Gaius Paulinus Maximus

Just been checking out your photo's Lacertus, thereis some excellent pictures on there. I especially like the one from the January file, the one with the panda bear.. very nice

Oh yes i forgot about that little gem, it says at the begining of the show that " it's based on the accounts of Roman writers" and " it has been written with the advice of modern historians" ........who???? I know Crassus used it in the war against Sparticus and also Augustus was supposed to have used but Caesar.... i dont think so.

How very very disappointing! The only likeness in Pertwee's portrayal of Caesar was the little bald patch at the back of his head, the casting was poor to say the least, Karl johnson as Marcellus( whatever possessed them???), the mad scotchman from Eastenders as Marc Anthony, i couldn't work out wether he was a psychopath on the brink or just some clueless idiot, all he seemed to do was just stare menacingly. The portrayal of Pompey was quite good though, i think they did a pretty fair account of his character during the civil war. the storyline was pretty sparse to say the least, you cant expect to cover the story of caesar fom his conquest of Gaul through the civil war and up to his assassination in one hour and expect to do it justice, its just not possible! The words 'low' and 'budget' spring to mind.

I know you said you prefered the 'lighter' reading of modern authors but i strongly suggest you read Suetonius' Twelve Caesars you will not be dissapointed, it was the first of the 'classics' that i read and i was suprised just how easy going it was, it was a real page turner, Suetonius is a fantastic storyteller. Aside from that anything by Michael Grant is a winner, the man is one of the greatest historians of our time and has wrote so many books on all aspects Rome that you cant fail to find something that really interests you.

Mmmmm sounds tasty

OH MY GOD! Are you feeling alright Cato???

Yes , 14th /15th April 2007. I will be in York on the previous evening of the 13th if anyone cares to join me. For those as yet undecided , dont forget to look at this small album of images: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...um&album=20 Bugger!! I'm sorry to say but i cant make on that week-end due to the missus celebrating her birthday on the 15th, which is a shame as i was looking forward to the meet, but not to worry, hopefully it will be a big success and there will be many more to come. :sadwalk:

Ahhhh yes now i see

Great map, nice work!

Do we have a definate date yet??

Yes i agree, the blitzkrieg theory is a very good theory and was probably Caesar's biggest problem, he was just too impatient to wait until everything was in order before charging off to conquer the world although sometimes he had no choice in the matter due to uprisings and rebellions that needed dealing with immediately, but i was just saying that maybe sometimes Caesar hyped up the problems with supplies just to enhance his reputation as a great general and leader of men, if he can get half starved legionaries victoriously through a battle then he must be pretty special or so he would have the people of Rome believe. Even if it was just during the gallic wars it's got to be good propaganda..... right??

Try this site it has lots of info about the history, uses, different positions etc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/swastika

I think some of it could be put down to propaganda and over exaggeration. If people were led to believe that even though Caesar and his army were half starved and under strength they could still take on and defeat any enemy they come up against then they must be super human and Caesar must be such an amazing general. If by emphasizing this in his commentries sent back to Rome then surely this can do his career no harm at all, can it?

I fear that this is just too big a job for one man alone ( even for the Lord of Brookfordshiresexingham!) so i am willing to offer my services for this very important investigation. I would give the specimens my upmost attention, in a purely professional manner

Had he not been killed, seemingly by a fluke, in Sparta, who knows what may have happened. I think he was actually killed in Argos, he was knocked out by a tile thrown by an old woman who was watching the battle from her roof, and while unconcious he was killed by the enemy soldiers, or so the story goes?

An excellent review FC and a very well timed one too as i've just returned home from work with my new copy of Goldsworthy's Caesar, i've been planning to buy it for some time but was unsure wether to because i've already read Christian Meir's Caesar and didnt want to waste good money on something that was going to just repeat what i've already read but i thought what the hell i'll give it a go and after reading your review it seems i've certainly made the right choice, now i cant wait to start it

I've also read that that another more likely place for Atlantis was the Azores Islands, these a a group of islands belonging to Portugal, some people believed that that the islands are the mountain tops of the sunken continent of Atlantis The truth of the matter is that it was probably just a story made up by Plato, but what a story it's been, it's definately stood the test of time, and kept people thinking...... what if??

I read of an experiment carried out by archaeologists in Iraq (or at least one country in the Middle East) several years ago, in which they attempted to figure out how the Babylonians could build a system to keep the gardens with plenty of water and how to have this water pushed up a few storeys in different directions. I don't know if they suceeded but it just goes to show how much work that went into the building of the structures and how ingenious the ancients could be in their engineering skills. Here's a site that gives quite a bit of information on the gardens and how they were watered http://www.unmuseum.org/hangg.htm

I too hope that M V Agrippa will have a part to play in the next series of 'Rome', along with Gaius Maecenas. Without the help and advice of these men Octavian would probably never have accomplished all that he did, Agrippa and Maecenas plyed a vital role in turning Octavian into Augustus.

Go on then why not! ivyaangnlfeer Thanks

Thanks again NH i'm sure she'll be delighted with her new name Should be quite interesting to see her reaction when i start calling her Helvia Serrana and she wont have a clue what i'm talking about

It's going to be very interesting to see how they portray Caesar, will it be as the all conquering can do no wrong hero or as the single minded ruthless politician, hopefully it will be a bit of both, lets just hope the get the right mix.

The emperor Nero was responsible for one of the most magnificent palaces ever built, he already owned a palace of enormous size streching from the Palatine to the Esquiline which he called 'The Passageway' and when this burned down during the great fire of 64 which some say Nero was responsible for, he re-built an even bigger and better palace The following details taken from Suetonius' Twelve Caesars will give some idea of it's size and magnificence Now that must have been a sight to see

Good idea GO I think my good lady wife deserves a roman name too hehbyftaalanleezrriae or with out the middle name ehyrrnslaaafe cheers

I tend to agree with Augusta, i know they only had an hour to cram everything in but i think they could have spent just a few minutes to give a description of Nero accession to the throne instead of just diving in half way through his reign, i also think at times it was almost comical like the scene where Tigellinus comes in to tell him about the start of a rebellion and Nero pops up with an orange in his mouth says something nonsensical then just mince's out of the room, i know the guy was mad but i think they took it a bit too far. On a plus point there were some great scenes aswell like the castration and the kicking to death of Poppaea although the actual reason for this was debatable, these scenes were quite shocking and really got the point across of how disturbed Nero really was. Another thing i found a bit strange was why did they begin with Nero and then next week go back in time 100 years to Caesar??? Surely it would have made sense to start at the beginning and proceed from there, surely Caesar would have been a better crowd puller, i'm pretty sure the viewing figures would have been higher because lets face it everyone has heard of Caesar where as in Nero's case he's not as well known. All in all though it wasn't a bad effort and i'll definately watch the rest of the series, and probably moan about it aswell