names have signed up already! I urge those with an interest in Hadrians Wall in particular to explore this site and forum. You will not be disappointed!

     

    EDIT: Whoops! I see that Pertinax has done this already. That'll teach me to read posts properly! Anyway, it wont harm to post the link again.

  3. How much of Rome do you see in America?

    in Hora Postilla Thermae

    Posted

    US is not an empire...

    Maybe not. However... The annexation of territory after the Spanish American war, and the Indian Wars was very empire - like, or at least evokes to me memories of the Roman Republic in its acquisition of territory. Examine closely the present day practices of supporting/disrupting other sovereign governments, having protectorates and financially bound allies, and the concept of always having an enemy, just lurking below the horizon, so as to whip up basic patriotism among the masses.

     

    I think it is best to say that powerful states throughout history have all used similar means to acquire and hold on to power, and this includes the European Powers in recent history. For the purpose of this discussion, I include America with the 'European powers' as it was a product of European expansion, has an overwhelmingly European culture, and until recently was largely European in ethnic make up.

     

    It still is, linguistically and culturally - hence the beautifully worded declaration of independence, or the fantastic neo - classical monuments of Washington, deliberately created to make a point, and a link to the most powerful empire of ancient times. And like all other empires, it has its immense positive cultural attributes, as well as its pragmatic political aspects.

  4. Segedunum, Hadrians Wall

    in Gloria Exercitus - 'Glory of the Army'

    Posted

    Help, folks. I have just embarked upon my most ambitious reconstruction model yet - a 6mm scale (1/300) reconstruction of Segedunum! At first I wanted to do Greatchesters, as I have always had an odd fascination with that site. But there is too little of the groundplan available to reconstruct, and the western ditches would be a headache to get right. Then I thought Housesteads - but its already been done by several other people, and better than I could do. Other forts are too lacking in detail currently, and I would hate to spend a lot of time making a model of a site, only to have some archaeologist disprove my conjectured groundplan a few years later! So I chose Segedunum, partly because the plan is nearly complete, and partly because the aparant lack of ground contours will render this easier to build than the aforementioned forts. When complete this will, including wall spur and vicus, cover a small tabletop, say about 1.5 metre square. I have a groundplan blown up to this size - but groundplans always miss out one important factor to model makers - contours. Which leads to my question.

     

    On the photos I have available, the whole site looks fairly flat - is this the case, or are there undulations and rises that I might need to include if my model is to be absolutely bob - on? I would be grateful for input from people whao have been there. I havent - as yet.

  6. When Does Antiquity End?

    in Postilla Historia Romanorum

    Posted · Edited by Northern Neil

    The fall of rome did not really signify the begining of a dark age though :rip:

     

    :ph34r: Ward Perkins, Peter Heather and other historians have recently dismissed this view as it flies in the face of all evidence. In the West, it heralded the start of massive economic collapse, a drop in literacy, a fall in population, desertion of cities and a huge decline in the living standards of ordinary people. In some countries such as Britain, Gaul and Spain, the Historical record almost ceased for two centuries. Coinage ceased to circulate. Quality of pottery and other manufactured goods sharply fell. Long distance travel ceased - in 400 it was possible to send a letter from Cadiz to Alexandria. By 500 this was impossible and would be for another 1000 years. Iron age economy was returned to, as well as building techniques - stone buildings with tiled roofs were only built by the Church, and on a very small scale. The low point came in about 800, when there were no towns west of Constantinople with a population greater than 5'000, with the exception of Arab Cordoba, in Spain. Trade throughout the Western Mediterranean did not return to fourth century levels until the 18th century. The upturn only began in the tenth century, with the advent of city states in Northern Italy, and a return to long distance trade. The rise of Christianity in this period is only a subjective bonus perceived by litoralist Christians.

     

    Compare all this with the situation before the mid 5th century.

     

    Antiquity is believed to have ended with the Arab invasions of the 7th century, although the term itself was fairly recently coined to refer to an uncertain, ambiguous period.

  7. God Is Here - Now!

    in Hora Postilla Thermae

    Posted

    Only one of them was nailed to anything. Osirus was chopped up. I don't know much about Dionysius or Bacchus but I would have remembered if they were crucified.

     

    On greater scrutiny, Osiris may be doubtful... but Dionysus and Bacchus were DEFINITELY nailed to bits of wood! In fact, the first 'crucifixes', dated to the 2nd century, were of Bacchus. Mind you, the guy looks like he's downed a flagon or three in his time...

  8. God Is Here - Now!

    in Hora Postilla Thermae

    Posted

    One way to test his claim: nail him to a big piece of wood and let him hang there till he dies.

    If he comes back to life after 3 days, I guess we'll take him at his word.

    If he doesn't come back from the dead, then no harm really done.

     

    Problem is, what do we then call him? Dionysus, Bacchus, Osiris or Jesus?

  10. The Rise Of Christianity

    in Templum Romae - Temple of Rome

    Posted · Edited by Northern Neil

    Yes, but that only applies if one follows the 'official' line on Jesus. And the official line comes from Romans cherry picking and altering the scriptures to suit themselves. How could Constantine possibly expect his subjects to accept Christianity, if the Bible stated that Jesus was a focus of rebellion against them, and that a Roman Governor had him mercilessly tortured and killed? Furthermore, the Jews were once again becoming rebellious at the this time. So, blame them for forcing Pilate's hand, and being responsible for killing Jesus. Even as a child at primary school, I used to think: 'why didn't Pilate, who seems not to have wanted to kill Jesus, just tell the jews to get lost, or he'd send in the troops?' The whole story just doesn't bear up.

     

    I agree Pilate was forced to decree the crucifiction of Jesus, but this is not the matter here.

     

    No, the point is being missed here. Please re-read carefully my comment, my dear Rameses. I am saying it is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY that Pilate was forced to kill Jesus. This is a later Roman postscript in order to cast the governor in a good light to Roman converts. In reality, Pilate wouldn't have batted an eyelid at executing a troublesome Jewish agitator.

     

    And yes, it is part of the matter here. Looking at Colin Mc evedy's 'Penguin Atlas of Mediaeval History' as I write, there is a distribution map of religion in AD 525. Christianity conforms to EXACTLY the area covered by both east and west Roman empires in the preceeding century. Even though the west was gone, the geographical 'shape' of the Empire was still delineated by the areas of Christian populations. Therefore, Christianity was a 'Roman thing'.

     

    My comment about Pilate, and the improbable story about his hesitancy over executing Christ, is just one tiny example I have plucked from an immense array of instances in which the Bible was edited to be more palatable to Romans. That this religion was eventually taken up by the Romans explains its meteoric rise after 325. It wouldn't have happened if the scriptures had been kept in their original form.

  13. The Rise Of Christianity

    in Templum Romae - Temple of Rome

    Posted

    Not in my copy of: "Who Was Who in the Roman World"; Diana Bowder (Editor); WSP, 1980; under the heading"Jesus".

    To me, it seems that too many of the 'conclusions' on this thread have been drawn from unproven premises.

    hmm... Just thumbing through my own copy of 'Who's Who', it does actually say: '...he was rejected by his family (who had high expectations of him) and the townspeople of Nazareth...'

     

    ...but then, in one of my books somewhere, Nazareth itself is called into question. It is said that it simply wasn't there until the third century, and that 'Jesus of Nazareth' was actually 'Jesus the Nazorean'. Wikipaedia states:

  14. The Rise Of Christianity

    in Templum Romae - Temple of Rome

    Posted · Edited by Northern Neil

    We're talking about the Romans as being opressive to the Jews. Jesus always showed respect to the Romans and was put in the position to begin with. I recall the Persians as being opressive, yet no one showed respect to them.

    Yes, but that only applies if one follows the 'official' line on Jesus. And the official line comes from Romans cherry picking and altering the scriptures to suit themselves. How could Constantine possibly expect his subjects to accept Christianity, if the Bible stated that Jesus was a focus of rebellion against them, and that a Roman Governor had him mercilessly tortured and killed? Furthermore, the Jews were once again becoming rebellious at the this time. So, blame them for forcing Pilate's hand, and being responsible for killing Jesus. Even as a child at primary school, I used to think: 'why didn't Pilate, who seems not to have wanted to kill Jesus, just tell the jews to get lost, or he'd send in the troops?' The whole story just doesn't bear up.

     

    Whilst I have no issue whatsoever against the spiritual message of Jesus itself - in as much as it can be discerned amongst the later waffle - it is sad, but true, that the Bible was like many pre-modern historical accounts. Written by the winners.

  15. Rome's Greatest Legacy To The Modern World

    in Imperium Romanorum

    Posted · Edited by Northern Neil

    ...For me it would seem that this turns out to a poll of interest.

    To a point, perhaps. I agree with Cato that many people will be exercising great objectivity here. For myself, I am by no means a fan of Christianity, but no one can deny that it is an immense and enduring legacy of the Roman Empire. I find it amazing that the Catholic Church, organised and set up by the Romans, using Latin as its administrative language, is with us today.

  17. Revived Ancient Greek Religion

    in Hora Postilla Thermae

    Posted

    I think that all these Greeks, Druids, etc., are a bunch of wackos looking for a bit of attention. This lot should take up knitting or something more eclectic in their spare time. Personally, I am into the Vampire bit. [ N.N., I hope that you know that I am playing Devil's Advocate. (Pardon the Papist term.)]

    No, thats a valid point, Octavius. I find the Druid thing a little more difficult to understand, given that there is almost nothing known about it with which to reconstruct the religion. If indeed it was a religion, and not just a sub-division within Celtic paganism. I must also agree with TaylorS - for Greek Orthodox priests to believe that their religious texts are a matter of historical fact flies in the face of all evidence, and to claim that any other kind of spirituality has less relevence to theirs is plainly elitist and misguided.

     

    I think the mystery cultists had it about right - religious texts were not to be taken as a literal truth, but were allegories, tailored to the worshippers background and culture in order to enable a spiritual connexion with god. What name you gave him, or wether or not you ate Pork, or fish on Friday, didn't really come into it.

  20. Mona Lisa?

    in Hora Postilla Thermae

    Posted

    I think its because 'nobs' are the only ones who have continuous documentary evidence of their ancestry. Also it is quite true that, the further back in history a personality is, the more likely you are to be one of their descendents. For example, it is unlikely that I or anyone else reading this is a descendent of Winston Churchill; however, if we could only but test this scientificlly, it is probable that many of us are genetically related to the Julio Claudians - when one considers how many children, including bastards, that this family gave rise to in the first centuries BC/AD alone.

  21. Winter?

    in Hora Postilla Thermae

    Posted · Edited by Northern Neil

    Here in England, we have only had 2 frosty mornings since autumn/winter began. Temperatures have hovered at around 12 degrees, and back in mid-November the trees were still covered with leaves. This has been the case increasingly from about the mid 'nineties. If this is the continuation of a 'natural' warming phase, then it has suddenly stepped itself up a pace. I think we all know what is happening, and I will use the phrase 'Global Warming' that so far has been absent from this thread, aside from Primus Pilus' link.

     

    It is down to all of us - right now, and as individuals - to put a stop to this. Industry, after all, only reacts to the demands of consumers. I am happy to be able to say that my 'carbon footprint' currently averages at about 0.65, and has done for the past six months or so. The Carbon Footprint is a measure as to how many planet earths would be needed for everyone on the planet to live your lifestyle. If yours is 2.5, say, then it would take 2.5 planet earths for everyone on earth to live like you. Here is a link: http://erasemyfootprint.com/

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