My wife and I are giving several talks on all thing Roman to school groups starting in May.I have been to the Legio XX site and it is truly awesome.That website convinced me to make many of the things I am missing as I have the time right now.
I have 3 questions and I thought they might be best answered here-
1.Is there an archive for "ready-made" shield decorations?A stencil really.I cannot paint and have no artistic sensibilities.
2.Is there somewhere that I can find more than a little info on roman medicine and medical instruments?
3. I have seen a pile of "medusa" heads on e-bay that were supposedly worn by soldiers on their armor to protect them in some supernatural way.Is this true?
Thanks much,I will undoubtedly have more questions as time goes by.
Be Well
James
All Things Roman
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James the Baker
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All Things Roman
The new group (ECS)-no pop-ups:
http://www.ecs-imperial.org/
Meetup for local events/activities:
http://medieval.meetup.com/70/
Check out the older group-beware the pop-ups:
http://tirion.150m.com
http://www.ecs-imperial.org/
Meetup for local events/activities:
http://medieval.meetup.com/70/
Check out the older group-beware the pop-ups:
http://tirion.150m.com
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Matthew Amt
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- Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2000 1:01 am
- Location: Laurel, MD USA
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Ave!
Thanks for your compliments! Always happy to lure people onto the True Path. Answers to your questions:
1. Not really. There are patterns for our emblem on the site,
http://www.larp.com/legioxx/scuembl.html
and those can be altered or adapted to make variations on the theme. But no online collection of motifs that I know of.
2. There must be some Roman medical sites out there somewhere, in fact you might even find a link or two on our Links page (might take some combing...). One of our members is on a historical surgeons email list, and someone sent her a couple photos of repro surgical instruments. If you contact me off-board at mamt@lrcm.usuhs.mil , I can forward those to you along with the accompanying messages. You probably have already seen the implements that I made on our Photos page,
http://www.larp.com/legioxx/scalpel2.jpg
I'm hoping to add a couching needle (for eye surgery) and a trepanning drill, maybe a bone saw. No one in my group has really studied Roman medicine, but we are picking up enough tidbits to gross out the Boy Scouts at our event in March.
3. Sounds like BS to me, I'm afraid. I've also seen a bronze lion's head with a ring through the mouth that was supposed to be from Roman armor--but looked JUST like a drawer pull from Home Depot! Had this whole long song and dance about how precious bronze was, and all kinds of rubbish. Best advice, don't buy ANYTHING on ebay unless you KNOW what you're getting!
By the way, if you're in Chicago and haven't already contacted Legio V Macedonica, their info is on our Links page. I don't hear much from them, but I think they are still active.
Oh, and I hope you're getting paid for those school demos! As long as you're not performing as part of a non-profit group, you can keep the money, which really helps with the cost of all this madness.
Best of luck, and feel free to yell if you need anything else!
Vale,
Matthew/Quintus, Legio XX
Thanks for your compliments! Always happy to lure people onto the True Path. Answers to your questions:
1. Not really. There are patterns for our emblem on the site,
http://www.larp.com/legioxx/scuembl.html
and those can be altered or adapted to make variations on the theme. But no online collection of motifs that I know of.
2. There must be some Roman medical sites out there somewhere, in fact you might even find a link or two on our Links page (might take some combing...). One of our members is on a historical surgeons email list, and someone sent her a couple photos of repro surgical instruments. If you contact me off-board at mamt@lrcm.usuhs.mil , I can forward those to you along with the accompanying messages. You probably have already seen the implements that I made on our Photos page,
http://www.larp.com/legioxx/scalpel2.jpg
I'm hoping to add a couching needle (for eye surgery) and a trepanning drill, maybe a bone saw. No one in my group has really studied Roman medicine, but we are picking up enough tidbits to gross out the Boy Scouts at our event in March.
3. Sounds like BS to me, I'm afraid. I've also seen a bronze lion's head with a ring through the mouth that was supposed to be from Roman armor--but looked JUST like a drawer pull from Home Depot! Had this whole long song and dance about how precious bronze was, and all kinds of rubbish. Best advice, don't buy ANYTHING on ebay unless you KNOW what you're getting!
By the way, if you're in Chicago and haven't already contacted Legio V Macedonica, their info is on our Links page. I don't hear much from them, but I think they are still active.
Oh, and I hope you're getting paid for those school demos! As long as you're not performing as part of a non-profit group, you can keep the money, which really helps with the cost of all this madness.
Best of luck, and feel free to yell if you need anything else!
Vale,
Matthew/Quintus, Legio XX
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James the Baker
- Archive Member
- Posts: 774
- Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2001 2:01 am
- Location: Chicago,IL,USA
- Contact:
Thanks Matthew Amt,I will contact you immediately after I post this.LOL,I am not being paid,it always seems to me that I get the pleasure of laying out the cash so I can entertain for free.It's really ok tho,I enjoy it alot.I will try to contact the locals,good idea and I didn't even think of it.
I thought I knew enough about roman history that I could do this blindfolded
boy was that a crock.On the upside I have time to make it right which is good.
I am SUPER interested in surgery throughout the ages,looking forward to what you have to shoot at me.
Thanks also for the tip on the emblem.I wasn't sure and it sounded reasonable the way it was explained.I suppose that those attributes make for a good scam for me,the uninformed e-bayer.
Honestly,thanks again.
Be Well,
James
I thought I knew enough about roman history that I could do this blindfolded
boy was that a crock.On the upside I have time to make it right which is good.
I am SUPER interested in surgery throughout the ages,looking forward to what you have to shoot at me.
Thanks also for the tip on the emblem.I wasn't sure and it sounded reasonable the way it was explained.I suppose that those attributes make for a good scam for me,the uninformed e-bayer.
Honestly,thanks again.
Be Well,
James
The new group (ECS)-no pop-ups:
http://www.ecs-imperial.org/
Meetup for local events/activities:
http://medieval.meetup.com/70/
Check out the older group-beware the pop-ups:
http://tirion.150m.com
http://www.ecs-imperial.org/
Meetup for local events/activities:
http://medieval.meetup.com/70/
Check out the older group-beware the pop-ups:
http://tirion.150m.com
-
Saint-Sever
- Archive Member
- Posts: 1590
- Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2000 1:01 am
- Location: N. VA, among the noble Atlantians
Matthew--
What is your opinion of the "First Man in Rome" series of novels written by McCollough? I've fallen into them by accident, and I love 'em. It would suck if they were horrifically flawed.
And another Roman question-- Exactly what was Pontius Pilate? Governer of Judea, but the whole imperium thing-- he was a "pro-somethingorother", but where did he fall in the food chain?
Thanks, sir.
Michael
What is your opinion of the "First Man in Rome" series of novels written by McCollough? I've fallen into them by accident, and I love 'em. It would suck if they were horrifically flawed.
And another Roman question-- Exactly what was Pontius Pilate? Governer of Judea, but the whole imperium thing-- he was a "pro-somethingorother", but where did he fall in the food chain?
Thanks, sir.
Michael
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Matthew Amt
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- Posts: 1137
- Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2000 1:01 am
- Location: Laurel, MD USA
- Contact:
"First Man in Rome", etc.
Ave!
I LOVE Colleen McCullough! In all honesty I have not read many authors in the Roman historical fiction genre, but she's terrific. The appendices show me that she has, in most cases, really done her homework. Now, I have caught her on a few technical errors, or at least things I would debate from my own research (sagum should be rectangular, not round, little things like that). And of course many of her charaterizations are her own, since there is often VERY little evidence to show what these folks were really like. But basically, great stuff! Which reminds me, I don't think I have read the last volume or two in the series--I should start over from the first to get the full effect!
Pilate was praefectus or prefect of Judea. I believe an alternate term which is not now considered correct is procurator. He was an equestrian, upper class but a step below senator, so he was not a proconsul. He was subordinate to the governor of Syria, who was a senatorial proconsul. And since he was not of senatorial rank, there were no legions stationed in Judea during his reign--he had only auxiliary units under his command. (This is something that all the movies about the crucifixion of Christ ignore, apparently because they think audiences are too stupid to accept Roman soldiers who don't look like classic Hollywood legionaries.)
One of my legionaries sent me a link to a great web page on Pilate the other day, but unfortunately I don't have it here at home. A Google search would probably turn it up. But if you can't find anything I can post it on Monday, most likely.
Vale,
Matthew/Quintus
I LOVE Colleen McCullough! In all honesty I have not read many authors in the Roman historical fiction genre, but she's terrific. The appendices show me that she has, in most cases, really done her homework. Now, I have caught her on a few technical errors, or at least things I would debate from my own research (sagum should be rectangular, not round, little things like that). And of course many of her charaterizations are her own, since there is often VERY little evidence to show what these folks were really like. But basically, great stuff! Which reminds me, I don't think I have read the last volume or two in the series--I should start over from the first to get the full effect!
Pilate was praefectus or prefect of Judea. I believe an alternate term which is not now considered correct is procurator. He was an equestrian, upper class but a step below senator, so he was not a proconsul. He was subordinate to the governor of Syria, who was a senatorial proconsul. And since he was not of senatorial rank, there were no legions stationed in Judea during his reign--he had only auxiliary units under his command. (This is something that all the movies about the crucifixion of Christ ignore, apparently because they think audiences are too stupid to accept Roman soldiers who don't look like classic Hollywood legionaries.)
One of my legionaries sent me a link to a great web page on Pilate the other day, but unfortunately I don't have it here at home. A Google search would probably turn it up. But if you can't find anything I can post it on Monday, most likely.
Vale,
Matthew/Quintus
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Saint-Sever
- Archive Member
- Posts: 1590
- Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2000 1:01 am
- Location: N. VA, among the noble Atlantians
Matthew--
Thanks very much!! I was relieved to hear that McCollough was not the Nora Roberts of ancient Rome-- I really love the books, and they piqued my interest sufficiently that I started reading about the late Republic on my own. (Reminds me of modern American politics, especially the use of the courts for political purposes.) I was in Rome a couple of years ago, and I'm in a heat to get back again, armed with a new perspective!
Thanks also for clearing up the Pilate thing. He was obviously a Big Cheese, but a Big Cheese sans toga praetexta and lictors, which confused me.
If you haven't read "Caesar" and "October Horse" yet, you are in for a treat.
Thanks very much!! I was relieved to hear that McCollough was not the Nora Roberts of ancient Rome-- I really love the books, and they piqued my interest sufficiently that I started reading about the late Republic on my own. (Reminds me of modern American politics, especially the use of the courts for political purposes.) I was in Rome a couple of years ago, and I'm in a heat to get back again, armed with a new perspective!
Thanks also for clearing up the Pilate thing. He was obviously a Big Cheese, but a Big Cheese sans toga praetexta and lictors, which confused me.
If you haven't read "Caesar" and "October Horse" yet, you are in for a treat.