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Groovy23
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Reged: 09/08/06
Posts: 1086
Loc: Central London, UK.
The first weather report for England
      #1200117 - 07/06/08 03:20 PM

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When Caeser invaded England in 55BC he gave us our first weather report for this country. He tells how his fleet of 100 ships sailed across the Channel in fair weather, and when the cliffs of Dover came into sight the English warriors were waiting on the clifftops ready for the invaders. So the Romans sailed farther up the coast looking for a safe landing place. They found flat open beaches near Deal or Walmer on a falling tide and established a camp on August 26-27.


The White cliffs of Dover


A team of astronomers re-enacted the landings in August 2007, in a rare opportunity when the lunar cycle and alignment of the Sun and Moon gave tidal conditions that coincided closely with those that Caesar had experienced – such an alignment would not occur again until 2140. But they found that the Channel was flowing the wrong way on those dates. However, exactly the right conditions for the safe landing happened four days earlier, on August 22-23, giving a revised date for the Roman invasion.



Edward Armitage's reconstruction of the first invasion

The safe landing did not help Caesar, though. Four days later, “such storms ensued that the task [of fighting the English] was of necessity interrupted”, he wrote. In a high tide and a storm surge the Roman ships were battered, and Caesar brought his army back to Gaul.

Source: Times Online

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danescombeModerator
Master Guide


Reged: 11/07/05
Posts: 10099
Loc: UK
Re: The first weather report for England [Re: Groovy23]
      #1200139 - 07/06/08 04:51 PM

Great Story -- ( you beat me to it )-- -Understanding that's advanced by desperate academic disciplines coming together is fascinating stuff .

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MaggyRond
Tourist


Reged: 04/27/06
Posts: 4
Loc: Amsterdam
Re: The first weather report for England [Re: danescombe]
      #1246300 - 10/12/08 04:02 AM

Such calculations always take for granted that we live in the year 2008 AD. We know that the Romans lived by the calendar almost as precise as we do. Perhaps a Roman shepard had no idea of the date, but Julius Caesar knew the date probably every day.

The middle ages are a whole different story. People didn't live by the calendar but by the sun, the moon, the seasons and each 7th day church visit. About 1100 the first monks started to create a timetable of what they "knew" about the European history from the birth of Christ to their own days. These timetables are still in use and have hardly ever been checked or disputed.

Every now and then a carbon dating, a dendrochronology dating or an astronomical dating shows that a certain object is much younger than expected or that a certain event (solar eclipse, comet) could not have been seen on the recorded date. Recorded after 1100 that is. And how did these monks "know" it was 1100? Because it was about 100 years after the coronation of Emperor Otto III. Officially crowned in 1000, We now expect it took place in 996.

Even in the letters of Erasmus we see that the date he used does not correspond with the events he describes. He describes things that happened years after the dates on his letters. And he was no clairvoyant. He simply didn't know in which year he lived.

So how long was that period between the fall of the Roman Empire, around 400 AD and the coronation of Otto III, around 1000 AD? Simple math tells about 600 years. Some history scholars say the mediaeval scholars must have been off as much as 300 years!

Sounds familiar? Yes, Stone Henge was recently shifted forward in history about 300 years...

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