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Hi everyone. My name is Jamie. I am a University student studying Journalism and am a huge fanatic when it comes to Ancient Rome. I love everything about it and am very glad i have found this site :) I hope to get to know you all better. I have recently decided to mix my desire to be a writer with my love of Rome and am now working on my own Ancient Rome novel :) fingers crossed lol

 

Anyway before i begin to bore you hello hope u are all doing well :)

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Hi Everyone

Just introducing myself. My name is Richard, and I live in the North-East of the UK, not far from Hadrian's Wall. I have been looking for a while for somewhere on the web to chat with like-minded people about the Romans, so was really pleased to stumble over this site. I have been fascinated by the Romans for such a long time, probably dating back to doing O-Level Latin (that dates me!), but in more recent times, my interest was re-kindled anew through reading Rubicon, and then picking up on the McCullough Masters of Rome series, which I am working my way through (currently due to start Caesar Book V). I have done some reading around the topic as well, reading people like Goldsworthy, and have a nice long Amazon WishList of books of interest. Guess whenever you join an established community, it takes a bit of time to find your feet, so I might not be posting straightaway, but hope to be contributing soon, and look forward to discussing things with you. My main interest period wise is the Late Republic, from Gracchi to Augustus, but only really as that is where I have started on. I am of course interested in the Romans in Britain with such a great historical site on my doorstep in Hadrian's Wall, and I am also interested in some of the more technical mechanics of Roman Armies (but not re-enactment side).

 

As an aside, I would love to take my interest a step further, and do some sort of study. I have been hunting around for a while with little success. Do any of you out there know of any good distance learning courses (at any academic level right up to PostGrad) that cover the sort of stuff I mention above I am interested in?

 

Cheers

Richard

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Welcome coltrane68, I am sure that you will soon find your own place here.

 

As far as 'distance learning' is concerned it depends what area you wish to pursue in your studies.

 

If it was to include archaeology then there are several Universities which offer 'distance learning' courses on the topic a few of these are listed on the CBA website here. However I suspect most universities listed there will be offering 'continuing education' courses rather than distance learning or online. These last two forms of learning, where they exist, tend not to be intended as the major component of Degree level work despite this you may find something interesting to follow up on when the next academic period starts.

 

I know that the Open University do run several Classics related courses up to Masters level although I understand that not too many of their modules currently cover the Roman period per se they should all be distance learning and I believe include an increasing quantity of online discussion/activity.

 

BTW belated welcomes to godsownson and anyone else whose welcome message hasn't been responded to up to now - sorry. :(

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Melvadius - thank you for your welcome and reply to my query. As it happens, I had looked first at the OU as I have just completed an OU PostGrad Diploma (in Environmmental Management for work, this would be for personal interest only), but as you say, the course modules currently don't cover much really related solely to Rome, and have a big chunk of Greek content which I am not really that interested in. But, it was seeing this initially that set me thinking whether there was anything else I could look for. In reply to the query of what I am interested in area wise, I guess it is just to build on where I am at currently in my unstructured personal reading - as I did Politics as my first degree many years ago, I am interested in the Political Economy of Rome, esp around the time of the late Republic. I suppose ideally what I would love would be some sort of taught course that requires me to study in a focussed way, in order to write essay answers / sit exams - but as I say, as it is only for personal interest, does not need to be to too high a level. I am surprised that there are not more courses around as I would have felt this was an area many people are interested in - there seem to be plenty of books / films / TV progs about Rome floating around.

 

To be honest, the more I look round this web site and forum, the more I think there is plenty to be getting my teeth into here!

 

That said, I have never before thought about Archaeology nut you have raised a little lightbulb in my head - after all, I am near a major Roman site, and as far as I am aware there are active digs going on currently (Vindolanda?). How much training / expertise does one need to have to participate in a dig? Is it possible to just turn up as a volunteer?

 

Thanks for your help

Richard

Welcome coltrane68, I am sure that you will soon find your own place here.

 

As far as 'distance learning' is concerned it depends what area you wish to pursue in your studies.

 

If it was to include archaeology then there are several Universities which offer 'distance learning' courses on the topic a few of these are listed on the CBA website here. However I suspect most universities listed there will be offering 'continuing education' courses rather than distance learning or online. These last two forms of learning, where they exist, tend not to be intended as the major component of Degree level work despite this you may find something interesting to follow up on when the next academic period starts.

 

I know that the Open University do run several Classics related courses up to Masters level although I understand that not too many of their modules currently cover the Roman period per se they should all be distance learning and I believe include an increasing quantity of online discussion/activity.

 

BTW belated welcomes to godsownson and anyone else whose welcome message hasn't been responded to up to now - sorry. :(

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If you are reasonably close you may be lucky if you contact Vindolanda about volunteering to help out in a general way. However they formally announce their arrangements for volunteering to excavate on 1 November each year.

 

I believe that all places have now been taken for this year, as a little while back I received their annual newsletter, which advised that all places were taken within 3 days of them being announced. If you wish general information about volunteering for Vindolanda in the future there is more information here relating to this year.

 

However we recently discussed some possible alternative excavation sites including excavation holiday's being advertised at Arbeia in this thread.

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Welcome, coltrane68.

 

Can I recomend this series of lectures as an excellent place to start? It covers the Empre from just before the start to the fall of the west. The sound is a little dodgy on the first couple, but stick with it, and you will be rewarded.

 

Similarly, there's a podcast by the same (excellent) lecturer called "History 110 Roman Republic" available on iTunes as a podcast. I haven't listened to that one, so can't give a recomendation.

 

Lucky you living so close to Hadrian's Wall, by the way.

Edited by GhostOfClayton

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just found your interesting website www.unrv.com, Just thought I'd say hello I'd like to be able to meet some new poeple here :) I hope this is not in the wrong category but "Res Publica" seemed to be about right

 

--------

 

Edited by Klingan: Moved to Consilium Comitiorum, but don't worry about that.

 

And welcome!

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just found your interesting website www.unrv.com, Just thought I'd say hello I'd like to be able to meet some new poeple here :) I hope this is not in the wrong category but "Res Publica" seemed to be about right

 

--------

 

Edited by Klingan: Moved to Consilium Comitiorum, but don't worry about that.

 

And welcome!

 

Welcome. It is a cool site. I don't contribute much since I'm not exactly an expert on the subject matter, but I do spend a lot of time reading through the site. There's loads of cool stuff here.

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just found your interesting website www.unrv.com, Just thought I'd say hello I'd like to be able to meet some new poeple here :) I hope this is not in the wrong category but "Res Publica" seemed to be about right

 

--------

 

Edited by Klingan: Moved to Consilium Comitiorum, but don't worry about that.

 

And welcome!

Welcome!

 

This site is a great place to meet other history buffs, and you can learn a great deal here (I certainly have :P).

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Hi folks

 

My first post here! Please be patient- I am no Roman expert by any standard, but my interest in Roman history and culture (though I am sometimes cynical about their claim to be the world's light), especially Roman Britain and the 'Celts', is strong.

 

I am a keen amateur artist (historical real warriors, not fantasy) usually found discussing the latter Anglo-Saxon world of England, along with Vikings and Normans, but have a love of history in general and run my own history forum

 

I look forward to debating with you.B)

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Hey, welcome Hus! It's good to see you here!

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Greetings all.

 

I am a lover of the Roman Republic era. More disdainful of the self-indulgent-ness of the Emperors. They forgot to put Roma first.

 

I will be writing 2 different historical fiction novels set in Republic times. Perhaps a 3rd. I love to see all the similarities between the current US situations and those of ancient Rome.

 

I am very glad to have found this site.

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Greetings all.

 

I am a lover of the Roman Republic era. More disdainful of the self-indulgent-ness of the Emperors. They forgot to put Roma first.

 

I will be writing 2 different historical fiction novels set in Republic times. Perhaps a 3rd. I love to see all the similarities between the current US situations and those of ancient Rome.

 

I am very glad to have found this site.

Welcome to the forum :)

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Welcome to the forum Metella!

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