Subject: [novaroma] Re; Roman lamps
From: "G. Bagne" <gkbagne@-------->
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 09:52:33 -0000
>From Lapella(nom.) to Citizens of Nova Roma(acc.), Much Greetings!
I too tried a reproduction clay lamp and found it to be a very
bright source of light. I filled it with commercial lamp oil which
quickly saturated the clay and the whole lamp became one blazing
mess. I've been using a little Tibetan brass lamp lately, but I'm
browsing ebay antiquities for a Roman one, which leads me to a
question; Does anyone know the significance of the encircled dot
motif? I've seen this motif on jewelry, tools, pots and other items
and each dealer has a different explanation. Is it protection
against the evil eye, peacock eye spots, a code for different deities
depending on the number of spots, or a Christian grape motif? I'd
appreciate any opinions on the subject. Be Well(imperative!)


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Subject: [novaroma] More military ramblings...
From: Andy Pearson <andy.pearson@-------->
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 15:33:06 +0100
Salvete.

Sic Cassius:

>I'm honestly not sure why this thread is fascinating, but it >is.

Hmmm.

Okay, how's this for fascination:

Harking back to my statement about the length of the hora varying with
season and latitude (someone may have shot me down by now, but I subscribe
to the digest version of the list and so remain blissfully unaware of this),
I have been doing some sums.

I have tried to calculate the length of a hora for several locations for
dates around the solstices. These are based on sunrise/sunset times,
dividing the daylight period into 12 horae. I hope these values are about
right:

Alexandria: summer 76 mins, winter 55 mins.
Athens: summer 79 mins, winter 52 mins.
Rome: summer 81 mins, winter 50 mins
Strasbourg: summer 85 mins, winter 46 mins
London: summer 88 mins, winter 44 mins
Newcastle (on Hadrian's wall): summer 92 mins, winter 40 mins
Orkneys (I think Tacitus claimed that the fleet landed there): summer 97
mins, winter 35 mins.

So a rebellious Legion quitting the Wall to march on Rome would have to
march 13.5 % faster as it made its final approach on the city!!!

Conversely:

No wonder the conquest of Britannia took so long!

More seriously, if my previous logic holds, the 3 - 3.6 mph speed range I
posited in my last post would vary from 2.8 - 3.3 mph in sweaty Alex to 3.4
- 4 mph along the chilly northern limes. Neat how you get to move more
slowly in hot provinces!

Just some thoughts...

Vindex

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Subject: Re: [novaroma] More military ramblings...
From: labienus@--------
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 11:00:46 US/Central
Salvete Vindex et alii

> More seriously, if my previous logic holds, the 3 - 3.6 mph speed range I
> posited in my last post would vary from 2.8 - 3.3 mph in sweaty Alex to 3.4
> - 4 mph along the chilly northern limes. Neat how you get to move more
> slowly in hot provinces!

I don't think your numbers are correct here. Assuming 20 Roman miles in 5
horae, I get the following average speeds (in Roman miles per modern hour, as I
don't remember the conversion from Roman to modern miles offhand):

City Summer Winter
Alexandria 3.16 4.36 (summer = 20 mi in 380 minutes)
Athens 3.04 4.62
Rome 2.96 4.80
Strasbourg 2.82 5.22
London 2.73 5.45
Newcastle 2.61 6.00
Orkneys 2.47 6.86 (summer = 20 mi in 485 minutes)

Which means that marches in the colder climes would be preferable to those in
the south. The Orkney summers would be downright lazy. 20 miles in 5 horae
during winter marches north of Rome would be practically impossible.

Does anyone know how variable the hora really was during Vegetius' time? I was
under the impression that Rome had access to water clocks fairly early.

Valete,
T Labienus Fortunatus



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Subject: [novaroma] Salve!
From: richard089@--------
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 17:44:28 -0000
Hello!,I haven't written a note to the group for some while. I wanted tocompliment the current story that uses Nova Roma members ascharacters. I find it well written and interesting to read-keep itcomming!:) Respectfully,Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus


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Subject: Re: [novaroma] More military ramblings...
From: "Kryn Miner" <kminer_rsg@-------->
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 14:53:28 EDT
Salve...

To all of you who are doing the intense math on this, WOW... I have to say
you are all pretty intense!!!

It's nice to know we have such a dedicated bunch in NR!!

I salute you all...

Vale

A.Tiberius

>From: labienus@--------
>Reply-To: novaroma@--------
>To: novaroma@--------
>Subject: Re: [novaroma] More military ramblings...
>Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 11:00:46 US/Central
>
>Salvete Vindex et alii
>
> > More seriously, if my previous logic holds, the 3 - 3.6 mph speed range
>I
> > posited in my last post would vary from 2.8 - 3.3 mph in sweaty Alex to
>3.4
> > - 4 mph along the chilly northern limes. Neat how you get to move more
> > slowly in hot provinces!
>
>I don't think your numbers are correct here. Assuming 20 Roman miles in 5
>horae, I get the following average speeds (in Roman miles per modern hour,
>as I
>don't remember the conversion from Roman to modern miles offhand):
>
>City Summer Winter
>Alexandria 3.16 4.36 (summer = 20 mi in 380 minutes)
>Athens 3.04 4.62
>Rome 2.96 4.80
>Strasbourg 2.82 5.22
>London 2.73 5.45
>Newcastle 2.61 6.00
>Orkneys 2.47 6.86 (summer = 20 mi in 485 minutes)
>
>Which means that marches in the colder climes would be preferable to those
>in
>the south. The Orkney summers would be downright lazy. 20 miles in 5
>horae
>during winter marches north of Rome would be practically impossible.
>
>Does anyone know how variable the hora really was during Vegetius' time? I
>was
>under the impression that Rome had access to water clocks fairly early.
>
>Valete,
>T Labienus Fortunatus
>
>

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Subject: [novaroma] Military Rambling
From: "G. Bagne" <gkbagne@-------->
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 21:19:32 -0000
Salvette All! Remember that bit in the New Testament that goes "If a
man requires you to walk with him a mile, walk with him two." In
Bible study I was told there was a law at the time that a soldier
could reqire a local civilian to carry things for him, but for no
more than a mile. Perhaps if you distributed your kit load over 2 or
3 locals you could get them to do better time. Oh, also try to make
sure they're christians so you don't have to round up new ones so
often. Be Well! Lapella


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Subject: [novaroma] Monetary Unit -- the Sistertius
From: Josh-Levin@--------
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 18:29:11 -0400
We should adopt the Sistertius (pl. Sisterces) as our monetary unit. In
the first century B.C.E., a good villa cost about 100,000 sisterces, which
was also the salary for an army general. In other words, it had about the
same purchasing power as a dollar did fairly recently (how convenient!).
Of course, its symbol would be taken from its first two letters, something
like "$".

-- Lupus Hebraeus Levius


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