Ursus

You're right .... they could have eventually mobilized some more legions and tried again. Why didn't they, except for some revenge expeditions by Tiberius and Germanicus? Probably because they weren't worth it. The Germans were less developed economically and culturally than the Celts, and arguably more dangerous. This made the economics of conquest very unprofitable. The Germans were at an agricultural level barely above scratching the soil with a stick, and the further the Romans pentrated into Germanic territory, the less likely it was the legions could live off any conquered settements. It made more sense in the long run to simply fortify the borders and deal with the bands of raiders that managed to penetrate. Because the Germans were not in any sense united, they fought amongst each other more than against the Romans (within ten years of the Varus disaster, Arminius was assassinated by his own people and the German tribes were reverting to civil war). Augustus could never have foreseen that 300 years later these groups would have amalgamated into supertribes thanks to the Hunnish migration.

The East was richer. More plunder. Plus they had to avenge the recent defeat of Crassus and the lost of the legion eagles to the Parthians.

The main duty of the Navy was to dissaude pirates from harrassing Roman commerce in the Mediterannean.

I am currently reading Maty's book on the Julio-Claudian dynasty ("The Sons of Caesar") and he does a good job explaining the tangled web of relations therein.

Am currently reading: "Working IX to V" a rather light hearted study of various ancient professions in the ancient world. It started out fun, but the author's cynical prose is starting to wear thin, and I've become bogged down in the middle. I may do a review on it if I manage to finish it.

The Unknown Lady By Aleksandr Blok The restaurants on hot spring evenings Lie under a dense and savage air. Foul drafts and hoots from drunken revelers Contaminate the thoroughfare. Above the dusty lanes of suburbia Above the tedium of bungalows A pretzel sign begilds a bakery And children screech fortissimo. And every evening beyond the barriers Gentlemen of practiced wit and charm Go strolling beside the drainage ditches- Derby tilted, lady at the arm. The squeak of oarlocks comes over the lake water A woman

Training and Quality Assurance for a rapidly growing company. I think I need to start writing that historical novel on the side like everyone else around here.

Augustus himself was amazed how much Claudius seemed liked a buffoon in everyday conversation - but once you gave Claudius something serious to do, he showed decent character and ability. I do wonder though - and I'm no psychologist, mind you - but a lot of intelligent people simply have a preference for developing intellectual skills to personal skills. The modern lingo for such people are "geeks." At what point does this personality preference cease to be a personality preference and become a clinical disorder? I suppose some might say that point comes when you start lecturing the Senate on the value of snacks ....

It looks like our sorceress cast a spell on you, Cornelius Sulla.

This book earns my endearing recommendation. http://www.unrv.com/book-review/roman-life.php

Thanks for the article. The language is fine. There may be a few typos here and there, but ones I make every day as a native speaker.

You may be interested in a review of the book from one of my esteemed colleagues: http://www.unrv.com/book-review/justinians-flea.php

Well, that is interesting. If the people in Brittania were more Germanic than Celtic, it helps explain why the Anglo-Saxon hordes were able to assimilate the post-Roman population so quickly; in a way the people were simply returning to their Germanic roots. I'm coming to the conclusion that the great mass of Iron Age tribes surrounding Rome are best left as one nebulous mass of peoples who didn't take the pains to write their own culture down for posterity. It is probably better to simply divy them up into groups of semi-civilized groups and completely uncivilized groups (using literacy, urbanism and development of government as benchmarks for civilization). I'm sure that would offend a lot of Celtophiles and Germanophiles, but there you go.

British lit for the most part, everything from Shakespeare's plays to Orwell. My all time favorite novel though has to be "Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoevsky. Not that I agreed with the writer's Slavophile beliefs, but as far as penetration of psychology and spirituality its one of the best books out there. Nikolai Gogol is barely known in the West but has written some of the most droll novels around. And Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons" is a true classic as well.

Just finished "Etruscan Civilization: a Cultural History." Plenty of great photos and illustrations of Etruscan artifacts. But I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. It's very archaeology centered, and I was looking for something a little more in the way of a general narrative. The author also takes great pains to try to prove that in Etruria women were the equal of men, and I sometimes think the point is overly belabored and exaggerated. My archaeologically-minded colleague Pantagathus may enjoy it, though.

I couldn't get through the first three chapters of that. Boring is right. But then I'm not a big fan of American literature. British for the most part, and some Russian. And of course the Ancient Greeks and Romans.

Delphi was the most popular in the Greco-Roman world, but there were other oracles. One example: At Dodona at Greece there was an oracle to Zeus. The method of divination was listening to the rustling of oak leaves!

I read it in my early teens, but forget most of it. It wasn't a very memorable read in my opinion (maybe it loses something in translation) Sorry I can't help, other than to say, I hope you're not tilting at windmills with this project...

UNRV Triumvir Primus Pilus returns to his brilliant historical outline, offering just the perfect balance between big picture and detail. The latest entry is on the leadership style and legion reforms of Septimius Severus. Read the article here: http://www.unrv.com/index.php?p=634

I'm going to call you "21" as "21st century Roman" is a bit too much to type. Welcome to the forum, 21

I admit when I saw the title used by the journalist, I rolled my eyes. For all the reasons that Ludovicus stated.

"I am greatly surprised I have not heard more about this work. It is one of those studies I describe as intelligent but not pretentious. By that I mean it is rooted in sound scholarship (the author being a history professor at the University of Amsterdam), but written clearly enough that one need not be a diehard Romanophile or even an university graduate to appreciate its erudition. It is a fast enough read - I finished it in half a day - and yet every page is crammed full with useful info. The subject matter is itself a survey of one of the most infamous phenomenon of ancient history, a blood soaked pastime that has captivated many who otherwise might not have any use for Roman culture. Given all this I find it strange, and yet also quite exhilarating, that I am the first writer of UNRV to grace my comrades with word of this worthy tome."... http://www.unrv.com/book-review/the-gladiators.php

Happy Birthday!