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Just putting the shout out that an auction is underway for the 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 of 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘: 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎, the final instalment of the Legionary series, hot off the press after publication last week! Every penny of the winning bid will go to Myeloma UK - the charity that fights to defeat Myeloma blood cancer for good. As you can see, the book is numbered, giving proof that it is the FIRST signed copy, and is also stamped and quoted. I'll gladly add whatever personal message you might like as well. Visit my Facebook page to check out the rules and bid ☺️ https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A6RwE1q9q/

Hi, I'm new to this forum, but am a longtime enjoyer of Ancient Roman history. For the past year or so, me and some friends have been working on a spreadsheet, that goes along with some maps and community functions on Discord. I really admire the quality of discussion on this board, and thought I might see if anyone was keen to give some feedback on the project. Below, I've attached a link to the sheet and a guide to view it. I know many likely won't be to appreciative of some liberties that I've needed to take, obviously there's no way to do something like this and retain a real degree of accuracy. But if you spot any obvious points of improvement, I'd really appreciate hearing them, and I hope you enjoy my sheet. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JqPWIoG6NUVgI_5XasOAFBdl12CU0pSHp2Vy0mXi4rQ/edit?usp=drivesdk https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1E2QWQmCxSFDCypeKCZUODOIBPSjch2VW0DMLad3V9os/mobilebasic https://discord.gg/4JHj6U6j

Thanks Indy! In the end it went through the roof - made over £600 ❤️ Awesome result for the cause!

A Roman gold coin (aureus) was found in a farmer's field near Dudley, England, in the West Midlands. It depicted the ill-fated Vitellius, one of the four Emperors who struggled for power in AD 69, “The Year of the Four Emperors,” following the death of Nero in AD 68. Suetonius described Vitellius as an obese glutton. Vitellius defeated Otho before Vespasian eventually killed him in Rome. Vitellius was Emperor of Rome for just eight months (April 19 to December 20, AD 69). Interestingly, the coin fetched just £4,700 (approximately $6000 US). This is an excellent piece of history that reflects the influence of Vitellius in Britain at the time of the turmoil: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0mwm8nw914o A nice summary of the struggle for power after the death of Nero:

A 3-year-old Israeli girl has discovered an ancient Canaanite scarab while hiking with her family. (Scarabs are amulets and impression seals (shaped like scarab beetles) and were popular throughout ancient Egypt.) The scarab is 3,800 years old and was found in Tel Azeka, which is mentioned in the Bible as the site of the battle between David and the Philistine giant, Goliath. https://www.timesofisrael.com/three-year-old-girl-finds-canaanite-seal-where-bible-says-david-battled-goliath/

You're absolutely right about being most likely to find things concentrated at the narrow points of a funnel shaped field. This is why prospectors pan for gold in the streams rather than sifting thru random shovels full of dust on the mountainside. My original comment was tongue in cheek....An order-of-magnitude estimate-- Suppose a village consisted of 200 people, half whom had amulets of which only 0.1% were lost each year over a 500 year existence of the village-- That's 50 amulets for archeologists to find today at that one site....and how many sites are there? It adds up fast.

Looks like they actually visited an external overlook in newly reopened Temple of Venus and Rome. Wiki sayth:

I sense this topic might be mistaken as an uplifting sign of exalted status of Roman women, but reading the fine print: 1) This Ceres type of priestess is the only one rivaling responsibility of a priest, and only 7 were known to ever practice in Pompeii. 2) Her husband (wedding ring on conventional finger as moderns) has subtle indications of upper class, and probably was the source of family status that enabled her to become priestess. Lastly the most notable feature of the women to this rube tourist is her sculpted body veil. Several of these can be found in Naples churches from the 1800s and really impress onlookers. I guess it is a workable optical illusion to create riffles cross cutting thru riffles, but it seems like magic to this baclofen patient (side effect = false sense of well-being).

Awesome idea!! Raising money for a good cause is always a good thing. Let me see what the bid is up to. . .

A canal built by Marius (Caesar’s uncle) has been found in Gaul in the Rhône River delta. It is dated to 104-102 BCE, and is thought to have been constructed to help Rome in the Cimbrian Wars (113-101 BCE). The Cimbrian Wars were between the Roman Republic and the tribes of the Cimbri and Teutons, among others. https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/romans/archaeologists-may-have-finally-discovered-famous-lost-canal-built-by-julius-caesars-uncle

Here’s a needed review of the Cimbrian War

Hope this is okay with you all as it's self-promo. I checked with the mods who said it should be alright. Anyway, for the last two years I've been writing a novel based around the Battle of the Frigidus. The more I read into it, the more I realised just how needlessly destructive the whole affair (the second civil war in 6 years) was. Beforehand, I thought it was a candidate reason for the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Now, I'm certain it was (at least the main catalyst). Anyway, here's the deets for LEGIONARY:DEVOTIO AD 391: in the aftermath of civil war, the Roman Empire lies broken. The emperor is missing. Rumours fly that he has lost his mind. Sensing weakness, the Goths rise in revolt. All to the delight of the dark hand who orchestrated the civil war… and plots to stoke another. Far out at sea, Pavo stands watchfully at the prow of the Justitia, running cargo between distant lands. At every port, he hears of the empire's swelling troubles. Of fire and zeal and panic. Of legions, bristling for battle. But his days of protecting the provinces with sword and shield are over. He, his wife and his lad will soon have enough funds to make a home on a quiet island, far from the madness. Yet the empire is an ever-hungry beast, and Pavo is about to sail straight into its jaws… It is a journey that will take him to the brink, and throw down before him the question to which there is only one answer: what would you sacrifice to save your loved ones? Blood, treachery, reckless heroism, justice, honour. This story has it all. If you fancy a read, it's out on all the usual places: Amazon: http://mybook.to/LegionaryX All other retailers: http://books2read.com/Legionary10 Thanks!

The major problem faced here is that the general public want a simple description of how the legions were formed, deployed and disbanded. Because of their need for a straightforward narrative, books such as that by Dando-Collins, which purports to give a straightforward narrative, are bought, read and believed by those with a general interest in the Roman Legions. Consequently, any information which goes against the simple narrative are discounted 'because Dando-Collins says so'. The next stage is that this information passes into 'everyone knows' territory and so becomes accepted as fact, appearing in other books and on TV/the internet. Hopefully sites such as UNRV can help to correct the spread of false information.

I'm interested in material artifacts aspect of Roman history, and am less interested (skeptical in fact) about the going narratives. Think how wrong the media gets a story if you happen to have local knowledge of it. But there are hard to overlook vignettes evoked by ruins that just beg for some contextual story, like the alienation of Tiberius or the refinement of the Quintilii brothers based on their respective villas. Same could be said for their meditative portrait sculpture...

Studying Latin in school-- the myths and legends of the early history. It fascinated me that we were reading the very words written by men who walked the earth more than 2000 yrs ago. Speaking of church, my cigar chomping, truck driver uncle who quit school after the eighth grade was quite irate when Vatican II did away with the Latin Mass-- "That's crazy. We should be hearing the words the way The Lord really said them.' (??)

Respectfully, many items sold on Amazon are also stolen from brick-and-mortar retailers. I was buying a product from a “reliable source” that was using some strange packaging material. Then I realized they were selling stolen items. Now I try to buy directly from the manufacturer. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/07/06/amazon-sellers-suspended-over-stolen-goods-caught-in-crime-ring.html