ADLOCVTIO
NEWSLETTER OF THE TWENTIETH LEGION
Vol. XXI, no. iii, March 2011



MARCHING THROUGH TIME

    Marching Through Time is coming up, April 16-17.  Public hours will be from 11 AM to 5 PM, so participants should aim to arrive by 10 AM. As in previous years, you may drive into the camp area on Friday or on Saturday morning until 9:00 AM, but by 9:30 am on Saturday all vehicles must be offsite.  Parking is available at the Glenn Dale Community Center, 11901 Glenn Dale Boulevard; it is on the left about a mile north of Marietta on Route 193.  There will be a continuous shuttle running from the site to the parking area.  Many of us park along the road outside the site, which is "at your own risk".  We probably all know the drill just fine by now, but I'll let you know if there are any changes.

    Please let me know if you plan to attend!

    A few weeks ago I attended a (very small!) meeting with Mary Haley-Amen, currently coordinating MTT for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.  The house at Marietta was being renovated for office space, since as a historic site it was simply not attracting enough visitors to justify the expenses involved.  More recently I have heard that the house *will* be reopened as a public site, apparently due to local public demand.  In any case, there was no indication that Marching Through Time would cease as an annual event!  There is something of a need for an energetic park employee to run it in the future, since Mary is basically filling in this year, but she is definitely dedicated to doing a good job and wants everyone involved to be happy.  So at the moment you can expect to see MTT on our schedule next year and beyond.



ROMAN DAYS!

    Wow, THIS is coming up fast!  The date is May 14-15, and the location is the same as last year, Riversdale Mansion in Riverdale, MD.  Any Roman or otherwise Ancient-era group that is able to participate is invited, along with any folks who are not attached to a group but would like to play with us.  

The street address is 4811 Riverdale Rd, Riverdale, MD 20737, http://www.riversdale.org/  Public hours will be 10-4 on Saturday and 12-4 on Sunday, and admission for the public is, uh, I think it's $5 for adults and 3 or 4 bucks for students, something like that...

We can arrive and set up is on Friday.  The gates will be closed in the evening but not locked, so you can still bring your cars in during the night.  You can drive on the grass (carefully!) to unload at your campsite, and park in the lot overnight.  Since parking is somewhat limited, however, participants and vendors should park in the streets around the site during public hours, leaving the lot open for visitors.  

The Riversdale staff is very enthusiastic, and they are planning a number of excellent children's activities.  They are also hoping to tie Roman history in the Neoclassical theme of the Federal period in which the mansion was built (c. 1800 AD).  So we might have some people in other period funny clothes wandering around.  

Last year the caupona was a little isolated from the military camps, so we'll review the setup arrangement to see what improvements might be made.  I think we all appreciated the shade of the trees, though!  

There is a water faucet on the back wall of the visitor center, plus real bathrooms!  (And a porta-potty or two at night.)  Ground fires are not permitted, but raised braziers or stoves are allowed (probably a good idea to bring your own wood or charcoal).  

Come one, come all!  Remember, you do NOT have to be a reenactor to participate in some way!  And you don't have to be a Roman, either--we'd love to see Greeks, Egyptians, Britons, Carthaginians, or anything else like that.  More information is *supposed* to be on the Roman Days page of the Legio XX site, and on the Roman Days Wiki, but I think we're a tad behind on all that…

http://www.larp.com/legioxx/rdays.html 
http://romandays.wikispaces.com/  

There is also the Roman Days planning Yahoo email group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romandays/ 

Hope to see you at Roman Days!!


LECTURE SERIES

Beth Campbell passed this along, from the National Gallery of Art's web page (http://www.nga.gov/programs/lectures/#mellon60):

Mary Beard, professor and chair of the faculty board of Classics, University of Cambridge, and author of The Twelve Caesars:  Images of Power From Ancient Rome to Salvador Dali, will be presenting the following lectures at the National Gallery:

Julius Caesar: Inventing an Image, March 27 at 2:00PM, East Building Concourse, Auditorium

Heroes and Villains: In Miniatures, Marble, and Movies, April 3 at 2:00PM, East Building Concourse, Auditorium

Warts and All? Emperors Come Down to Earth, April 10 at 2:00PM, East Building Concourse, Auditorium

Caesar's Wife: Above Suspicion?, April 17 at 2:00PM, East Building Concourse, Auditorium

Dynasty: Collecting, Classifying, and Connoisseurship, May 1 at 2:00PM, East Building Concourse, Auditorium

Rough Work? Emperors Defaced and Destroyed, May 8 at 2:00PM, East Building Concourse, Auditorium



MORE DISTANT EVENTS

HISTORY ALIVE

    Formerly held each year in the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, this multi-era event is moving to the Chesapeake Central Library in Portsmouth, VA.  The tentative date is April 8-10 (one week before MTT).  I'm guessing that our compatriots in Legio IX Hispana are already part of this, but anyone from Legio XX who is interested is certainly encouraged.  Let me know if you want contact information.

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    Gruppo Storico Romano is hosting an event to celebrate the founding of Rome, taking place in Rome itself.  (The one in Italy!)  It will run from Saturday April 16 through Thursday April 21, 2011.  If you are interested in this, you must register by March 5.  Details and registration form can be found online:

http://www.natalidiroma.it 
http://www.gsr-roma.com 

The contact is Sergio Iacomoni, info AT gsr-roma DOT com.


CALENDAR
   
   April 16-17 --Marching Through Time, Marietta Mansion.
   May 14-15 --Roman Days, Riversdale Mansion, Riverdale, MD
   August --Possible time-line event in Philadelphia, PA
   September 3-4 --Virginia Scottish Games, Great Meadows, The Plains, VA
   September --Possible event at Virginia Junior Classical League convention in Richmond, VA

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ADLOCVTIO is the Official Newsletter of the Twentieth Legion, supposedly published on the Ides of each month.  I am Quintus, aka Matthew Amt, the Legion's Commander and Editor of the Newsletter, matthew_amt AT yahoo DOT com, http://www.larp.com/legioxx/