Links and trivia about Ancient Rome.
Ancient Greeks and Romans had pretty advanced science – and we know quite a bit about it. The two pieces referenced today will expose you to both what we know and how we do. First an article about how we know what we know about Roman legions. This is extracted from Adrian Goldsworthy’s excellent The Complete […]
I’ve been posting a lot of book reviews recently, so I thought I’d qualify my review scale and criteria. This should help those reading them judge whether my reviews align with their views enough to be considered a good recommendation. I’ll start with what my father taught me about wine appreciation, and is pretty much […]
Following Matyszak’s 24 Hours in Ancient Rome (because, y’know, he has a great style balancing information and readability), I sought out his other books. Gladiator touches on a subject core to the third Felix Novel – In Victrix – so I started with it. What to Expect A witty, lighthearted non-fiction description of the lives of gladiators […]
Some exciting reviews of underwater Roman ruins. First, a discovery almost 50 acres of ruins off the coast of Tunisia. The North African city of Neapolis is believed to have been submerged after a tsunami in the 4th century AD destroyed most of it, as recorded by Roman soldier and historian Ammianus Marcellinus. The natural […]
I came across Matyszak’s 24 Hours in Ancient Rome: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There via a recommendation by Alison Morton (of Nova Roma fame). It looked right up my alley, so I jumped straight into it. Very glad I did! What to Expect A witty, fictional non-fiction description of […]
As most of you know, I love reading news about discoveries from ancient Rome. This post collects some recent articles, as well as a short piece I wrote for Virtual FantasyCon event about using real historical detail as background colour for storytelling. First, a bit out of In Numina. I use a lot of real […]
I love old ruins, as you surely know. Whenever I find myself walking amongst them, or even just in old streets of modern cities, my mind is only half focused on what I see. The other half sees what these places were in their prime. Makes it a bit of a chore to avoid traffic… […]
Found this review of griffins across several cultures on Mr. P’s Mythopedia page. I find it interesting, as Murder in Absentia includes a griffin (or gryphon, in the more Greek-like spelling used in the book). It’s based on the classic type below, with the front half including the forelegs as that of an eagle. Not […]
As some may know, we’ve recently visited Israel. While this was mostly about visiting family and friends, we did get to tour around a bit. Here, for example, we visited my favourite fort: I’ve posted a lot of images on my Instagram feed. More importantly, each image comes with its own little story, and why […]
This is book I wanted to read for a while, and finally got down to sit and read it. Beard is a Professor of Classics at Cambridge, and this novel is the culmination of 50 years of love and research into Roman culture. What to expect A review of the first millennium of Roman history. […]
