Ancient History : The Mystery of Rome's X Tombs

Dr. Michael C. Scott

I finally managed to catch-up on my prescribed Ancient History viewing last week. The Mystery of Rome’s X Tombs, presented by my favourite Ancient Historian, Dr Michael Scott. youtube. In the programme the good Doctor examines the current research being untaken by an international team of specialists, on a large number of human remains found in the so-called X-Tombs in Roman. The tombs came to light when flooding caused a collapse in some Roman catacombs. The programme was directed by Dr Olding. He has posted lots of pictures from the production on his website.

Once again, thanks to the person who upload the programme to

I highly recommend the programme. In Scott's usual style he combines education with wit and of course bag loads of charm. At one point he refers to parts of the catacombs as “bunk beds for the dead”. He gives an understandable explanation of carbon dating [link] especially for the non-scientists. Other favourite bits include: his reference to the top of the Insulae [Ancient Roman Apartment Blocks]as the Penthouse, and not one you would want to live in; and his reference to all “the Poo”. Rome apparently produced about 

50 000 kg of human waste a day.

 At the end, Michael offers a hypothesis on about who these people might have been. So if you like a good detective story, try and watch the programme. Oh yes, you will also learn about DNA fishing.

Michael Scott has a new three part serious starting this week about Ancient Drama called The Greatest Show on Earth . Still need to catch up on Mary Beard’s documentary about the Roman Emperor Caligula.

Day 4 Brussels - Da Vinci Exhibition

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Today, to keep out of the heat, we visited the Da Vinci Exhibition in Brussels. A number of models had been created from the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Of course there is also the very interesting TV series called Da Vinci's Demons,but it is probably educational in slightly different ways.

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There were models of flying machines, tanks and all sorts of engineering bits and pieces. In addition a very detailed gallery dedicated to the Mona Lisa.On the smaller (human)scale some poor chap lost something valuable at the exhibition. He was seen walking from room to room searching the floor despondently.

And AWAY

Crossbow Cart

Tank

Photo of Mona Lisa

The only shiny thing that I saw laying on the floor was a discarded sweet wrapper. I do hope that he found "His Precious". But like Smegal, I guess not. No the guy did not look like Smegal....He had only lost something valuable.

Hiding From and Making History

Managed to catch to really interesting programmes on ARTE last night, in spite of the problems with my cable receiver. Since I have had it, it seems to have a mind of its own or no mind at all it! After two months of problems I finally contacted the call centre yesterday. The lady told me to reboot the system, something the user manual does not. Of course, while I was speaking to her on the phone the box behaved itself and rebooted promptly. So imagine my annoyance when I wanted to watch something last night and the box was in one of it 8% status, “Please Wait” phases. I rebooted it several times. I had actually give up any hope of the stupid thing working last night, when 15 minutes into the programme I wanted to see it managed to connect to the server. Baa Humbug!

The first programme was rather disturbing. It was a documentary how the German Secret Service in the 50's and 60's made use of operatives who had been active Nazis in the Second World War. Apparently these peoples’ histories were not checked too carefully. The Cold War was in the hot phase and enemies on the left (the Soviet Union/Communists) were considered worse than the old enemies/criminals on the right (Nazis). The documentary revealed how some of these Nazi's assisted southern American dictatorships, even teaching them some of the Nazi interrogation methods. As I said rather shocking! Apparently the German Secret Service will complete its own review of these events by 2016. This is all the more relevant with the current trial of suspected Neo-Nazis in Munich that has been going on for the last 21 days.

The second programme documented the role of the UN, in helping to establish the Republic of Southern Sudan (RSS). The Southern Sudan gained independence in 2011. The UN project was a kind of “How do you build a country from scratch?” One of the things that struck me was that some of the politicians of RSS did not appreciate the UN’s input. I have often wondered what the UN actually did and was left feeling rather impressed with the expertise and dedication of the UN team.

Egypt Today Yet Ancient History

So the Egyptian army has removed the democratically elected President because he became unpopular. What do you think of this? I think people are getting confused by the fact that the army also removed the previous president, but I doubt Mubarack was democratically elected. Mr Mursi was elected but seemed to make himself very unpopular very quickly. An academic I know, pointed out that our 20^th Century democratic institutes no longer seem fit for purpose. Social media and the internet seem to have made us far less patient. We demand instant results in our personal lives: Facebook, Twitter and all those dating apps on our smart phones. So now people expect that political change needs to keep up. Not a bad idea, but not sure this will work. I suppose that is what a Revolution is; action that overthrows the existing order, even if in this case the existing order was a year old.

 In the Ancient World, Athenian Democracy for while it lasted was pretty direct. Citizens could all speak and vote. Yes, I know the criticism about no votes for woman, slaves or foreigners. If politicians became too powerful, or too unpopular they could be ostracised for ten years. Basically people voted by scratching the name of the person they wanted to get rid of on a piece of pottery. The person with the most votes had to leave the city for ten years.

In Roman Republic office bearers were elected for one year and supposed to lay down their office after that. Well unsurprisingly many did not want to give up their power and the legal indemnity that political office brought with it. This reminds me of a current Italian politician and media mogul. Any ideas? Julius Caesar marched on Rome, using is troops to achieve what he was not to achieve without them.

Under the Roman Empire the troops (read army) often decided who became Emperor, usually the guy with the deepest pockets. But not always. Besides nobody really thinks of Rome as democratic, although men did get to vote. Lots of vote rigging of course, by the ruling classes. Under the Roman Empire the people got their bread and circuses to make them forget they had no political power. Today we have no bread but we have Soccer/Football. Then people still ask why we study the Ancient World and what is it good for, we should all be Engineers or IT-Specialists. SIMPLE understanding Human Nature. Humanity has not changed that much in a few thousand years,certainly not our base nature.

Now that I am on to my favourite hobby horse (Trojan?) of the Ancient World, I am looking forward the second part of Dr Micheal Scott’s “Who were the Greeks” on BBC Two tonight. The first episode was kindly loaded on Youtube. I hope that the same person uploads Part Two. In Germany I do not have direct access to the BBC. I really enjoy watching Dr Scott, he is one of my favourite academics. Especially now that he has got rid of the irritating scarf he had a few years ago. If you want to know what the Greeks were getting up to, try and watch the show.

Historical Background - How I came to be in Wiesbaden, Germany

We all like stories. Telling them and listening to them. If this were not so, the publishing, film and TV industry would not be the money spinners that they are today. In fact you can include the music industry as well because after all songs tell stories. Although most people do not listen to the words, I am told. Well I do listen to the words. The point is that stories are very important to us, especially our own versions of events. How often in the retelling of an event, do we not add little things to make the story and thus ourselves seem more: interesting, scary, tough, weak and desirable then the actual events themselves support. So I would like to share my stories and in the process try and sort the facts from the fiction. The Ancient Greeks took story telling very seriously and acknowledged the effect that drama has on the viewer. They realised that we are drawn into the story and can experience arrange of emotions without actually having to go through the pain and gain in real life. This is certainly one of the reasons that I went and saw The Great Gatsby at my local Cinema in Wiesbaden, in 3D and in English.

We are told that stories need an introduction. My introduction will aim to tell the story of how I came to be in Wiesbaden in 2013.  I think it might be a rather long introduction but we will see. At this point I will try not to turn it into a either a Comedy or a Tragedy.

I was born towards the latter half of the last century in the Western Cape, South Africa. After leaving school I attended University in Johannesburg, South Africa. There I studied Business and Law. After leaving University, I worked in the administration and accounting in Johannesburg. I left South Africa in March 2002 and relocated to Munich, Germany to join my partner. My residence permit did not allow me to work in Germany. I used the time to improve my German – an ongoing process- and started a correspondence degree, majoring in the ancient history and culture. I also helped a German friend improve her English and assisted her with her English Exam preparations.

In mid-2003 I moved to Berlin from Munich after spending about a month in South Africa. I returned to South Africa at the beginning of 2004. The plan was to stay and find a job, but after one week I decided to return to Germany. I applied for and was accepted on Masters Programme in Berlin at the Humboldt University.  My particular focus was British Culture and History. As part of the programme, I spent three months in Manchester on a student placement. During this time I researched and wrote articles for the organisation’s magazine and other publications. To complete the Masters I wrote a 20 000 word thesis on “The Internal Limits of Third Sector Organisations in the UK”.  Once the Masters degree was complete I turned my attention to finishing my degree in Ancient History and Culture. I finished my BA in 2008 with a distinction, something that I am immensely proud of. 

In 2007, I moved to Nuremberg. At the beginning of 2009 I finally approached the Job Centre for assistance. I ended up participating in a six month German Language course. At the end of which I found an unpaid internship at a local company. And although, I received a glowing reference the company was not able to offer me remunerated employment. In August 2009 I received my German citizenship.

My partner was offered a position in the UK in April 2010. I was responsible for organising our move from Germany to England. I was able to find temporary work on an off and on basis in administration and accounting. My longest contract was ten months, my shortest four days. I lived about 45 minutes from London. Close enough to go to London to watch Dance or go to the Theatre on a special night out, but otherwise London was too far away. In any case this all came to an end when I moved back to Germany in February 2013.

After staying in a furnished apartment for a few months, I have finally moved to a really nice apartment in the Rheingau quarter of Wiesbaden.This then is the first chapter of my story. I am now seeking a way to make Germany work for me, or rather for me to find a way of earning money in Germany, so Wiesbaden as a Foreign Language.

So what things am I passionate (overused word- but cannot think of a better one)? Even if the answer is not obvious from what I have said above: History and Culture, and especially the ancient world of the Greek city states and the early Roman Empire.