New Webhost
February 28, 2006
We will be transitioning to a new host over the next couple of days. During this time, the forums will be offline to prevent any lost posts. The forums will be turned online once the UNRV.com domain name resolves to the new host.
Thanks for your patience!
Ask The Expert - Dr. Peter Heather
February 23, 2006
We are happy to announce that Dr. Peter Heather has agreed to answer questions from our forum members. Every forum member can ask one question only (to make you consider what you would like discussed carefully), no follow up replies to keep the thread clean and to make it easier for the Professor to go through the questions. We also would like to point out to stick to your question to the area of his expertise, which is the period of the late roman empire. After a week or two (depending how many questions we have) Professor Heather will answer those which he thinks are the most interesting or applicable...
Dr Heather (DPhil (Oxon), Lecturer (CUF) in Modern History) at Worcester College, Oxford University, has published widely on the later Roman Empire (East and West), its cross-border relations, and the political, social and cultural history of its successor states in the period c250-600 AD. His current interests include the role of propoganda in the late Roman elite, and the related phenomena of ethnicity and migration among the groups who dismantled the western half of the Roman Empire.
Selected Publications:
The Fall of the Roman Empire
The Visigoths
The Huns
Religion Of Egypt
February 21, 2006
Another excellent article by our forum member Ursus ...
It is important to correct a misconception. The Egyptians were not obsessed with death. That we think so is a function of modern archaeology, which interprets Ancient Egypt through surviving artifacts. Most of the artifacts that have survived are religious and funerary in nature, which colors perceptions of Egyptian mentality.
...continue with the Religion Of Egypt
The Fall of the Roman Empire
February 18, 2006
We are happy to announce that our fifth Book Give Away has been reviewed!
Forum Member Virgil61, who received a free copy of The Fall of the Roman Empire, just submitted to us his article.
The Fall of the Roman Empire by Peter Heather
In the words of the author, the fall of the Western Roman Empire was one of the definitive markers in European history alongside the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Industrial Revolution. Heather gives and important and probably understated overview of the status of scholarship on the period known among contemporary scholars as the Late Antiquity...
Hadrian's Travels
February 15, 2006
Hadrian's Travels
Hadrian arrived in Rome in the summer of AD 118, nearly a year after his actual succession to Trajan. His predecessor’s eastern conquests had facilitated a massive Jewish revolt which required an in kind legionary response. While these revolts were largely quelled while Trajan was still alive, Hadrian was forced to finish the work. As one part of his ultimate resolution of the matter, Hadrian understood the difficulty in controlling the east beyond the Euphrates River and gave up Trajan’s recent conquests...
The Religion of Rome
February 13, 2006
According to some sources the religion of the very earliest Romans was simple animism: beliefs were centered around spirits which were not personified. Modern sources however have rejected this theory, stating instead that belief in the Roman gods was present in the very earliest religion.
Forum member Lost Warrior provided us with this very nice overview about the Roman Religion.
The Moral and Political Tradition of Rome
February 10, 2006
Another excellent review has been completed for our Roman Books section, thanks to community member FLavius Valerius Constantinus. Not only are relevant items available for further research throughout the site, but our books section includes an ever growing list of Roman related Fiction and Non-Fiction books, Movies and Games.
The Moral and Political Tradition of Rome by Donald Earl
Site down time
February 07, 2006
We apologize for any inconvenience resulting from recent outages of UNRV.com. Without going into elaborate detail, an error in the processing of our domain renewal resulted in the temporary (but very trying) 'expiration' of this site. We have already begun the process of preventing this sort of problem in the future.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
The UNRV team.
Roman Domestic Cult
February 05, 2006
Another excellent article by our forum member Ursus...
While Romans had always had major State festivals to gods like Jupiter and Mars, nearer and dearer to most Roman families were a simple household based religion based around local and familial spirits. These local and familial demons were the mainstay of Roman religion throughout all stages of its history, from archaic origins to the Christian era. The worship of these spirits is what truly defines Roman religion, and what really separates it from the sister religion of Greek paganism...
...continue with the Roman Domestic Cult