No News like Ancient News – Roman frescoes discovered

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Stunning face hidden for thousands of years: Wooden sarcophagus is unearthed at Egyptian necropolis
Encased in soil, this extraordinarily delicate face emerges into the sun for the first time in thousands of years.
The wooden sarcophagus was unearthed by archaeologists at the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa in Aswan, Egypt.
Believed to contain the body of a person of some rank, it boasts extraordinarily delicate features, well-preserved by the sands of time. Read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2102035/Wooden-sarcophagus-dug-Aswan-tombs-Qubbet-el-Hawa.html

Beautiful face.

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Bulla Felix - A Roman Robin Hood

from the Roman History of Cassius Dio (http://www.outlawsandhighwaymen.com/bulla.htm):

At this period Bulla, an Italian, brought together a robber band of about six hundred men, and for two years he plundered Italy, regardless of the proximity of the emperors and a large number of soldiers.

1 For he was hunted by many men at once, with the emperor Severus eager to track him down,

2 yet whenever he was sighted, he turned out not to have been sighted, whenever he was found, he turned out not to have been found, whenever he was hunted down, he turned out not to have been captured: so crafty was he, and so lavish with his presents. He received intelligence of everyone who was travelling out of Rome, and everyone who disembarked at Brundisium;

3 he knew who they were and how many were of the party and what and how much they had in their possession. Most people he would set free immediately, once he had taken a share of what they had; craftsmen, though, he detained for a while, and after he had employed them in work for him, he gave them something extra and let them go. Once, when two of his bandits had been captured and were about to be given to wild beasts, he came back and went to the keeper of the gaol.

4 He pretended to be the chief magistrate of his native region, and to have a need for some men who matched their description, and so he obtained custody of them and saved their lives. He also approached the centurion whose job was to put an end to the bandit gang and laid information against himself as if he were some other person. He undertook, if the officer would accompany him, to hand the robber over to him. So as if he were conducting him to Felix (for this was another name by which Bulla was known)

5 he led him into a ravine, a place that was overgrown with brushwood, and easily took him prisoner. After this he assumed the appearance of a magistrate and ascended the judgement tribunal. He formally summoned the centurion to answer to the court. Next, he had part of his hair shaved off, and said, “Take this message to your slave-masters: ‘Provide food for your slaves so that they do not turn to banditry.’?” For a large number of those he had with him were members of the Imperial establishment, some of whom had received very little pay, while others had had no payment at all. So Severus, who was informed of these various incidents, became angry because while he was winning the wars in Britain through his representatives there, in Italy, in his own person, he was being outmatched by a robber.

6 In the end he sent a tribune from his bodyguard with a large troop of horsemen, after he had threatened him with terrible consequences if he did not bring Bulla back alive. So this man it was who, after he had learned that Bulla was having sex with another man’s woman, persuaded her, by means of her husband, to co-operate with them, in return for a promise of immunity. As a result of this, Bulla was captured while he was sleeping in a cave. The prefect Papinian asked him, ‘Why did you become a robber?’ In reply, he justified himself by saying, ‘Why are you a prefect?’

7 After this, a proclamation was made and he was given to wild beasts. His band of robbers was broken up: to such an extent, it seems, did the whole strength of the six hundred lie in that one man.

Cassius Dio

[Paul]

Roman harvesting machine

Model

[Prof.Witchheimer]

The Tollund Man

The Tollund Man is the naturally mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 4th century BC, during the time period characterised in Scandinavia as the Pre-Roman Iron Age.He was found in 1950 buried in a peat bog on the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark, which preserved his body. Such a find is known as a bog body. The head and face were so well-preserved that he was mistaken at the time of discovery for a recent murder victim...

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

[joroas]

Bodies like this have been found in England and Ireland too.  This must have been quite a widespread religious cult.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4589638.stm

[OSHIROmodels]

I saw the Tollund man during a holiday in Denmark to see Legoland 

cheers

James

[Prof.Witchheimer]

looks like you are a man of many interests, Jim, first Lego, then Tollund man..

[joroas]

The one from Manchester is in the British Museum:

Lindow Man



http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_prb/l/lindow_man.aspx

[OSHIROmodels]

looks like you are a man of many interests, Jim, first Lego, then Tollund man..

 

It was actually part of the package and not something that I would have thought suitable for 12 year olds   Interesting none the less. We also had a trip to Arhus and the historical part of the town which was great  

cheers

James

[joroas]

I saw the Tollund man during a holiday in Denmark to see Legoland  Cheesy

You went on holiday just to see Legoland..............

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Lindow Man

The man met a horrific death. He was struck on the top of his head twice with a heavy object, perhaps a narrow bladed axe. He also received a vicious blow in the back – perhaps from someone’s knee – which broke one of his ribs. He had a thin cord tied around his neck which may have been used to strangle him and break his neck. By now he was dead, but then his throat was cut. Finally, he was placed face down in a pool in the bog. This elaborate sequence of events suggests that his death may have been ritual killing. Some people have argued that he was the victim of a human sacrifice possibly carried out by Druids.

Now I'm afraid of druids..

[joroas]

Now I'm afraid of druids..

We still have them in the UK................. 

[Prof.Witchheimer]

I realize I don't know much about druids, I always was thinking of them they were a kind of nice and peaceful celtic priests, doing their nature thing. Didn't know they made human sacrifices.

[joroas]

I'm not sure they still do, but a film like Hot Fuzz can capitalise on the rumours:  

Their violent nature is the main reason that the Romans tried to eradicate them.

[joroas]

The Romans and the Druids

 

The Romans had met the Druids before in conquered Western Europe. While the Romans were happy to make a peaceful settlement with most tribes/groups in England, they had no intention of doing the same with the Druids.

The Druids were priests. The Britons both respected and feared them. It was believed that a Druid could see into the future – they also acted as teachers and judges. They were considered to be very learned people. It could take up to twenty years of learning to become a Druid. However, we do not know a great deal about what they learned as Druids were not allowed to write any of their knowledge down.

In their own way, the Druids were very religious. It was this particular issue that angered the Romans as the Druids sacrificed people to their gods. Caesar, in particular, was horrified by the practice and his writings give us a good idea of what went on in Druid ceremonies  -though from his perspective only. The Romans had once sacrificed people but they now saw it as a barbaric practice that they could not tolerate in one of their colonies. The Romans determined that they would stamp out the Druids.

However, they had to be careful. The Druids travelled freely throughout England as the Britons were too scared to stop them. Therefore, they were not simply in one place where the Romans could attack in force. In AD 54, the Emperor Claudius banned the Druids. In AD 60, the governor of England, Suetonius, decided that the only way to proceed was to attack the known heartland of the Druids – the island of Anglesey in the hope that if the centre of the Druids was destroyed, those Druids in outlying areas would die out.

Boats were built for the Roman foot soldiers while the Roman cavalry swam across with their horses. The Druids shouted abuse at the Romans and cursed them but they could not stop the Roman army from landing. Any ceremonial sites on Anglesey used by the Druids were also destroyed but many of them were in secret places and some survived.