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Stieg Hedlund
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 Posted: Wed 11 Feb, 2009 4:22 pm Post subject: Iron of the Empire |
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It is the Latin language that takes a real beating here; misuse of terms is rampant:* Pila and Pilum are talked about as two separate things. They are not: pila is simply the plural of pilum.
* There is no such thing as a gladius hispanicus; the correct term is gladius hispaniensis.
* There is no such thing as a loricum; perhaps the author was thinking the feminine lorica was instead plural, and so attempted to make it singular and neuter, but this is incorrect. It seems odd to leave the Carthaginians out of the story as the Romans' initial inability to overcome these foes, and the subsequent adoption of many Carthaginian tactics, equipment, etc. was what the Marian reforms were all about. Additionally the Romans initially encountered the Celtiberians as members of the Carthaginian forces, which is how they adopted the gladius hispaniensis--which some would say is the original incarnation of the gladius with exclusively xiphos-like swords being used to that point---and arguably the falcata (and here it is probably also worth noting that this word is a Latin neologism for this sword, meaning something like "sickled").
Lastly, it feels a bit incomplete to not bookend this tale of the rise and spread of the gladius with a discussion of how it was eventually eclipsed by the spatha.
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M. Eversberg II
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| Posted: Wed 11 Feb, 2009 7:08 pm Post subject: |
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Write a better one.
M.
This space for rent or lease.
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Nathan Robinson
myArmoury Admin
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M. Eversberg II
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| Posted: Thu 12 Feb, 2009 11:17 am Post subject: |
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Wasn't meant as an attack; it should have read more as a request. My appologies.
M.
This space for rent or lease.
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Stieg Hedlund
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| Posted: Thu 12 Feb, 2009 1:44 pm Post subject: |
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I admit reacting similarly (i.e. as negative) to this response initial, but then seeing it as an actual request (tone unfortunately gets lost in writing, and I've certainly been misinterpreted myself often enough).
I really don't see myself as necessarily possessing the type of knowledge to write this type of article (nor the time, unfortunately), though I am happy to give what I feel is constructive criticism. If emailing such feedback is the preferred method, I will certainly do this in the future.
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Thu 12 Feb, 2009 2:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Stieg Hedlund wrote: | I admit reacting similarly (i.e. as negative) to this response initial, but then seeing it as an actual request (tone unfortunately gets lost in writing, and I've certainly been misinterpreted myself often enough).
I really don't see myself as necessarily possessing the type of knowledge to write this type of article (nor the time, unfortunately), though I am happy to give what I feel is constructive criticism. If emailing such feedback is the preferred method, I will certainly do this in the future. |
By the way welcome to the site and don't let the slight " glitch " in the initial welcome spoil your enjoyment and participation on this site as it's normally a friendly and helpful environment.
( Oh, I'm not a moderators, just a very frequent poster.   ).
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Patrick Kelly
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| Posted: Thu 12 Feb, 2009 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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No worries from me Stieg and I wrote the thing.
I'm an american so some would claim I have a less than adequate grasp of english let alone latin.
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M. Eversberg II
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| Posted: Fri 13 Feb, 2009 5:46 am Post subject: |
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Frequent, yes, Jean, but you're always saying something, not just filling up space.
I theory I could create a more detailed one, but I'm not quite sure I'm good enough for that job. Still a novice and all.
M.
This space for rent or lease.
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Stieg Hedlund
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| Posted: Sat 21 Feb, 2009 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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I suppose I should also have mentioned that for the most part I thought the article was quite good--I wouldn't have offered any critique at all if thought it was completely off base. I know I started out with the negative stuff, I'll have to work on that.
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Dan Howard
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| Posted: Sat 25 Apr, 2009 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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Why should Stieg have to write a new article when a few tweaks to Patrick's submission would be as good or better?
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Nathan Robinson
myArmoury Admin
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| Posted: Sat 25 Apr, 2009 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Dan Howard wrote: | | Why should Stieg have to write a new article when a few tweaks to Patrick's submission would be as good or better? |
Who's to say that the original author is open to doing additional work on the piece? Who's to say he wants it changed?
Regardless of the original author's participation, who would be working with the author and/or myArmoury.com to make the decisions? Who defines which edits are to be made, where they are to be included, what additional items need to change to accommodate the original edits, etc.?
It's very easy to volunteer other people's time to coordinate this stuff and get it done, but once the necessary tasks get defined and people start to understand that time has to be put into these types of things, people disappear and expect others to do the work.
Sounds very easy: just add some tweaks to the article. But somebody has to read it, understand it, make decisions, determine where each thing is added, decide how it affects the rest of the article, etc, etc, etc.
I'm always open to incorporate changes/improvements to pieces, but somebody has to make the editorial choices and go through the process of coordinating it. I've been doing a lot work related to myArmoury.com over the last 3 weeks (62 hours at this particular moment). With a full-time job and a super active social life (especially lately!), I'm a bit burned out and certainly open to volunteers to help with additional work 
Having said that, if you look at the original article, some of the comments above are not actually relevant or were already incorporated when this topic originally appeared.
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This is a standard topic