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City of Fables Unearths Real Heroes from Roman Era
Reuters ^ | 2/11/05 | Jeremy Laurence

Posted on 02/12/2005 8:48:49 PM PST by wagglebee

COLCHESTER, England (Reuters) - It is the home of Humpty Dumpty, Old King Cole and Camelot -- or so legend has it.

But archeologists raking over the past can now go one better for the English city of Colchester.

After painstaking excavation work they have proof of real heroes from the ancient world. Last month they revealed the remains of a Roman Circus or chariot racing track.

In the past 30 years archeologists in the city have unearthed evidence dating back to Roman rule over 2,000 years ago, rewriting British history along the way. The circus underlines the city's importance as a provincial Roman outpost.

In its heyday the track would have made an awesome sight with a straight measuring about 350 yards and stands for some 8,000 people, more than the population of the town itself.

Formerly Colonia Victricensis, meaning "City of the Victorious," Colchester is Britain's oldest recorded town and its first capital.

Famously Emperor Claudius made a trip to the city, complete with a cast of elephants and camels, to receive the surrender of the Celtic kings to found the Roman Province of Britannia.

The city is a living museum, complete with Roman wall and its Temple of Claudius. For archeologist Philip Crummy, who has directed excavations in the city since 1971, the discovery of the circus was one of the most exciting finds.

"Imagine when it was race day at the circus, and you had a full blown 12-chariot race, complete with 48 horses," he says. "It would have been quite a spectacle."

The track dates to around the second century, but Crummy says it is almost certain to be an upgrade of a circuit constructed years earlier.

"Perhaps some important official missed the action in Rome and had it built, or it was an attempt to emphasize the "Romanness" of the far-flung province of Britain," says Robert Kebric, history professor at the University of Louisville in the United States and author of "Roman People."

"I suspect it was mostly used for the entertainment of soldiers and locals and because of the expense involved, there is no way of knowing to what extent they could copy the Circus Maximus in Rome in terms of quality of charioteers, factions (teams) and schedule," he says, referring to the world's most famous circus in the Italian capital.

SPECTACULAR

Roman sports have been dramatically brought to life on the big screen, most memorably in the classic "Ben-Hur," with its thrilling chariot race.

"One guy would be aiming for the finishing line and the other two on his team would try to stop the others," says Crummy. "A lot of tactics were involved."

Usually, there were four teams of three chariots.

But Kebric says the win-at-all-costs mentality of the charioteers depicted in Ben-Hur, where they used blades on the wheels of their chariots, was exaggerated.

"In Rome, at least, chariot racing was closely regulated and since there was so much money (bets) riding on the races, fouls were not tolerated and races might even be rerun," he says.

But it was very dangerous. Kebric says the charioteers were professionals, rode for factions not as individuals, and usually died very young while racing.

"They were usually ex-slaves or low borns, who like many athletes today, used the playing field for social advancement. Some became chums of the emperors," he says.

"I would suspect in Britain, they'd have to take what they could get since there would be no incentive for the big time charioteers to come there. Perhaps even locals competed since the Celts had a tradition of chariots."

Chariot racing and the circus were a cornerstone of public life in Roman times. "As for the excitement, there was probably never anything like it, and the Circus Maximus in Rome was more than a racetrack," Kebric says.

"Astrologers even used its shape and the races to make their predictions, the emperors used it as a place to communicate with their subjects and every type of person under the sun -- coincidentally the patron of the races -- was there."

UNRULY CROWDS

Off the track, emotions would have run high too. "There was more chance of being hurt in clashes between supporters then there was on the track," says Robert Masefield, an archeologist in Colchester.

"As for the charioteers, they were a bit like gladiators ... but whether we had any heroes coming here we don't know."

For centuries Colchester residents have clung to nursery rhymes and legendary tales of their heroes.

Old King Cole is said to possibly refer to the Lord of Colchester, while Camelot -- the name of King Arthur's legendary court -- is claimed to derive from the city's Roman name.

Locals even boast their city was the home of Humpty Dumpty, which was in fact the name of large canon in the city.

Roll over Humpty Dumpty, Colchester has some new heroes.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: archaeology; archeology; camelot; chariot; charioteers; chariotrace; chariotraces; chariotracing; circusmaximus; colchester; coloniavictricensis; emperorclaudius; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; hippodrome; history; humptydumpty; oldkingcole; romancircus; romanempire
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To: dog breath

The place where the Romans fought Boudicca was certainly nowhere near Colchester.


21 posted on 02/13/2005 12:06:31 AM PST by Dave Elias
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To: maine-iac7

"“ Twas in that place o’ Scotland isle, That bears the name o’ auld King Coil.” Robert Burns
Genealogy of Old King Coil (Cole):"Coel of Ayrshire (the third Coel aprox 400AD) should be separated from the second Coel/Cole (aprox 305 AD), who was the founder of Colchester and father of St. Helena, and from the first Cole (King Coilus, 95-154 AD), father of Lucius.[Old King Cole]


local tradition in Kyle, the district name derives from the ancient King, popularly known today as Old King Cole

"The Welsh leader was Gwendolew, who claimed descent from Coel Hen--Old King Cole. But there was still a Roman party among these northern Britons...""

Well so says Geofrey of Monmouth anyway. However he wrote about 800years after the event, so one has to question the veracity of what he writes about Cole since much of his other 'histories' are complete bollocks.


22 posted on 02/13/2005 12:13:12 AM PST by Dave Elias
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To: wagglebee
Off the track, emotions would have run high too. "There was more chance of being hurt in clashes between supporters then there was on the track," says Robert Masefield, an archeologist in Colchester.

So the English Rugby fan’s actions are just a long standing tradition?
23 posted on 02/13/2005 3:10:46 AM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: wagglebee

Press reports and follow with pictures and comment from the hugely attended public open day on Saturday 22nd January 2005 found at:

http://www.camulos.com/circus.htm


24 posted on 02/13/2005 3:34:40 AM PST by endthematrix (Declare 2005 as the year the battle for freedom from tax slavery!)
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To: Aetius
Have you had the opportunity to watch the program "Time Team?" I live in Central New York State and in my area, it shows on Wednesday nights on the History International Channel, within a program titled "History Explorer." The series is ongoing, but the programs I've been viewing appear to be a few years old, and History International has a tendency to rerun them within a couple of weeks of each other. I'm sure there are plenty that I've never seen.

The archaeology team travels all across the United Kingdom, digging sites that produce information about Saxon, Roman, Norman, etc. history. They've even dug WWII related sites. On the program, they have three days to dig trenches to prove their theories. I'm not sure who funds them, but they seem to have plenty of money to bring in specialists, and big machinery to get the work done. It's all quite interesting.

The website:

Time Team

It appears that they have a magazine publication, but I believe it is only available in the U.K. I'd certainly be interested in being able to subscribe to it. I'd also be interested in DVD's of all the series programming over the years.

25 posted on 02/13/2005 6:13:20 AM PST by mass55th ("If I were two faced, would I be wearing this one?"----Abe Lincoln (1809-1865))
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To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace

Trier in Western Germany is pretty neat. Among other things, the Porta Nigra is there.


26 posted on 02/13/2005 7:00:01 AM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: maine-iac7
Hmm, do you know - is she, perhaps, the origin of the word "bodacious?"

yep.

27 posted on 02/13/2005 7:02:36 AM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: wagglebee; blam; FairOpinion; Ernest_at_the_Beach; SunkenCiv; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; ...
Thanks again, wagglebee.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest
-- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

28 posted on 02/13/2005 5:45:55 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Ted "Kids, I Sunk the Honey" Kennedy is just a drunk who's never held a job (or had to).)
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To: wagglebee

Ping


29 posted on 02/14/2005 3:21:46 PM PST by Dustbunny (The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist)
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To: Cronos

Well yes, I agree that the sight of a scantily-clad Keira Knightley is a good thing, a very good thing in fact, but I just found the whole concept of a woman with her physique taking part and doing well in a grueling 5th century battle to be a bit much.


30 posted on 02/14/2005 4:12:26 PM PST by Aetius
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To: wagglebee

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

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· The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


31 posted on 11/27/2009 7:57:27 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


32 posted on 07/21/2012 9:33:03 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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