Primus Pilus

Yeah, no thanks... I think I'd rather eat the crap off the McDonald's dollar menu than starve to death on wheat thins and carrot sticks.

If USA and England swapped goalkeepers I think England might be unbeatable. Ouch, I do feel bad for that guy.

I really need to give this show another chance as it seems to be getting fairly rave reviews from all quarters. (The problem is that I really just want Crassus to kick his ass) I do just about all my online DVD shopping with DVD Planet, which often has better prices than Amazon. PP, how much of the series did you see already? I think it gets better as it progresses. It certainly gets more shocking. (And I thought I was already pretty shock-proof.) The characters are very interesting, which probably is what makes the series. -- Nephele I only watched the first episode.

I really need to give this show another chance as it seems to be getting fairly rave reviews from all quarters. (The problem is that I really just want Crassus to kick his ass)

I believe it was an irritated bowel.

Right. We all know that you chose Aegyptus because it is the only province that has beer. That Sakara beer is good, but combined with the african heat... I'll have you know that my service is dedicated to the greater glory of the Princeps. (Of course, such dedication requires a healthy sampling of the local products provided in abundance by Caesar's personal province.)

I'd like to take on the fictional Manlius Cassius Nicolaus in Aegytpus... as it allows for creative license

Can you explain a bit about what sort of actions these might be?

What happened to Romania this tournament? As I recall they had a fairly good team, though rather old already 4 years ago... perhaps it's the dreaded "rebuilding" issue? (Forgive me though. I try to pay attention, but my knowledge of international football is rather limited)

We're just supporting our Nigerian brothers as American oil companies have been using their seas and rivers as a dumping ground for years. Solidarity! (but as an FYI, it was the negligence of a Transocean crew on BP owned rig that caused the accident. Its kind of like if you rented out your house and the tenants smashed the place up, set and fire to the garden fence and didn't pay their council tax - all that would be your responsibility. Same situation with Deepwater Horizon - though no one wants to report that because it doesn't make as good a story). Cheers Russ I thought it was George Bush's fault. Shows what I know.

I thought this was the most popular sport in the world? I guess the English are too busy dumping oil into the Gulf of Mexico to respond.

England doesn't have a chance in Group C against the upstart Yanks. That's right, prepare to be shamed by the complete indifference of the American public. I blow my nose at you, you silly English kniggits! I'm going with Spain for the championship because since nobody in Spain has a job, they can bus the entire population to South Africa and make it seem like a home crowd.

I'd recommend reading Frank Tenney's "Roman Census Statistics from 225 to 28 BC" which is available on JSTOR. In summary, Livy reports the Roman census of 234 BC to be 230,714 (18 years before Cannae). While there is debate over counting procedures and validity, the assumption is that this represents the male population including freedmen and those without voting rights. In 209 BC (7 years after Cannae) the population is reported as 137,108. Clearly, the reduction is a reflection of major losses in the 2nd Punic War including those at Cannae. The sources (Polybius, Livy, Appian and Plutarch, etc.) provide a wide range of potential casualties at Cannae ranging from about 50,000 to 70,000 men. While some modern historians discount these numbers as superfluous, let's assume ancient source accuracy. If Rome lost somewhere in the proximity of 100,000 men in various battles of the 2nd Punic War (Trebia, Tresimene, Cannae, etc.) then it's easy to make the relationship between the census of 234 and 209. However, as Tenney explains in his article, the custom was not to count legionaries stationed in provinces. There was a significant number of men in Hispania, Cisalpine Gaul, Sicilia and Sardinia that could have numbered as many as 50,000 men. It also doesn't account for cities that had defected to or were under the control of Hannibal at the time (ie Capua). Tenney also suggests that this could have accounted for another 50,000 men. What I'm getting at is that we simply can't be sure how the population figures match up to casualties and other census taking factors. What we can make a reasonable assumption about though are the losses at Cannae vs. the population of Rome in 234 BC. Assuming the average of ancient source material on the losses (which would be roughly 60,000 men) the losses at Cannae would have made up about 25% of the male population of Rome prior to the start of the war. Assuming the worst case that the change in population from 230k to 137k from 234 to 209 BC was from a direct loss of life and not from other factors, then the percentage of loss would have equaled roughly 39% of the 234 BC population. Hope that helps.

Just two... we've thought about an update, but can only really find a few minor tweaks. We figure it's not worth a full reproduction. We'd rather do some other types of maps... the growth of the Republic in Italy, Spread of Christianity, Pre-Roman Greece, etc. but I'm not much of a graphic artist.

I can see that the 'price' as far as I am concerned... Don't worry, that's just English with a bit of Austrian flavor.

There are some excellent books covering many aspects of the Roman economy, here's a good sample to get you started. The first two represent base economic studies: Money and Government in the Roman Empire by Richard Duncan-Jones Structure and Scale in the Roman Economy also by Richard Duncan-Jones The title alone should be a giveaway... it focuses heavily on money flow and the use of currency in the ancient world: Banking and Business in the Roman World by Jean Andreau Obviously this focuses on coinage, but it also provides an excellent introductory overview of the Roman economy. Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700 by Kenneth Harl.

After a bit of a delay, we are finally getting started on the meat of the work for upgrading our forum, blog and gallery software to the most current versions. While we hope there are no issues, it's possible that users will experience occasional glitches, lost posts, etc. The process will likely take two weeks. Thanks for your patience!

Pillars of the Earth by Caldwell also excellent despite its age. Actually by Ken Follet, but also of my favorite historical fictions of all time. Unfortunately, his relatively recent follow-up "World Without End" just didn't kind reach the same standard. Yes, it was well done. I believe it's one of those under the radar kind of books. It really should be more well known. Ironically though, I've never looked to read any of Gillian Bradshaw's other titles.

Melvadius already provided several of these (or similar) links... but these may help as well Roman Clothing & Armament Guide

Haha, I knew that this Cypriot wine would be an insufficient offering to the gods! It would have been a much better offering to me, though. Damn, I should have proactively announced an acceptance of bribes. (Wouldn't have worked of course, since Viggen has the hat with all the names in it, but I suppose you could send him something. I hear Austrians love Kangaroos.)

...Brutus, Caesar and... Caligula. Institutional heritage

Thanks.. I thought you might have something... I'll pass this along.

Was never a big Dio fan, but I always appreciated his pioneering contribution to metal. Even in his mid-60's he was still out there recording and performing.

I just received an email request regarding the origin of the surname Pannone. I was asked if there is any relationship between the name and the province of Pannonia. My initial response was that Pannone seems to be unmistakeably Italian in origin, but on second thought, I'm hardly an expert on geneology or name origins. I figured it wouldn't hurt to put the question out to others who may or may not have more insight... So, any insight?

Modern Fiction Pompei by Robert Harris Modern Non-Fiction I agree that Holland's Rubicon is definitely worthy of the praise it generally receives. Christian Meier's "Caesar" is probably the first serious treatise of ancient Rome that I ever read and it still holds a very special place in my memory. Ancient source While each source has its particular value or importance, I'm partial to Appian of Alexandria probably because of core subject matter (Later Republic and Civil War era).