Viggen
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Book Review by Thomas A. Timmes Following his widely acclaimed hit series, Marius’ Mules, noted author and historian S.J.A. Turney continues to research and write highly popular novels. With over twenty successful books to his credit, Praetorian: The Great Game is book one of a brand-new series. Book two, Praetorian: The Price of Treason, was released in December 2015, and book three should follow shortly. Praetorian: The Great Game is not a book for the faint of heart! But if you enjoy reading non-stop action and breathtaking suspense, this book is for you. Written to please Romanophiles and historians alike, each chapter is a masterpiece of imagery, composition, and solid historical research... ...continue to the review of Praetorian: The Great Game by S.J.A. Turney
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Using the world’s largest and most sophisticated x-ray microscope, scientists have read a little deeper into one of the iconic relics of the ancient world: a library of charred scrolls that survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius almost 2000 years ago. Last year, researchers managed to decipher some of the letters on the carbonised papyri. Now, unexpectedly, they reveal in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they have established that the scribes who copied the ancient texts knew the secret of metallic ink. via the Guardian
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Review by Ian Hughes If a member of the public was to be asked the question of when the Roman Empire fell, the usual answer would be centred on events in the fifth century, and some may even give the specific date of 476 – the year when the last emperor in Rome was overthrown. For many scholars this is an unacceptable situation, as they know that the Roman Empire in the East continued into the next millennium, never mind the next century. Part of the reason for this state of affairs is a legacy of the historians of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries. For them the Eastern Roman Empire – now known as the Byzantine Empire – was a degenerate, money-loving, corrupt entity dominated by court intrigue and eunuchs: a far cry from the majesty of Rome in the first century AD. In his new book Byzantine historian Jonathan Harris asks the question of why, if the inhabitants were as lazy, corrupt and inefficient as usually depicted, could their empire have lasted for nearly a thousand years longer than its Western counterpart... ...continue to the review of The Lost World of Byzantium by Jonathan Harris p.s. interview with the author coming soon!
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Review by Ian Hughes If a member of the public was to be asked the question of when the Roman Empire fell, the usual answer would be centred on events in the fifth century, and some may even give the specific date of 476 – the year when the last emperor in Rome was overthrown. For many scholars this is an unacceptable situation, as they know that the Roman Empire in the East continued into the next millennium, never mind the next century. Part of the reason for this state of affairs is a legacy of the historians of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries. For them the Eastern Roman Empire – now known as the Byzantine Empire – was a degenerate, money-loving, corrupt entity dominated by court intrigue and eunuchs: a far cry from the majesty of Rome in the first century AD. In his new book Byzantine historian Jonathan Harris asks the question of why, if the inhabitants were as lazy, corrupt and inefficient as usually depicted, could their empire have lasted for nearly a thousand years longer than its Western counterpart... ...continue to the review of The Lost World of Byzantium by Jonathan Harris p.s. interview with the author coming soon!
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In Apotheon, you play Nikandreos, a soldier on a quest to defeat Zeus when Hera, Queen of Olympus, calls on him to bring down the corrupt pantheon of Greek gods. That's pretty much the same plot as Sony's bloody, boob-heavy God of War franchise, but where the latter might task you with, say, ripping the skull and spinal column out of Hermes, Mortal Kombat-style, and then using it as a flail to beat Aphrodite to death, Apotheon is a more lyrical affair, as elegant as the art that inspired it.
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Ben-Hur remake a.k.a. Fast and Furious A.D. Who is going to watch and who thinks its going to be dissapointing?
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Book Review by Michael Mates The course of Empire often runs like a normal distribution curve, with success and failure measured on the vertical axis, and time, usually a few centuries or so, on the horizontal. The Byzantine Empire, by contrast, looks like a sine wave, a succession of up-and-down roller coaster curves, lasting 1,123 years, from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD to its fall in 1453. (The Byzantines themselves, with some justification as self-described Romans, would claim 1,480 years, from the establishment of the Roman Empire in 27 BC.) Romane’s book examines one of the political-military high points, the period from 959 to 1025, showing how the Empire benefitted from relative stability of rule; protection of core territories; strategic use of tribute; and skilled use of heavy cavalry, combined-arms tactics, siege warfare, stable rule (with only one emperor assassinated during the period), and clever and profitable alliances to ensure survival... ...continue to the review of Byzantium Triumphant: The Military History of the Byzantines 959-1025 by Julian Romane
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Book Review by Michael Mates The course of Empire often runs like a normal distribution curve, with success and failure measured on the vertical axis, and time, usually a few centuries or so, on the horizontal. The Byzantine Empire, by contrast, looks like a sine wave, a succession of up-and-down roller coaster curves, lasting 1,123 years, from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD to its fall in 1453. (The Byzantines themselves, with some justification as self-described Romans, would claim 1,480 years, from the establishment of the Roman Empire in 27 BC.) Romane’s book examines one of the political-military high points, the period from 959 to 1025, showing how the Empire benefitted from relative stability of rule; protection of core territories; strategic use of tribute; and skilled use of heavy cavalry, combined-arms tactics, siege warfare, stable rule (with only one emperor assassinated during the period), and clever and profitable alliances to ensure survival... ...continue to the review of Byzantium Triumphant: The Military History of the Byzantines 959-1025 by Julian Romane
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Yup, its really great to see this kind of posts from guy
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Fragments of an ancient Greek text telling of an invasion of Greece by the Goths during the third century A.D. have been discovered in the Austrian National Library. The text includes a battle fought at the pass of Thermopylae. via Live Science
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Amazing if true! A thousand years after the Vikings braved the icy seas from Greenland to the New World in search of timber and plunder, satellite technology has found intriguing evidence of a long-elusive prize in archaeology — a second Norse settlement in North America, further south than ever known. The new Canadian site, with telltale signs of iron-working, was discovered last summer after infrared images from 400 miles in space showed possible man-made shapes under discolored vegetation. The site is on the southwest coast of Newfoundland, about 300 miles south of L’Anse aux Meadows, the first and so far only confirmed Viking settlement in North America, discovered in 1960. via Ny Times
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In her new book, SPQR, Mary Beard writes about the history of the first millennium of ancient Rome – roughly covering the period of time from Rome’s foundation, on the implausibly precise date of 21 April 753 BCE, to the year 212 CE when the Emperor Caracalla made every free inhabitant of the Roman Empire a full Roman citizen. Yet she chose to begin the book roughly three-quarters of the way into that millennium, with a discussion of the suppression of the Catiline rebellion by Cicero in 63 BCE. Why did she do that? ...continue to the review of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
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Book Review by Alex Johnston In her new book, SPQR, Mary Beard writes about the history of the first millennium of ancient Rome – roughly covering the period of time from Rome’s foundation, on the implausibly precise date of 21 April 753 BCE, to the year 212 CE when the Emperor Caracalla made every free inhabitant of the Roman Empire a full Roman citizen. Yet she chose to begin the book roughly three-quarters of the way into that millennium, with a discussion of the suppression of the Catiline rebellion by Cicero in 63 BCE. Why did she do that? ...continue to the review of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
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...fascinating!!!! About 3200 years ago, two armies clashed at a river crossing near the Baltic Sea. The confrontation can't be found in any history books—the written word didn't become common in these parts for another 2000 years—but this was no skirmish between local clans. Thousands of warriors came together in a brutal struggle, perhaps fought on a single day, using weapons crafted from wood, flint, and bronze, a metal that was then the height of military technology. “If our hypothesis is correct that all of the finds belong to the same event, we're dealing with a conflict of a scale hitherto completely unknown north of the Alps,” says dig co-director Thomas Terberger, an archaeologist at the Lower Saxony State Service for Cultural Heritage in Hannover. “There's nothing to compare it to.” It may even be the earliest direct evidence—with weapons and warriors together—of a battle this size anywhere in the ancient world. via Science Magazine
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....looks like Syrian Forces are busy retaking Palmyra, hopefully archaeologists can get there soon to assess and maybe safe whats left to safe...
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...I dont think engineers are the problem but rather people that think that their "imaginary friend" is more powerful than the other "imaginary friends"...
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i checked, its safe, (cartoon)
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First part in our emperor series on Elagabalus` life Only one emperor has managed to surpass Caligula's reputation for deranged behaviour and homicidal debauchery, and that is the man who takes his name from the god he attempted to impose on Rome – Elagabalus. During his four-year rule, Elagabalus' behaviour alternately outraged and delighted the people of Rome, while behind the scenes the Roman empire was competently governed by his mother and grandmother. It was only when these two women fell out that Elagabalus' short but flamboyant reign was brought to an end... ...continue to the full article on Elagabalus - Origins of a Syrian Emperor
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First part in our emperor series on Elagabalus` life Only one emperor has managed to surpass Caligula's reputation for deranged behaviour and homicidal debauchery, and that is the man who takes his name from the god he attempted to impose on Rome – Elagabalus. During his four-year rule, Elagabalus' behaviour alternately outraged and delighted the people of Rome, while behind the scenes the Roman empire was competently governed by his mother and grandmother. It was only when these two women fell out that Elagabalus' short but flamboyant reign was brought to an end... ...continue to the full article on Elagabalus - Origins of a Syrian Emperor
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Three newly discovered graves—the oldest Muslim graves in France—hint at what life was like in a medieval city whose residents were a mix of Christians from Rome, local indigenous tribes, and Muslims from Africa. A team of French archaeologists describe the three graves in an article in PLoS One, explaining that they were found in an area that was once enclosed by a Roman-style wall from the days when Nimes was a key outpost in Septimania, on the western borders of the Roman Empire. Taken by the Visigoths in the fifth century, the city remained under that tribe's control in a region called Narbonne until the early seventh century. But then things began to change, as the Umayyad Caliphate army worked its way north. via ARSTechnica
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...I assume our audience is well aware of most of them, nevertheless, all of them are worthwhile a trip! Italy has so much history that it's hard to know where to visit when the weekend arrives. Here are six uniquely, fascinating and downright spiffing Roman sites that are well worth a visit. 1. Spartacus' Theatre 2. Ostia Antica 3. Aquilea 4. Villa Oplontis (Nero's massive swimming pool) 5. Villa Romana del Casale 6. Basilica di San Vitale in Ravenna ...via TheLocal.IT
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Well it’s another presidential election year in the good ole US of A! Fun and games; reality TV at its finest! Will the voters choose the Trump card? Will America’s favorite socialist get high Marx on Election Day? Will the Republicans host a broken convention? Uh, sorry – brokered. Or will it simply be politics as unusual? Seems like a particularly appropriate time to revisit Democracy’s Beginning, which is the title of Thomas Mitchell’s excellent book. The book tells how far democracy has come in the last 2,500 years, give or take, from its birthplace in Athens. And it has come a long way indeed! To the modern mind, it’s hard to imagine such primitive practices as... ...continue to the review of Democracy's Beginning: The Athenian Story by Thomas N. Mitchell
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Democracy's Beginning: The Athenian Story Book Review by Alex Johnston Well it’s another presidential election year in the good ole US of A! Fun and games; reality TV at its finest! Will the voters choose the Trump card? Will America’s favorite socialist get high Marx on Election Day? Will the Republicans host a broken convention? Uh, sorry – brokered. Or will it simply be politics as unusual? Seems like a particularly appropriate time to revisit Democracy’s Beginning, which is the title of Thomas Mitchell’s excellent book. The book tells how far democracy has come in the last 2,500 years, give or take, from its birthplace in Athens. And it has come a long way indeed! To the modern mind, it’s hard to imagine such primitive practices as... continue to the review of Democracy's Beginning: The Athenian Story by Thomas N. Mitchell
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People in the ancient world did not always believe in the gods, a new study suggests – casting doubt on the idea that religious belief is a “default setting” for humans. Despite being written out of large parts of history, atheists thrived in the polytheistic societies of the ancient world – raising considerable doubts about whether humans really are “wired” for religion – a new study suggests. The claim is the central proposition of a new book by Tim Whitmarsh, Professor of Greek Culture and a Fellow of St John’s College, University of Cambridge. In it, he suggests that atheism – which is typically seen as a modern phenomenon – was not just common in ancient Greece and pre-Christian Rome, but probably flourished more in those societies than in most civilisations since. via Cambridge
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Designing Identity: The Power of Textiles in Late Antiquity continues through May 22 at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (15 East 84th Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan). Some of the most incredible garments you will ever see from Late Antiquity!!! more at hyperallergic.com