Primus Pilus

Alesia... one of the most brilliant warfare engineering achievements in world history

I'm a vigilante... No wait... I'm batman :

XVII, XVIII and XVIIII Arminius and the Teutoburg Wald

I was informed by the 5th place winner that he is happy just to get selected and will let the 6th place winner select ahead of him.

Its not my answer, its just the facts.

Yeah I edited... sorry about that

I believe it was Senatorial decree and had little to do with the Plebes. Consider that Quintus Caecilius Metellus received the honor of Numidicus despite the fact that he botched the war with Jugurtha and was replaced by Marius. The senate hated Marius (though not quite so much just yet) but Metellus was one of their own. Just as an example of Roman naming... Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (Major) Praenomen - Nomen - Cognomen - Also cognomen, but referred to as Agnomen since the 4th century AD to avoid confusion - Major is modern terminology like elder and younger to help differentiate famous relations Generally, only women were officially known as Major and Minor. Two daughters born in the same household would both carry the name of the father. In the house of Julius, both girls would be named Julia. Hence Major and Minor to help set them apart. If more than two, they might be numbered... Julia Primus, Julia Secundas, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, etc.

Thanks for being up on revelations prophecy Moon

I'm afraid I must join the sentiment of Ursus?

It's a short month, so hopefully we get some action. I've read Conquest of Gaul several times already so you'll have at least one participant in the discussion

And someday... though I highly doubt it... I would love to have enough forum members that we could actually qualify for a volume discount to buy books for those members. That would certainly make the book club an even better idea. Oh well, perhaps some day in the future.

A solid idea... since you thought of it.. why not start us off with a book for March?

keep in mind that the deification attempt of Tiberius was met with complete horror by both the Senate and the people, and thus was not pursued. In order for Nero's 'disdainful' deification of Claudius to go through, it still would've need the general support of the population. Its certainly difficult to determine the exact circumstances.

Sure, I understand and largely agree with your assessment of Graves, Skenderbeg. (Though I still find them highly entertaining) However, my main point is that I think Claudius did an excellent job as the head of the Principate (except for his selection of heir). Cruelty was nothing unusual, especially as it related to the struggles of the aristocracy. Its difficult to say for sure, but the people seemingly liked him. At least he was deified without too much complaint.

Congrats so far... and please I encourage people to share your thoughts about the stories and the judgement we made. Did we pick the right winners or not? (As I said it was very very difficult) Can we help our writers with their style (without being overly critical of course) What did we really like about certain entries? etc.

Indeed. Claudius is villified, likely for his physical 'deformities' but mostly for his social behavior. The power of his wives and freedmen certainly were a revulsion to the aristocracy. What was also completely hated by them was the inclusion of Gauls into the Senate and the doling out of citizenship to 'Romanized' Celts. I contend that this act alone (the conquest of Britain notwithstanding) was among the single smartest imperial moves of the early principate. Even though Gaul and Hispania were largely Romanized already, this ensured that the Celtic aristocracy would keep their 'tribes' in check and also offer hope to other provincials that the benefits of citizenship were not far off.

I am in the middle of writing 'Claudius' for the Roman history section of the site and I couldn't help but stop to think about it. Claudius perhaps more than all others is villified by the ancient sources, but yet generally loved by modern sources. Anyone care to discuss why?

Excellent review Ursus. You are both inspiring and embarrassing me for not putting my nose to the grindstone and writing some more

Spartacus, please keep in mind you ask that very same type of thing of posters in your threads. If you want people to play ball, you should do the same And to all.. remember Forum guideline #1 Be Courteous

Finally! We are pleased to announce the winners... and share the entries from the first UNRV.com creative writing contest. Sorry for the delay to all who participated, but it took some time to try to get it right. In all we received 13 entries, which is a few more than what I originally expected. Hopefully we can expect this to grow in small increments in the future. First, before we announce the winners, we want to express how difficult the judging was. While all 3 judges felt fairly strongly about the top 3 (even though we had to argue a bit about their final order), we really had to struggle to pick 4 through 6. Unfortunately, a few have to go without a prize because that's how contests go, but I'm not being patronizing when I say we really enjoyed the different styles and stories. Each entry offered its own unique creativity and picking the supposed best from a wonderful lot was actually a bit of a burden. You all really made an excellent first impression and I hope you are willing to continue writing in the future. As my wife said to me, 'It takes guts to share your creativity with the world,' and everyone must be applauded for their efforts. So Thank You to everyone who submitted an entry to our little contest! (We also received a few comments about various restrictions on length and subject matter. Future contests will likely be much more 'free form' in length and subject matter (still about ancient Rome though) so submissions can match the strengths of the authors.) And now for the winners! First Place Changing Times by Lee Dixon was a close contest between 1st, 2nd and 3rd but this one received 2 first place votes. It was a bit long on length, and a bit on the 'scandalous' side lol, but two judges liked it too much. Second Place Conall, by Jugurtha Third Place 'Memorial Inscription', by Spurius We really liked the tie in to actual archaeology. Fourth Place A poem by Matt Gallivan There were two poems entered and we were impressed by both. The style really fits an 'ancient' theme and this one stood out. Fifth Place Favonius by Jason (Favonius Cornelius) Sixth Place Publius by Matthew Deliso All entries in submission date/time order: Submission #2 Roman Diary, Submission #3 Centurion, Submission #6 The Darker Patrols, Submission #8 A Poem, Submission #9 Celtic Blossom, Submission #10 Future of Briton, Submission #11 Roman Short Story Winners will be contacted by email, but will need to post here to claim the prizes for public awareness. Winners will also need to reply by email with address info and repeat their claim for verification purposes. Congratulations and thank you to all! And thanks again to Rafael Scott, Bill Altimari and forum member Spartacus for various prize donations. The rest are courteous of UNRV.

Except, of course, for those few in the late Republic who turned that boy upside down. Then again, by that point it was only a shell of what it was originally intended to be.

The Romans never quite stretched all the way to the Crimean (Tauris) for any long, extended stay. It was home to various Scythian/Sarmatian tribes.

Realize Skenderbeg, that while the average person may not have even heard of men like Clodius or Cato, they are very much 'famous' in the eyes of people who have studied Roman history (Your forum namesake provides a perfect example Clodius )

This is actually a fairly tough one. I consider many characters to be famous... Anyway, I was always partial to M. Furius Camillus, the legendary conqueror of Veii and savior of Rome. Unfortunately, his story, as told by Livy, is very much filled with the stuff of legend and myth. Still an important character in early Roman history.

Welcome Skenderbeg, glad to have you around? Shall I assume you found us through one of the many RTW forums?