Tag: antiquity
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Roman Jersey
Unlike Guernsey the Roman presence in Jersey is not so clear cut. In this article we look at some of the new emerging evidence for Roman 'occupation' in Jersey or 'Andium' as it was probably know by the Romans.
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Ancient Celtic offshore Banking
It looks like Jersey may have been an offshore banking centre for far longer than anyone has suspected. In June 2012 two metal detectorists uncovered a hoard of a staggering 70,000 late Iron Age and Roman coins. Their incredible find has since turned out to be the largest hoard ever found in Jersey.
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How did the Romans do the calculations necessary for construction and other purposes using Roman numerals?
The Romans were skilled architects and engineers the likes of which the world had not seen before. They built huge elaborate and perfectly balanced structures that are not only still standing but still in use 2,000 years later. However their number system, whilst useful, was anything but straight forward. So how did the Romans manage to do the calculations necessary for construction using this rather unwieldy number system ?
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Why is a circle divided into 360 Degrees ?
Stop and think for a moment , we live in a world where our main number system is in base 10 so why do we have the rather odd base 60 for time and angles. Why not decimal time or decimal segments to represent angles in a circle ?
Read MoreWhat have the Romans ever done for us?
For Monty Python fans the question “What have the Romans ever done for us ?” will recall the irreverent comedy of the film ‘The Life of Brian’ . There is a serious question behind this frivolous skit. The Roman Empire and the culture it exported was the most advanced the world had ever seen. Indeed after the fall of the Roman Empire it never got back up to the same level, in Western Europe, until many centuries later.
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Beware the Ides of March : The Great Caesar is Assasinated
“Beware the Ides of March!”, the augur Spurinna had warned a few days before the 15 March in 44 BC , but the great Julius Caesar had brushed him aside. Was he not, at 55, the most powerful man in the civilised world?
Read MoreWhy Do Clocks Run Clockwise ?
We’re accustomed to seeing movement in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, such as races, but is there any particular reason why clocks run ‘clockwise’?
Read MoreThe Railway – Not just for Choo Choos
If you thought that the railway was invented along with the steam locomotive then you’d be wrong. Railways existed long before steam, long before even the birth of Christ.
Read MoreThe Origin of Writing
Writing – The invention that enabled science and knowledge to flourish. However it seems that is wasn’t invented for prose or love poems or literature but for the more mundane and prosaic task of taxation and bookkeeping.
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Origin of the Months and Days of the Year
We use them everyday to order our lives to record, analyse and make sense of things. We’re talking about the days and months of the year. What are their origins ? You may be surprised in that they all have origins deep within our pagan past.
Read MoreInvasion – Rome’s Assault on Brittania
Rome’s invasion of Britain in 43AD would change the native Britons lives and culture forever. But this wasn’t the first Roman invasion. There was another nearly 100 years earlier. We look at both in this article.
Read MoreThe Olympic Games
The origin of the ancient and modern Olympic Games.
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Some more historical myths debunked
Every nation has its favourite tales from the past, but how accurate are they? A lot of what we ‘know’ to be historically true can sometimes turn out to be no more than a : Who perpetuated historical myth. We look at a few here. Who really was the 1st US President? Did Mediaeval people really think the Earth was flat ?
Read MoreHow was the order of our alphabet determined?
Is there any particular reason why A comes before B or that Z is the last letter of the alphabet? We delve here into the origins of this and the system of writing.
Read MoreThe Spread of Christianity in the Ancient World
They were unlikely leaders. Most knew more about mending nets than winning converts. Yet 2,000 years later, all over the world, the apostles are still drawing people in.
Read MoreRoman Alderney – Ruin Found to be Roman Fort
Up until 2011 virtually no trace of Roman occupation or influence had been found in Alderney. That all changed when one of the best-preserved Roman military structures in the world was found.
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