"A Nova Roman Beacon for Recreation of the Best From Ancient Rome"

THE PAST AND THE FUTURE - A VISION

Nova Roma was founded about seven years ago, the founders were just a small group of in USA and today Nova Roma has close to 1500 citizens mostly in North America, South America and Europe. The beginning was more than modest and the result as of now is not too fantastic. Still an increase of 3.000 to 6.000% isn't bad. But I think we must admit that a further increase of the citizenship would be very good for our reputation. If we would be able to gather a lot of qualified and competent people around Nova Roma it would then act like a magnet for lovers of Roma Antiqua. The question is how we should go about to do achieve such a development. My answer is that we should first of all start by trying to improve our academic reputation.

How can we improve our reputation enough to increase our citizenship 6.000 % (90.000 citizens, including capiti censi, but not socii) until 2012? I think the answer is to start cooperation with Universities that specialize in the Roman or Ancient history all over the world. At the moment we have one real project, the "Magna Mater Project" which started about two years ago and still is developing. This project is a project involving cooperation with one of the universities in Rome . Next step should be a cooperation with a university in Britain about a project like the "Vindolanda project" about the Hadrian wall.

By successfully cooperating in projects like the "Magna Mater project" and the "Vindolanda project" Nova Roma will be able to strengthen its relation to the Academic world and through such cooperation gain a position that would make many students and teacher in universities all over the world interested in cooperating in the "Nova Roma project". With at least 700 universities (just a guess) or the like in the present provinces of Nova Roma it would _not_ be an unbelievable development to get 19 new citizens per year per university city during the coming 7 years. This is the development I would like to see for Nova Roma and I don't think it is impossible, even if it would take a lot of effort. But if we really would like to see such a development we need to unite around this goal and only accept conflicts and discussions that lead us to a stronger position and more citizens. Next year Nova Roma will have its next European Conventus in Great Britain at the Hadrian wall, let us see to it that we by then are involved in the "Vindolanda project" or something like it as seriously and deeply as possible!

Vale

Caeso Fabius Quintilianus
Senior Censor, Consularis et Senator
Proconsul Thules
Sodalitas Egressus Beneficarius et Praefectus Provincia Thules
Civis Romanus sum

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Frontinius

Sextus Iulius Frontinius (1), c.  35-103 CE, was a capable Roman civil officer and military commander.  Praetor of the City in 70 and consul in 73 or 74, 98, and 100, he was sent to Britain as governor in about the year 76.  He quelled the Silures of Wales and began to build a road through their territory; his place was taken by Agricola in 78.  In 97 he was given the highly esteemed office of Manager of Aqueducts at Rome .  He is known to have been an augur, being succeeded by his friend Pliny the Younger.

The two sides of his public career are reflected in his two surviving works.  “Stratagemata”, “Stratagems”, written after 84, gives examples of military techniques from Greek and Roman history, for the instruction of Roman officers, in three books; a fourth book is concerned largely with military discipline.  “De Aquis Urbis Romae”, "The Aqueducts of Rome," written in 97-98, gives some historical details and a description of the aqueducts for the water supply of the city, with laws relating to them. Frontinius aimed at being useful and writes in a rather popular style which is both simple and clear.

The Stratagems of Julius Frontinius

Since I alone of those interested in military science have undertaken to reduce its rules to a system, (2) and since I seem to have fulfilled that purpose, so far as pains on my part could accomplish it, I still feel under obligation to complete the task I have begun, to summarize in convenient sketches the adroit operations of generals, which the Greeks embrace under one name "stratagemata." For in this way commanders will be furnished with specimens of wisdom and foresight, which will serve to foster their own power of conceiving and executing like deeds.  There will result the added advantage that a general will not fear the issue of his own stratagem, if he compares it with experiments already successfully made.

I neither ignore nor deny the fact that historians have included in the compass of their works, this feature also, nor that authors have already recorded in some fashion all famous examples.  But I ought, I think, out of consideration for busy men, to have regard to brevity.  For it is a tedious business to hunt out separate examples scattered over the vast body of history; and those who have made selections of notable deeds have overwhelmed the reader by the very mass of material.  My effort will be devoted to the task of setting forth, as if in response to questions, and as occasion shall demand, the illustration applicable to the case in point.  For having examined the categories, I have in advance mapped out my campaign, so to speak, for the presentation of illustrative examples.  Moreover, in order these may be sifted and properly classified according to the variety of the subject matter, I have divided them into three books.  In the first are illustrations of stratagems for use before the battle begins; in the second, those that relate to the battle itself and tend to effect the complete subjugation of the enemy; the third contains stratagems connected with sieges and the raising of sieges.  Under these successive classes I have grouped the illustrations appropriate to each.

(To be continued)   

(1)  The praenomen appears at the beginning of Book II in one MS., “P”.
(2)  Frontinius alludes to his work on The Art of War.  This is now lost.

Reference:
Frontinius, "Stratagems, Aqueducts of Rome ," Charles E.  Bennet (trans.), Mary B. McElwain (Ed.), Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge , MA , 1997, ISBN 0-674-99192-3

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Caligula Pleasure Barges

" Lake Nemi , which lies in the Alban Hills to the South of Rome, is a small,, beautiful sheet of water that fills a basin formed by an extinct crater.  That a large ship belonging to one of the Roman Emperors was sunk in the lake, was a matter of local tradition.  For the present Research (Dec. 1904) made by Sig. Borghi and Vittorio Malfatti, experienced divers were employed to explore the bottom.  Two large vessels were found.  Both are nearly buried in the sand. The larger vessel must measure 230 feet long and 80 feet center.  Owing to their great size, larger than the usual war galleys, and their exceptional width, they were no doubt used by one of the Emperors, perhaps Caligula, as pleasure barges."

(Editors note: The boat hulls were recovered when the lake was drained in 1929, but were destroyed by fire in 1944.)

Reference:
"Scientific American - 50, 100 & 150 Yers Ago," December 2004, Page 16.

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As the conspirators made their final plans, they had, of course, revealed to no-one their plans as to the place or time of the act.  However, there was a warning in the wind, and even Caesar caught a whiff of it momentarily.  He was warned to hire a personal guard, and he refused.  He was warned on his arrival by the words and scroll of a certain Artemidoros, a Greek who may have known something of the threat; and also by the augur Sperinna.

The plan for the murder of Caesar was that it would be undertaken at a meeting of the Senate on March 15 (the Ides of March).  The Senate at this time met in Pompey's Curia which was located in Pompey's theater and colonnade.  (See figure 14.  This line drawing is based on a reconstruction of the structure at the Museo della Civilt’a.)

The theater and its extensive and very rich attendant complex and gardens were dedicated in 55 BCE, and held the honor of being the first such structure to be constructed of stone.  In the rear of the auditorium was a temple and behind the stage-front there was an extensive public garden which bordered by three colonnades.  In the center of the end colonnade rested a particularly fine raised hall.  This hall/curia was used by the Senate after 52 BCE and was the location of Caesar's assassination.

The seating arrangement for the Senators can be seen in Figure #10.  The presiding Consul would first enter the hall and offer a sacrifice.  Having secured the agreement of the Gods, he would then move to the podium at the rear of the hall, and from that point open the Senate session.  The Senators would rise upon the Consul's entrance to the hall in greeting, and thereafter take their places on the benches ranged along the side walls, as you see in the diagram.

Figure #19 is a view from a height showing the Forum Julium from a southern aspect.  (This line drawing is based on a reconstruction in the Museo della Civilt'a Romano, in the city of Rome proper.)

The assassins approached Caesar in a group as if to present a petition with the others in support.  Caesar refused the petition and the petitioner tore the toga from Caesar's neck.  This signal had been agreed upon previously and as it was executed the conspirators moved forward with knives to complete their grisly task.  Each man in the group had agreed to strike at least once, and in this way twenty-three stab wounds were delivered to Caesar.  At first, he struggled mightily as the other Senators looked on in surprise and horror.  But as he weakened he simply drew his toga over his head, and died.

Reference:
Christian Meier, "Caesar, A Biography," Trans.  David McLintock, Basic Books, New York , 1962.

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The Rise of Roma: Etruscans & Latines (B.C.E.  800 to B.C.E.  275)  

The Etruscans

Between the Arno and the Tiber Rivers lies the land known today as Toscana or Tuscany .  It was in this north-western coastal region of Italy , bordering on the Tyrrhenian Sea , that the Etruscans planted their seeds of civilization.  The Etruscans first laid the foundations of Rome through an ancient salt trade and later became their sternest enemies.

The origin of the Etruscans was hotly debated during the 19th and 20^th centuries, but to delve into that controversy in detail would far exceed the needs of our present discussion.  They may have been indigenous, invaders from the North, or immigrants from Asia Minor ; but whether their origin was the Peoples of the Sea or victims of the Cimmerian invasions they colonized the country by following the rivers inland from the coast.  Their principal towns rose in the interior of the peninsula.  Though they were primarily an agricultural people, they also enjoyed a thriving metal industry.  As the Etruscans made contact with the Phoenicians and Greeks their technology and materials were expanded and with that expansion came new ideas.  Writing, the potter's wheel, and monumental funerary architecture were accompanied by the acquisition of gold and ivory, as well as more exotic goods such as ostrich eggs and rare shells.

We still do not have a key to their language, but post-WWII new tools of archaeology have given us much greater insight into their civilization, from their tomb paintings and artifacts.  It is clear, however, that every major Etruscan city  has yielded Villanovan remains which may be of significant value when the origins are finally worked out.  We have only Herodotus for a clue as to those origins, but his tale is disputed by most historians.  All that is really known of their beginning is that the city of Perugia was in existence before their arrival, and was and is the capitol of the land still called Umbria , which lay to the east of Etruria on the coast of the Adriatic Sea .  The Twelve Cities of the original Etruscan League of the 6th century B.C.E.  were Populonia, Voltera, Arezzo, Vetalonia, Chiusi, Rusellae, Vulci, Volsinii, Tarquina, Palerii, Venii, and Cerveeri.

The areas of Etruscan control at the zenith of their power in 6th century BCE included Placenza, Mantua , Adria, and Spina, cities along the Po River in the north of Italy ; the islands of Elba and Corsica; and the Tyrrhenian coastline, encompassing also Rome, Capua , and Salerno in the extreme south.  Ovieto is a lovely Etruscan-founded city on a  high mesa about halfway between Florence and Rome .  The gifts of both Earth and Sea enriched the Etruscan Empire, from the bounty of the blue Tyrrhenian waters to the rich ore deposits of Elba .  Wealth poured into these cities in the form of metal ore from iron, copper, tin, and lead mines; farms, vineyards, eastern trade, and piracy.

Similarly to the cities of the Greeks, each Etruscan colony was independent and ruled by kings, and later by annually elected magistrates.  These were actually oligarchies of the great landed proprietors.  The native population had been reduced to serfdom and was often on the point of revolt.  The civilization was in the latter centuries definitely Attic; this style of pottery was an essential feature of Etruscan burial sites.

Further to the South, Latium, between the inhospitable coast and the volcanic barrier at the foot of the Appennines, formed a region which had sufficient pasturage to support herds and flocks.  Its population of lawless shepherds was scattered in numerous villages perched on the many hills which dominated the marshy lowlands.  They were grouped in religious leagues, the most important of which had its center at Alba Longa .

The story goes that a Greek trader settled in Tarquina when a revolution in Corinth drove his family from power in that city:  The trader's son, Lucumo, married an Etruscan seeress, Tanaquil.  Although Lucumo was both wealthy and brilliant, he was snubbed as a foreigner by Tarquinian society.  Livy tells us that Tanaquil urged him to emigrate to a place "where all ranks are of sudden growth and founded on worth, and there is ample room for a brave and energetic man."

The place described by the seeress was across the River Tiber, Etruria’s southern frontier, at a ford where the road from Campagna crossed the ancient Salt Road upon which the salt from the marshes traveled inland to the Sabine Hills and the mountains beyond.  Here an active trading center arose which grew into a small village--a settlement which expanded over the group of hills dominating this ford, a town which according to legend was founded by Romulus in B.C.E.  753.

This was the thriving city of Rome !

The Latins

The name Latium referred to an area of ancient land found generally in the western and central part of the Italian Peninsula. Originally the name was in reference to the country surrounding and including the Alban Hills.  Later (around 500 BCE) Latium was extended beyond the River Tiber as far as the mountain known then as Mt.  Circeo.  The territory of the Marsi, Aequi, and Sabini peoples bounded Latium on the northeast, while in the east lay Samnium, in the northwest Etruria, and Campania on the southeast.

Latium is significant because its history is virtually inseparable from the destiny of ancient Rome .  In the second millennium BCE the Indo-European tribes that came to settle in the Italian peninsula were known as Latins (Latini).  Later the Latins in the early centuries of the first millennium established themselves in the isolation of the Alban Hills, the better to defend themselves from raiders and plunderers, and thereafter developed as a separate people with their own customs, ideas, and culture.

The Iron Age of southern Italy and the Villanovan civilization of southern Etruria were both great influences on the Latins and cultural concepts were adopted from these sources.  Examples of such influences are found particularly in funerary practices:  cremation of the deceased, and the two major types of urn used for the ashes.  The first urn design was a very faithful imitation of the huts of the living; the second was a distinctive Villanovan design, using simple geometric decoration.  Similar decorations appeared on tomb items such as bronze brooches, weapons, spindles, razors, and other every-day artifacts.  Although the materials found  in the Alban tombs is usually rougher and coarser in appearance, it is very similar to material found in Roman tombs of the same period.

The Latin League was originally about 30 villages and tribes in the neighborhood of ancient Rome that had confederated for mutual protection and defense against nearby hostile communities. The city of Alba Longa, the leader of this confederation, was the site of religious ceremonies which included the worship of Jupiter on Mt.  Alba.  Here the League members assembled to dispense justice.

By circa 600 BCE, Etruscan civilization and art had become a great influence on Rome and the other towns of Latium when the Etruscans occupied Latium and settled in Rome proper.  However, the decline of the Etruscans apparently began in the late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE with a series of crises from which they never fully recovered, starting with the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome in 509 BCE.

Rome first entered into an alliance of mutual defense with the the League in 493. In 475 a coalition of Greeks and Latins led the effort to reduce the Etruscan influence in Latium , and further urge their complete withdrawal.  Rome always claimed in her history that it was the Roman uprising which was entirely responsible for the change, but that appears to be chiefly some clever Roman propaganda, and is uncorroborated by archaeological evidence.

Etruria ’s loss of naval supremacy in 474 resulted in economic depression and a sharp interruption of trade for the entire area, especially the coastal cities.  The main stream of commerce was directed to Spina, a harbor on the Adriatic Coast. Thus Latium 's fortunes changed for the worse upon the departure of the Etruscans, and as a result Rome was much reduced in influence and lost its former precedence over other cities in the area.

Throughout the 5th century BCE, the Latin League imposed its policies on Rome. Each year a dictator was chosen by the delegates of the federated cities to command a federation army which included Roman troops together with others.  During this period of the League's influence, Tusculum exercised the leadership that Rome had held in this area during the Etruscan period.  The territory of Rome did not extend beyond the sixth mile from the city, at this time.

The peoples of Latium were threatened by the proximity of several turbulent peoples (Volsci, Aequi), and Rome began her extension of territory with her 5th century BCE conflict against these people.  Rome rapidly grew to rival in size and influence the powerful cities of southern Etruria , and in the 4th century, after founding colonies at Mt. Lepini, again began to take precedence over its neighbors. Veii became the first Etruscan city-state to fall victim to the growing power of Rome in 396.  As Rome gained territory the relative political power of the League diminished.  In 358 a new treaty favoring Rome led to a war from which Rome emerged victorious in 338 BCE; thereafter the League was dissolved.  The Latin cities were given political statutes that limited or abolished their autonomy in Latium.  The Roman hegemony in Latium was an accomplished fact, and the life of the Latin country was soon modeled on that of the City of Rome .

References:
Peter Connolly," Greece and Rome At War," Greenhill Books-London and Stackpole-Mechanicsburg , Pa. , 1998.
Merl Severy," Greece and Rome , Builders of Our World", National Geographic; 1968.
Marcel Dunan,"Larousse Encyclopedia of Ancient and Medieval History," Harper and Row, New York , 1963.

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Three Cities of Etruria

Populonia was an ancient Etruscan city originally called Pupluna or Fuffuna.  These names were associated with the Etruscan wine god Fufluns.  It was located on the west coast of the Italian peninsula, and more specifically on the Monte Massoncello Peninsula close by the sea.  It was the only Etruscan city so placed.  Its prominence and wealth are attested to by the large fields of slag from the smelting of iron and silver ore shipped to Pupluna from nearby Elba. Pupluna was the first city to coin silver money, toward the latter half of the 5th century BCE. The city became wealthy and very prominent in the Etruscan League before 300 BCE.

Rome took over Pupluna late in the 270's, and  in the wars between the Boii and Rome in 282, Pupluna suffered heavily.  In the civil wars between Marius and Sulla.in the 1st century BCE, she suffered heavy losses once again.  Afterward, the older part of the city on the Molino and DelCastello hills was made a municipium.

Volterra was the ancient Etruscan city once called Velathri and noted as one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan Confederation, located in what is now northwestern Tuscany not far from Pisa.  The city supported Rome during the second Punic War in 205 BCE, and following the civil wars  of Sulla and Marus (81-80 BCE) it was granted Roman citizenship and took the name Volterrae.

Volterra is now primarily noted as an Etruscan art center.  The city has the remains of Etruscan walls, enlarged in the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE; two Etruscan gateways; and circular tombs from the 6th century BCE with vaults of concentric rings supported by a central pillar.  The Guarnacci Etruscan Museum contains a notable collection of Etruscan art, including more than 600 cinerary (cremation) urns.

Tarquinia, anciently Etruscan Tarchuna or Tarchna (formerly Coneto), lies near Viterbo in the Lazio ( Latium ) region of central Italy .  It lies just four miles or seven kilometers from the Tyrrhenian Sea, just to the north of Civitavecchia .  The modern city developed out of the ancient Tarchuna, two miles to the northeast.

This ancient city was one of the twelve principal cities which stood against Rome in the 5th century BCE.  The city fought Rome in the wars of 398-394, 388, and 358-351.  Following these conflicts, Roman forces finally overcame the city in 311.  Tarchuna became the site of a Roman colony (Tarquini) in 181, and received Roman citizenship in 90 BCE.  The city declined during the late Roman Empire .  The earliest archaeological remains at the original site of Tarquinia are the 9th century BCE Villanovan (Iron Age) well tombs.  The ancient city site was found on a hill by excavations carried out in 1934-38.  Remains of an imposing circle of walls have been uncovered, as have the foundations of the great Etruscan temple known as the Ara della Regina.  The decorations here are very valuable and the group of winged terra-cotta horses in the Hellenic style is considered to be among the great masterpieces of Etruscan art.  There is the famous Etruscan necropolis of Tarquini, situated on a ridge southwest of the ancient city, which contains the most important painted tombs in Etruria, most of which are rock-cut chamber tombs dating from the 6th to the 4th century BCE.  The most well-known and famous of these is the Fowler and Fishing Tomb with its polychrome frescoes painted about 520.  The tombs of the Lionesses, of the Augurs, and of the Bacchantes (all 6th century BCE) show some elaborate dancing and banqueting scenes. The Tomb of the Triclinium is the most outstanding 5th century tomb, and the Tomb of the Shields is a masterpiece of 4th century painting.  The 2^nd century BCE Tomb of the Cardinal contains the rarest, most distinctive paintings in Etruria .

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Rhine River Patrol (Part Ten)

It was the loud voices that woke him, and he immediately stifled the intended movement to sit up and see who it was.. As the voices drew nearer Gaius froze in his narrow bed.  His heart was pounding with anxiety and it seemed as if those anywhere near must surely hear it. His arm was throbbing as though some one was pounding on it with a mallet.

"Well," said a loud voice, "do you have him or not?!?"

Gaius could just see, through the screen of leaves, a small man in dirty rags crouched on one of the boulders at the bottom of the mountain.  The big grey rock on which he sat  was slightly rounded on top, half in the water, and stood out from the others because of it's almost perfectly square shape except for a large chip off one corner.  The little man couched on the top of this boulder looking towards the forest opening where the stream left the pond.  He had a leather thong around his neck, the other end of which led 

Drawing by Gallus Minucius Lovinus (Jonas Nilsson)

beyond Gaius' sight to the gravelly voice. The little man pointed along the edge of the pool to the break in the woods and looked behind him.  It was the little tracker, that the Praefectus of overseers owned, "Cat" was his name, and he was very, very good, at his tracking skills.  Gaius'  hopes for freedom plummeted.

"Then move it along, animal," snarled the invisible voice and the Cat leaped forward onto the rocky shoreline and was immediately followed by a large beefy man and behind him were four archers, fully armed with long knives, hatchets and strung bows with arrows nocked.  They weren't taking any chances, Gaius thought.  What they don't know was they could take me easily with a grandma, and a piece of rope, he thought with irony.  Slowly Cat moved across the rocks and around the edge of the pool.  Was the false trail he had left good enough to fool the tracker, Gaius didn't know, but there was nothing that he could do now except lie very still, and hope that he had not forgotten anything when he laid his trail..  He was on his own now, and it was his skill and cunning, against the five men and the tracker.  Slowly Cat approached the opening in the forest and stopped.  His fingers sought out the surface of the rock, on which he sat.  It was the rock that Gaius had backtracked on. Had he left a smear of mud, or perhaps a blood spot?  He could only sit and wait.

Abruptly the big man jerked the leather lanyard, and Cat's head twisted on his neck.

"Don't keep me waiting you little slime puddle or I'll have you roasted alive.  Where is he?  Where did he go?!?"  The big man's ugly face was bent low over Cat and he snarled his words in the cruelest possible way. Cat clawed at the lanyard around his neck, and pointed into the woods. The big man prodded the little tracker with his staff.  "Then move yer filthy rear-end along. Find him!  Find Him!!!" Slowly the six figures moved into the woods and out of his sight.  Gaius knew that it would not be long before they returned, and this would be his only chance to get out of the tree, and into a better hiding place. His eye caught on the hollow reed strapped to the tree-limb with the knife, Of course, he thought, and he hurriedly arose favoring  his arm. It may be broken as well he thought as he unstrapped the knife and reed.  He hastily ate the remainder of his food, so the water and mud would not spoil it, and then looped the pouch strap over his head, tucked his knife into his tunic, then holding the reed with his teeth and favoring his injured arm, he slipped down the lower limbs and into the water using his good arm to support himself so he would not fall.  His injured arm did not escape a further jerking about, and he paused for a moment to let the waves of pain clear from his mind before continuing.  The water was neck deep and he carefully felt for a purchase on the rocky bottom with his feet.  He would move toward the heavy reeds along the side of the pool away from the rockslide.  That way at least he could watch as the hunting party returned, just as he was sure they would. Slowly and carefully he moved across the pool and finally he reached the thick and tall reed bed.  The water was now hardly up to his knees as he moved carefully into the reeds, following a winding narrow drainage channel, taking care to draw the long reed stems closed behind him to mask his entry point. Finally he lay down in the small muddy channel , the water just covering him and readied his reed.  He could just barely see through the reeds to the opposite side of the pond. When the hunting party returned, and if they searched the reed bed then he would lay down and breath through the reed while they were in the vicinity, His only problem, he thought, would be how to keep himself from floating to the surface.  He tried lying down and breathing through the reed, and was surprised to find that he did not float .  In fact, he sank into the mud. He supposed that he had lost so much body weight that perhaps that accounted for his not floating.  However, he would worry about that later.  Now he had simply to survive, until the hunters returned, and then he hoped they would leave the area.  But the water was cold and while the cold helped the throbbing pain in his arm, he felt himself begin to shiver with the chill of the cold water. Night was coming on again, and maybe just maybe----

A sharp cracking sound, a scream of pain and a rasping laugh cut through his thoughts.  This was immediately followed by a crashing sound where the search party had previously disappeared.

"Damn your filthy hide, you little puddle of slime," raged the big man holding the leather thong.  He wielded the staff again and again it slammed into Cat's back with a sharp crack, and again the little man screamed his pain.  The hunting party emerged from the woods, and Cat led the party in reverse of the way they had come.  The big man was obviously angry  at losing the trail.  Just as they passed the base of the tree where Gaius had been sleeping, one of the archer's called out, "Wait a minute, let me check something out."  The archer climbed up over the bent tree trunk, while the others waited at the entrance to the road.  The archer moved to where Gaius had lain, and he called out excitedly, "He has been here!  Here is where he laid down.  There's blood here as well!!"  The big man turned the lanyard over to one of the archers and quickly climbed up to where the first archer stood on the tree,

"Damn," swore the big man looking out over the pond,

Gaius immediately lowered his head. 

"That slippery bastard as doubled back on us". he swore.  "I'll beat you till you bleed for this. you little bugger," growled the big man at the shivering tracker, as the big man and archer climbed clumsily down from the tree.  "Back to the road , he shouted, " he's still headed down-hill we'll catch him at the lake!!!  He retrieved the leather thong and poked at Cat with his staff.  "Move it, filth," he said with a distinct grin on his face.  The group disappeared and moments later Gaius heard them running along the road down hill to -- where??  The lake??  What was at the lake??  As he thought, he remembered the logs and the animal tracks on the road.  The lake he thought, was a place to store logs before they are sawn into timbers.  That means a village of woodcutters and sawyers may be nearby and that means food and warmth.  He struggled up from his muddy bed and hastily made it to shore.

His arm was hurting again now and he carefully covered the wound again with the clinging mud.  He clumsily shortened his pouch strap into a primitive sling and rested his injured arm on it's support.  Obviously, the way to go now would be to follow the stream below the pond, since the hunting party had given up in that area.  He waded across the pond to the outlet and entered the dark woods.  The light was going fast and again it would be full dark soon.  The hunting party would probably camp the night in this area, as it would be futile to hunt at night and even that big oaf in charge could see that.  He felt sorry for Cat, but there was little that he could do at the moment.  He moved slowly through the dim woods being sure of his footing,  If he fell now he wasn't sure that he would be able to get up again. The dizziness was getting worse.

About an hour later Gaius arrived at the lake and just as he had thought, there was a fire on the shore and five figures crowded around it.  Cat would be staked out somewhere secure in the brush as a watchdog.  Gaius yearned for the fire,  His tunic was still damp from the swim in the upper pond, and a cool night wind was blowing down the mountain side.  He was cold, and hurting, and he was hungry again.  If the hunting party didn't find him soon they would be forced to confess their failure, and the Auxila would be called upon to hunt for him. They would leave no stone unturned to recapture a slave, particularly one who had killed -- how many -- three men??  He wasn't sure, but he was sure that all of them were no great loss!!  He had to get out of this area, but he was already very dizzy and was forced to lean against a tree simply to stand.  He needed another place to rest, and maybe this time to die,  His arm was now pounding with agony, and it was swelled to almost twice normal size.

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  I am fascinated by the black-line drawing of this Roman Study  -- plate (276). While there are several items in the drawing that I do not recognize, the items which are familiar to me, I am rather excited about!  First the chair and it's attendant cushion looks very comfortable and the chair legs while perhaps a little too curved for wood to take the pressure of a man my size, it does present an elegant design.  The scrolls and the scroll case are also quite fascinating.  I am working on 

something very similar although somewhat smaller. A scroll of significant size with end pins can be rather expensive.  I had ordered one from a Egyptian papyrus dealer at one time, and a single papyrus roll alone was nearly $30 US. The two scroll end-pins run about $10 – 20 US the pair.  The scrolls in the carrying container number eight which is $240 US just for the papyrus scrolls in the carrying container, and there are 10 scrolls shown in the cabinet behind the table, with certainly more hidden behind the curtain, which minimally brings the amount of papyrus scrolls pictured here, to $540 US. 

The foot-rest has rather uniquely carved legs and a framework with a stiff top surface.  The lamp is a singular lamp and stand but in other areas of discovery and archaeological study, such as Pompeii , there are examples of both two and three lamps combined together in a single lamp stand.  Usually, however, I believe that multiple lamp stands are table lamps with a shorter base for more stability.

The round, flat item hanging from the curtain rod on the left could well be some sort of a timpanium to summon servants, and the horn-shaped object at the far end of the curtain rod (to the right), may well be some sort of drinking horn.  Perhaps the large jar on the table contains water or wine, or perhaps both in a watered wine solution to insure that thirst was not a concern during the study of or inscription on the scrolls.  The lyre and statue bust are self-explanatory, of course, which brings us to the two items resting in their niches under the scroll storage bench.  Both might well be fancy holders of sweetmeats or perhaps dishes / containers for a soup or stew.  The two tablets on the floor may be lying on a stylus of some kind, and are apparently single tablet leaves instead of multiple leaves as in a larger note or message. The smaller vase has a very eye-catching design, and is either resting on it's own support block, or the vase and the block are one.  The curtain and chair cushion both have designs which are classic Roman in workmanship, and the chest carving directly below the bust is both simplistic and very elegant, in my view.

This plate caught my attention when I first saw it, and sent me to the flea markets locally to see if there were any similar items on the market.  I found a scroll case (wooden) with a cover and leather strap (hat box), a chair closely resembling the one in the drawing (1930's vintage) and a brass lamp.  I am now working to convert a study to something like this drawing.  I just thought that I might share my interest with this particular drawing.

Reference:
Thomas Hope, "Costumes of the Greeks and Romans." Dover Publications -- Pictorial Archive Series, NY- NY, 1962, Library of Congress Catalog Number 62-2519.

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Druidism: A System of Religion, Philosophy, and Instruction

The word "druid" is of Celtic origin and means "knowing (or finding) the oak".  The druids were a religious order in ancient Gaul , Britain and Ireland .  As found in the Irish and Welsh sagas, and later Christian legends, the druids appear as conjurors and not as priests or philosophers.

Most of the basic doctrines of Druidism were kept secret within the priesthood.  Much of what we know of Druidism is brought to us by JuliusCaesar, who at least witnessed some of the external manifestations of the religion.  Druidic authority seems to have have been a dominating force among the Celtic ruling classes and may well have guided their political actions and activities.  Druids seemed to have frequented oak forests and acted as priests, teachers, and judges.  The name may have derived from Druidic ritual, which in the earlier days were practiced  in forest surroundings.  They were seen as a learned class among the ancient Celts.  The Celtic society itself was controlled by an elite class which was divided into three sections:  Druids, Vates, Bards.

The religion appears to have its beginning in Britain , which at the time of Caesar still remained a chief base of the religion.  A core tenet was metempsychosis, the belief was that the soul of a person cannot be extinguished but transmigrates upon death--passes into another body either animal or human.  There may have been some element resembling karma in this belief--that is, that an individual's conduct in this life determines where the soul goes, but that seems to be merely conjecture.  With this assurance that their souls could not die, Celts were inclined to be fearless in battle, and this belief also gave some credence to the sanctioning of the use of humans for Druidic sacrifice.

Sacrifices were occasionally made as a part of certain rituals and practices.  Apparently criminals and captives were used for these sacrifices but innocent members of their own society were also used if necessary, and this portion of the religion was very much against Roman objection to human sacrifice.  The purposes and occasions for human sacrifice apparently fell into one of four main areas:  to appease or conciliate the Gods after a disaster; to give thanks to the Gods  for a significant victory; for those who were gravely sick or endangered of death in battle; but mainly to foretell or presage the future by prophecy. The sacrifice itself was conducted by filling large wicker cages with the human sacrifices and then burning them.

Druids thought it wrong to commit their learning to writing, and so developed prodigious skills of memorization, learning massive amounts of ancient verse by heart.  They were said to be very knowledgeable in the areas of astrology and astronomy, and studied natural philosophy and lore of the gods.  Their people credited them with possession of the power to control the elements (weather, tides, seasons, etc.) and the ability to cast magic spells upon the forest and its fauna among whom they lived.  Druids might spend a lifetime in study.

They gathered once a year at a sacred place in the territory of the Carnutes which was believed to be the center of Gaul .  There, all legal disputes, both public and private quarrels, were submitted to the judgment of the Druids.  Failure to obey a Druidic decree was punishable by barring the individual from sacrifice, the gravest of all punishments.  One Druid was made the Chief of Druids; and when he died another was chosen.    

The Druids were not the only religious practitioners within the Celtic civilization, as the Vates and Bards also had a variety of religious functions.

Caesar records that Druids abstained from warfare, avoided manual labor, and paid no tribute.    They presided over religious assemblies of more than one tribal group and were a force for unification between tribes in conflict.  The attraction of these privileges resulted in many young men either joining the order voluntarily or being sent by their families for instruction.  These applicants were generally recruited from the warrior class, but when a part of the Druidic society were ranked higher.  Thus Caesar's distinction between "druides" (man of religion and learning), "eques" (warrior), and "plebs" (commoner) is fairly apt.

While Caesar is the chief authority for the druidic philosophy, he may well have received some of  his facts from the Stoic philosopher Poseidonius, whose account is supported by early medieval Irish sagas.  Caesar's description of the annual assembly of the Druids and their election of an Arch-Druid is also confirmed by Irish saga.  

Edicts against the druidic priesthood were issued by both Tiberius and Augustus.  The Emperor Claudius is said to have proscribed Druidism in 54 AD, and in Britain itself there was a concerted effort to disrupt and diminish the authority and power of the priesthood.  In Ireland they lost their priestly functions after the coming of Christianity; St.  Patrick is said to have forbidden human sacrifice.  However, the Druids survived after Christianity as poets, historians, and judges.

Contemporary records assert that Druidism was attacked simply because of Roman antipathy for human sacrifice.  Additionally, however, they were seen as a political threat to the might of Rome because they served to unify Celtic resistance.

It would appear that Rome was chiefly intent upon destroying an influential priesthood, not the religion itself.  The mention of Druids by Ausonius in the 4th Century AD near Aquitaine suggests that the attempt to eradicate the Druids did not totally succeed.

References
Adkins and Adkins, "Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome ," Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford , 1994;
Piggott, S.  "The Druids," Thames and Hudson , London , 1968.
Ross, A., and Robins, D.  "The Life and Death of a Druid Prince," Rider, London , 1989.
"Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary," G.  C.  Merriam Co., Springfield MA , 1956

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Valetudo quod fortuna,

As many of you know, I've been "recuperating" at my estates outside the bounds of the New City .  So, I've been incommunicado for some time.

Here's a poem I wrote a few months ago.  It is published in the current issue of "Vor Tru," one of the oldest Asatru (Germano-Norse Paganism) magazines.

I was looking at some dark storm clouds rolling in from the west one late afternoon.  They appeared to be a mountain range, sprung up from the earth all of a sudden, with a sense of brooding danger about them.

I'm thinking, perhaps, that the images I show with these words may reflect just  how our ancestors came up with the tales and legends of Gods and Monsters.

ADLOCVTIO
NEWSLETTER OF THE TWENTIETH LEGION
Vol. XV, no. i, January 2005

LUPERCALIA--from Richard and Allison Campbell

Salvete omnes!

Legio XX's annual Lupercalia party is Saturday, February 19, starting at 5pm at our house.  We haven't entirely decided on the entertainment, but have at least one novel idea.

Roman, Greek, Celtic, barbarian and even Romano-Zena-Hollywood dress is strongly encouraged, but hobnails are not permitted.  Alas, no children.   Feel free to forward to potential recruits.

Food contributions are gladly accepted, but we will provide a lot of food and drinks (including Mt.Dew).

If you have a new piece of clothing or gear to show off, feel free to bring it.  New for us this year are Julia Passamonti's samian ware reproductions, and two Pompeii amphora.  Julia's amphora are coated in beeswax (not pine resin) so we will be trying them out with red & white wines to see how they taste.

Questions?  Suggestions?

RSVP by the weekend prior, or February 12.

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