[Alaric King of the Visigoths!]

How desperate are you for information? I've just finished the text of my new book, this one being on Stilicho, and there is a lot of information (and opinion!) on Alaric in it. It's due to the publisher this month and will be out at some time next year.

 

Obviously, I don't want to publish the book in 'serial' form on UNRV as this will annoy the publisher ( ) but, if you can't wait, are there any specific questions?

 

Hey Sonic,

 

I remember a while back before the Belisarius book was released, you asked people on the forum which figure they would most like to read about and I believe that Stilicho was quite a popular choice.

 

Glad to hear you're open to the suggestions of your fellow members. Will we get a mention in the credits for inspiring you to write about Stilicho??????

 

A good choice anyway mate, I look forward to reading it!

[What's the last book you read?]

I'm reading as a bed time story a novel by Steven Saylor "The Judgment of Caesar" (of the Roma Sub Rosa series).

 

Have you read the rest of the series?

 

I've just ordered the latest in the series, "The Triumph of Caesar" It's been over three years since the last Gordianus book so I hope it's worth the wait!

[Dorset Ridgeway Killing Fields]

It was a scene familiar from the killing fields of Iraq or the Balkans, but unheard of in rural Dorset. As the earth-moving machine peeled back a thin layer of topsoil, it exposed a tangled mass of human bones.Fifty-one young men had been decapitated with swords or axes before their bodies were tossed into a pit. The heads were neatly stacked to one side.

 

Radio-carbon dating suggests that they were killed between 890 and 1034, when the South of England was pillaged by Viking raiders from Scandinavia. A month after the discovery archaeologists are beginning to piece the story together..........

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/s...icle6718631.ece

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...cution-pit.html

 

http://www.dorsetforyou.com/index.jsp?articleid=392948

[What's the last book you read?]

I've recently finished the third book in the Genghis Khan (Conqueror) trilogy by Conn Iggulden, I know he gets a pretty bad press around here for his "stretching" of the truth but for out and out fast paced entertaining storytelling IMO he's one of the best around.

 

Is the third on the market already? Damn! I just finished the second.

 

 

It sure is!!

 

It's called Bones Of The Hill

[What's the last book you read?]

I've recently finished the third book in the Genghis Khan (Conqueror) trilogy by Conn Iggulden, I know he gets a pretty bad press around here for his "stretching" of the truth but for out and out fast paced entertaining storytelling IMO he's one of the best around.

 

Genghis Kahn, Life, Death and Resurection by John Man.

 

Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction by Harry Sidebottom.

 

Currently reading Warrior of Rome: Fire in the East pt 1 also by Harry Sidebottom.

 

Think I might get the book recently reviewed by Ursus called Black Ships by Jo Graham, sounds like quite an interesting read.

[The Supersizers Eat Ancient Rome]

Here's last night's show on the BBC i-player, Not sure whether it works outside of the UK though???

[Archaeologists find graveyard of sunken Roman ships]

A few more pictures from the shipwreck.....

 

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Ancient-Roma...af83acbb6e81d31

[The Supersizers Eat Ancient Rome]

Monday BBC2 at 21:00

 

Series in which restaurant critic Giles Coren and writer and comedian Sue Perkins experience the food culture of years gone by. This time they travel back to the early days of the Roman Empire. Living in a splendid villa, Senator Giles dons a toga while Vestal Virgin Sue dresses in tunics and keeps the fires of Rome burning.

 

Italian chef and cookery writer Valentina Harris slaves away in the marbled kitchen, cooking extraordinary meals, including the stinking fish sauce known as garum. When not gorging on delights from Valentina's kitchen, Giles and Sue try out the popular Roman snack lagana, the precursor of pizza and pasta, while attending the Colosseum..........

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ly7by

[Commonly taught inaccuracies about the classical world]

"During the final battle sequences the slaves drag down burning hay rollers. One of the slaves in Spartacus's army overshoots the end of the run and a Roman soldier generously drops his sword in order to catch him."

 

I knew it!!! The Roman soldiers weren't blood thirsty killing machines at all, they all had hearts of gold and cared about the well being of their fellow man above any thing else!!

[Fedor Emelianenko: Modern Day Stoic Gladiator]

Take a look at THIS interview with Fedor, it goes a long way to backing up what you say about the integrity of the guy.

 

I totally agree with you, a great fighter and a genuine guy.

[Happy birthday Ingsoc!]

All the best Ingsoc, have a good one!!!

[Archaeologists find graveyard of sunken Roman ships]

A team of archaeologists using sonar technology to scan the seabed have discovered a "graveyard" of five pristine ancient Roman shipwrecks off the small Italian island of Ventotene. The trading vessels, dating from the first century BC to the fifth century AD, lie more than 100 meters underwater and are amongst the deepest wrecks discovered in the Mediterranean in recent years, the researchers said on Thursday.

 

Part of an archipelago situated halfway between Rome and Naples on Italy's west coast, Ventotene historically served as a place of shelter during rough weather in the Tyrrhenian sea...............

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090723/sc_nm/...taly_shipwrecks

[Hail Neptunalia!]

Do me a favour will you Neph and have a quite word with your 'sisters' I've got to paint the outside of my house at some stage this week but your sisters have been camping out on my doorstep for the past couple of days now and as much as I love and revere the Nephlae they are starting to wind me up now!!!! And it's the start of the school holidays and the kids want to play out!

 

If you can do this for me Neph then I promise I will give thanks and libanations a plenty on Neptunalia!

[O' Brutus, Brutus]

Are you going to perform this on YouTube?

 

-- Nephele

 

Now that I'd like to see!!

 

You could even do your own album of Roman covers!

[O' Brutus, Brutus]

You really have got too much time on your hands Ursus or should I say Brittnius Spearius

[Welcome and Introduce Yourself Here]

Welcome to UNRV Steve.

 

I'm sure you'll enjoy it around here.

[How romanized was northern Gaul?]

This excludes the area around Marseilles which I know had been conquered before the time of Caesar and had been more linked to Mediterranean culture than to their Celtic and Germanic neighbors, as well as the areas immediately surrounding Provence.

 

Had Massilia been conquered before the time of Ceasar?? I'm not so sure it had. It had remained an independent trading port since being founded by the Greeks in about 600 BC, It made alliances with the major powers in order to keep it's self safe, which it had remained so until the time of the civil wars when it unfortunately choose the wrong side and gave it's support to Pompey which resulted in Caesar besieging and eventually taking the city in 49 BC.

[The Roman Triumph]

Nice review Klingan, like a few others I've had this book on my "to read" list too and after your review I will probably still go ahead and get it, but from what you say it does appear that the title is slightly misleading doesn't it? If I buy a book about the Roman triumph then I want to learn some useful information about the triumph. But on your recommendation I'll give it a go.

[Artwork]

Great stuff again Albert! The Augusta will love this one!!

 

Did you use the bust of Agrippa in the Louve museum in Paris as your inspiration for this drawing?

 

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-...-1st-century-BC

[Well, that was a short break from UNRV]

Nice to see you again Virgil, how's the past two years and two weeks been for you??

[US damaged historic Iraqi site of Babylon]

U.S. troops and contractors inflicted considerable damage on the historic Iraqi site of Babylon, driving heavy machinery over sacred paths, bulldozing hilltops and digging trenches through one of the world' most important archaeological sites, experts for UNESCO said Thursday. The U.N. cultural agency vowed to make Babylon a World Heritage site and prevent similar vandalism in future wars.

 

Once home to the famed Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of antiquity, the 4,000-year-old city lies 56 miles (90 kilometers) south of Baghdad. Soon after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the site became military "Camp Alpha."

 

American troops and contractors, notably from KBR

[The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross]

I thought after our chat we had about this book and what you've just posted I'd give it the benefit of the doubt and buy it and give it a go, that was until I saw how much it would cost me to read about magic mushrooms being the foundation of all religion's!!!!

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_b_0_15...sacred+mushroom

 

I think I might have to pass on this one FV.

[evolution of architecture, sculpture?]

I realize there is a big pitfall to my uniqueness theory in that perhaps many Roman sculptures were done by Greeks.

 

One of the greatest architects of the 2nd century was a Greek called Apollodorus, commissioned by Trajan, he was responsible for his forum, column, baths and market among other things.

[The 10 most extravagant Emperors.]

A dodgy mortgage claim is feeble stuff set against the spending of history's top kleptocrats. Here is Times Money's list of the 10 most extravagant emperors, in chronological order.........

 

http://timesbusiness.typepad.com/money_web...t-emperors.html

 

Spot the inaccuracies!!!!

[Is this a Roman road?]

The Via Pontica was located around the area you mentioned, not sure exactly where but it was somewhere near Romania.