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    The Navies of Rome

    By Viggen, in News,

    In his introduction Pitassi notes that despite extensive literature on many aspects of Rome`s conquests and her empire the role of her seafarers and navy are usually considered only in a passing way or as a comparatively trivial part of the whole. Despite the obvious importance of her land forces over a twelve hundred year period Rome initially developed and then maintained and operated one of the largest navies the world has ever seen....
     
    ...read the full review of The Navies of Rome by Michael Pitassi
     
     
     
    Viggen
    Rome and China had appreciable differences, but broadly speaking they followed an eerily similar historical outline. Taking advantage of widespread urbanization laid by previous cultures, they grew rapidly from humble beginnings to great empires with a centralized court. The respective empires then halted their expansion, were fragmented by warlordism and foreign invasion, and were swept by non-native transcendent religions. But divergence came in the sixth century when China, unlike Rome, managed to endure as a continuous civilization owing to certain geographic, cultural and external factors...
     
    ...read the full review of Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires
     
     
    Viggen

    Surnames of the Porcii

    By Viggen, in News,

    The Porcii were an aristocratic plebeian gens that had its origins in Tusculum. The name is derived from porcus, a Latin word meaning "pig," and most likely this was a metonymic name indicating that the earliest members of the gens were noted for keeping and breeding swine. The most distinguished branch of the gens was without a doubt the Porcii Catones, and the first member of the Porcii to obtain the consulship was M. Porcius Cato Censorius (Cato the Elder) in 195 BCE...
     
    ...read the full article of Surnames of the Porcii
     
     
    Viggen

    Centurion (DVD) - The Movie

    By Viggen, in News,

    I was satisfied with Centurion. But then, I didn't have very high expectations for it. I had really wanted nothing but an action-adventure yarn with some great costumes and pretty females. That is exactly what I got, along with some surprisingly breathtaking locales. It is neither brilliant nor especially memorable, but there are certainly worse movies out there....
     
    ...read the full review of Centurion (DVD)
     
     
    Viggen

    Interview with Ian Hughes

    By Viggen, in News,

    Philip Matyszak conducted the following interview with Ian Hughes author of the recently reviewed book, Stilicho: The Vandal who saved Rome,
     
    UNRV: Thanks for giving us this interview. I guess the first question our members will ask about your book on Stilicho is that with so many books on ancient history competing for their attention, why should they choose this one?
     
    IAN HUGHES:I have been a member of UNRV since 2007 and in that time the overwhelming majority of posts have been about the Early Empire. This is proof that, despite recent books by notable historians such as Heather, Elton and Goldsworthy, the Later Empire still remains rather neglected in comparison to earlier periods....
     
    ...go here to read the full Interview with Ian Hughes
    Viggen
    Welcome to the dying days of the Roman empire, where in some cases the dying was very literal. This is the world of Flavius Stilicho, the general who struggled desperately to hold the disintegrating western empire together. Though he struggled against constant barbarian incursions, rebellions and usurpers, Stilicho's worst enemies were his fellow Romans in the Roman senate, and the courts of the eastern and western emperors...
     
    ...read the full review of Stilicho: The Vandal who saved Rome by Ian Hughes
     
     
     
    Viggen

    Win a copy of Centurion (DVD)

    By Viggen, in News,

    We are very excited to announce that we are giving away two DVDs of Centurion, all you have to do is to answer the following question;
     
    How many minutes are the difference between the UK and the USA version?
    a) 1 minute 5 minutes or c) 10 minutes.
    Hint; At Amazon USA and Amazon UK you can check the run times.
     
    Please email your answers to newsletter@unrv.com by Wednesday, December 1, 2010 to qualify and don't forget to include your shipping address!!
     
    Premium members have an extra chance of one author-signed copy of Adrienne Mayor`s The Poison King.
    To find out how to become a premium member and its benefits visit our support site.
     
    All the best!
     
    Viggen
    In this new book Stephen Dando-Collins (from hereon 'D-C') unsurprisingly tells the story of Nero and The Great Fire of Rome. Drawing on some of the revisionist history of the recent past, D-C defies the old, traditional interpretation that Nero set the fire and then blamed the Christians. Instead, he attempts a complete reanalysis of events in the hope of revealing the 'truth' hidden behind the very biased sources. He begins by outlining the course of events leading up to the great fire, introducing the main characters and their relationships with Nero and with each other. This setting of context is vital to an understanding of how the fire started, how it was perceived at the time, and Nero's role in the ensuing tragedy...
     
    ...read the full review of The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and his City by Stephen Dando-Collins
     
     
    Viggen
    These days when we think of spectacle in ancient Rome, we immediately think of gladiators in the arena. Yet gladiator shows only took place anywhere between ten and twenty days per year, and had a maximum audience of some 50,000 people at the Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum).
     
    Chariot races happened regularly, and attracted some 150,000 people to the Circus Maximus. Charioteers were highly-paid superstars who had flocks of devoted followers. One such fan even threw himself onto a funeral pyre so that he could perish along with the remains of the charioteer he worshipped. And even when gladiator fights became a thing of the past, chariot races continued to be an essential part of Roman and Byzantine culture for centuries more...
     
    ...read the full review of Chariot Racing in the Roman Empire by Fik Meijer
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