01-28-2005, 03:08 PM
Hi Dan,<br>
Well, it seems clear from your postings over the last few years that you will never ever accede that Kalkriese had anything to do with the last battle of Varus. Even if they would find a 'dog-tag' with his name on it, I assume you would insist he lost that while visiting the so-called 'outpost'!<br>
So I won't try to convince you.<br>
Just a few remarks - you mention the space and the trail of finds.<br>
I'm amazed you don't seem to hear what all these people say, when the explain that just a tiny fraction of the site has been excavated. So how can you tell beforehand nothing will ever turn up? You treat the currently excavated items as if that wer all there was to find. Also, I have never heard from the more informed experts (and I don't count newspapers) that they would insist that all 20.000 Romans fought in this tiny space and died just there. Like you suggest they did. If I'm remebering well all that I read about this site and the sources of the battle, Kalkriese would just be a choking point where the army was ambushed and had to fight its way through.<br>
<br>
Personally, I believe the trail of finds west of Kalkriese suggests that the area before the wall represents the demise of this army as a coherent force. Parts of it fought their way through it, other parts may have been chased into the swamp or back eastwards. Either way, only a few made it back to the Rhine.<br>
But none say the fields of Kalkriese were the spot where 20.000 Romans ran into a German wall and perished to a man.<br>
<p>Valete,<br>
Valerius/Robert<br>
[url=http://www.fectio.org.uk/" target="top]fectienses seniores[/url]</p><i></i>
Well, it seems clear from your postings over the last few years that you will never ever accede that Kalkriese had anything to do with the last battle of Varus. Even if they would find a 'dog-tag' with his name on it, I assume you would insist he lost that while visiting the so-called 'outpost'!<br>
So I won't try to convince you.<br>
Just a few remarks - you mention the space and the trail of finds.<br>
I'm amazed you don't seem to hear what all these people say, when the explain that just a tiny fraction of the site has been excavated. So how can you tell beforehand nothing will ever turn up? You treat the currently excavated items as if that wer all there was to find. Also, I have never heard from the more informed experts (and I don't count newspapers) that they would insist that all 20.000 Romans fought in this tiny space and died just there. Like you suggest they did. If I'm remebering well all that I read about this site and the sources of the battle, Kalkriese would just be a choking point where the army was ambushed and had to fight its way through.<br>
<br>
Personally, I believe the trail of finds west of Kalkriese suggests that the area before the wall represents the demise of this army as a coherent force. Parts of it fought their way through it, other parts may have been chased into the swamp or back eastwards. Either way, only a few made it back to the Rhine.<br>
But none say the fields of Kalkriese were the spot where 20.000 Romans ran into a German wall and perished to a man.<br>
<p>Valete,<br>
Valerius/Robert<br>
[url=http://www.fectio.org.uk/" target="top]fectienses seniores[/url]</p><i></i>
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
