[Mid 5th century currency]

Hi all:

 

I'm making some final edits in my manuscript and I have a slave auction where an aristocratic heroine buys (via her liaison) a young mother and her 10 year old son. I know the solidus was used at this time, but someone has suggested to me that the denarii would have been used.  I started the bid at 50 solidi with it being countered at increments of 3 or 5.  I've ended it with a showdown between heroine and competitor with a final drastic offer of 65 solidii and seven ounces of silver by the heroine.

 

Does anyone familiar with Late Antiquity currency know if this would be correct for a pair?  I've been told that pre-pubescent children were premium.  Should I be using Solidii or Denarii?

 

I'm striving for the most accuracy I can.  I think I'm thinking of the Solidus like we refer to the dollar or pound.  Not sure how to view Denarii.

 

Any insight is appreciated.

 

Cinzia 

[The Via Egnatia]

Naw, he would just add the forum with two subforums.

 

People like you can start topics on how to write a book, research it, best software for ebooks, marketing, grammar and cover design.

 

Caldrail, as he made it to professor of history status, would be the ideal leader/authority for writing a nonfiction history book.

 

There are a lot of authors where I'm from, we have writer groups. This website has a tendency to attract authors. I thought it would arise naturally, but hasn't yet. Been pondering asking him. Just, I don't know much about Viggen, other than he is really, really old, is a Austrian, and started this site as part of a role playing game, and for selling maps. So he might only be doing this to recruit new players for all I know.

 

It just makes a lot of sense to do this, it give the site a lot of credibility, and as a hub of potential and actual authors, would be a magnet for publishers and even movie producers looking for the next big book or script.

 

Too many sites pretend to be academic in orientation, like their a history journal. I don't know of any that actively seeks to support authors as real people with real gaps or need for select, specific knowledge. We're increasingly like a reference librarian here, which is fine. Just libraries have writer groups too. It seems a natural evolution of a aspect of what we're already doing. We just would systematise and dedicate a section to it. By we, I mean Viggen. I would just watch.

LOL   It's a great idea, but sounds like it would require some organization.  As a writer, I like having a source where I think the members are versed in the many different aspects of history and know of resources.  I also like that this site focuses on the Roman world.  One of my favorite topics was when I asked about stirrups and everyone went crazy. LOL  It seemed odd to me that Aetius having lived with the Huns would not have mimicked them if the Huns used stirrups like some scholars (one Hungarian in particular) believe.  In any case, it was lively.  For the record, I've stayed with the status quo on that topic.  However, perhaps a writers forum would stimulate lively debate on historical theories and also act as a resource for writers as you say and also add that added dimension to the site that you mentioned.

You would have to be the leader. It's your 'baby'. LOL   BTW, Viggen is not 'really, really old.' LOL Perhaps, just wise.  Cinzia

[The Via Egnatia]

Hi Cinzia,

 

And this is another one: I guess even better than the other two to get your answer.

It calculates how many days it takes to get from one place to another, depending on season, which way to travel (over land, sea, &c.) and what transport (foot, oxcart, &c).

 

See: http://orbis.stanford.edu/

 

Safe trip,

Auris Arrectibus

Auris, this looks awesome and somewhat daunting. ( I backpacked from Zurich to Istanbul and got lost more than a few times. :-) ) I will delve into it this week.  I decided they should make the trip by sea (four men, two women).  I've just been looking into which port stops they will make leaving from Brundisium to 5th century Constantinople.  This will help a lot.  Thanks!

[5th century Diorama]

Hello,

 

I don't know of stores, especially since I'm from the eastern part of the EU, but I know about miniatures of the 5'th century.

It really depends on what scale you would like the miniatures to be, the material (plastics, metal, resin) they are made of, the size of the diorama and how much you want to invest in it. Also are you going to paint them (as figures from most manufacturers come unpainted!) or do you want to buy them directly painted? (many companies that produce them offer painting services at cost)

 

The smallest scale I'd recommend is 28mm (meaning about 3 centimeters each miniature), mostly a metal scale, and that one still has good detail.

You can find details about companies that produce these kind of figures here (just search for Late Roman, Goths, Huns, Picts)

http://www.fanaticus.org/DBA/Bazaar/minisources25.html

 

There is also 1/72 scale (smaller than 28mm, about 2 - 2.5 centimeters) where you can find many cheaper plastic miniatures. If you want big dioramas this is a good scale but has less detail and plastic is harder to paint than metal. There is a great review site for them here (just search for Late Roman, Goths, Huns, Picts):

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/PeriodList.aspx?period=4

 

Another scale is 1/32 and it's close relative 54mm (meaning 5-6 centimeters each miniature). I couldnt find review sites or manufacturer lists for this scale, but it seems there are individual (not sets) models at this scale for this period. They cost the most though.

 

Bogdan

 

Thank you, Bogdan.  This is great information.  I don't want to paint. I just thought I'd get a few figurines to add to a small diorama used in conjunction with a book reading.  The information on the scales will be quite useful.  I will check the links you posted and see what I can find.  I just bought some replica coins and a few fibulae and a replica codex.  A few barbarian and Roman soldiers would be the perfect final touch I think to the display. Thanks again.

Cinzia

[The Via Egnatia]

http://omnesviae.org

 

This is exactly what you requested, found it just now by accident, it's like a Roman Mapquest.

 

I'm amazed someone went out their way to make this. I've been thinking of getting (pestering) Viggen to make a section dedicated as a "how to" section for writing history books and historical fiction, with resources like this to help out authors. If I ever convince him, I hope this link gets permanently pegged at the top of the forum. It's amazing.

Thank you Onasander!  I'm sure this will prove to be helpful.  I also think a resources page maybe added to by members would help the writers who come here a lot.  Would it be more work for Viggen? Lord knows he does quite a bit now.  :-)

[The Via Egnatia]

Is this for the second book in the series, Cinzia?

Yes. The second book is about a murder, and a quest to bring a prized relic to Constantinople right at the time that Petronius Maximus is killed and the Vandals enter Rome.  I'm about three quarters of the way through.  Hopefully, the cover for this one will be a bit more subdued. LOL

[The Via Egnatia]

It's 1st/2nd century, but you may be interested in Vindolanda Tablet 343.

Thanks GoC,

I checked out the tablet.  It does not look promising for overland travel by a couple carrying a valued prize and in a hurry. :-)

[The Via Egnatia]

Mountain trails suck in both winter and spring. Your traveler is gonna get hypothermia and trenchfoot. I've gotten both.

 

In the warmer weather, candidia breakouts (monkey butt/heat rash).

 

They will also ponder drinking something objectionable if they can't judge the distance to the next spring/creek/lake/river. They will feel like musty mildewed wet cothing, cause they are,and their dirty hair will drip on their faces, and dirt n sweat will hit their lips from it. As they walk, smelly wet cats will meow from under the exposed roots of Teresa's they walk.

 

The mud from the road will get in their shoes, they will slip on some crusty ice getting their side wet, and possibly tumble off the road into the thickets. They can try to unsuccessfully find shelter under a tree, only to find trees suck as roofs, and the raindrops continue to drop from them long after it's stopped raining elsewhere while you sleep.

 

The biggest raindrops of course will hit your face as you sleep. You can try to cover your face up, but it will press up against your face like it's suffocating you. Spring and poking in the rain is wonderful, but what is best is pooping in humid heat with no water whatsoever to clean yourself with.... like Other said, monkey butt.

 

I can provide you with more details if you desire.... a gripping tale of travel that will keep your readers disturbed, horrified, and spell bound. You'll win a Nobel Prize for Literature.

OMG. After reading all these descriptions, I think they are going to take a ship!! LOL I just might put them right into Constantinople and reflect on the journey somewhat in the narrative.  I know what you're saying is very real and yes it would be a 'tale of travel that will keep [my] readers disturbed, horrified, and spell bound.'  I think a person should get a Nobel Prize for enduring such a journey. LOL  It's very descriptive, though, so it won't go unnoticed.  I will draw on it no matter the chosen path.

 

If you've actually endured this sort of travel, you should write a book about it. In the states, right now, one of the big selling movies is WILD based on the book of the same title, I believe, about a woman who went into the wilderness on a spiritual trek of her own. 

[The Via Egnatia]

Thanks Onasander & Auris.  These are excellent suggestions, which for my purposes add description and logic, and the resources look to be very helpful. I will definitely delve into them.  I also have to correct myself. In reviewing Casson's passages on travel it was in the winter that sailing was discouraged and not the spring.

 

Thanks again,

Cinzia

[Did Marco Polo go to Alaska?]

I saw a story on this topic on an American television show called America Unearthed.  It was really fascinating and seemed entirely possible.  Who knows.  In the meantime, I just finished the series Marco Polo.  I'm wondering about some of the events depicted, but I know little about Marco, so I would have to find a reputable read for clarity.  Years ago there was a short series made about his life that I enjoyed more because it showed more of his travels throughout China and not just his interactions with Kublai Khan.

[The Via Egnatia]

Hi all:

 

I'm trying to find some resources or a clear picture of how a traveller from Brundisium (Brindisi) would in the spring get to Constantinople.  I've read that people avoided sea travel in the spring, so I thought to bring my characters to the big city on the Via Egnatia, but in some general reading I came across a passage paraphrased from Haddon's Warefare, State and Society in the Byzantine World that the western sections of  the road were in such a poor state that travelers could barely pass along it.  In another instance, I read that it fell mostly into disuse in the 5th century because of regional instability.

 

My question is for anyone familiar with travel in Late Antiquity.  What might have been the land travel alternative to the Via Egnatia for one trying to get to Constantinople from Dyrrachium( Durres) ?

 

Or if you know of any resources that focus on life style in late antiquity either or both empires.  I have Casson's book on travel in the ancient world, but his information doesn't always cover into the fifth century.

 

As always, any help or suggestions is greatly appreciated. :-)

 

Cinzia

[5th century Diorama]

Thanks Viggen!!  I will check it out.  

 

Cinzia

[5th century Diorama]

Hi all:

 

My upcoming novel will be out in late March.  I'm getting ready for my first presentation and thought it would be an interesting addition to create a Diorama for display.  Does anyone know of any reputable online stores that sell figurines?  My book is set in the 5th century, so if I could find some barbarians, late Roman soldiers, a model coach, francisca, composite bow, anything related to the times, even women, accessories etc. but in miniature this would be fantastic.  I will shop myself, but recommendations help the process.

 

Thanks,

Cinzia 

[The Cross as jewelry]

Thanks. I'm following now.  

 

Cinzia

[The Cross as jewelry]

Viggen:

 

This is fabulous.  What was the metal used? I'm wondering about the stone, too.

 

Cinzia

[Conventions for Author's Note]

 

Your aware Roman Christians didn't really use BC/AD divisions themselves, right? 

 

Nobody said they did. We were merely discussing literary conventions.

 

I imagine 'Anno Domini' came later (quick check says Medieval) and BC, I have no clue because Before Christ is in English.  However, the general reading population I think will relate easier to BC/AD and as Aurelia mentioned and for my purposes is a literary convention. Onasander, I know in a previous thread related to this topic someone mentioned AUL. Perhaps it was you.  For me, AD works better than CE. :-)   

[The Cross as jewelry]

John the Baptist was decapitated. Of course, no one honors him in the same way they do Jesus, but he is commemorated by pictures of his imagined likeness.  If Jesus had been hanged, perhaps an image of a noose or gallows?  It seems, the first representation was the fish and later with Constantine, the cross became most prominent.  I think the crucifix came later showing Christ's body as well. 

[Conventions for Author's Note]

Thanks, Aurelia.

 

Your viewpoint definitely helps and I agree.  Within my story I use AD (mostly chapter headings) and for references in my author's note I'm just going to use 451. I'm thinking that if I anyone is writing in BC/BCE the will say 451BC.  I'm in the US and people see on the History Channel (as I was told) the BCE/CE reference.  So, some believe it is the standard now in the entire academic community. 

 

Cinzia

[The Cross as jewelry]

Thanks, Viggen.  You're the man! :-)

 

Cinzia

[The Cross as jewelry]

Hi all:

 

I've read online that archaeologists have found evidence of the cross on pottery, glassware, brooches and jewelry dating back to the 4th-6th centuries, but the sources aren't cited.  Does anyone know of any source other than Wikipedia or the Ency. Brit. that might substantiate these findings?  

 

My mid fifth century heroine wears one, but I want to mention to the reader the possibility of the accuracy of this or not.

 

Cinzia

[Conventions for Author's Note]

Sounds good. BC-AD works for me.  Thanks for commenting.

 

Cinzia

[Conventions for Author's Note]

Viggen:

 

Thanks again for 'saving the day'.  I revisited the old thread and bookmarked this time.  I took my author's notes to a writing group and one person went on about CE being more appropriate.  I stated that my sources familiar with this historical time period leaned toward AD.  Also, I've notice in some historical or author's note, the dates being shown as 132 or 69 with no mention of AD or BC.  Are people assuming it's just AD unless specified by BC?  

 

Cinzia

[Conventions for Author's Note]

Hi all:

 

When I was writing my novel and I had chapter headings using a date, I was told here and by others for literary purposes use AD 451, which I agreed with and did.  

 

Now I'm writing an Author's Note and I'm wondering when I reference a date should I write, 132 or AD132 or 132CE. I've seen in another Author's Note the writer uses " in 69 ….  "  

 

Does the average reader relate to the BCE, CE usage?  I also see that some online information sites (wikipedia, Princeton, Ency. Brit.) use AD and others CE or not at all.  I'm going to check with my editor, but I'm wondering if any published author on this forum might be able to comment.

 

Thanks,

Cinzia

[Name for Roman villa]

 

No explicit narrative has survived. In Argonautica (iv.57ff) the "daughter of Titan", the Moon, was witness to Medea's fearful night-time flight to Jason, and "rejoiced with malicious pleasure as she reflected to herself: 'I'm not the only one then to skulk off to the Latmian cave, nor is it only I that burn with desire for fair Endymion'" she muses. "But now you yourself it would seem, are a victim of a madness like mine."^[16] Lemprière's Classical Dictionary reinforces Pliny's account of Endymion's attachment to astronomy and cites it as the source of why Endymion was said to have a relationship with the moon as she passed by.

Another Roman Endymion sarcophagus, mid-2nd century AD. (Metropolitan Museum of Art)^[17]

The mytheme of Endymion being not dead but endlessly asleep, which was proverbial (the proverb -Endymionis somnum dormire, "to sleep the sleep of Endymion")^[18] ensured that scenes of Endymion and Selene were popular subjects for sculpted sarcophagi inLate Antiquity, when after-death existence began to be a heightened concern. The Louvre example, found at Saint-Médard d'Eyrans, France, (illustration, left) is one of this class.

Some^[who?] believe that he was the personification of sleep, or the sunset (most likely the last one as his name, if it were Greek rather than Carian can be construed from "to dive in" [Greek en (ἐν) in, and duein (δύειν) dive], which would imply a representation of that sort. Latin writers explained the name from somnum ei inductum, the "sleep put upon him."^[19]

The myth of Endymion was never easily transferred to ever-chaste Artemis, the Olympian associated with the Moon.^[20] In the Renaissance, the revived moon goddess Diana had the Endymion myth attached to her.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endymion_(mythology)

 

I gave a lot of thought to the above, one could carve a Shakespearean subplot giving the two massive depth of character on a Jungian level with the above. He would misidentify himself as Endymion, but she would be Selena. Attila dies of a nosebleed, and I think there is a myth attached to him that he is sleeping and will return someday..... anyway, there usually is to such steppe figures.

 

One could twist this easily into a pretty riviting tragedy.

 

I can see him explaining the murals on his wall, she interpreting them a very different way than him, a lover of true beauty, she seemingly herself as the myth simply not caring about him in it.

 

I think of the donkey in the golden ass.... Machiavelli's version is the last I've read in some time, I see a big moon in the sky above as they move through the forest.

 

Seeing that Cinzia in English is Cynthia, which means 'Moon Goddess', I like anything to do with the moon.  This might make for a riveting story indeed. Thanks for the suggestion and the references. :-)

[Name for Roman villa]

 

For Gaius, did the author stating "420 years after the death of her savior…" set the book in AD 420 or 450?  It seems too roundabout, but there might be more to the statement such as the character's deep Christian feelings.

 

Cinzia

 

This is from Haley Elizabeth Garwood's novel "Zenobia."

 

This is from Chapter one.

On top of the chapter: 252 A.D. The Syrian Desert

 

Here's the exact quote:

 

Your Christian man says that we had our first battle in the 244th year after his god's death.

 

guy also known as gaius

 

Interesting way to start, especially if you take in account that many believe Christ was 33 when he died.  How does one figure the 244 and the chapter reference of 252?  In any case, I try to keep it clear and simple because my time period isn't that common.  

Cinzia