http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/car/

...this episode of Secrets of the Dead was on last night and it was one of the more entertaining ones since the one on the Black Plague (and, hey, that's a high standard to meet cause when you're talking entertainment, you're talking Black Plague, right?).

Must be seen to be appreciated but it deals with thirty decapitated skeletons found in the Roman ruins under what is now York. Long story short: this was the handiwork of this Roman dude, Caracalla, who goes on to become emperor. Of note to us is the fact that Caracalla at one point decides to "make his bones" by taking a unit over Hadrian's Wall to go teach those naughty Caledonians a good lesson about respecting the Roman Empire. Didn't quite go like he planned, though, as the Caledonians didn't take kindly to being killed and figgered that turnabout was more than fair play. Thus, the score was something like ROMANS: 23, CALEDONIANS: 50,000...though the Romans did have a rally going in the fifth inning but they left a lot of men on base and the Caledonians just plain killed them.

Anyway, despite this Debacle North of the Border, Caracalla does manage to kill off all of his relatives and ends up Emperor of Rome. Unfortunately for Caracalla, though, ambition must have been contagious...and this was the truly funny part...somebody assassinated him while he was taking a pee. They actually had the actors reenact this and my daughter and I almost laughed till we were sick...here's this big guy in full Roman armor walking up to a tree and lifting his lorica squamata and here comes this little guy with a gladius and give it to him right in the kidney. Priceless! That'll teach ya to always lock the stall door!

If you get a chance to catch this one, I highly recommend it.

Best

AA