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    It is clear from the very beginning that this story will be action-packed, with the punchy opening outlining the intentions of Julius Vindex to overthrow Emperor Nero. This revolution proves to create many interesting courses of action throughout the book, with a sense of anticipation growing to a climax in several parts. The first climatic incident takes us just over halfway through the book, giving the author ample time to set the scene and introduce the characters with careful detail. The suspense is portrayed perfectly, ending with a short and snappy chapter 25 finalizing the revolt through the emotions of various characters...

     

    ...continue to the full review of Palatine: The Four Emperors Series: Book I by L. J. Trafford

    Viggen
    There is something about the Roman legions that is instinctively attractive. Associations of unity, strength, and success combine to produce an aura of invincibility. That's true today, and in all likelihood, was exactly the same two thousand years ago.
     
    We go misty eyed and inwardly see the legions of Rome crushing every opponent in sight as they march across the map of the Known World. Of course this image is hopelessly wrong, because Rome did not conquer everyone, and if you need proof of that reality you need do no more than study their wars in Spain, for that was one conquest that took them almost two hundred years to complete...
     
    ...continue to the full review of The Roman Wars In Spain by Daniel Varga
    Viggen
    Review by Philip Matyszak
     
    These days walk-throughs of ancient Rome are ten a penny on the internet, where you can also find incredibly detailed maps of the ancient world (I particularly recommend those from J. Dent and Sons Atlas of the Ancient and Classical World which is now out of copyright in most jurisdictions.) So why does one need an old-fashioned wall map of the Roman empire, such as the one offered here by UNRV?
     
    Well, the first reason is because this wall map makes the wall look good. The colours are a combination of pale greens, blue and light browns, a well-matched and appealing mix that is easy on the eye. As someone who has prepared numerous maps for different publications, I can attest that while the components of a good map appear to work together effortlessly, creating that appearance takes a lot of work. So this is the second factor in favour of this map – it manages to be attractive visually while also being a highly functional tool...
     
    ...continue to the full review of the UNRV Map of the Roman Empire
    Viggen
    The Gabinian Affair answers the age old question: How does a poor farmer’s wife, burdened by an expensive mortgage incurred in an attempt to keep up with the Joneses, afford to give her son an elite, liberal arts education? Answer: Find a rich guy, and uh, persuade him to help.  Mama was Roman, married to the descendant of a Gallic Roman citizen. And she wasn’t exactly poor. Her father was an equestrian businessman, and a pretty good one at that. He gave his daughter a not too shabby dowry of 25,000 denarii. But no way were she nor her father going to let their boorish Gallic relatives get their grubby hands on that. Helvetia (Mama) demanded that her husband take out a mortgage that he couldn’t afford to build her a proper Roman-style house...
     
    ...continue to the full review of The Gabinian Affair by Ray Gleason
    Viggen
    Somewhere in the world, probably not far from you, an actor is crying out in lamentation as conspirators play out a scene of assassination. Down goes Julius Caesar, the man who risked all for power and glory, stabbed repeatedly, his fortunes forever at an end. The crowd may well appreciate the acting and applaud at the closing of the scene.
     
    How many of us know anything about Caesar? Oh sure we might quote his name readily when asked to identify a famous Roman. We might recall some love affair with the Queen of Egypt after she smuggled herself into his presence inside a rolled carpet, or snigger at accusations of something more tawdry. We might know of his military conquests, his invasions of Britain, or that pivotal moment on the banks of the Rubicon when he set himself upon a path to be remembered by...
     
    ...continue to the full review of A Companion To Julius Caesar by Miriam Griffin
     
     
    Viggen

    Caesar Diadumenian

    By Viggen, in News,

    Marcus Opellius Antoninus Diadumenianus was the son of Rome's short-lived emperor Macrinus (AD 217-218). The boy died at the age of ten after enjoying the rank of Caesar for less than three months. His death presaged the murderous succession struggles of the third century crisis which properly began a generation after his death; a crisis in which family members were treated no less severely than the fallen emperors and pretenders themselves.
     
    It is generally assumed that Diadumenian got his name because he was born with a caul - which is when the amniotic membrane which encloses a fetus thereafter covers the newborn's head and face when he emerges from the womb. In the case of Diadumenian this membrane had wrapped itself tightly around the child's forehead so that it resembled a diadem...
     
    ...continue to the full article about Caesar Diadumenian
    Viggen
    Romans, Barbarians, and the Transformation of the Roman World by Ralph W. Mathisen
     
    Book Review by Ian Hughes
     
    "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there”.* Nowhere does this oft-quoted opening line apply more than to Late Antiquity. For many years modern historians attempted to view the events surrounding the ‘Fall of Rome’ within the context of their own times, and in the twentieth century drew comparisons with the collapse of the European empires that had dominated the world. Yet the complex nature of the Fall and the bias of the historians resulted in many erroneous conclusions being drawn.
     
    Over the past 20-30 years historians have been slowly unravelling many of these mistakes – a factor made more difficult by the fact that many of these had become accepted as truth. Yet, as usual, popular acceptance of these debates has lagged behind academic theory. Part of the difficulty has been that new work is almost always published in ‘academic’ texts and journals that are hard to access by anybody without access to a University library...
     
    ...continue with the review of Romans, Barbarians, and the Transformation of the Roman World by Ralph W. Mathisen
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    Roman Imperial Policy from Julian to Theodosius by R. Malcolm Errington
     
    Book Review by Ian Hughes
     
    In 395 the Roman Empire was divided between the brothers Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West. It was never reunited in anything but the loosest sense. Until the late-twentieth century historians used the date of 395 as the major cut off point in the history of the Empire: understandably, as after 395 the West went into terminal decline and within three generations had disappeared. This was the accepted analysis until historians such as R. Malcolm Errington published an alternative chronology for the division. In addition, there was debate as to whether the Empire and the Emperor simply reacted to events rather than attempting to influence them by proactive policies, either at home or abroad...
     
    ...continue with the review of Roman Imperial Policy from Julian to Theodosius by R. Malcolm Errington
    Viggen

    Emperor Macrinus

    By Viggen, in News,

    Caracalla had been the last of his line. Since he was hated by the senate, he had not risked appointing an heir whom his enemies would immediately have rallied behind. Therefore his death left a power vacuum at the top. After some deliberation the army decided to back Macrinus simply because they could think of no-one better. The senate also accepted Macrinus as emperor, partly because Macrinus had always been deferential to that august body, and mostly because he was not Caracalla. Thus the lawyer from the provinces became Rome's first non-senatorial emperor...
     
    ...continue to the the full article of Emperor Macrinus
    Viggen
    How could anyone resist a book titled like this? It stirs the eight year old boy within you, but make no mistake, the author of this book isn't writing for children. This is full on power politics across hundreds of years in an empire that picked up where the Roman Empire left off.  The story begins with the rise to power of Constantine the Great, the man who invested in the greek dominated city of Byzantium to set up a new Roman capital closer to the heart of the action. As dramatic as it was, that episode is almost a gentle prologue to what follows. Emperors, rivals, usurpers, and no-hopers come and go at a bewildering pace...
     
    ...continue to the review of Fighting Emperors of Byzantium by John Carr
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