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andrew

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Teddy Newbie

Teddy

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For a Roman military historian like me, Vindolanda is one of the most fascinating and exciting sites in the Roman world. It ranks alongside my old third-century hunting ground of Dura-Europos as a site of major importance, in which a snapshot of Roman life has been preserved for posterity. As such, it transcends the basic military significance of the find and, like so much else of the Roman army (around which the Roman system revolved), sheds light upon the everyday lives of those who lived and worked in and around the camp. The Vindolanda tablets provide a unique insight into what it must have been like to be a Roman representative in a foreign land.

The Britons are unprotected by armour. There are very many cavalry. The cavalry do not use swords, nor do the wretched Britons [brittunculi] mount in order to throw javelins.(Tab. Vindol. II.164)

'...rather like the American experience of Vietnam.'

The memorandum above was probably written by one of the commanders at Vindolanda as informative notes to his successor. It graphically portrays the frustrations of the regular soldier when faced with a guerrilla army that will not stand and fight, rather like the experience of American soldiers in Vietnam.

The Roman fort and settlement of Vindolanda The Roman army at this time was in a period of retrenchment. In AD 84, Agricola had defeated the Caledonii of south-eastern Scotland at Mons Graupius, and was (according to his somewhat partisan biographer Tacitus) poised to conquer the rest of Britain when his army was recalled by the emperor Domitian, who needed it for his Chattan wars on the Rhine. Large detachments of troops were withdrawn from the province, and those that were left established a frontier zone called a limes [pronounced leem-ays] along the military road of the Stanegate which ran from Carlisle to Corbridge (approx.).

'Hadrian's Wall... a permeable frontier, designed to control the movements of the tribes within the border zone and to regulate commerce between Roman Britain and its barbarian neighbours.'

The fact that the limes was not fixed at the narrower neck of land between Edinburgh and Glasgow suggests strongly that the Scottish tribes had not been quite as comprehensively trounced as Tacitus would like us to believe, as do tombstones and snippets of official correspondence which hint at troubles in the north during this time.

However, it would be a mistake to view the limes as a static defensive line. Even when Hadrian's Wall was erected some thirty years later, it was never that. It was a permeable frontier, designed to control the movements of the tribes within the border zone and to regulate commerce between Roman Britain and its barbarian neighbours. As such, the troops within it fulfilled a similar sort of police function as those British troops who used to guard Hong Kong. Pivotal to this system was the fort of Vindolanda, which sat at the approximate centre of the frontier.

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Teddy Newbie

Teddy

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Do you know the story about the longest story in the world?

 

Once upon a time there lived a chief who liked to listen to stories. And he knew so many stories that sometimes he stopped the storyteller and finished the story himself.

 

One day the chief sent his servants everywhere to find a good storyteller.

 

"Our Chief will give many presents to the man who will tell him the longest story in the world and make him laugh," the servants shouted in the streets.

 

Many people came to the chief and told him very long stories. They tried to make him laugh, but nobody could do that. The chief always said, "That is not the longest story and there is nothing to laugh at."

 

Once a boy came to the chief and said, "Oh, my Chief, let me try to tell you the longest story in the world and make you laugh."

 

The chief said, "Well, sit down and begin your story!"

 

The boy began: "Long, long ago there lived a man, Ubanbau by name. He ate so much that no man could feed him full. The chief of that country heard about Ubanbau and said, "Bring him to me, I shall feed him full." And he ordered his people to bring hundreds of thousands of pots of soup, meat, and fruit. Hundreds of camels carried the pots on their backs. The camels stopped in front of the chief's house. Many people came to see Ubanbau's dinner. Then Ubanbau came. The drummers began to drum, the musicians began to play, and the people sang songs. Ubanbau made a bow to the chief and said to the people, "Now look at me! Look at me! Look at me! With these words Ubanbau began to eat soup. And he ate, and he ate, and he ate, and he ate, and he ate,..."

 

"Well, what then?" asked the chief. "He ate, and he ate, and what then?"

 

"Oh, my Chief," answered the boy, "this is only the first pot and there were many thousands of pots! Wait a little.

And he ate, and he ate, and he ate,..."

 

Evening came. The boy went on with his story; "...and he ate, and he ate, and he ate,..." At last the chief ordered him to stop until the next morning.

 

In the morning the chief asked the boy to go on with his story. "Now what can you tell us about your Ubanbau?" he asked.

 

"Oh, my Chief, he not only ate, but drank too, so he drank and then he ate, and he ate, and he ate,..."

 

The storyteller said louder and louder "And he ate, and he ate, and he ate,..."

 

The chief looked at the boy and began to laugh. "Well, my boy, your story is the longest in the world! Have a rest now! Stop!"

 

And the young storyteller stopped his story, got many presents from the chief, climbed up on a camel, and rode away with these words: "And he ate, and he ate, and he ate,..."

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Teddy Newbie

Teddy

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ae71neo Newbie

ae71neo

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teddy if your not typing that I'm gonna have to call a foul!!!

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