Gaius Paulinus Maximus

Your best bet would be to go to the passport office direct, tell them your predicament and they'll sort it out. You may be sat around waiting all day long but you will leave with your new passport by the end of the day. A similar thing happened to a friend of mine once, after many phone calls which achieved nothing he eventually went to the passport office and got his passport the same day, just in time because he was going on holiday the very next day! Good luck WW, hope you get it sorted.

Especially any clips that involve the scrumptious Colin Firth! (Yes - I do have my girly moments!) Seriously - I see its from a book by Manfredi. I have never read any of this author's works, GPM. Would you recommend the book if not the film? I personally enjoyed the book but it's by no means a classic, don't expect much historical fact because if that's what your after then you'll be disappointed but if you want an easy going Roman themed adventure story then it's worth a read. The same goes for most of Manfredi's work, loosely based on fact but good entertaining rip roaring stories.

Yes, I saw some clips of it online somewhere. Aside from the visual appeal, it seems to be pure junk from a historical perspective. I don't suppose you've got a link for the clips you saw have you PP, I wouldn't mind taking a peek to see just how bad it is, I really hope it's not that bad because I thought the book was pretty good.

Nice review Divi Filius, Sounds like a good book, it should be interesting to see the story of the rise of Octavian from a different perspective, I'll put this book on my list.

I just realized those are pottery shards we've been collecting. I've got to pay closer attention! Hey, here's another, similar Roman mystery game from the BBC: Death in Rome I solved the mystery with only 10 minutes to spare! Mr. Monk, where are you? -- Nephele Once all the clues had been collected it became pretty obvious how he died, I'm starting to feel like Gordianus the Finder after all these mysteries I've been solving lately!

In the summer time there's nothing better after a hard days work than to sit in a beer garden drinking a pint of extra cold lager, there's no better thirst quencher anywhere, the only trouble is....... one leads to two.....two leads to three........ three leads to four........ and before I know it I find myself banished to the spare room!!

Hahahaha! I had to smile, when I saw the name of that mule! But it's appropriate, isn't it? As one of the meanings of "pertinax" is "stubborn"! Flavia Gemina, did you have a hand in designing these games? I thought I saw your hand in naming the mule, as a lot of the names in your books describe the attributes of the characters. I'm registered as "Nephele" for the game, and I've already completed the first four parts and received my mysterious scraps of scroll. I presume they'll have something to do with the final game next week. -- Nephele Pertinax the mule was a grumpy looking old thing wasn't he? I hope our Pertinax is a bit more cheerful in real life! I've just received my four scraps of scroll as well, mmmmm I wonder what the final mystery will be???

And why should you! You've obviously put your heart and soul into this book and you're writing about something that you're passionate about, so why the hell should you write about something that dosn't really do it for you. Like you say, Ancient history and Rome in particular is pretty hot at the moment so now's the right time to release something like this so get your finger out and get this damn book finished!!!

Tu vero felix, Agricola, non vitae tantum claritate, sed etiam opportunitate mortis. Thou wast indeed fortunate, Agricola, not only in the splendour of thy life, but in the opportune moment of thy death. Tac, Agr, 45

I've had a good look around for any mention of that particular death custom and haven't found anything that resembles it at all, so as far as I can tell it must be all HBO's doing, but why they needed to include that scene is beyond me, it served no purpose at all apart from getting a big pair of titties on the screen, don't get me wrong I'm all for Big titties but there's a time and a place for them and Caesar's death bed isn't one of them!

I'm still on the fence about the second series, I've enjoyed the first two episodes but the jury's still out for me. I agree with Pertinax about the lack of stage presence now that Ciaran Hinds has gone, it just makes you realise how well he played the role of Caesar don't you think? On a good point, I've enjoyed the performances of James Purefoy as Mark Antony so far, he's brash, arrogant, selfish with a cocky sarcastic side to him, all the traits that I'd imagine Mark Antony would have possessed. I'm not sure where the Jewish plot is going??, I'm looking forward to seeing Agrippa and also what the future hold for the new Son of Hades - Lucius Vorenus??

In 1964 Rosario Soraci published a study of conubia between Romans and Germans from the fourth to the sixth century A.D. 1 Although the title of the work might suggest that its concern was to be with such marriages throughout the period, in fact its aim was much more restricted. Beginning with a law issued by Valentinian 1 in 370 or 373 to the magister equitum Theodosius (C.Th. 3.14.1), which blamed on pain of death all marriages between Roman provincials and barbarae or gentiles, Soraci, after assessing the context and intent of the law, proceeded to discuss its influence upon the practices of the Germanic kingdoms which succeeded the Roman Empire in the West. Take a look at this link it gives a decent size list of Romans who married barbarians. http://www.uwo.ca/english/florilegium/vol2/blockley.html

I found this piece in "The Private Life of the Romans" by H.W. Johnston It's a pretty detailed description of the pre funeral process but alas no mention of big boobies

Livia's nurse having a miscarriage?? Chop! chop! chop! You've got to be ruthless Augusta or this book will never be finished, if you're not then it will be a tale of epic proportions and it'll probably weigh about two stone!!

The weather in the UK's been pretty strange too for the last couple of weeks, April was gloriously hot with record breaking temperatures then come June when you expect the weather to keep getting better, the heavens opened and it's done nothing but rain for the past two weeks, I'm not talking just your average rain but big heavy downpours, torrential rain, floods everywhere. It's been raining this morning but as I look out of my window now, the sun is shining and it looks like it's going to be a nice day..... But for how long I wonder?

Welcome to UNRV Carthago, Given the choice of being pushed around dressed as a ragged old tramp or as a swaggering legionary dressed in full armour, I think I'd rather be the one doing the pushing as well! Oh yes I also like cold, cold beer too!

I did that. That's when it disappeared. Obviously, I am not the only one. It's a problem and should be fixed. I used to get that problem a lot when the site was first updated but Moon sorted it out for me and I haven't had it since (touch wood) Whenever you click 'back' when you have the error occurred problem you are always left with a blank screen, I've had it many a time, it's pretty frustrating. Smart arse!

Welcome to UNRV Vecingetorix, Do you by any chance frequent the oldest brewery in the US, I know I would! I live in Leeds, England, the home of the Tetleys Brewery, I've been many a time, they do a great tour and you get a free sample of beer along the way as well, there's no better tasting beer than free beer!

Thanks very much Flavia, it's greatly appreciated.

D'uh! And there it is -- right in front of my inquisitive, slightly-sunburnt-from-a-lunchbreak-spent-at-the-beach nose! Ah well, I'm signed up now! -- Nephele Hehe your not on your own Nephele I've been here for well over a year now and only realised there was a newsletter about thirty seconds ago Anyway I'm also signed up as well now!

The pronunciation of Latin has been some what of a problem for me, I can honestly say that I don't think I've actually ever heard anyone speak Latin before (I can just see some of you re-coiling in horror now) well not personally anyway, I've heard the odd sentence or phrase before in the movies etc but I've never actually sat in a classroom or in the vicinity of anyone speaking Latin, which is a great shame. I've attempted to learn Latin a few times but it's pretty difficult when you've never even heard it spoken before. I've bought a few books on the subject which have helped a little and so has this thread, it great to have the opinions of such educated and scholarly people as yourselves explain and discuss the different pronunciations of Latin. I just wish I'd have had the option of taking Latin when I was at school so that I could have participated in this fascinating discussion.

The mention of snow brings GPM back to the land of the living, I really must slow down with the un-watered wine, it knocks me out.... or was it Caldrail who knocked me out after I accidentally mistook his arse for that of our gracious hostess and gave it a gentle squeeze, the last thing I remember is thinking "Wow! She must really work out..... but a razor wouldn't go a miss!"........ Then everything went black! Anyway, did somebody say it was snowing..........

In Vegetius' De Re Militeri book he mocks the use of slashing weapons and says that the Romans looked down on those that used them and saw them as an easy conquest.

I suppose I'm going to have to go out and buy this book seen as though you all speak so highly of it. By the way, welcome to the site Caroline (aka Flavia Gemina) and and Philip (aka Maty) it's good to have you on board!

I didn't doubt it! I was looking for your books today in Luguvallum , but the frontier town bookshop didn't have any in stock Waterstones usually have the whole series in stock.