Slave re-enactors?

[marsvigilia]

Softer linen my friend.

[tlclark]

This is just a list of some that I think are commonly (though not universally) avoided. I am suggesting that slavery be put in this category (at least while in the US)

Straight arm salutes (at least while in Europe.)
Swastikas on shields (at least while in Europe.)

Well there's no real evidence that the straight arm salute was used anyway. As far as swastikas - Those would be as big a problem here as in europe.

Crucifixion
Scourging with flagrums
Decimation

What are the objections to these? :wink:

Wearing sublingnum instead of underwear

Who needs underwear?

Drinking water contaminated with lead

Overrated, most Roman water was not contaminated. In fact, many of the public fountains in Rome still run through lead pipes. The scientific consensus is that this is safe since they have long since been covered by a protective layer of lime and calcite deposits.

Actually killing people in battles
Eating mice

Dormice are protected here unfortunately. So are people. Darn Gummint!!

Eating food with garum

Can't make decent thai without it! Actually, the objections to garum are cultural. I can't stand the stuff straight but thai food just doesn't taste as good without it. I've even made chicken fronto, consensus, kids loved it, my wife hated it.

Using the sponge on a stick
Sharing the sponge on a stick with family and friends
Sharing the sponge on a stick with complete strangers

I use a sponge on a stick....to sponge paint.

Keeping the toilet in the kitchen

Convenient I suppose if you cook with garum.

Sacrificing animals to the gods

Call it a BBQ and do it in Texas. No one would care. Here in Philly? Er...maybe not.

Doing any of the pagan religious rituals

Like dragging evergreens inside and decorating eggs in springtime? Yeah, that's just nutty.

Having dental work without anasthetic

Wuss!

Marching 20 miles a day

Ok now you can call me a wuss.

A couple of the above items are things that I actually do when reenacting. Which ones? Now that would be telling.

Yeah once you start decimation it's hard to stop!

Travis

[tlclark]

Wearing sublingnum instead of underwear

I have a pair and I'll wear them with pride. No matter how itchy they are :wink:

Using the sponge on a stick

Got one of those as well, but I'll never use it :oops:

We are getting into the "Way too much info" area really quickly here, but do you have a pattern for those? I've always wanted to see how re-enactors handled this.

Travis

[marsvigilia]

...but do you have a pattern for those? (sublignum) I've always wanted to see how re-enactors handled this.Travis

As I understand it there are two basic patterns both start with a rectangle of cloth that passes between the legs and over the groin area in front and the buttocks in back (where the buttocks are usually kept.)

The difference is in how they are fastened. One style has ties on each sides so that it looks a lot like a bikini. Another has a cloth belt attached to the top of the back that wrap around and tie in front, the cloth then passes behind tie and hangs over in front. A third I have heard is where the cloth "belt" is completely separate and both front and back pass over it.

In what is a curious example of parallel development (similar to garum/"nuoc mam") the Japanese have something very similar called fundoshi. Though it seems a bit longer in front where it hangs over. I have attached some pictures of this for your, well your enlightenment. These are NOT me. They are from a Japanese website.

WARNING - Keep children back.

[tlclark]

My eyes! my Eyes!!

No seroiusly, thanks.

So it's indistinguishable from a regular loinclot huh? Any chance that they could be more triangular on each end, in order to provide more coverage?

(No one wants to see that part of my anatomy)

Travis

[marsvigilia]

Actually about the only part exposed is the side of the leg. So if you're wearing a side split tunic people get to see a lot of leg. :0

My eyes! my Eyes!!

No seroiusly, thanks.

So it's indistinguishable from a regular loinclot huh? Any chance that they could be more triangular on each end, in order to provide more coverage?

(No one wants to see that part of my anatomy)

Travis

[Caius Fabius]

We all make choices which parts of Rome we will reenact and which we won't. ....

The following is a list off the top of my head of some Roman practices that I think many of us avoid. This list is not comprehensive. And some people may say that some things are OK. That's fine. .

thoughts on reenacting.
Discussing slavery and letting people portray slaves,
seems as good as portraying a professional Roman killer either a soldier or a gladiator.
Wearing sublingnum instead of underwear or going commando, less chaffing.
Drinking water contaminated with lead (have you had your water tested lately?)
Actually killing people in battles (not in the USA, at least so far)
Eating mice, tasty when they are cooked or baked with olive oil and herbs.
Eating food with garum, extra tasty, adds a lot of salt, however. If you don't eat garum, you are pretending to eat Roman style.
Using the sponge on a stick (works so much better than cheap Toilet Paper! and is soft!)
Sharing the sponge on a stick with family and friends (soak it in vinegar and rinse well before and after use.)
Sharing the sponge on a stick with complete strangers (see above, rinse twice, add bleach to vinegar) ((Not Martha Stewart approved))
Keeping the toilet in the kitchen (okay, that is not the best, but I have seen it in some places, and still managed to eat the food).
Sacrificing animals to the gods, (nope, but butchering your own is easy and usually more healthy than the stuff you buy at the grocery)
Doing any of the pagan religious rituals (hmm, did you celebrate Christmas, New Years or Easter? What about Valentine's Day?)
Having dental work without anasthetic, (done it, just takes a high pain tolerance, and a REAL need for the work.)
Marching 20 miles a day (well twice a week, when I was young, and getting paid to do it...)


I can't see how you can re-enact being a Roman if you won't eat what they ate, but then after certain military schools, you learn to eat almost anything.

I feel that the whole, "I won't discuss slavery" PCness, is like sticking one's head in the sand, but then I was an American History teacher in a mostly Afro-American school system, and it was not a topic you ignore, any more than you ignore the indentured servatude, and the anti-Irish or anti-Italian, or anti-Oriental racial issues. One of the problems of American PC education is that they don't teach enough of the facts, and leave certain racial or ethnic groups feeling that their situation was unique. At the end of a well-explained class on slavery, you should be able to ask whether it was better to be an indentured Irish servant, a Chinese laborer or a Afro-American slave and have several different answers, for several different reasons. Roman slavery is so much easier!

8)

[Tarbicus]

Sharing the sponge on a stick with family and friends (soak it in vinegar and rinse well before and after use.)
Sharing the sponge on a stick with complete strangers (see above, rinse twice, add bleach to vinegar) ((Not Martha Stewart approved))

No fun for haemorrhoids.

[marsvigilia]

Ouch!

Sharing the sponge on a stick with family and friends (soak it in vinegar and rinse well before and after use.)
Sharing the sponge on a stick with complete strangers (see above, rinse twice, add bleach to vinegar) ((Not Martha Stewart approved))

No fun for haemorrhoids.

[marsvigilia]

I feel that the whole, "I won't discuss slavery" PCness, is like sticking one's head in the sand

I didn't say that it shouldn't be discussed. But unless you are very careful I think that reenacting it could come across as trivializing the issue. I don't think anyone would be intentionally insensitive or offensive. But the roads to some mighty hot places are paved with good intentions. This isn't a high-school where you have a captive audience with whom you can explore the issues. People walk past maybe stop for a little Q&A, maybe not.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

[claudia crisis]

Several years ago I "sold" my smallest offspring to the gladiators as a slave only to find to my disappointment later that day that the Ermine Street's "freed" him, sending him back with a certificate to prove it.

It only occurred to me a couple of weeks ago, when this now pungent teenager attempted to tap me for funds, that I ought to be directing him to them for his pocket money in future as his "patron".

A slave is for life not just for Xmas.

I dont recall they ever paid the manumission tax either!

I could try selling him again, but no-one wants him now that he isnt cute anymore.

Any offers?

Claudia crisis
aka
Hilary

[marsvigilia]

I'll have my own teenagers soon enough. But thank you for the offer.

[Jona Lendering]

Who other than Ethiopians and Jews was practicing circumcision?

Egyptians and Colchians, according to Herodotus.

[Tarbicus]

Alan K. Bowman in Life and Letters on the Roman Frontier, Vindolanda and its People, refers to references to slaves, thought to be the private property of officers. One correspondent to a centurion there asks for clothing for his slaves.

There's a very interesting and curious reference to a letter from a cornicularius to a slave, in which he refers to him as "frater".

Another letter from one slave to another, Severus to Candidus, talks about Saturnalia. The text of this is available in Vindolanda Tablets Online,
[url:32g7ue3j]http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/[/url] , where the slave is referred to as "brother":

"Severus to his Candidus, greetings. Regarding the ... for the Saturnalia, I ask you, brother, to see to them at a price of 4 or six asses and radishes to the value of not less than½ denarius. Farewell, brother. (Back) To Candidus, slave of Genialis the prefect, from Severus, slave of ..."

Literate, and part of the organising of an important annual festival, although related to themselves. It makes me wonder how much more active they were in the general running of a fort. In the book the letter is supposedly from an officer to a slave. There are other references in the book to transactions being carried out between personnel with typical slave names.
[/quote]

[tlclark]

Jim.

Cool stuff.

So how would an educated slave distinguish himself? I suppose he would look just like a civilian.

Travis