spittle

Has anyone read any of these biographies concerning many of the more well known Emperors by Pat Southen, Barbara Levick and Alaric Watson (among others) I am particularly interested in the Julio-Claudians as I intend to finish Caesar by Goldworthy then progress to Augustus, then Tiberius, then Caligula, then Claudius (I may read Claudius befiore Caligula as I have more sympathy for him) and then Nero. Opinions welcome.

So how did a 'new man' such as Cicero have the full three whilst certain members of the aristo's (like Mark Antony) have only two? How did a family recieve/earn/buy a third name?

What evidence is there that Tiberius was suffocated with a pillow to finish him off? If Caligula and Machro were the only ones in the room with him, who told?

We should add a century to our calendars and have BC (Before Caesar)

TIBERIUS Germanicus (husband of Augustus's grand-daughter, Aggripina) Drusus (Son of Tiberius) Nero (Son of Germanicus) Gemellus (Son of Drusus, Grandson of Tiberius) CALIGULA (Great grandson of Augustus and first rate lunatic) Although LIVIA takes the blame for many of the heirs premature deaths according to THE CAESARS the general of Tiberius's praetorian guards, SEJANUS, was responsible for eliminating Drusus and Nero. He was also attempting to do away with the remaining possibilities of caligula and Claudius (according to the drama) then marrying thre widow of Drusus making himself the step-father of Gemellus and regent in the event of Tiberius death. From the little I know of Germanicus I feel he could have been a very popular Emperor, had he taken the purple. Being heir to the empire came with a very short life expectency during these times!

If you guys have not yet got THE CAESARS (Granada TV 1968) then you should order it NOW! It is concerned with all of the postvAugustus intrigue. I have not seen I,CLAUDIUS but will buy it soon. Richard2 was starved to death in the castle of my local town, Phil. Pontefract.

What does BP mean?

After reading the Wikepedia link that PP was good enough to post I am left with a few questions as yet unanswered in Phil's contribution. "Julia may have starved herself on learning of the death of her last remaining son" So Augustus left only granddaughters. What happened to the male offspring? I know that one was murdered either just before of just after Augustus died, as Phil already explained, but what of the others? How did they meet their ends in early manhood? Natural causes or as the result of some conspiracy? On another point, its amazing how many Kings, Queens or Emperors have had their rules completely overshadowed by the question of the succession. Henry8 springs to mind as another ruler who's quest for a continued dynasty lead to a very different future for his country and, by extension, the world.

3 minutes 13 seconds of preview and its made my day!!! I CANNOT WAIT FOR JANUARY 2007 ! Its essentially Forest Gump in Romes late republic. A fictional skeleton and characters inserted in actual (and history making) events.

What happened to the children of Augustus? He seems to have outlived them and left only grandchildren after his death.

I prefer simply son. I hate it when people realize I am my sons step father and say "So he's only your step son then?" It belittles our commitment and attachment. What happened between Claudius and Messalina? Divorce or death?

Quote "Still, they did very good considering the budget and time they had to do the series. Plus you have to admit, it is probably the most accurate depiction of Ancient Rome ever attempted by a documentary series or Film for that matter". More accurate than HBO's Rome, D.Caesar? On the subject of these docudrama's: There are three remaining. Next weeks episode depicts the power struggle that followed the death of NERO and I remember that another of the episodes concerns itself with Constantine the Great. That leaves one final episode. Does anyone know who's story it regards? 1. NERO 2. CAESAR 3. TIBERIUS GRACCHUS 4. AFTERMATH OF NERO (AD69) 5. CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 6. ??????? I would expect a fall of Rome finishing episode.

Carrara (I'm not sure of the spelling) marble is reputed to be the best and its Italian. I love marble. The huge marble columns in Durham Cathedral have fossils in them! And several different colours and shades of marble are used within this wonderful building.

In the first episode of the BBC Ancient Rome series, NERO, Seneca said something like: "When your Father was Emperor he falsely accused me of adultery and I had to go into exile...." Nero's biological father wasn't an Emperor so I assume he was refering to his mothers husband, and adoptive father, Claudius. Are there any other possibilities to this dialogue? Would Seneca have regarded Claudius has Nero's father?

According to the show: "Carthage was demonlished stone by stone and salt was ploughed into the earth to prevent anything being grown there again. The survivors were sold in to slavery and it was as though Carthage had never existed" Hasn't this been exposed as hyperbole? Wasn't there reports of life in Carthage dating from much later than this time? ALSO The GRACCHI. Not Tiberius. Gaius played a part as important as Tiberius. Thats why history remembers the two brothers together under the joint name THE GRACCHI. It was a sin to leave Gaius without a single mention.

Philology. I read a chapter in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language concerning the origin of modern languages. It stated that virtually every language from Sanskrit in the east to Latin and Old German in the west all derived from a common ancestor called Proto Indo-European that was spoken on the Russian steppe around 4000BC. I said virtually every language because there are some 'isolates' such as Euskera (the language of the Basques) that are unrelated to any modern languages and are, quite frankly, a mystery. Finnish, Hungarian and Korean are thought to share a common ancestor. Which is very wierd! My favourite is Tockarian. The most eastern of the Indo-European (not Indo-Iranian sub group) languages.

I never know when to use 'has' or 'as'.

Chemist is misleading. Upto very recent times herbalist's or Apothacary's were the experts and they mixed a knowledge of horticulture with a knowledge of the substances best application.

A series of essays. It says on one of the Abebooks listings that 'Before his death in 1989 Sir Ronold Syme gave permission for the publication of his Roman Papers. They are the culmination of his lifes work...' A few of the really fanatical forum members speak very highly of Syme.

After checking Abebooks.com I know that volumes 3,4,5,6 and 7 are available (at considerable cost) and a volume simply entitled Roman Papers. My question is this: Is Roman Papers just volume one? Has anyone seen the full set? Opinions valued on this expensive set of books.

I watched a UK History Channel documentary that asserted Hissarlik in N-W Turkey (Not North East) was certainly the actual location. However the Helen of Troy story was propoganda or 'spin'. The area was of massive strategic importance due to being between the Mycanean (? Agamemnon et al) and the Persian superpowers. Whoever controlled this piece of realestate would monopolise access to vast deposits of a certain metal (Bronze, Tin ?) The details are forgotten and I'm sure many will kindly correct them (Mycanean, Persian, Tin, Bronze) but the concept of using the personal touch (Helen) to 'spin' justification for what was essentially a land grab is virtually the same as HUMAN RIGHTS being the modern excuse to invade for OIL and, I'm sure someone will be able to name specifics, RELIGION being a medieval 'cause' for GOLD.

Whats your 'mother tongue', Viggen? The 'RULES' of English (such as 'I before E except after C) regularly contradict themselves and this leads to mistakes. Spellcheckers and mobile phone text message predictors have made me complacent with my substandard writing abilities. Attempting to participate on forums, such as this, have made me acknowledge that I am only half literate but by joining in I practise my writing skills and feel that improvements occur.

The opium available in Roman markets of the time was actually Egyptian. Egyptians were by far the most knowledgable chemists of the ancient world.

Thanks. It helps.

They are both extremely helpful and I thank you both. However I think that PP's colour coded 'tree' was the more informative of the two.