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Roman Resources

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This was on CNN today--I assume it has been in the British news for a while. It is interesting. They weren't crucifying these people, but they were also burying them, which implies they had some status and possibly a terror campaign of crucifixion was not politically wise.
www.cnn.com

'Exceptionally high' number of decapitated bodies found at Roman burial site

Archaeologists have discovered 17 decapitated bodies at three Roman cemeteries in Cambridgeshire, eastern England -- an "exceptionally high' number which experts think were the result of judicial executions.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com
 
I've seen brief reports, but the article in Britannia is a new one, apparently a more substantial report and discussion.
Decapitation was the standard form of execution for an offender who was a Roman citizen, and by that date pretty well all free persons were, so it seems some group of freemen were judicially executed and buried - albeit face-down - with some care in a proper cemetery. Possibly a family feud, or rival local leaders, the winning side disposing of their opponents, but in an 'honourable' way.
But I'd like to read the full report, or at least a fuller summary - it's complicated, 'abnormal' burials, including prone, and ones where the head has been cut off post mortem, aren't all that unusual, and the possible motive(s) for them are debated.
 
FYI

Roman Provincial organization in the Late Empire.

After Constantine, there were usually separate Emperors (Augustus) in the Eastern and Western halves of the Empire. The Western Empire had been subdivided under Constantine into two Praefectura Praetorio (praetorian prefectures – an excellent name, if I do say so!), each headed by a Praefectus Praetorio (praetorian prefect – again, a fine choice). The Praefectura Praetorio Galliarum, was, in turn, divided into four parts: Dioecesis Galliarum, Dioecesis Brittania, Dioecesis Hispania, and the Dioecesis Septem Provinciarum (also known for its capital - modern Vienne, France - Dioecesis Viennensis) of which our province, Gallia Narbonensis, was a part. Each Diocese was under the rule of a Vicarius (Vicar – formally, vices agens praefecti praetorio (the deputy of the praetorian prefect). The Vicarius controlled the provincial governors (variously titled Consulares, Correctores, or Praesides) and heard appeals of cases decided at the local level.
800px-Roman_Empire_with_dioceses_in_400_AD.png

The Prefect of Praefectura Praetorio Galliarum in 383 CE was Flavius Mallius Theodorus. Augustine (later Saint) of Hippo knew Theodorus. When he converted to Christianity, Augustine wrote a book, On blessed life, which he dedicated to Theodorus. Theodorus, who at the time had retired from the court, was one of the Christian platonic intellectuals that Augustine met in Mediolanum (Milan, Italy).
 
Barefoot Bondmaid said:
Any such evidence of crucifixion in Roman Britain?
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Not yet :)

(I've shifted this into Roman Resources, as we like to collect and discuss what members find about the historical and archaeological evidence relevant to our favourite topics in that thread)
 
Just in! A strange German invented a time machine and recorded an interview with an actual Roman soldier!

Unfortunately, the interview is in Latin - of course. So (except for @Eulalia ) the rest of us need to turn on the cc button.

​

 
Frank Petrexa said:
It is interesting that trade was so widespread, despite the travel difficulties and the lawlessness (including the ability of rulers to "appropriate" your goods).

AAAS

www.sciencemag.org www.sciencemag.org
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That's very interesting, Frank. I'd only seen a brief mention of those findings. It doesn't strike me as quite so surprising as the article suggests - historians and archaeologists may tend to assume that standard weights and 'currencies' required centralised authorities, but there are other (later than Bronze Age) examples where that wasn't the case - e.g. the Viking raiders and traders in the North Atlantic and (especially) around the Irish Sea and North Sea, used 'hacksilver', silver loot literally hacked up into convenient quantities in standard weights that could be used as a kind of coinage. And I think similar systems have been found among nomadic and other non-centralised societies in many parts of the world.
 
Frank Petrexa said:
It is interesting that trade was so widespread, despite the travel difficulties and the lawlessness (including the ability of rulers to "appropriate" your goods).

AAAS

www.sciencemag.org www.sciencemag.org
Click to expand...
I was actually to Tiryns once. Quite the trading center in the Bronze Age!
 
The Keats - Shelley House in Rome.
"Here Lies One Whose Name was Writ in Water"

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
 
Another Roman Building - the Flavian Amphitheater, (aka the Colosseum). History and construction, and, what you are all waiting for, a detailed and mostly very accurate description of a day of ludi "games".
 
Praefectus Praetorio said:
Another Roman Building - the Flavian Amphitheater, (aka the Colosseum). History and construction, and, what you are all waiting for, a detailed and mostly very accurate description of a day of ludi "games".
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Dang it!! Youtube down again?
 
For those who had trouble following the full Latin joke of ROMANES EUNT DOMUS in "The Life of Brian,"
Here is a full detailed explanation and analysis (possibly @Eulalia approved)

The Roman Centurion (Latin Teacher) reminds me of the one I had at age 15.
 
Praefectus Praetorio said:
For those who had trouble following the full Latin joke of ROMANES EUNT DOMUS in "The Life of Brian,"
Here is a full detailed explanation and analysis (possibly @Eulalia approved)

The Roman Centurion (Latin Teacher) reminds me of the one I had at age 15.
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High school Latin. The teacher was an older priest (and an alcoholic--it's an almost asocial, lonely life). Scire, "to know" is conjugated in the present as scio, scis, scit (the third person singular is of course is pronounced "sheet"). Teenage boys will naturally ask him to say it. "Oh, no. You're not going to trap me." Maybe it gave him something to talk about at dinner.
 
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