UNRV Ancient Roman Empire History

Within the constraints it sets for itself, Roman Religion offers a pleasing and informative overview of the bygone days of Roman paganism. Well written, easily understandable and lavishly illustrated, Warrior’s book is an excellent eye opener to those with no prior exposure to the academic study of pre-Christian Roman religion. Other works are far more [...]

Relative to the infantry, the cavalry wing of the Roman army has attracted little critical attention. In Training the Roman Cavalry (1993), Ann Hyland applied her own experience as a horse trainer to Arrian`s Ars Tactica which dates to Hadrian`s time. In Riding for Caesar (1994), Michael P. Speidel provided the first comprehensive work on [...]

When I received the book I opened it with mixed feelings. While not bad, the two previous books from Pen & Sword that I reviewed for UNRV (Great Battles of the Hellenistic World by Joseph Pietrykowski and Hellenistic and Roman Naval Warfare 336BC – 31BC by J. D. Grainger) were not what I expected. Thus [...]

Antony Kamm, a former lecturer in publishing studies at the University of Stirling, and author of books such as Julius Caesar: A Life and The Israelites: An Introduction, tried with The Romans: An Introduction something almost impossible: condense 1,200 years of Roman history into just over 200 pages. This is the second edition (it was [...]

It has been over six years since King Arthur first premiered in the theaters. Given its generally negative reviews I was in no hurry to see it. But I recently found a rather cheap copy of the “Director’s Cut” DVD on Amazon and decided to give it a try. Yeah, it sucked just about as [...]

In the modern world, time is not something we can easily escape. Most people carry wristwatches and clocks are everywhere, from the digital readout on a computer to the tower on the town hall. Yet as Robert Hannah reminds us, there was a time before men were slaves of the clock… …read the full review [...]

The Silver Eagle, by Ben Kane, is the second novel in the Forgotten Legion trilogy. It picks up right where the previous novel left off and follows the fortunes of the main cast of characters introduced to us in the first instalment. The opening chapter takes us to Margiana, a desolate outpost on the eastern [...]

On an unseasonably hot day during an English spring, Lindsay Powell visited the Roman fort and remodelled museum at Vindolanda and its astonishing collection of riches. The famous Wall Hadrian built to separate Romanitas from barbaricum in Britain boasts several of the best preserved military installations from the imperial period anywhere, set among some of [...]

In this book Russell and Laycock set out to “expose the myths” about Roman Britain being a land full of togas, towns and baths with Britons happily going about their Roman lives and to a great extent this is what they have achieved. In doing this they bring together a wealth of recent works which [...]

Agora is a good movie, but perhaps not for the reasons it wants to be. As a historical piece, it is mixed at best. As a political statement it works well, though with all the subtlety of a blow to the head. As a visual experience, it is glorious. Directed by a Spaniard but with [...]

UNRV is a community of dedicated Roman and Ancient History enthusiasts. Our interests are as varied as the personalities we display in the forums. And while many of us consider ourselves to be amateur experts to one extent or another, only a handful can actually claim by profession or education to be ACTUAL experts. One [...]

Most people`s knowledge of Constantine`s rise to power amounts to little more than that “he was the first Christian emperor”. Anybody who has delved a little deeper knows that the reality is far more complex and that the conversion from a Pagan to a Christian Empire was a long and often brutal transformation. David J [...]

Am I justified in feeling that everyone connected with the making of this film should be summarily executed for crimes against humanity? The “Clash of the Titans” remake is Hollywood at its worst. It derives from a cinematic dark age where producers and writers are simply bereft of an original thought and must cannibalize their [...]