Primus Pilus

Well Hannibal had little to do with the lack of a Punic navy really. The Carthaginian defeat in the First War led to the shift in naval power. I wonder though, had Carthage maintained a stronger fleet, would they have issued more supplies to his army in Italy? Or would they haveacted exactly as they had done anyway. I think the politics of the situation caused more problems than the lack of navy. Though both probably go hand in hand.. with naval strength, perhaps they don't worry about Hannibal putting them into an untenable situation.

Who were preceded by the Marx brother dynasty, and of course Charlius Chaplinus. He never said much, but the people loved him.

Oh please don't say Curly Joe, lol

I guess they mean he was from the geographic area that later made up Scotland? Otherwise one has to question the expertise of these so called archaeologists. Its probably just the reporter screwing it up.

I think what detractors of Iggulden are saying is... if he wants to make something up completely for entertainment purposes... don't use the name Gaius Julius Caesar, make somebody up instead. In that way people get their fiction and people who are interested in accuracy can't complain. Yes, many authors take liberty with historical accuracy, however, some ignore it completely.

Umm, guys, nice of you to help and all, but I'd sure appreciate it if you'd link to stuff within this site. Emperor List Consuls Notable Republican Leaders

I know its been discussed a little bit, but it must've been buried in another topic. I'll repeat the main point of what I said before though... I read about half of Gates of Rome and couldn't take it any more. The book is a mockery of known historical accuracy. While highly entertaining as a fictional novel (young Caesar and his compatriat are sort of swashbuckling heroes), it should not have used the well known history of Caesar and the time period as subject matter. Had Mr. Iggulden used a fictional Roman as the subject (main character) I probably would've found the book enjoyable.

Hannibal was defeated at Zama in Africa, but escaped and eventually was sent into exile. He served under the Seleucid King, Antiochus III in the Syrian War but only played a limited role. He commited suicide rather than give the Romans the satisfaction of capturing him. The Second Punic War

This is the last day for people to send in their entries! Once they are all in, please give us some time to read them, re-read them, try to be fair and impartial judges, compare notes... etc. (I just realized that this could actually really upset some people... oops! LOL, well, we hope not anyway, the whole idea was really just meant in fun.) In the meantime, I will get some photos of the prizes up over the weekend. (I hope )

From what I can tell, Duress is only about 50 miles away from Vlore, so the battle of Dyrrachium was indeed quite close. Perhaps not as close as you thought, but still in the general area. Hell ancient Epirus and modern Albania aren't that big

I understand your concern. Something doesn't feel right about it. Personally I tend to trust dealers who have their own stores and websites, and aren't just ebay sellers. At least it shows a history in the antiquity or numismatic field prior to the massive exposure of ebay. Unfortunately I can't give you any more help than that. You could ask other dealers for opinions, but most will refrain from publically discrediting another dealer, unless they are a known scam artist of course.

I've seen shields, swords and even standard symbols like the bull (for Caesarian Legions), but I don't recall ever seeing an actual number on a ring. Then again, I am only a casual observer of antiquity jewelry, so I can't offer a definate answer.

Vegetius is an excellent place to start.

And the eternal flame was extinguished. I can't remember the exact significance of it though.

Well I'm deep into Macedonia now, so it seems I have to keep going. (Other games I've played I went the route of Carthage and Gaul first) I just wanted to try a bit different strategy. Its been several difficult campaign seasons, but I've got the defenders worn down enough that they should start falling into line soon.

Even as an atheist (or agnostic depending on the labels one slaps on me ) I must agree with Marcus Regulus that the gospel evidence, and later writings of historians such as Tacitus, cannot be completely disregarded. If we disregard Tacitus' or Josephus' account of Jesus because they weren't there, then we must discount everything they wrote that happened prior to their own lives. One can argue that many writings of Roman historians is tainted by severe propoganda or obtained with poor source material. Still we also know that they had access to writings and other evidence which simply doesn't exist anymore. We know that Livy's account of early Rome is terribly clouded in myth, but we also understand that somewhere within his words is the basis for truth. I understand that there is no 'primary source'' evidence for Jesus, including the suspicious absence of records from Pilate, and everything else was word of mouth or provided by gospels written years after the fact. Can't we though look at the gospels in the same way that we look at other Roman 'historians'? That they are, at the very least, formed from a semi-true story that grew into a legend? In the anti-historical Jesus world, Paul is often 'blamed' for inventing the Jesus icon to fit into his son of man religious theory, but even if that assumption by atheists is correct, the chance of him taking the story from an existing man who had been crucified for anti-establishment behavior, rather than inspiring complete fiction, is equally plausible. All in my opinion of course.

Let us get through this one first

Woops, sorry Pompeius, I missed this earlier. It sort of depends on the reponse to this one. Perhaps we'll try some different things too. By the way, a little more than a day left...

It's been a while since I played but I dusted off my RTW over the weekend, after downloading the latest patch and Rome Total Realism versions. The new extremely large map is great, and I love unified Rome. Feels much more 'Roman' to me, despite the fact that the end game civil war must be sort of anti-climactic. Anyway, I've been playing as Rome on VH/VH and have been having a hell of a time really getting going. The conquest of Italy seemed easy enough, but now maintaining decent border armies and launching additional campaigns (I've targeted Greece and Macedonia first) is killer on the treasury. Any financial strategy tips?

Is there anything quite so simple as being hurled form the Tarpeian rock? That poor vestal virgin (Tarpeia), who let the Sabines in through the gates of Rome for what they 'bore on their arms'. Instead of the golden bracelets they were wearing, they crushed her to death with their shields. To forever mark her greed and betrayal of Rome, she was buried on the cliff giving it the name that became forever associated with execution.

Excerpts from Pliny's letters can be read here... Christian Persecution. Along with my own (I hope not too badly biased) account of that subject. Pliny was governor o Bithynia et Pontus at that time, btw.

I think its important to note that the 'conquest of Germania' that I was referring to with Tiberius and Drusus were those long before Germanicus' campaigns. Germania, was essentially conquered, but it had not yet been stabilized. The inability of Varus to secure the province does not attest to the successes of Tiberius, Drusus and others in the initial campaigns. In my opinion the campaigns of Germanicus were nothing more than 1) Punitive expeditions in an attempt to find the Varus legions and 2) A way to keep the legions that had just revolted (after the death of Augustus) busy. While Germanicus may have had visions of permanent conquest, I think Tiberius clearly wanted to stick to the Augustan principal of maintaining the status quo of the borders. The Varus disaster affected Tiberius the emperor as much as it did Augustus. For my own take of that period... Conquest of Germania

Yes I was pointing out that Tiberius was very able. If not for his strange 'retirement' perhaps the conquests in Germania would've been more complete.

As were Tiberius and Drusus really.

Ok well something must be screwy with our settings. We'll sic Moon on it... well I guess he'll add it to his ever growing list of stuff to do.