ROMAN HISTORY

Welcome to this set of source materials that concern the subject of Roman
Britain and, in particular, life on the Hadrian's Wall frontier.


You will find the following files on the discs :
                                              

Genesis: contains the Browser programme that you nead to view
         the Genesis Plus files.

!DBase : a Genesis Plus application.
         
         This file contains details about the construction
         of Hadrian's Wall.
         The still photographs in this file were taken using
         the Canon Ion Video Still Camera and transferred to
         the Archimedes via the HCCS mono video digitiser.

!Mystery:a Genesis Plus application.
         
         Travel round Housesteads fort and discover what has
         happened to the missing merchant. This file should be used
         with the STORY text file. The text file gives much of the
         background information for life in the vicus at the fort
         and the disappearance of the merchant.
         
         The sketch of the fort (representing Housesteads) is actually
         that of Carvoran. It is based upon the photograph of the fort
         in Hadrian's Wall in the days of the Romans, by Ronald
         Embleton. Published 1983. ISBN 085983 167 1. P.32.
         The guides to Hadrian's Wall published by FRANK GRAHAM are
         excellent for pupils !

Text  : this contains the following EDIT files.
          
         BOOKS - reference books that were used in compiling the
         information on these discs.

         HISTORY : Roman Britain.

         POEM/POEM1 : poems on the subject of Roman Britain.

         QUESTIONS : throught provoking questions about the
         mystery case.

         STONES : inscriptions from Roman altars, tombstones, etc.

         STORY : a fictional story set on the Wall.

         TRIVIA : Roman trivia.

         WALL : the building of the Wall.  

Hist   : Crosswords. Information on solutions to be found in the 
         material on the disc.       

Pics   : contains the following files - (DRAW/PAINT formats)

         AIR - HOUSESTEADS Roman Fort from the air.

         ARMR - armour worn by a Roman soldier.

         MCS1 - the remains of a milecastle.

         STN - dedication stone from the Wall.
         
         GTE - present day reconstruction of the gateway of the
               Roman fort at South Shields.

         MTHRS - the remains of the Temple of Mithras near
                 Housesteads.

         BTH - the bath house at Chester Roman fort.

         SPRTS - local spirits. This stone can be seen in the 
                 English Heritage museum at Housesteads fort.


Alas, I cannot programme - but the strength of a computer such as the
Archimedes must lie in the packages that allow the user to create
his or her own applications.

GENESIS PLUS could be used to write any number of pupil or class
specific programmes.
 
The text material on this disc can easily be inported to most DTP
packages.

The PICS files, saved in DRAW format, can be used in a number of ways by
pupils. 

     e.g. MCS1 - using PAINT or DRAW, draw a reconstruction of the
                 milecastle.
      
          STN - the stone would have been coloured in Roman times,
                probably red lettering on a white background.

I have also dabbled in the use of ALPS - an adventure creation
programme. The mystery story in this package could ideally be translated
to this format.

I remain surprised at the lack of historical educational software in the
public domain. Commercial software (my own opinion) on a history basis
is expensive and, by and large, of poor quality !

The material on this disc is currently being 'tested' by year 7 pupils.

Please feel free to correct any factual or spelling mistakes that you 
come across.

Please feel free to add material to this disc/collection. I would be
happy ifthis collection were added to and extended !

Please feel free to 'get in touch'.

Jim Fanning
History Department
Tideway School
Newhaven
East Sussex

20/6/94.