UNRV Ancient Roman Empire History

The author remarked about this book ‘everyone knows of Antony and Cleopatra, but they see the story as they think it should have been’. We know that story. It’s the one from the theatre of Shakespeare, or Elizabeth Taylor’s career-defining role in film. It’s where the dashing and impetuous Antony is seduced by the decadent [...]

Many years ago I stood on the other side of the world. On the face of it, that’s nothing unusual. There are people from that faraway land living in my home town. The ease of transport in our modern world is something we take for granted. Travel agents offer exotic destinations for those who wish [...]

Europe as a geographical construct is a rather easy concept to digest: it’s that stretch of land from the Straights of Gibraltar to the Ural Mountains. Europe as a historical and cultural construct is a little more difficult to pin down. What really defines Europe? The Roman Empire enjoined Europe to Asia and Africa; indeed, [...]

Stop for a moment, sit back, and dream of the Roman arena. Rows of armoured men standing on the sand before one man among thousands sitting expectantly around them, saluting him as their final hour approaches, in which they must fight for their llives, honour, glory, and the entertainment of the crowd. It is, without [...]

What you get inside this book is much more than what it says on the cover; it contains a detailed investigation into the probable directions of planning and building of Dere Street, the major Roman road on the Eastern side of the Roman frontier, plus Hadrian`s Wall, the Stanegate and the vallum as well as [...]

…have you checked if you are one of the lucky winners from our recent giveaway competition (The Lion’s Brood: The Story of Hannibal Rafael Scott)? If not than you have now a great opportunity to get a copy for a reduced price; author Rafael L. Scott is giving for a limited time only a 15% [...]

In his introduction Pitassi notes that despite extensive literature on many aspects of Rome`s conquests and her empire the role of her seafarers and navy are usually considered only in a passing way or as a comparatively trivial part of the whole. Despite the obvious importance of her land forces over a twelve hundred year [...]

Rome and China had appreciable differences, but broadly speaking they followed an eerily similar historical outline. Taking advantage of widespread urbanization laid by previous cultures, they grew rapidly from humble beginnings to great empires with a centralized court. The respective empires then halted their expansion, were fragmented by warlordism and foreign invasion, and were swept [...]

The Porcii were an aristocratic plebeian gens that had its origins in Tusculum. The name is derived from porcus, a Latin word meaning “pig,” and most likely this was a metonymic name indicating that the earliest members of the gens were noted for keeping and breeding swine. The most distinguished branch of the gens was [...]

I was satisfied with Centurion. But then, I didn’t have very high expectations for it. I had really wanted nothing but an action-adventure yarn with some great costumes and pretty females. That is exactly what I got, along with some surprisingly breathtaking locales. It is neither brilliant nor especially memorable, but there are certainly worse [...]

Philip Matyszak conducted the following interview with Ian Hughes author of the recently reviewed book, Stilicho: The Vandal who saved Rome, UNRV: Thanks for giving us this interview. I guess the first question our members will ask about your book on Stilicho is that with so many books on ancient history competing for their attention, [...]

Welcome to the dying days of the Roman empire, where in some cases the dying was very literal. This is the world of Flavius Stilicho, the general who struggled desperately to hold the disintegrating western empire together. Though he struggled against constant barbarian incursions, rebellions and usurpers, Stilicho’s worst enemies were his fellow Romans in [...]

We are very excited to announce that we are giving away two DVDs of Centurion, all you have to do is to answer the following question; How many minutes are the difference between the UK and the USA version? a) 1 minute b) 5 minutes or c) 10 minutes. Hint; At Amazon USA and Amazon [...]