SPQR Pencils: CXIX

[spqrblues]

I finished the pencils but was too tired to ink last night, I'm sorry to report. Pencil preview (spoilers, etc.) below the cut, but the finished inks will be posted this morning if I can get them done quickly before I need to get back to work!






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Comments

I hope I'm wrong

[zeus67.livejournal.com]

I'm elated at Felix accepting his daughter, but I remembered something that I read and now I'm dreading about poor Spendusa's fate.

I hope that I'm wrong. I remembered about the family group found in the boat shelters in Herculaneum which included a slave girl sheltering a baby in her arms.

I hope you are too

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

I am holding out some hope against that, as Spendi is NOT anymore a slave girl! - as clearly witnessed by fine upstanding well-paid-off with fish-pickle sauce citizens....

I am also sad for the poor chained-up dog..... ;_;

Re: I hope you are too

[zeus67.livejournal.com]

At first the archaeologists though that the girl was the baby's mother because of the way she was holding the baby. Later they concluded that girl was a slave because her bones showed that she suffered from malnourishment and had done some hard work too.

Re: I hope you are too

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I'll say at least that something will be happening down at the boat shelters soon.

But I should say no more.

Re: I hope you are too

[zeus67.livejournal.com]

Methinks you have already said too much. I have my speculations regarding the fate of a few characters and now you have semi-confirmed the fate of others. The fate of a few of them are in the air. I wonder if you will make use of the centurion/soldier found in the beach at Herculaneum.

Re: I hope you are too

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

If I'm thinking of the same person, that's the one found with a belt kit, right? As I recall, he had strong teeth, though had lost one or two through accidents.

Re: I hope you are too

[zeus67.livejournal.com]

I think so. At least he was found with his kit and that's how they identified him as a soldier.

The story of the Herculaneum victims is more poignant than the ones from Pompey. These were the survivors and they were waiting for the ships that would save them. AFAIK all of them died in their sleep so fast that none suffered.

Re: I hope you are too

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say "sleep," but... the latest forensics studies are chilling. I shouldn't say "chilling" either. I should just stop there, and keep drawing :P

Re: I hope you are too

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

Well, crap.... :(

Hmmmmmmm.......

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

Could you perhaps point me at a reference, please? (Web-based, preferably?)

I have read about the slave girl with a baby who was determined to have been too young to have born that baby:

"It was determined they were not mother and child because the girl's skeleton indicated she was not old enough to have had children. Small ornaments were found near the baby indicating that the baby was from a wealthy family. The girl had evidence of poor teeth indicating she had had a bad diet (ergo the idea arose that she was a slave and not the sister to the baby). She had had two teeth removed about 1 or 2 weeks prior to the eruptions.".

I have also read of the mother of a young child who (mother) was 7 months pregnant (hence a finding of fetal bones)....

More...

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

Here's more:

"...Twelve skeletons were found huddled together for protection under an ancient brick arch: three men, four women and five children. A house key lay beside a young boy. A slave girl about fourteen years old cradled a baby in her arms. Dr. Bisel reconstructed her face from the contours of her skull. She was pretty, but it was not her baby. With the little baby's skeleton lay a bronze cupid pin and tiny bells: only the rich could afford such jewelry. The pretty slave girl died trying to protect the baby. Her skeleton revealed what a hard life slaves lived. A week or two before she died, she'd had two teeth removed (there were no anesthetics). She must still have been in great pain. Although she was well-nourished, her bones showed evidence she'd either been starved or very sick when she was a baby. And her young bones displayed the wear and tear of hard work, lifting weights that were too heavy for her growing skeleton."

(From "Big Bangs" By Beverley MacDonald & Andrew Weldon)


....Not to say that this offers any clues as what may happen in this story to poor Spendi and her precious baby, just that it is not a completely precise model for her as we know her... :/

Re: More...

[zeus67.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info. I was speaking from memory, so I can't refute your reasoning. Of course we don't know Spendusa's age but guess she's between 16 - 18