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The object was listed in the George Petrie Catalogue compiled by the antiquarian William Wakeman in 1867. With the work of the Inventory Project, the object was identified in the Museum crypt and matched with its Petrie catalogue record... The extent of the Roman influence in Ireland has long been debated. The Classical texts imply that due to Ireland's peripheral location, it was not a desirable destination. However the archaeological record has been helping to shed more light on the actual events of this time. Roman objects discovered in Irish contexts exist but they are relatively uncommon, and subsequently the...

Archaeologists have been carrying out research into a huge late fist century AD defence system, which stretches 120 miles across Scotland. A total of 14 forts and several fortlets, which formed part of a defensive network built in the AD 70s, have so far been investigated over the past decade by the team, led by Dr Birgitta Hoffmann and Dr David Wolliscroft, both of the University of Liverpool. The network, which is thought to have run from Montrose or Stonehaven, south of Aberdeen, on the North Sea coast to the Firth or Clyde, was built some 50 years before Hadrian's...

Roman artifacts including coins, glass beads and brooches turn up in many Irish counties, especially in the east. Cahill Wilson investigated human remains... using strontium and isotope analysis and carbon dating. Remarkably, this allowed her say where they most likely spent their childhood. One burial site on a low ridge overlooking the sea in Bettystown, Co Meath, was dated to the 5th/6th century AD using radiocarbon dating. Most of the people were newcomers to the area, Cahill Wilson concluded. The clue was in their teeth. Enamel, one of the toughest substances in our body, completely mineralises around the age of...

I can almost see Tacitus (55-117AD) weep as he wrote of Rome’s transition from a free republic to a despotic empire. Tacitus: After Augustus won over the soldiers with gifts, and the people with cheap corn, he slowly concentrated in himself the powers of the senate, the magistrates, and laws. In this, he was unopposed for the boldest spirits had fallen in battle or been murdered in the proscriptions. The remaining nobles, the readier they were to be slaves; they were raised the higher by wealth and promotion. So aggrandized were they by revolution they preferred the safety of the...

The Fezzan is an area of approximately 212,000 square miles of unforgiving desert and valleys. Situated in the south west of modern day Libya it’s not an area you’d easily traverse, let alone live in. Yet in the 1st millennium BCE a people did exactly that. They created art, irrigated the baked earth and sustained a culture. One of the earliest surviving references to the Garamantes is found in Herodotus’ Histories, written in the 5th century BCE[1]. Herodotus’ description was contradictory, they had no weapons, but they hunted a cave dwelling tribe nearby using chariots. He also went on to...

"The manuscript features a very specific kind of paper stock, which gained special prominence among the Elizabethan secretariat in the 1590s. There was, however, only one translator at the Tudor court to whom a translation of Tacitus was ascribed by a contemporary and who was using the same paper in her translations and private correspondence: the queen herself. "The corrections made to the translation are a match for Elizabeth's late hand, which was, to put it mildly, idiosyncratic. The higher you are in the social hierarchy of Tudor England, the messier you can let your handwriting become. For the queen,...

I can almost see Tacitus (55-117AD) weep as he wrote of Rome’s transition from a free republic to a despotic empire. Tacitus: After Augustus won over the soldiers with gifts, and the people with cheap corn, he slowly concentrated in himself the powers of the senate, the magistrates, and laws. In this, he was unopposed, for the boldest spirits had fallen in battle or been murdered in the proscriptions. The remaining nobles, the readier they were to be slaves, were raised the higher by wealth and promotion. So aggrandized were they by revolution, they preferred the safety of the present...

Not long ago, certainly within the last couple of years, I yielded to the urge to start a squib when the US senate punted another enumerated power to president Obama. It might have been the power of the purse or maybe the treaty power, but in any event, I opened Tacitus’ (55-117AD) Annals, and tapped out a few notes below. Throughout the imperial period, Roman emperors kept up the façade of republicanism. They pretended to consult the senate and be guided by its votes. The senate in turn, pretended it had a will of its own. If men are willing...

New research published by archaeologists from MOLA reveals a previously unknown Roman fort, built in AD63 as a direct response to the sacking of London by the native tribal Queen of the Iceni, Boudica. The revolt razed the early Roman town to the ground in AD60/61 but until now little was understood about the Roman's response to this devastating uprising. Excavations at Plantation Place for British Land on Fenchurch Street in the City of London exposed a section of a rectangular fort that covered 3.7acres. The timber and earthwork fort had 3metre high banks reinforced with interlacing timbers and faced...

A hoard of Roman treasure believed to have been hidden from Boudicca in the first century has been discovered by archaeologists in Colchester. The collection, including fine gold and silver jewellery, had been buried for safekeeping during the early stages of Boudicca's Revolt, Colchester Archaeological Trust said. It represents the first hoard of precious metals ever found in Colchester town centre and is thought to have belonged to a wealthy Roman woman, who stashed the treasure under her house when she heard the vengeful queen's armies were approaching. The archaeologists said the hoard was found under the floor of a...

The largest hoard of prehistoric gold coins in Britain in modern times has been discovered by a metal detectorist in Suffolk, it emerged today. The collection of 824 gold staters was found in a broken pottery jar buried in a field near Wickham Market. Jude Plouviez, of the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, said the coins dated from 40BC to AD15 and were thought to have been minted by predecessors of Boudicca - the Iceni Queen who spearheaded a revolt against occupying Roman forces. Their value when in circulation had been estimated at a modern equivalent of between £500,000 and...

She crucified her enemies and burnt London to the ground. Meet Britain's first feminist, Boadicea By PAUL JOHNSON Last updated at 21:32pm on 6th February 2008 Britain's history is rich in fiery queens, and the first such heroine, tall with red hair down to her waist, commanding and brave, was Boadicea, warrior leader of the ancient Britons. She lived at the same time as the emperors Claudius and Nero, and led a surprisingly successful British revolt against Roman rule in AD60-61 (which, for reference, was when St Paul was writing epistles and St Mark composing his Gospel). She was a...

Boadicea may have had her chips on site of McDonald's By Nick Britten (Filed: 25/05/2006) Archaeologists believe they may have found the final battle site for the warrior queen Boadicea - on the site of a McDonald's restaurant. Having spent her life in fierce resistance to one empire - the Romans - her last stand is thought to have been overshadowed by another one, this time corporate. Having found ancient artefacts where new houses and flats are due to be built, experts have now asked the local authority to allow a full excavation of the area. Little is known about...

The History Channel is going to air a new historical series entitled DECISIVE BATTLES including some classic wars between ancient Persian armies and Roman and Greek ones. The History Channel goes on location to the actual battlefields and integrates cutting-edge videogame technology to bring history and imagination together in the new series DECISIVE BATTLES. The half-hour series DECISIVE BATTLES premieres Friday, July 23 at 9-9:30pm ET/PT. The series is hosted by Matthew Settle (Band of Brothers) on location at the ancient battlefields and features expert commentary from the world©s foremost historians. DECISIVE BATTLES is unlike any series The History Channel...

There are some lines of William Cowper inscribed on the plinth of the bronze statue of Boadicea near Westminster Bridge in central London: "Regions Caesar never knew/Thy posterity shall sway." The words have never been truer. Hollywood has four films in development about the British warrior queen. One of them, Warrior, is being produced by Mel Gibson, partly with money from the proceeds of his film The Passion of The Christ (a rare example of fundamentalist Christian money backing a project with a pagan heroine). Along with a DreamWorks project called Queen Fury, Paramount's Warrior Queen and another called My...

Mel Gibson's forthcoming film about Britain's warrior queen Boudicca is guaranteed to cause fury amongst feminists and historians, experts predict. Folklorists believe Gibson - whose controversial The Passion Of The Christ movie sparked uproar among Jewish groups this year - faces widespread criticism in his efforts to bring Boudicca to the big screen, because she remains an enigma to historians. Scholars are also convinced feminists will attack Gibson if he fails to portray Boudicca as the icon they have turned her into. Folklorist Dr Juliette Wood, "Take any figure where there's been emotional investment and you're going to annoy someone....

With the success of "The Passion Of The Christ," Mel Gibson can pretty much make whatever movie he wants, and he is once again looking back in time – to produce an epic about Boudicca, who led Britain against Roman conquerors. The Scotsman newspaper reports that the film will be like "Bravehart - with a bra." Boudicca rose from peasant girl to military leader, and united the Celtic tribes of Britain. The film will be directed by Gavin O’Connor, who told the Hollywood trade paper Variety: "What drew me is that she was driven by personal revenge. Her goals were...

Flush from the success of The Passion Of The Christ, Mel Gibson is looking back in time once again – to produce an epic about Boudicca, who led Britain against Roman conquerors. Dubbed “Braveheart with a bra”, the film will chronicle Boudicca’s rise from peasant girl to a military leader who united the Celtic tribes of Britain. Gibson’s production company, Icon, appears keen to cash in on further historical tales, after The Passion netted hundreds of millions of pounds at the box office. The film will be directed by Gavin O’Connor who told the Hollywood trade paper Variety: “What drew...

Complacency and complex rules makes the EU’s own institutions vulnerable to corruption and conflicts of interest, a report by a leading transparency NGO has found. The 250-page “European Union Integrity System”, published by Transparency International on Thursday (24 April), is the first assessment looking at how ten EU institutions are dealing with internal corruption risks. “The EU institutions have done a lot to put their house in order; but strong foundations are being undermined by complex rules, complacency and a lack of follow up,” said Carl Dolan, director of Transparency International in Brussels. …

THE Roman emperor Nero, a byword for cruelty and excess, has been falsely blamed for burning down Rome by propagandists covering up for Christian and Jewish saboteurs, according to new research. The fire, which destroyed most of the ancient city in AD64, has traditionally been blamed on a plot by Nero to destroy his opponents. However, Gerhard Baudy, professor of antiquities at Konstanz University in Bavaria, claims the fire was part of a revolt to overthrow the Roman empire by a group who believed they were fulfilling divine prophecies. “It was highly unlikely this fire was an accident,” said Baudy. ...