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The Roman Ninth Legion's mysterious loss


Unusual Tournament

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You must have better sources than the rest of us, but in the real world there is no attestation of Romani people or language before the 1542. 

The Wikipedia article on Romani language specifically uses the term “completely unattested” before that date, if memory serves correctly. 

—Jaylemurph 

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43 minutes ago, jaylemurph said:

You must have better sources than the rest of us, but in the real world there is no attestation of Romani people or language before the 1542. 

The Wikipedia article on Romani language specifically uses the term “completely unattested” before that date, if memory serves correctly. 

—Jaylemurph 

...not sure if you talking to me or someone else but my stuff was completely made up of course!

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11 minutes ago, Hanslune said:

...not sure if you talking to me or someone else but my stuff was completely made up of course!

Nah, I meant Risky!

—Jaylemurph 

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Just now, jaylemurph said:

Nah, I meant Risky!

—Jaylemurph 

Good for you! I was wondering - since I have him on ignore and delete notifications from him.

 

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On 14/06/2019 at 11:46 AM, Essan said:

There is little evidence that the Wall was primarily for defensive purposes (not sure there is any evidence of any battles on it?) and most of the time the free tribes north of it were as friendly towards the Romans as those in the occupied territories to the south.   Obviously there were exceptions.

I must ask, why do you think there is little evidence(and here i presume your are referring to materials) of Hadrian's Wall being primarily for defensive purposes? Also, I would completely disagree with your last remarks. Is the evidence of discrepancy identities and creolization to be completely ignored? 

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1 hour ago, Mellon Man said:

I must ask, why do you think there is little evidence(and here i presume your are referring to materials) of Hadrian's Wall being primarily for defensive purposes? Also, I would completely disagree with your last remarks. Is the evidence of discrepancy identities and creolization to be completely ignored? 

Well, it may be disputed.  But Alistair Moffats book The Wall is a good starting point.  A local historian, and at times controversial, but I find him persuasive

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41 minutes ago, Essan said:

Well, it may be disputed.  But Alistair Moffats book The Wall is a good starting point.  A local historian, and at times controversial, but I find him persuasive

Alistair Moffat seems to be a journalist. I have not read his book, however, if he claims little evidence exist for Hadrian's Wall being built for defensive purposes and the northern indigenous population, 'were as friendly' as the southern indigenous population with respect to Roman occupation. Then I can understand why he is considered controversial, given his claims are extremely erroneous. 

As I said above, is the huge amount of evidence of discrepancy identities and creolization within Roman Britian and the lack of the same north of Hadrian's Wall, to be ignored? 

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9 hours ago, Mellon Man said:

Alistair Moffat seems to be a journalist. I have not read his book, however, if he claims little evidence exist for Hadrian's Wall being built for defensive purposes and the northern indigenous population, 'were as friendly' as the southern indigenous population with respect to Roman occupation. Then I can understand why he is considered controversial, given his claims are extremely erroneous. 

As I said above, is the huge amount of evidence of discrepancy identities and creolization within Roman Britian and the lack of the same north of Hadrian's Wall, to be ignored? 

I appreciate some don't like Wikipedia as a source, but it's well referenced and I don't see any reason to significantly doubt it on subjects like this:

Hadrian's Wall was probably planned before Hadrian's visit to Britain in 122. According to restored sandstone fragments found in Jarrowwhich date from 118 or 119, it was Hadrian's wish to keep "intact the empire", which had been imposed on him via "divine instruction".[14]

Although Hadrian's biographer wrote "[Hadrian] was the first to build a wall 80 miles long to separate the Romans from the barbarians", reasons for the construction of the wall vary, and no recording of an exact explanation survives.[15] Theories have been presented by historians, mostly of an expression of Roman power and Hadrian's policy of defence before expansion. On his accession to the throne in 117, there was unrest and rebellion in Roman Britain and from the peoples of various conquered lands across the Empire, including Egypt, Judea, Libya and Mauritania.[14]

These troubles may have influenced Hadrian's plan to construct the wall as well as his construction of limites in other areas of the Empire, but to what extent is unknown. Scholars disagree over how much of a threat the inhabitants of northern Britain really presented and whether there was any economic advantage in defending and garrisoning a fixed line of defences like the Wall, rather than conquering and annexing what has become the Scottish Lowlands and defending the territory with a loose arrangement of forts.[14]

The limites of Rome were never expected to stop tribes from migrating or armies from invading, and while a frontier protected by a palisade or stone wall would help curb cattle-raiders and the incursions of other small groups,[16] the economic viability of constructing and keeping guarded a wall 72 miles (116 km) long along a sparsely populated border to stop small-scale raiding is dubious.[14]

Another possible explanation for the wall is the degree of control it would have provided over immigration, smuggling and customs.[14] Limitesdid not strictly mark the boundaries of the empire: Roman power and influence often extended beyond the walls.[14] People within and beyond the limites travelled through it each day when conducting business, and organised check-points like those offered by Hadrian's Wall provided good opportunities for taxation. With watch towers only a short distance from gateways in the limites, patrolling legionaries could have kept track of entering and exiting natives and Roman citizens alike, charging customs dues and checking for smuggling.[citation needed]Another theory is of a simpler variety—that Hadrian's Wall was partly constructed to reflect the power of Rome and was used as a political point by Hadrian. Once its construction was finished, it is thought to have been covered in plaster and then whitewashed: its shining surface reflected the sunlight and was visible for miles around.[14] 

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... and the plural of Wall is? 

Quote

 

~

 

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On 20/06/2019 at 12:24 PM, Hanslune said:

Good for you! I was wondering - since I have him on ignore and delete notifications from him.

 

Breaking Cunningham's Law

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On 6/22/2019 at 5:32 AM, third_eye said:

... and the plural of Wall is? 

~

 

Valla, in this context. Murus is a city/town wall but I’ve never seen a plural use. Parietes is a house wall.

—Jaylemurph 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 2019-06-15 at 11:50 PM, Kenemet said:

Still, the attrition would have been significant.  Is there any documentation of how strong the 9th was at various times?

You must understand the composition & numbers of a Marius Legion. each cohort was 500 men, except the first that was 1k. A full legion was 6,500 including auxiliaries, none Italians, however this was in concept & on paper, several legions consisted of only a first cohort. At the decline of the western Roman Empire all troops in Britain were recalled to the mainland. This is where it becomes interesting as the Last Roman General/Consul in Britain almost refused this order from the Emperor but finally complied. ,  Also Garrisoned troops were rarely regularly retrained, so they became unconditioned, lazy, some even traded or sold their weapons & armour to locals. In fact Rome regularly payed off clans/tribes not to attack them.

 

Edited by CuCulaine
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