The Life of Antoninus Pius

Three strikes, and Carotta is out!

2012-01-28T01:28:00.012Z

Readers may have noticed that I devoted January's postings to reviewing the eccentric theory (I use the adjective advisedly -- Merriam-Webster defines it as "deviating from conventional or accepted usage" -- I am not trying to match one of Signor Carotta's colorful terms of abuse) that "the entire Gospel is a mutated history of the Roman Civil War, from the Rubicon to the assassination and burial

The Parrot Replies

2012-01-22T01:22:00.003Z

Running arguments can be tedious. Back and forth they go, each observation met with a rebuttal, each argument with a counter-argument. But in this way, weaknesses in a theory can be exposed and corrected.Italian philosopher Francesco Carotta has a different technique. Ridicule.Our previous article on Antoninus Pius’s blunder was not written to “discredit his blog”, as he alleges, but only to

The Carotta Code Cracked

2012-01-16T16:01:00.015Z

It seems that someone at Francesco Carotta's "Divine Julius" web site took offence at my recent book review. The extensive "rebuttal" is unsigned but carries the tag "Francesco Carotta". So, has the great man deigned to defend his dodgy theory?A reasoned rebuttal?Actually, he seems to be more interested in discrediting my review. "We can notice lots of errors, patterns of bias," he writes. My

Jesus Christ and Julius Caesar: same initials, same man?

2012-01-01T01:01:00.020Z

It is a new year, and high time we had a book review. It has been several months since I linked the names of Jesus Christ and Julius Caesar (here) but, in the meantime, I have come across a much more sensational connection between these two people.Sensational TheoryIt seems that, for several years now, the left-wing Italian philosopher and ancient history aficionado Francesco Carotta has been

Christ Illustrated

2011-12-25T12:25:00.010Z

It is Christmas time, a season that calls for a religious blog post. Fortuitously, I recently discovered the magisterial La Vie de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ ("The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ") by Jacques (James) Tissot, which is suitably biblical.The French painter Tissot (1836-1902) had a fairly conventional artistic career, until his support for the Paris Commune forced him to flee to

Counting Down from Marathon

2011-11-20T11:20:00.004Z

On November 13, long distance runners from all over the world converged on Athens for the 29th Athens Classic Marathon. This old arithmetically-challenged emperor assumed that it was organized to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary (25th centenary) of the Battle of Marathon, fought in 490 BC. However, the official logo of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (pictured here)

AD, CE, does it matter?

2011-10-31T10:31:00.004Z

I think it may have been Voltaire's fault.Recently, there has been a certain amount of internet discussion about the terms CE and BCE as replacements for the venerable AD/BC dating system. The wickedly subversive commentator Mary Beard (that's her description, not mine) helpfully informs us that "CE and BCE have been around for years, and < are > often used instead of BC and AD". But surely the

Antonine Wall Museum

2011-09-30T09:30:00.004Z

It has been a while since the Antonine Wall was in the news.One of the recurring features of this blog -- besides championing a sensible interpretation of the disappearance of the Lost Ninth Legion (most recently here) -- is to follow developments on the Roman frontier in Scotland (most recently here). So this emperor was excited to learn that Glasgow University's Hunterian Museum -- home of many

Medieval Armour Was Heavy

2011-08-08T08:08:00.002Z

Various press reports have latched onto the recent publication of some findings in the field of armour research.A team involving academics from Leeds, Milan and Auckland measured the effects of walking and running in a 30-40kg suit of plate armour, and discovered -- surprise, surprise -- that wearing armour has a detrimental effect on a man's breathing.Actually, their analysis is slightly more

Under The Sun

2011-07-08T08:07:00.005Z

Recently, I saw an advert for a book called "Everything Under The Sun". I don't know what kind of associations that phrase evokes for you, but for me it evokes King Solomon. And not in a good way.There is, of course, a better known sun-related phrase, which I was reminded of while flicking through the Meditations of my adopted son (!), the emperor Marcus Aurelius.I happened to be reading the

Another book, another wall

2011-07-01T07:01:00.003Z

The latest book to land on my imperial desk is The Aurelian Wall and the Refashioning of Imperial Rome by art historian Hendrik W. Dey, whose c.v. is eclectic in the extreme. (He has jointly authored papers on "Evidence for Holocene Marine Transgression and Shoreline Progradation Due to Barrier Development in Iskele, Bay of Izmir, Turkey" and "Tsunami waves generated by the Santorini eruption

The Biggest Inscription of the Ancient World

2011-05-21T05:21:00.004Z

I recently noticed that the University of Köln, in collaboration with publishers Rudolf Habelt, have begun to put the journal Epigraphica Anatolica online. The latest available issue, EA volume 40 (2007), includes a paper by Martin F. Smith and Jürgen Hammaerstaedt entitled "The inscription of Diogenes of Oinoanda". It seems that work is continuing on this, the biggest inscription of the ancient

Julius Caesar and Jesus

2011-04-24T04:24:00.006Z

It is Easter again, and it has become a blogging tradition (observed here and here and here) to select an Easter theme.I recently heard someone remark that "there is more evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ than there is for Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain in 55 BC".This is an intriguing variation of a perennial chestnut: that, somehow, the truth of Christianity can be proved by

New Twist on the Lost Legion

2011-03-16T16:03:00.010Z

The Eagle movie is due for release in the UK on 25 March, and publicity has reached fever pitch. Under the headline "Lost Legion", the BBC online magazine for 16 March 2011 asks: "Did a mysterious Roman military disaster change Britain?"Archaeologist Miles Russell, a prehistorian from Bournemouth University, asks "could a brutal ambush have been the event that forged the England-Scotland border?"

Why History should not be written by Film-makers

2011-02-24T02:24:00.002Z

Sometimes one post sparks off another. This has been particularly true where the subject of the "lost" Ninth Legion is concerned. (Over the years, I have blogged about it here, here and here.) One of my readers (thank you, Juliette) recently drew my attention to a press item which heralded exciting new information about the Lost Legion.More fact than fictionAccording to The Daily Mail, "experts

The Eye of the Beholder

2011-02-19T02:19:00.004Z

Sometimes throwaway remarks -- suggestions that seemed reasonable at the time -- are picked up by other writers, and what began as a good idea becomes a theory, and finally a fact.This process has, I think, occurred in the case of the Britannia coins of the Roman empire. And I am grateful to a recent visitor (Fvrivs Rvfvs) for prompting this latest reflection of an old emperor, once again

What Roman Soldiers Wear

2011-02-08T08:02:00.006Z

A year ago, I blogged on the subject of "out-of-date" books and what that term might mean.So I was interested to read an on-line review of the late H. Russell Robinson's booklet, What the Soldiers wore on Hadrian's Wall. While generally enthusiastic, the review -- entitled "Interesting but Outdated" -- still noted that the date of publication (1976; repr. 1979 and 1985) "makes the book slightly

The Problem of the Picts

2011-01-22T01:22:00.004Z

Last week, I was honored to receive several visits from Taleworlds, a games-related forum hosted by a Turkish software company.The topic there was "Why did Rome fail to conquer the Picts?" An interesting question, which continued: "Why did they fail while the Scots from Ireland succeeded?" (The questioner reminded us that "the Picts were a loose group of tribes while the Romans were a powerful

The Eagle Draws Nearer

2011-01-17T17:01:00.008Z

They're ramping up the publicity for the movie version of Rosemary Sutcliff's Eagle of the Ninth (which I blogged about here and here).The movie will be released as "The Eagle", apparently to avoid confusion over the fate of Eagles I-VIII.Last week, the Film Stage web site pointed to the featurette on Yahoo! Movies, claiming that The Eagle is "a movie I'm fairly certain I had never heard of until

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

2011-01-04T01:04:00.010Z

Happy New Year!Late last year, I noticed that the Palestine Exploration Fund had put up a lot of photographs onto Flickr. Apparently, they have a collection of 40,000 images dating from 1850 right up to the present day; their Flickr photo-stream comprises 162 items, mostly from the 19th century.One photograph (reproduced here) caught my eye. It shows "a group of explorers", the members of the

No Romans in China

2010-12-06T06:12:00.007Z

The Lost Ninth Legion has been a recurring theme on this blog since 2007 (revisited in 2008 and 2009). And, with the new Eagle movie about to hit the big screen, there will no doubt be further revisiting.But, from all of my previous posts, one which I never imagined revisiting was last year's Rome and China offering. But it seems that the theme of Romans in China is, again, in the

Roman twitter

2010-11-22T22:11:00.002Z

The Romans are tweeting. Whatever next?Apparently, Roman experts at Tullie House Museum in Carlisle have decided to post a daily message on Twitter, purporting to be one of the "thousands of Roman soldiers marching in to occupy Cumbria in the winter of 72/73 AD". They call it iTweetus.What a marvellous idea. The name "is a play on words of the celebrated novel I, Claudius, written in the form of

Three-million-dollar Helmet

2010-11-01T01:11:00.001Z

You know that a story is important when the folks at National Geographic pick it up.And so, this old emperor comes, somewhat belatedly, to the sorry tale of the Crosby Garrett helmet. By now, you've probably read all about it elsewhere.And if there were any justice in the land, you would be able to view it, right now, in Tullie House Museum.But it seems that there isn't. And you can't. But, if

Romans in Germany

2010-10-10T10:10:00.004Z

This old emperor rarely ventures outside of Rome, and usually confines himself to the new lingua franca of English. But he couldn't ignore the publication of an exciting new study by German publisher WBG, which traces Roman knowledge of deepest Germany.It is well known that the Roman advance stalled on the Rhine, more or less. After a couple of punitive expeditions had reached as far as the River

Why History should not be written by Journalists

2010-09-01T09:01:00.007Z

Last week, the UK newspapers were full of an amazing new revelation. The Romans wore socks! The newsmen arrived at this earth-shattering conclusion via a convoluted path -- they were supposed to be reporting the excavation of an exciting Roman industrial complex -- and chose to spin their revelation as a new take on the tired stereotype of the "socks and sandals" fashion crime.There are a number

Why History should only be written by Historians

2010-08-23T08:23:00.004Z

History is written by the victors. To anyone who finds this an unpalatable truth, I have one piece of advice: get over it. The history of Roman Britain will always be the history of the Romans in Britain. Archaeology can show us vignettes from the lives of ancient Britons, but it cannot give us a History of the Ancient Britons. All we can hope to do is to observe how the history of the Romans in

Pictish Nationalism

2010-08-08T08:08:00.000Z

As an outsider looking in -- I am, after all, a Roman emperor -- I am always bemused by the rampant Pictish nationalism on the internet. Whenever the subject of the Romans in Scotland arises, you can be sure that a Pictish sympathiser will pop up to berate us for our interest in an alien imperialist power. In any discussion of Caledonia, it seems that we should be rooting for the underdog, the

The Untold Invasion of Britain?

2010-07-10T10:07:00.006Z

Readers in the UK recently had the opportunity to view a TV documentary entitled The Untold Invasion of Britain. Now, as a grizzled old Roman emperor, I know that there were two Roman invasions of Britain: Caesar's visits in 55 and 54 BC, and Claudius' invasion in AD 43. Readers of Wikipedia are even offered a third instance, when the province was recaptured from Carausius in AD 296 by

The Battle at the Edge of the World

2010-06-18T06:18:00.005Z

It seems that there is a new book about Mons Graupius, the famous battle in Scotland where the Roman army of Agricola defeated the Caledonian tribes and brought Britain into the Roman empire.The battlefield is notoriously unlocated, with many candidates proposed over the years, and there are still those who cling to the previously-fashionable date of AD 84. But it looks as if we now have a firm

World-class Ephesus

2010-06-12T12:06:00.001Z

I was amazed to discover that Ephesus is not yet a World Heritage Site.In fact, the ancient town of Ephesus has been on UNESCO's tentative list since 1994 but seems never to have been formally nominated for recognition as a World Heritage Site.This is odd. Ephesus seems to be an archaeological site of outstanding value, the primary qualification for recognition. It is also an outstanding example

Lost Legion Lunacy

2010-04-19T19:04:00.006Z

I have often heard people say: "I don't know anything about Art, but I know what I like." Such people enjoy art. But they would never dream of pontificating on the relative artistic merits of the Breughel family, for example. Nor would they presume to hold authoritative views on, say, the influences on Giacometti. For there is an unspoken acknowledgement that Fine Art is an academic discipline,

Pontius McPilate

2010-04-02T02:04:00.006Z

It is Easter again, so (following the tradition set in previous years) it is time for an Easter post, and what better subject for a Roman emperor to select than the infamous governor of Judaea himself, Pontius Pilate.Prefect of JudaeaThe only inscription to name Pilate (pictured on left) was discovered during Italian excavations at Caesarea-on-Sea in 1961.* It was of immediate interest, not only

Out Of Date?

2010-03-03T03:03:00.004Z

When does a book become out-of-date?I recently followed an amusing exchange of views on the Roman Army Talk forum. A lurker can often turn up gems of information there, in amongst the usual silly questions and horseplay that make up the bulk of any online forum. There are some familiar names -- the novelist Ben Kane and the ancient world blogger Jona Lendering pop in and out -- but RAT has not

Richard Hook Remembered

2010-02-08T02:08:00.004Z

No sooner have we celebrated the career of the wonderful Jean Simmons, than news arrives of the passing of talented historical illustrator Richard Hook.Contributor to Look and Learn magazine and art editor of Finding Out magazine during the 1960s, he is probably best known for his work on Osprey Publishing's military history titles. He passed on his artistic talent to son, Adam, and daughter,

Jean Simmons Remembered

2010-01-29T01:29:00.001Z

Jean Simmons has died at the age of 80.The wonderful English actress, who came to Hollywood in the 1950s, starred in such memorable epics as The Robe (1953, with Richard Burton and Victor Mature), The Egyptian (1954, with Victor Mature), and Spartacus (1960, with Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier).Reduced to television work in the 1970s and 1980s, redeemed only by her role in The Thorn Birds, she

Roman Holiday

2010-01-04T04:01:00.002Z

Happy New Year! During the holiday break, I came across a report in The Largs & Millport Weekly News, a major source of information for Cunninghame residents. The article was entitled "Was Largs a Roman Holiday Resort?". I'm pretty sure the answer is "No".Romans on the Clyde CoastAs a venerable old emperor, I took the liberty of consulting the relevant OS map (pictured left, with modifications so

Romans in Scotland

2009-12-12T12:12:00.004Z

Things are hotting up for the keenly-awaited cinematic version of Eagle of the Ninth.Production company Focus Features have announced that the movie will open during the third quarter of 2010. A UK release can be expected thereafter.According to their publicity, "In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion

Rome and China

2009-11-23T11:23:00.005Z

Scholars are sometimes tempted to step outside their area of expertise. This is almost always ill-advised.I recently attended a public lecture by a figure of international standing. The scholar in question (let's call him Professor X to avoid undue embarrassment) was asked a question about Sino-Roman relations.This is a perennial chestnut that ranks alongside the Disappearance of the Ninth Legion

Antonine Wall muddle

2009-11-13T13:11:00.002Z

A week or so ago, the BBC News web site carried a report entitled "No new money for Antonine Wall".Scottish Culture Minister Mike Russell is quoted as saying, "There has been no additional funding allocated to date and each of the organisations is contributing expertise or funding to the planning."Additional funding? Why do we need additional funding? Is this over and above the funding already

Back To The Wall

2009-11-05T11:05:00.005Z

After winning recognition as a World Heritage Site over a year ago, the Antonine Wall seemed to slip back into obscurity. So it was nice to see a story about the wall this week in The Skinny, a Scottish culture and listings web site.In the article, Keir Roper-Caldbeck cycles along "Scotland's most engimatic (sic!) World Heritage Site", painting a wonderfully evocative picture of the countryside

On this date ...

2009-10-06T10:06:00.003Z

This year is the anniversary of the Varian disaster. You can scarcely turn around without bumping into an exhibition, commemorative magazine or popular book on the subject. This major event, 2000 years ago, saw the destruction of three Roman legions with their allied contingents, probably amounting to some 20,000 men, at the hands of the German tribes.But I was intrigued to discover that, a

Happy Birthday To Us

2009-09-19T09:19:00.003Z

I almost share a birthday with Samuel Johnson.The great man was born 300 years ago, yesterday, and has been rightly celebrated this week (in the UK media, at any rate) as the lexicographer par excellence, whose wonderful Dictionary of the English Language (extract above) finally appeared, after nine years of drudgery, in 1755.Commentators have been virtually unanimous in deploring the fact that,

Hadrian's Big Day

2009-09-01T01:09:00.006Z

It is generally agreed that the building of Hadrian's Wall began in AD 122. So far, so good.Some years ago, I noticed that the Wikipedia entry for that year claims that the building work on Hadrian's Wall began on September 13. I have always wondered where that date came from.Roman datesAncient exploits cannot usually be pinned down so accurately. But we often know the precise dates of important

Lost Legion Myth Lives On

2009-08-15T15:08:00.011Z

There are a handful of perennially favourite themes in Roman history. One of them was the subject of my post on The Lost Legion, which continues to attract comments, although it is now two-and-a-half years old.The latest ridiculously lengthy comment was posted in four instalments (as if to underline the poster's megalomania complex) and signed with the mysterious code "45 CDO RM". Not being

The Wall on the Web

2009-08-01T01:08:00.009Z

The story so far ...It is now two years since the Antonine Wall was confirmed as the UK's 2008 nomination for World Heritage Status. (I blogged about it here.) Of course, we know that, a year later, the 32nd session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee sat to consider the nominations for 2008. (I blogged about it here.) And the Antonine Wall went on to achieve inclusion as part of the "Frontiers

Last legion? Last gasp!

2009-07-15T15:07:00.004Z

Colin Firth is no Clive Owen. He doesn't really cut it as a hard-bitten Roman veteran general.I'm talking, of course, about the 2007 movie of The Last Legion, which the empress and I just watched on DVD. It is a rather curious mish-mash, richly deserving the verdict of The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw: an "absurd sword'n'sandal Roman movie ... It's all very silly".The movie makers have tried to tack

Worth your salt

2009-06-30T06:30:00.002Z

I have been thinking about salt.It was Saint Matthew's fault. (I've been reading the Bible again.) "Ye are the salt of the earth", thunders the Authorised Version of 1611, "but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?" (Matt. ch. 5, v. 13). I love the stately grandeur of the King James, but for this passage, the New International Version (1984) is more appealing, with its

The Romans in Fantasyland

2009-05-31T05:31:00.006Z

I accidentally picked up a book called Cartimandua, and pretty soon regretted it.The History Press should be ashamed of themselves. "This is the first major study of Cartimandua", they cry (by which they mean that it's the first book about Cartimandua). Call me old-fashioned, but shouldn't a "major study" set out all the evidence and draw a reasoned conclusion?Just to set the scene: in reality,

Render Unto Caesar

2009-04-12T12:04:00.005Z

Easter (as previously in this blog) calls for a biblical theme. As I have been thinking about Roman coins recently, what better theme to choose than the "Render Unto Caesar" story.The story will be well known to you. It is Passover in Jerusalem, and Jesus is at the Temple. His enemies seek to entrap him with an unanswerable riddle: "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" They know (as does

Greeks in Glasgow

2009-02-21T21:02:00.002Z

The Greeks have landed at Glasgow's Burrell Collection, so I made the journey (from Lanuvium, of course) to pay my respects.First off, this is not the easiest gallery in the world to get to. It was deliberately sited, in the 1980s, in a suburban woodland location to minimise exposure to pollution, so private transport is recommended.And second, the exhibition is rather disappointing in scale and

Fly me to the moon ...

2009-01-31T01:31:00.003Z

A Roman emperor hunting for a topic to begin a new year naturally seizes upon Janus, the god of doorways.But did you know that the planet Saturn has a moon named Janus?This photo, property of NASA, was taken by the Cassini spacecraft in 2006, two years into its 4-year mission.Truly an amazing image to start the new year.

Empire and Conflict

2008-10-26T10:26:00.002Z

I couldn't let October slip by without mentioning my illustrious forebear's exhibition at the British Museum in London. Hadrian: Empire and Conflict closed on October 26.Objects were assembled from 28 museums worldwide, and included the giant sculpture fragments recently unearthed at Sagalassos in Turkey. The Independent trumpeted the "sex, rebellions, wealth and intrigue", while for The Times

What gladiator?

2008-10-22T22:10:00.001Z

So, the tomb of Marcus Nonius Macrinus has been found at Saxa Rubra, north of Rome.This is the man hailed as the inspiration for the character of Maximus Decimus Meridius in the movie Gladiator. But, needless to say, no Roman senator ever became a gladiator.Macrinus' career was already well-known from a long Greek inscription found in the ancient city of Ephesus, where his statue must have stood.

Faustina found!

2008-08-16T16:08:00.000Z

Beautiful, isn't she?A larger-than-lifesize bust of the empress Faustina, wife of the emperor Antoninus Pius, has just come to light during excavations at Sagalassos in south-west Turkey. For some reason, the Thai Indian News imagined that "archaeologists in Rome" had found the head, but the BBC have the correct location!Annia Galeria Faustina, surnamed Major ("the Elder") to differentiate her

A little perspective

2008-07-14T14:07:00.002Z

While the UK press has understandably trumpeted the Antonine Wall's success in achieving World Heritage Status (reports appeared, for example, in The Scotsman, The Guardian, The Times, and The Press Association), a glance at the official UNESCO press release reveals that we are just an "extension to an existing property".How humiliating.The copy-editors at UNESCO haven't even punctuated us

Mission accomplished!

2008-07-08T07:08:00.002Z

Wall gains World Heritage StatusToday, the BBC reported the good news: "An ancient fortified wall which formed the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire has been made a World Heritage Site by Unesco." Full report here."Falkirk councillor, Adrian Mahoney said: 'Gaining world heritage status is a major achievement and there are so many new opportunities to maximise the benefit to our local area

Exciting times in Quebec

2008-07-03T03:07:00.006Z

This week saw the opening of the 32nd Session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in Quebec City.Exciting times for a Roman emperor with a personal interest in the archaeology of Scotland, because The Antonine Wall is the UK's official 2008 nomination for World Heritage Status.Regular visitors will know that, as the owner and instigator of the Wall, I am an enthusiastic supporter of the bid. (

The Birds of Rome

2008-06-28T06:28:00.003Z

Tacitus calls the legionary standards lost by Varus in AD 9 "the birds of Rome, the guardian spirits of the legions" (Annals 2.17). In a recent post, I suggested that the gathering of eagles found in Matthew's Gospel represented Roman legions, rather than the vultures found in many translations.So I was gratified to see that precisely the same conclusion was drawn in a scholarly paper which I

Mists of antiquity, fog of scholarship

2008-05-27T05:27:00.005Z

A brief notice (at 200 words, it's hardly long enough to qualify as an article) in the Times Online caught my eye this week. It has the rather convoluted title, Romans and a Link to Egypt - but Scots came from Ireland, a title so lengthy as to account for a fair percentage of the word count! I was amused to see that the author, Magnus Linklater, manages to work in a reference to our own dear

The long-awaited legion

2008-05-13T13:05:00.008Z

Ever since 30 November 2003, when I read that Rosemary Sutcliff's Eagle of the Ninth was finally to be filmed, I have been intending to re-read that childhood classic. As the title suggests, the Ninth Legion certainly lurks in the background, but if I were asked to sum up the central theme in one sentence, I would not have said: "the Picts slaughter most of the invaders, but a few survivors

Order and tranquillity

2008-04-16T16:04:00.013Z

"If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus. The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed by absolute power, under the guidance of virtue and wisdom. "So wrote Edward Gibbon in Book 1,

To the Mother Goddesses

2008-04-14T14:04:00.007Z

A new Roman inscription turned up in Manchester (England) this month. Before you get too excited, there were no traces of paint on the inscription (as far as I know): the red lettering is mine, to make it easier to read.The inscription is a Roman altar, set up by a man called Aelius Victor (whose name occupies lines 5 and 6). Altars were part and parcel of the Roman religious mindset. They were

Decline and Fall

2008-04-11T11:04:00.007Z

Today, I spent a pleasant hour enjoying the sonorous prose of Gibbon's Decline and Fall.My own principate is described thus:"The restless activity of Hadrian was not less remarkable when compared with the gentle repose of Antoninus Pius. The life of the former was almost a perpetual journey; ... But the tranquil life of Antoninus Pius was spent in the bosom of Italy; and, during the twenty-three

Detrimental Classics

2008-04-04T04:04:00.001Z

I can only assume that it was an April Fool.This week, the Telegraph newspaper's web site carried a report, filed late on 31 March (11;35pm), entitled "Classics harm language learning"! According to the article, "A secret document sent to Government officials by the Dearing Languages Review, an influential inquiry into language teaching, reveals that Latin and Greek were excluded from the list of

A Gathering of Eagles

2008-03-23T23:03:00.001Z

It is Easter, and I have been reading Matthew's Gospel.My eye was particularly drawn to chapter 24, verse 28: "Wherever there is a dead body, the eagles will gather" (Good News Bible, adapted*) or, in the resounding words of the excellent King James "Authorised" version, "Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together".* I was forced to adapt the Good News version because,

Roman nonsense

2008-03-01T01:03:00.006Z

Mehercule! What a lot of Roman nonsense there is on the internet.One of my posts from January 2007 (entitled The Lost Legion) recently attracted a comment which relied on information drawn from an official-looking web site. The web site in question, www.albawest.com, with its clashing colors and flashing graphics, was purportedly "designed to introduce the West Highland Way in its national,

The Western Way of War

2008-02-14T14:02:00.008Z

I have been reading a short book called Ancient Warfare. A Very Short Introduction, by Harry Sidebottom.The jacket blurb claims that the author "provides a fresh approach to all aspects of ancient warfare, from the philosophy surrounding it, to the strategy and the technical skills needed to fight". All aspects of ancient warfare?! This is a big claim to make for a 165-page book. And one which (

Croatian Limes

2008-02-01T12:34:00.001Z

An emperor should never admit when he's wrong. But it seems that my knowledge of the Roman frontier (or "limes") along the middle Danube was deficient.In an earlier post, I suggested that the only Roman military remains in Croatia were the pre-Flavian legionary fortresses at Burnum (near Kistanje) and Tilurium (Gardun). Located in the Adriatic province of Dalmatia, in the far west of Croatia,

Knock, knock!

2008-01-28T01:00:00.000Z

It is fitting that the first (albeit belated) post of the New Year should be about doors.The Latin word for door, ianua, gives us our word "janitor", traditionally the door-keeper. So the Roman god Janus (deriving his name from ianua) was the patron, not only of doors and gateways, but of new beginnings. Literally two-faced, he looked back into the old year and forwards into the new.The

The Rewards of Service

2007-10-29T00:00:00.000Z

A splendid new Latin inscription was discovered this week at Carberry. The find spot is near the Roman fort of Inveresk, which lay on the south coast of the Firth of Forth forming part of the Antonine frontier, and the new inscription may well be contemporary.The find is a tombstone belonging to Crescens, a Roman cavalryman, and would originally have sported an ostentatious depiction of the man

Wandering frontiers

2007-10-13T13:10:00.000Z

This one should really have been called "To boldly go ...", I think.Browsing through the new Antonine Wall Management Plan, I discovered a handy list of the modern countries through which the Roman frontier runs (extract from p. 15 pictured here)."Remains of Roman frontier installations can be seen", it says, "in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, ..." So far, so

To boldly go ...

2007-09-29T00:00:00.000Z

At last! The Antonine Wall -- my wall! -- has been confirmed as the UK's 2008 nomination for World Heritage Site status. And we have much to look forward to.Historic Scotland's Management Plan (extract from p. 48 pictured here) promises a Frontiers of the Roman Empire web site! With the linking of national and local databases! (Databases of what?) And new, improved documentation on Roman

The pride of the Roman cavalry

2007-08-06T13:00:00.002Z

I am an old, grumpy emperor and, often when I read a new book, I am easily irritated.Chiefly, I dislike badly written books. I realise that different writers have different styles, but there's no excuse for poor grammar. Here's an example: "The pride of the Roman cavalry was the horsemen of the alae." The subject of this sentence is plural -- there were lots of horsemen in the alae -- so the

Arthur iterum

2007-06-16T01:00:00.001Z

In a previous post, I drew attention to the bizarre theory that the King Arthur of legend was actually a 2nd century Roman officer named Lucius Artorius Castus.An anonymous visitor to that post recently asked, "Is it true that there are common elements, not only between the names but details of Artorius's life and Arthur's?" The short answer is: No, it's not true. But I know you'd prefer the long

A soldier's diploma

2007-06-09T01:00:00.000Z

How bizarre!Utah County's Deseret News web site reports that the Harold B. Lee Library (Brigham Young University) has on display "replicas of two 2nd-century, Roman, bronze metal plates that date back to A.D. 109". They are important, it seems, because they are "relevant to the Book of Mormon plates". BYU professor of law John W. Welch is quoted as saying that "This may be the best example of

Not-so-great Alexander?

2007-05-19T12:00:00.001Z

According to National Geographic News, Alexander may not have been so Great after all. New research has shown that changing sea levels and shifting sands helped him to conquer the island city of Tyre in 332 B.C.Scholars have always wondered at the amazing feat of engineering which Alexander's army accomplished in constructing a 740m-long causeway to connect Tyre with the mainland. But now,

Remains of the Day

2007-05-12T12:00:00.000Z

Last week, Israeli archaeologist Ehud Netzer of Jerusalem's Hebrew University announced the discovery of King Herod's tomb. It was well-known that Herod chose to be buried at the fortress of Herodium, but his tomb had never been located. Until now.The ruined mausoleum, on the north-eastern slope of the artificial hill, contained pieces of a large sarcophagus (ca. 2.5m long), assumed by Netzer to

All aboard ... Noah's ark

2007-04-29T01:00:00.000Z

I can imagine that rising sea levels might be a concern in the Netherlands. So the replica ark built by Dutch creationist Johan Huibers may yet prove useful. CNN reports on the huge (but apparently not full-size) vessel:Reckoning by the old biblical measurements, Johan's fully functional ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds the length of a football field

Remember the 300 ...

2007-04-04T22:00:00.000Z

I have just been to see 300.In case you have been sitting on a pillar in the desert for the last month, 300 is the movie adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name, in which a band of 300 Spartans die defending Greece against a Persian grand army. Over the last month or so, reactions to the movie have been mixed. Some commentators loved the theatricality, the violence and the

Emblems of Empire

2007-03-31T23:59:00.000Z

Last year, I posted on the subject of the emperor Maxentius' imperial insignia.Archaeology magazine has now joined the party, with an article quoting the views of excavation director Clementini Panella. But more exciting are the images, posted by Martin G Conde on Flickr, of the recent archaeological investigations conducted in the imperial fora of Rome (1995– 2007).(I remain sceptical that the

World Heritage Status (again)

2007-02-01T00:01:00.000Z

I've been waiting with baited breath for February.We were promised that the next development in the long-running World Heritage saga would be announced then. And, sure enough, events seem to be drawing to a close, with the news that UK Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has formally submitted the Antonine Wall to UNESCO for consideration as a World Heritage Site.The details posted on the World

The Lost Legion

2007-01-25T21:00:00.001Z

Some myths die hard.It used to be thought that the Ninth Legion, the famous legio VIIII Hispana, had come to a sticky end in the wilds of Scotland. This particular legion, which dated back to the days of Augustus if not before, was probably in Britain from the start, participating in the invasion of AD 43. It certainly formed part of Agricola's army when he brought the Caledonian tribes to battle

Frontier history

2007-01-04T08:00:00.000Z

It's not every day that a new book about Antoninus Pius appears. In fact, the last one (by my reckoning) was 70 years ago.Now, David Breeze, former Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments in Scotland, has penned a short, 210-page, glossy account to accompany the preparation of the Antonine Wall as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Divided into 11 chapters, the first of which deals summarily with the

Imperial insignia?

2006-12-10T09:00:00.000Z

The papers are full of a new find on the Palatine hill at Rome: the imperial insignia of the Emperor Maxentius. For example, USA Today reports that "Clementina Panella, the archaeologist who made the discovery, said the insignia were likely hidden by Maxentius' people in an attempt to preserve the emperor's memory after he was defeated by Constantine I in the 321 A.D. battle of the Milvian Bridge

Bisotun again

2006-11-09T23:00:00.000Z

Last week, Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organisation (ICHTO) celebrated Bisotun's registration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Coincidentally, in their travel section, AOL are running an article on the most visited World Heritage sites, in which they include Mount Perdu on the Franco-Spanish border, the Iguazu Falls on the Argentina-Brazil border, and Waterton Glacier Park on the

Would the real King Arthur ...

2006-10-21T01:00:00.000Z

Clive Owen makes a splendid Roman officer, don't you think?Last week, I watched King Arthur again. Now, I would be the first to admit that there's precious little historical fact in that movie. But I do appreciate a rip-roaring action movie, competently acted and well directed.Imagine my surprise when I found that some people believe King Arthur to be less of a movie and more of a documentary. In

World Heritage Marathon

2006-10-13T21:00:00.000Z

Recognition of the Antonine Wall as a World Heritage Site appears to have moved closer, after the site was formally nominated. The process is far from over, though. UNESCO must still ratify the choice in February 2007. (Or 2008. Or 2009!)This story could run and run ...

Digital History

2006-10-08T16:00:00.000Z

Last month, the University of Nebraska held a symposium on "History in the Digital Age". Sounds interesting. So what is digital history?.flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #000000; }.flickr-frame { float: right; text-align: center; margin-left: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.7em; margin-top: 0px; }Digital History SymposiumOne of the symposium sponsors was the Nebraska

Where's Roman Scotland?

2006-09-28T20:09:00.000Z

I recently stumbled across a web page which purported to record the Roman ruins of Britain. Here's the accompanying map of Roman Britain!Now, admittedly, as the sponsor of the Antonine Wall, I may be slightly biased. But I'm absolutely positive that the reach of Rome did not stop at the wall of my illustrious parent, Hadrian.In fact, there were more than a few enclaves of Romans (admittedly,

Happy birthday ...

2006-09-19T13:00:00.000Z

... to me!So, I'm officially 1,920 years old, and I don't feel a day over 40. Now, where are all these birthday greetings?!

The past is a foreign country ...

2006-09-12T20:00:00.000Z

As L.P. Hartley astutely observed, they do things differently there.I have long believed that the New Testament cannot be fully understood without an appreciation of the contemporary culture which produced it. Now, a new book by Mark Chancey of the Southern Methodist University, Texas, "challenges the conventional scholarly view that first-century Galilee was thoroughly Hellenized".A recent

Under siege

2006-09-04T10:00:00.001Z

There aren't too many books about ancient siege warfare.But the Ancient & Medieval History Book Club is advertising a new one. "Through use of outstanding photographs and explanatory diagrams of siege warfare", says their blurb, "this expert study examines the techniques and weapons used during the period."Interesting.

Busman's holiday

2006-08-07T11:00:00.000Z

The imperial coffers have been a little light this year.As it was vacation time, rather than a visit to the Bay of Naples (like any self-respecting emperor), I decided to treat the empress to an inspection of our northern dominions. In other words, a road trip to Aberdeenshire and the charming village of Oyne.Roman Camp (reconstructed at Archaeolink).Much to the empress's dismay, we discovered a

Painting by numbers

2006-07-28T09:00:00.000Z

It is well-known that the Romans painted their statuary.And they may have had a penchant for bright colors. For example, it has been suggested that Hadrian's Wall was whitewashed, and the joints between the stone blocks picked out in red mortar. But I recently came across the ultimate in garish decor.First, some background. The construction of the Forth & Clyde canal in the 1770s, broadly

Ahhh, Bisotun ...

2006-07-20T10:00:00.000Z

Continuing the theme of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, it seems that Bisotun (more familiar to ancient historians as Behistun) has been included in the latest tranche.This amazing rock-cut inscription, two-and-a-half thousand years old, has already been the subject of an exhaustive study by the indefatigable Jona Lendering on his excellent Livius web site. Darius the Great's inscription at

It's Magic

2006-07-10T09:00:00.001Z

OS Map of Temple of Boclair (courtesy of Magic).I've discovered a little piece of Magic on the internet.In a previous post, I drew attention to the Antonine Wall at Dobbies Garden Centre. Now, using the UK government's online rural GIS system (snappily entitled Multi Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside, or Magic), you can tap into large-scale Ordnance Survey mapping to analyse any

Dead language?

2006-07-01T09:00:00.001Z

How ironic.At a time when interest in the Romans in Scotland stands at an all-time high; when a glance at the television listings suggests a general fascination for things Roman; and when Scotland's Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport has just endorsed the bid to grant the Antonine Wall World Heritage Status (continuing the theme from my previous post) ... How ironic that, at a time like this

Roman heritage

2006-06-09T21:00:00.000Z

Back in 1972, UNESCO came up with the idea of World Heritage Sites, defined as properties having outstanding natural or cultural value.Ecuador's Galapagos Islands were first on the list, and other early nominees included Auschwitz concentration camp, the Grand Canyon, and Australia's Great Barrier Reef.In 1987, Hadrian's Wall, the frontier work named after my illustrious predecessor and adoptive

All you ever wanted to know about Ancient Greek Fortifications?

2006-06-01T19:30:00.000Z

I recently acquired a copy of Ancient Greek Fortifications 500-300 BC, by Nic Fields, "a freelance author and researcher based in south-west France" (lucky Dr Fields). "This book", says the blurb, "details the construction and ongoing development of the defences that protected some of the most illustrious sites in Greece during the most famous period of its history."I beg to differ.The

A desirable property

2006-05-31T19:30:00.000Z

We recently took advantage of the unseasonably fine Scottish weather to visit Kenmore. There we saw a splendid example of a crannog, or ancient loch dwelling, reconstructed in situ.Apparently, the name (somewhat unimaginatively) means "timber structure", a fact which is missing from both Wikipedia and the excellent Time Team site.The setting is very dramatic, and reminds us of the Iron Age