Viggen

Hello Grondhammer, welcome to the forum, glad you finally took the plunge

In that great soap opera we call the Julio-Claudians, a nomination for Best Supporting Actor must surely go to Germanicus. But for what? Some people reading this won't have even heard of him. I must be honest, I'd never really developed an interest. He's there in the background, performing admirably and ultimately failing to survive the murderous politics of the Roman Empire. Even the author of the book himself tells us that Germanicus has gone out of fashion in the modern day... ...read the full review of Germanicus by Lindsay Powell

...seems like a fantastic project! A new program to digitize the Roman coins in the ANS Collection will begin later this year, the Online Coins of the Roman Empire(OCRE) project, Co-directed by Dr. Andrew Meadows of the ANS and Professor Roger Bagnall of ISAW and managed by Dr. Gilles Bransbourg. OCRE is a ground breaking initiative to create an online reference and cataloguing tool for coinage of the Roman Empire. Through its use of a Linked Open Data model, OCRE will provide full descriptions and illustrations of the 45,000 different types of Roman Imperial Coinage, as well as providing a union catalogue of specimens held in major collections. ...more at CoinWeek

northern turkey?

Archaeologists are to start in 2015 excavations under Sofia's Sveta Nedelia Square in search of 3 government buildings of the ancient city of Serdica. Field research is set to begin next spring, according to the Bulgarian capital's Deputy Mayor, Todor Chobanov as quoted by the Monitor daily. Chobanov, citing hypotheses among archeologists, explained that the buildings below the square, which lies in the center of Sofia, might have been the residences of city governors or Serdica's mint... ....read more at News Network

The volunteer excavation programme at Vindolanda Roman Fort, on the Northern border of the Roman Empire has a certain degree of excitement this year as the archaeologists are hopeful the dig will yield more examples of the famous Vindolanda tablets first discovered at the site back in 1973. These new deep excavations below the 3rd century stone remains of the Roman town are examining crucial parts of the transition of Vindolanda from an early outpost into a Hadrian’s Wall construction fort as the excavators drop down into the very heart of the settlement in this period, looking for the headquarters building, the nerve centre of the Roman army... ...more at Past Horizons

Agricola and Germania (Penguin Classics) by Tacitus Book Review by Centurion-Macro The Agricola and The Germania are the shortest works of Tacitus, and in my view his best. Because they were designed to be orated, they are faced fast paced, active and a perfect text for the time constrained classicist. For someone like myself who often finds mainstay classical texts long winded and bland, the short sentences and timely paragraphs make a happy change. They certainly have defects such as historical inaccuracy and astounding lack of detail that can be frustrating at times, especially when you are interested in the parts he glosses over. However, they still rank as two of my favorite pieces of classical literature, and Tacitus my favorite historian... ...read the full review of Agricola and Germania (Penguin Classics) by Tacitus

Dutch archaeologists have recently completed the rescue excavation of a unique treasure hoard dating to the beginning of the 5th century AD, from a field in Limburg. The hoard partially consists of a combination of gold coins and pieces of silver tableware which had been deliberately cut up (hacksilver). The complete hoard was shown at a press conference on Friday, April 25 in Limburg Museum (Venlo) where archaeologists highlighted the significance of the find as a key piece of evidence for our understanding of the final phase of Roman rule in the Netherlands, around the year AD 411. Placing the treasure into perspective within the political and military chaos at the time, why was the precious and richly decorated Roman silver tableware cut into pieces and buried? ...more at Past Horizons

I was over the weekend on a day trip to Cividale del Friuli. Was in for a surprise to see Julius Caesar still appreciated with fresh flowers at his statue, (apparently he founded the city)

A large set of monuments from I-V century AD has been discovered in the ancient city of Akrai, located in the south-eastern part of Sicily, by a team of scientists from the Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw led by Dr. Roksana Chowaniec, working with the Office of Conservation in Syracuse (Soprintendenza dei Beni Culturali e Ambientali di Siracusa). "Particularly noteworthy are the monuments that testify to the numerous cultural and commercial relations of the city. Examples are numerous coins, minted at the mints throughout the Roman Empire, or a fragment of an oil lamp with a handle in the shape of acanthus leaves, the likes of which can be found in the region of Campania-Latium, where production developed in the 2nd and 3rd quarter of the first century AD, and the accumulation of finds can be observed in the regions of Vesuvian cities such as Pompeii"... ...more at Science Poland

cool news, thanks for the info!

An international team of scientists conducting an analysis of the genetic diversity and cranial measurements of 10 African and Asian human populations conclude that anatomically modern humans may have dispersed out of Africa earlier than previously thought, and in more than one stage: initially into Asia by taking a southern route through Arabia as much as 130,000 years ago; and later into Northern Eurasia on a more northerly route 50,000 years ago.... ...more at Popular Archaeology

informative pictures one can lear from are always appreciated ..on a side note; what on earth does that quote mean?

Set during the high times of the Roman Empire, the story of "Dragon Blade" revolves around the Roman military leader lost in China and meets a Chinese commander, who will be played by Chan. ...screams quality #sarcasm

Who says only modern-day pro wrestling is fake? Researchers have deciphered a Greek document that shows an ancient wrestling match was fixed. The document, which has a date on it that corresponds to the year A.D. 267, is a contract between two teenagers who had reached the final bout of a prestigious series of games in Egypt.... more at LiveScience

...good to hear its working now... surprised to see Nero plaque surviving to be honest, is this along a road for everyone to see?

British researchers have discovered ruins that prove a city crucial to the Roman Empire, bringing food to the ancient capital itself, was “much bigger” than previously thought. The find has been hailed as “crucial” in understanding the area around the first century AD. Experts from the universities of Southampton and Cambridge have discovered a new section of the boundary wall of the ancient Roman port of Ostia, a key city in the Empire. “Without Ostia,” one expert said, “Rome might not have been as big... ...more at the Independent

can you try now? cheers viggen

...it has now no price tag on amazon, can a e-book be sold out?

...germany is marxist? I fear you dont know much about germany... apart from that, knowing my father and myself (both keen fishermen) we would shit in our pants seeing a phalanx marching towards us, facing them only with our fishing rods...

Archaeologists digging up the remains of an ancient Roman theatre discovered under the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence have found a "vomitorium" or corridor used by as many as 15,000 theatre goers in the first and second centuries A.D., city officials say. The latest find at the site in the centre of the Tuscan capital includes the original painted stone pavements along which spectators used to walk from the outer circle of the theatre to the orchestra pit, which already had been excavated during previous digs... ...more at ANSA

A Roman mosaic that laid unknown in a field in a Wiltshire village for almost 1,700 years before its discovery stunned locals 60 years ago, is finally being displayed. The Downton Mosaic was uncovered by surprised builders when new houses were built in the village near Salisbury in the early 1950s. The spot where it was found is believed to be part of a fourth century Roman villa and is now where the gardens of the homes in Moot Close are still... ...more at Western Daily Press