09-30-2002, 06:31 PM
avete omnes<br>
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I've lurked awhile before joining -- this is wonderful group.<br>
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I live in West Sussex, England. Like many others, I got interested in Ancient Rome via Rosemary Sutcliff (my favourite of her novels is Mark of the Horse Lord), the film and book Spartacus and also, bizarrely, through high school Latin which was taught 35-40 years ago in a way that was almost guaranteed to put people off it for life! It's taught in much more user-friendly fashion now, as I discovered when I started to brush up with a 1990s course.<br>
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As a Friend of Vindolanda for over 30 years, I've followed closely the exciting excavations at the Roman auxiliary forts there, near Hadrian's Wall, and have been a volunteer excavator the last 2 summers. I'm amazed at the huge body of knowledge about the Roman auxiliary army that's being unearthed there. This summer I found myself in a rather soggy garbage pit which yielded to my trowel a leather bag, some fine matching Samian pottery pieces and a man's leather shoe. I was more thrilled with the shoe than the professional archaeologists were -- they already have 2000 of them in their museum storeroom! Now I know why they say archaeology is rubbish!<br>
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I'm here because my main interest is in the Roman military -- oddly for a woman, but there it is. There certainly is a wealth of knowledge and experience here! I'm particularly interested in the psychology of the Roman soldier.<br>
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I guess I'm really a frustrated re-enactor. I don't know if there are any female Roman army re-enactors, but I certainly don't have the height or build to be one, so this, alongside visits to re-enactment events, is the next best thing. The nearest I've come to re-enacting was doing an in-costume cookery demo for a late-Roman/Dark Ages group called Comitatus at the 2002 Kirby Hall History in Action event in Northamptonshire, England.<br>
<br>
I'm delighted to be in the company of so many fellow-buffs, including some authors whose work I've long enjoyed and admired -- so far I've come across Daniel Petersen, M. C. Bishop, Simon Scarrow and John Maddox Roberts. If there are others, I hope to meet them soon.<br>
<br>
With my other hat (or helmet) on, I'm editor of Solander, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society, and I try to feature as many authors of Roman fiction therein as I can without upsetting the balance. So far, I've interviewed Simon Scarrow, Steven Saylor and David Wishart.<br>
<br>
I look forward to contributing to the Talk, as well as picking your brains.<br>
<br>
valete<br>
masavo<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<p></p><i></i>
<br>
I've lurked awhile before joining -- this is wonderful group.<br>
<br>
I live in West Sussex, England. Like many others, I got interested in Ancient Rome via Rosemary Sutcliff (my favourite of her novels is Mark of the Horse Lord), the film and book Spartacus and also, bizarrely, through high school Latin which was taught 35-40 years ago in a way that was almost guaranteed to put people off it for life! It's taught in much more user-friendly fashion now, as I discovered when I started to brush up with a 1990s course.<br>
<br>
As a Friend of Vindolanda for over 30 years, I've followed closely the exciting excavations at the Roman auxiliary forts there, near Hadrian's Wall, and have been a volunteer excavator the last 2 summers. I'm amazed at the huge body of knowledge about the Roman auxiliary army that's being unearthed there. This summer I found myself in a rather soggy garbage pit which yielded to my trowel a leather bag, some fine matching Samian pottery pieces and a man's leather shoe. I was more thrilled with the shoe than the professional archaeologists were -- they already have 2000 of them in their museum storeroom! Now I know why they say archaeology is rubbish!<br>
<br>
I'm here because my main interest is in the Roman military -- oddly for a woman, but there it is. There certainly is a wealth of knowledge and experience here! I'm particularly interested in the psychology of the Roman soldier.<br>
<br>
I guess I'm really a frustrated re-enactor. I don't know if there are any female Roman army re-enactors, but I certainly don't have the height or build to be one, so this, alongside visits to re-enactment events, is the next best thing. The nearest I've come to re-enacting was doing an in-costume cookery demo for a late-Roman/Dark Ages group called Comitatus at the 2002 Kirby Hall History in Action event in Northamptonshire, England.<br>
<br>
I'm delighted to be in the company of so many fellow-buffs, including some authors whose work I've long enjoyed and admired -- so far I've come across Daniel Petersen, M. C. Bishop, Simon Scarrow and John Maddox Roberts. If there are others, I hope to meet them soon.<br>
<br>
With my other hat (or helmet) on, I'm editor of Solander, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society, and I try to feature as many authors of Roman fiction therein as I can without upsetting the balance. So far, I've interviewed Simon Scarrow, Steven Saylor and David Wishart.<br>
<br>
I look forward to contributing to the Talk, as well as picking your brains.<br>
<br>
valete<br>
masavo<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<p></p><i></i>