Links and trivia about Ancient Rome.
Let’s start this week with toys, though we have much larger things in store for you. Over at Vindolanda, while closed to the public their curators have been going over some of the existing collections. They have been slowly releasing information, like this article on combs and articles and videos about broaches in the collection, […]
Welcome to our regularly scheduled survey of ancient news, from archaeological discoveries to experimental archaeology. This time we cover anything from shipwrecks to deliberate wrecking equipment, from war to medicine. Let us start with your classical bit of archaeology. This is an amazing find from the Danube: Probable Roman shipwrecks unearthed at a Serbian coal […]
This is all stuff that came up during the research and writing of In Victrix, and found it’s way in some off-hand way into the book. I’ve mentioned before how small trivia and throwaway lines make for rich world-building. For me, I love exploring all those articles for the enjoyment in learning more about a […]
Guess what? I found an historically-based, military style epic-fantasy on the backdrop of ancient Rome. Can you guess how quickly I jumped to read it? Goblins at the Gate is a masterpiece blending historical and epic fantasy elements. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys military epic fantasy and ancient Rome. What to expect An epic […]
It’s the time of the year when every Romanophile secretly wonders how they could celebrate Saturnalia, without looking like a weirdo to everyone who celebrates the more acceptable holidays of midwinter in these modern times. Well, fear no more! Here is a tongue-in-cheek list to help you crypto-Romanophiles celebrate the grandest of holidays, without looking […]
Unlike the previous series I reviewed (Chelmsford 123 and Plebs), this is a docudrama. Or rather, dramatised scenes in between documentary commentary by notable historians and classicists. The series is produced by Netflix, and it’s nice to see them tackle real history: this isn’t Starz’ Spartacus, which was very entertaining with all the blood and […]
Today’s post collects interesting articles on the subjects on ancient texts. From high-tech reading of ancient Roman scrolls to medieval books made now available (and down to some really pissed-off bronze age customers), we have an amazing selection for lovers of words. Protect yourself! First, let’s start with a bit of fun. Every author these […]
I’ve read and reviewed Ovid, the first in the series, about a year ago. It was awesome, so naturally I went down the rabbit hole of reading through the 20-volume series… I’ve even chased down Corvinus himself for a character interview. I’ve posted my reviews of each individual volume on Amazon and Goodreads, but below […]
Caberet of Monsters presents a marvelous twist of Urban Fantasy. Though I was originally drawn by the Roman elements, the vibe of Parisian theatre and roaring 1920’s as a backdrop to urban fantasy was refreshingly original What to expect A novella set in the same world as the Creature Court trilogy, published a few years […]
A character’s name will be the trait most often referred to in a book, so today I’d like to talk about historical and fantastical names, as well as literary usage. We’d start with a quick review of some interesting naming conventions from history (Romans, duh, but also others), then touch on fantasy and science fiction […]
