Viggen

Hello everyone, as some might have noticed i was relatively quiet in december and then end of december till now i dissapeared completely... I work in retail and ok, december is the strongest month so time is always short, however it got worse. On the 22nd of december i had a faulty wire at my place and while i worked i got a nice phone call from my neighbour telling me my place is burning... The fire itself didnt do much damage but the smoke and the ash destroyed the whole inventary and made it impossible to clean it by myself, a special company had to do that, but two days before christmas, guess what? None is available, so i had to wait till the 7th of january for them to start, i had to move to a BB in the meantime no internet, no computer, pretty boring... To make things even worse i got a heavy flue i had 39 degrees fever and was in a pretty bad shape, today my first day back at my place (as one might have guessed, hardly anything has been done, because of this and that and so on...) On top of that the usual insurance crap that doesnt want to pay for this or that or not as much and well, you have to get a lawyer so at least something gets done (all with high fever and not really much energy) ...in anycase i told today the workers to get lost, so i could install my computer and connect to the internet at least for this weekend... ...so for anyone i havent replied to his pm or email (currently loading the 989 mails that await me, and thats just the business mail lol) forgive me but i will eventually... ...the good thing that came out of it is, i will have eventually a brand new place (i wanted to renovate for ages, but never had the time), so there you have it, my little christmas story... cheers viggen

Another review has been completed for our Roman Books section, thanks to community member Tobias. It was not through luck or divine intervention (not entirely anyway) that the Later Eastern Roman Empire

Another review has been completed for our Roman Books section, thanks to community member Ursus. History should not be so facile, nor literature so digestible. The assumption for generations has been that both disciplines are complicated subjects which legions of trained academics prod and poke, uncovering heretofore undiscovered truths. Theories are spun, papers published, and debates hashed out concerning the significance of the tiniest arcane details. Emanating from historical literature is a dire aura of esoteric majesty in which only the chosen few may brave such climes. Why then does it seem like a half-literate adolescent could, upon reading Caesar, not only enjoy it, but understand it as well...? ...read the full review of The Conquest of Gaul by Gaius Julius Caesar

This article was brought to us by forum member Tobias At the time of the birth of Mauritius Tiberius (known as Maurice to us), the Later Roman Empire was undergoing the far-reaching advances of Justinian

We are happy to announce a December book give away in association with ArmorVenue just in time for the holiday season. Eight active participants of our forum will receive prizes in a random drawing. The prizes are as follows: First place winner will receive choice of: HBO Rome, Season 1 DVD or (winner's choice) I, Claudius DVD Second through Eighth place winners will a receive choice of : (note that each selection removes that item from the prize list. Other than the 2 maps, there are no duplicates.) 2 Roman Empire Wallmaps The Constitution of the Roman Republic by Andrew Lintott The Complete Chronicle of the Emperors of Rome by Roger Michael The Making of a Christian Aristocracy; Social and Religious Change in the Western Roman Empire by Michele Renee Salzman A History and Description of Roman Political Institutions by Frank Frost Abbott Venus: A Biography by Andrew Dalby The Enemies of Rome: From Hannibal to Attila the Hun by Philip Matyszak Augustus: A Novel by John Edward Williams Pompey the Great by Robin Seager The rules are as follows: * Email your entry to drawing@unrv.com. It should include the subject line "December UNRV Giveaway" and the simple content: Entry for (your publicly known forum name). Delivery information need not be provided until winners are announced. * Participants must be a registered member of this forum and email entry must match the forum member profile. * Participants must be a member of the "Plebes" or higher membership group (10 qualifying posts or higher). Forum spamming to reach this qualifying level will result in immediate disqualification. (at discretion of www.unrv.com administrators) * 1 entry per participant. * Entries must be received by Midnight (12 pm or hour 00) Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5 hours: East Coast United States) December 14, 2006 (Wednesday night for the date/calendar challenged ). * Limited to locations that Amazon.com (or affiliated group) can ship prizes to. * Winners will be announced on Saturday, December 16, 2006. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special thanks to ArmorVenue for their generous sponsorship. Armor Venue is a seller of authentic Roman armor and weapon replicas Please feel free to use this thread to discuss the drawing, the prizes, etc.

Hi John, thanks for stopping by, ...and i would like to point out that Armor Venue is sponsoring our Christmas Book Giveaway Competition! thanks and cheers viggen

Many new books are available in december The Eagle and the Wolves ThRome's Saxon Shore: Coastal Defences of Roman Britain AD 250-500 Julia Domna Syrian Empress Spartacus: Film and History Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome Roman Pompeii Roman Women Hannibal: Rome's Greatest Enemy Roman Warfare, 300 B.C. to A.D. 450 The Fall of Jerusalem Spirits of the Dead: Roman Funerary Commemoration in Western Europe Cornelia, Mother of Gracchi Anastaius I: Politics And Empire in the Late Roman World Anastaius I: Politics And Empire in the Late Roman World I also updated the bestselling list for November

@GPM Do you have any evidence of this? Well i dont have any numbers at hand right now, but how many people die on alcohol related accidents on the road vs. smoking while on the road? If you insist i will try to get the academic figures if available online... Yup Ursus, working and smoking breaks is an issue i agree with you. In our company we have dealt with it pretty simple, there is a smoking room and if you want to go for a smoke (go as often as you like) you have to enter your electronic key to get in, that triggers the time stamp and you are officially on a break, once you leave the room you are booked in the system and you are working again. On average a non smoker has to work about 2 hours per week less because of fewer breaks. I feel a fair solution for everyone, if you want to smoke during work, well you pay for it with your time... Dont get me wrong, people that smoke near childrens or light up a cigarette in public next to a non smoker without even bother to ask if he minds i dont have symphaty, but what is a public place? A bar? My dingy on the lake when i fish, my car while i am driving on the road?

I just have one word for the governments of this world "hypocrisy" - they happily take exorbitant sums of tax for tobacco (in austria for example a cigarette would cost a fith if you take tax out) If the government allows to sell that dreck in public then people should be allowed to consume it in public, but as i said hypocrisy... Whats next, the smell of burger is irritating me? Ban all burger outlets, or have one section with neutral smelling burger and one section with traditional smelling? The person next door has a strong body oudeur and stinks, must he go now to a stinking section? Or maybe i am allergic to Gucci perfume, what then? Fast Food kills more people then smoking, alcohol kills more people den smoking, weapons kill more people then smoking, so ? Why is it so difficult to make a smokers only place/pubs/restaurants and leave us alone and you others can all die healthy... ;-)

Another review has been completed for our Roman Books section, thanks to community member Skarr. While this book is by no means an all encompassing reference book on the subject it purports to cover namely "Life, Death and Entertainment in the Roman Empire", it is perhaps a useful introduction to a student who is interested in Rome. To quote the blurb on the back, this book "gives those who have a general interest in Roman antiquity a starting point informed by the latest developments in scholarship for understanding the extraordinary range of Roman society..." ...read the full review of Life, Death and Entertainment in the Roman Empire by D.S. Potter

Another review has been completed for our Roman Books section, thanks to community member DecimusCaesar. The late Michael Grant was one of the greatest Roman scholars of the last century. He published several books on the ancient world on subjects as diverse as

When i read the headline i thought a spambot striked again lol ....Happy birthday and many more to come...

Very interesting review ...now we need the author to drop by and tell us if Andrew`s hunch war correct... cheers viggen

I read some of his chapters, but he wrote about something he saw 160 years ago.. So you are saying the american way of life has not evolved since then? I think it is the opposite, because of false patriotism were borders redrawn in Europe all the time... cheers viggen

Hehe, this isn`t so much about sci-fi, but about what challenges historians and archaeologists will face in the future... cheers viggen

This is very hypothetical but nevertheless could lead to an interesting discussion... If you had asked a Roman in 7 AD what will the world be in 2006 he would most probably said "the world will be ruled by Romans" then just a few hundred years later... gone... Now what will the world look like in 4006? Imagine a "new" Dark Age will come, how will archaeologists assess (and misinterpret) the 20th century? Thanks to endless stacks of books, digital archives etc.. Work might be easier then for scholars, or maybe not (we don`t know if in 4006, people will understand how to use a MP3 file, maybe because it is so backward, or maybe because it is so advanced)... so, hows life for an archaeologist in 4006? cheers viggen

I don`t have a favourite, but please dont let Chelsea win again the championship, i do not hate more then artificially built up teams with no soul but just money...

happy birthday!

LOL, funny for europeans to hear democrats called liberals, here democrats would be on the very far right of the political spectrum.. ;-) p.s. Once in a while change is always a good thing, if one party stays too long in power corruption takes over... p.p.s Yeah Arnie go go go, ol`Austrian, show the Yankees how to run a state

Doesnt it say on the Dollar note, "In God we trust?" btw. the patriotic enthusiasm of US citizens always amazes me, and is also something very strange (almost fundamentalist in a sense to me), i mean i pay tax to the state the state in return provides basic services - end of story... why sing, cheer wave flags? It`s a deal, i give - i take no reason to get all romantic, but thats just my opinion of course...

Another review has been completed for our Roman Books section, thanks to community member Andrew Dalby. When you

The Contributer List has been updated today! If you think we missed some of your contributions feel free to contact me, so we can fix it.

Another review has been completed for our Roman Books section, thanks to community member Ursus. D.G. Kousoulas inveigles the line between history and historical fiction in his The Life and Times of Constantine The Great. Kousoulas declares in his introduction that he shall take a different approach to history:

speaking of ISP, my line just got upgraded from 2048/256 to 3072/384 and that for 5 bucks less per month