lothia

Ave Civitas, I am in the process of the final editing of a novel I am writing. I wish to be as historically accurate as I can in my descriptions, the events, and the people in the book. Because of this, I have painted myself into a corner. Roman roads. I know that the roads were often given the name it benefactor, so we have this guy and the Via that guy. I have a listing and maps of all the major viae in Italy and in Britain. What I don't have are good maps of the rest of the Empire with named roads. I have in my personal library: Roman Roads of Europe by Sitwell The Roads of the Romans by Staccioli Atlas of the Roman World by Cornell and Matthews. Some show great maps with detailed roads (of Italy and Britain). None give names for roads in the Pratorian Praefects anywhere else. I have searched the internet, but it seems that if you don't know the name of the road, you have a difficult time searching for it. For instance; Via Egnatia. I have a general map of where it ran and I found a great article on-line that speaks of its construction and layout. But, since I don't have the other roads' names, I cannot search for them. Can someone point me to a listing of those roads so I can search them out. Thanks me.

Salve Titus, I visited the linked site you gave. Thank you very much. That was very good information you provided about Buridava. Were those tombs pre-Roman cremations? I wish, when I was in Romania, I would have had a better idea of where my characters would go. I could have taken the train to many of those places. In your reply you said that the original Dacian inhabitants had vanished by the early 2nd century. Are you certain about that date? Trajan did not cross at Drobeta until that time. What would have made the original Dacian population vanish so quickly? I sure hope you are mistaken because I have the Appuli inhabitants around Apulum still speaking their native language. If you are correct I will have to do some rewriting. Thanks again for the link and the information. Haveo, Lothia

Ave Civitas, It is evident by how I screwed this posting up that I have no idea what I am doing. Faustus, I have read THE UNCONQUERED SUN, it is a great book. If I am not mistaken though most of his wife's time in the wilds were still south of the Danube, but north of the Illyrian Alps. I do remember Aurelian's journey into Dacia, his meeting with the town elders and his conclusion that Dacia was no longer defensible. I enjoy books like that. I enjoy books where it is evident that the author did his research and I cringe when I am reading a book that I thought the author did his homework then find that he didn't. I have been struggling with this book for three years now. I refuse to "Make things up" If I write that the land there has red dirt, you can believe that either I have seen the dirt or have seen a picture of the dirt. I am, however, almost done and am finishing up some details. I traveled up along the Alt from where Buridava was and then north to Sibiu, but haven't seen Apulum nor any sign of Buridava. So, in the book where I describe the pass they march through, I have seen it. Thanks for your recommendation. You are right. It is a very well researched book. Salveo, Lothia.

Salve Lothia May I suggest a historical novel by an author who seemed to have a good grasp of the situation in Dacia and describes the abandoned state of that wilderness? From it you might be able to extrapolate to Apulum and Buridava. I think a good place to start your journey and to spark your interest would be Ralph Dulin

Ave Civitas, I am a writer of historical fiction, and so I speculate on what could have caused things to happen. Since no one wrote down what Atilla thought, all we can to is speculate. Here are my thoughts on why Atilla quit on his advance into Italy. In Atilla's invasion of Italia the Huns comprised only a small portion (percentage) of the troops available to Atilla. The Huns were settled in the plains between the Danube and Transylvania. In his invasion of Gaul where Aetius cleaned his clock for him, there are few mentions of Hunnic cavalry, where in earlier encounters with the Huns the horsemen played a major enough role to be mentioned. Where Pope Leo met Atilla was pretty far north in Italy. I asked myself this, If the Pope were in Rome and Atilla were sweeping down into Italy, how did Leo get so far north so quickly? All I could think of was that Atilla wasn't moving very fast. The Pope wasn't notified by short-wave, so some messenger had to ride down, the Pope had to decide what to to, then the Pope had to go north to meet the Hun. Furthermore, Summer was well on its was and disease must have been dogging his army too. He was in a hurry to get out of Italy and back north before winter closed the Julian Alps. Lastly, If he had continued south Aetius, who gave him a whipping in Gaul would have crossed the Alps and he would have been trapped in the boot of Italy. If he knew anything of history he knew that Radagaisus got caught and whipped and killed too, by another good Roman general (Stilicho). He surely did not want that happening again. By 450 most of Rome's forces were mounted (mounted cavalry and mounted infantry) where Atilla's weren't anymore. The Romans could (and did in Gaul) outmaneuver him. Just something to think about. Lothia

Ave Civitas, I am new here. I am in the process of writing a historical fiction that takes place during AD 335. As part of my story the protagonist travels through Apulum and Buridava (One in Transylvania, the other in Wallachia). I realize that Dacia had been abandoned as a province for a hundred years by then, but I would guess that there was still a lot of Roman activity in those two cities. I would also assume that the cities did not turn to dust with Aurelian's abandonment of that land What remained? I assume that the cities were not shunned (as radioactive) so people still lived in them, though the Danubian Goths may not have used them as much as the Romans did (no apartment dwellers) but surely the forum and the basilicas were still in use. Can anyone help here? Mea gratis