Lanista

You flatter me, Mr G. ;-)

It really is - last time I spoke to him, he said that he could extend the series to nine books, he had it all mapped out, this is such a shame Cheers Russ

Just kidding, man. I really enjoyed enjoyed Jim's books too - he also did loads of re-enactment training as research! Cheers Russ

I have never heard of these books. What exactly are they about? As I mentioned in my first post about these books they are about gladiators. The main figure become gladiator by some mischance and they are very well researched and well written. Unfortunately the homepage of the author where he advertised this series no longer exists. I think it just must have been down - http://www.gladiatorsoftheempire.com/ Cheers Russ

Second best, Medusa, surely? *lol*

The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie - its up there with Eagle in the Snow

I'm not sure about that in the context they use it in the movie at least. It's more like a US Marines "hoo-yah" thing, isn't it? Or a calm exhortation before battle. Or a not so calm one in battle. It's cool anyway, and if I knew the Latin, I'd probably add it to my mid-life crisis tattoo that I'm getting in January.

In 50AD? I stand to be corrected by the scholars (clearly, I'm not none of them), but I thought at that time the Roman army wasn't comprised of citizen militia but rather soldiers who fought for pay in service of Rome (or maybe their general d'jour) - ergo, professionals - as in they did it for a living, full time? But in any event, I think that the Roman army at that time was probably more "professional" and better organised than the Phocian rear-guard at Thermopylae. I can't see the auxiliaries or legionaries getting caught out like the Phoicans, but there we are. Cheers Russ

The Thebans doubled their attack at the "place of honour" where the Spartiates would have been placed. Once they'd been overwhelmed, that was it - the Spartan's "allies" pretty much hated them at this time anyway, so they weren't going to stick around to defend what had become their overlords. Cheers Russ

I'm a big Spartan fan, but my two pence is this. If there were equal amounts of soldiers (IE - 6000 Romans), I reckon that the fellas that were tasked with guarding the "back door" wouldn't have been caught short like the Phocians were (I think it was the Phocians, I'm not googing it or anything). If this had been legionaries or auxiliaries guarding the goat path, then I imagine they'd have put up really stiff resistance, resulting in a kind of mini-Thermopolae, which in turn would have sapped morale from the Persians. I'm not saying that they wouldn't have won in the end, but I reckon that the overall professionalism of the Roman Army would have paid dividends here. If there had been 6000 Spartiates, the war probably would have ended there and then, and history would be different. But there weren't and it wasn't. But these are always fascinating discourses, I love them. Cheers Russ

Hi all - got this email and am sharing.... ---------------------------- Next week,starting on Weds 24th at 9pm on More 4 we are showing a seven week season of Ancient World films. The series starts with a new docmentary about the neglected culture of Alexandria. As part of the documentary we will be exploring the life of the wonderful pagan philosopher Hypatia, who met a terrible end when she was lynched for her beliefs in the city. All in all this is sixteen hours of in-depth analysis of antiquity, with new material from the wonderfully redeveloped Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. We have timed the season to help all students with revision so do please spread the word to your colleagues and friends - and enjoy! Perhaps also check out our JACT/Friends of the Classics initiative to get the classics back into state schools and onto the curriculum - which we launched last night with Boris Johnson at City Hall. And you might be interested in a new series 'Banishing Eve' on Sunday 21st and 28th, 1.30pm on BBC Radio 4, which looks at the contested role of women in the early church. Fascinating stuff! All the very best BH http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-anc...-bettany-hughes www.bettanyhughes.com www.bettanyhughes.co.uk

Thanks so much, Ingsoc, you're star! Cheers Russ

it was early and I have a hangover...

If Carthago delando est = Carthage must be destroyed, would Dacia delando est = "Dacia must be destroyed"? I'm not sure that that's correct, can someone advise please? Cheers Russ

I'm in the midst of the Gladiator right now. Great reading as always!

Its a drum I beat often, but when you come to a Roman History forum, I suppose it goes with the territory. I'm pretty sure the Romans will come out of it well, given that Marshall enjoys battering the Scots as much as the next Englishman. Shutting them behind Hadrian's Wall in "Doomsday" was classic, so I wouldn't get your hopes up for a Braveheart-esque movie where we discover that the secret of Roman success for the next few hundred years is all down to the fact that they listened to Pictish lore. Or something.

I can't wait for this show - I have to own the DVD box set (I wrote to Starz on Twitter and they confirmed that the DVD will be out at the close of the first season and it'll be stuffed full of extras. I think a second series has also been commissioned which is brilliant news too. I saw Andy Whitfield (no relation sadly!) in a movie called "Gabriel" which is a kind of Prophesy-esque Fallen Angels flick and he was brilliant in it. Spartacus isn't going to be a critical success, but I reckon it'll be a hit show for the reasons that Ursus describes above. I'm so excited about "Spartacus" - can't wait to see it. Cheers Russ

Seeing this thread surface again -I remebered that there is a film about Augustus http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340529/ I've got it, its pretty good as it goes. Well, its pretty good on the "Lanista-Ratio" anyway.

@Jason - *lol* That's wicked, man!

A Dangerous Man - Steven Seagal (proving that fat blokes can be hard too)

Atilla with Gerard Butler and Powers Boothe. Some people hate it, but I enjoyed it - even if he did look like he belonged in Whitesnake circa 1987

The mini-series was actually based on a novel called "The Antagonists" - I'm not sure it claims to have been based on Josephus at all (but that'll be in the credits I'm sure). The novel was largely from the Roman POV, and the physical conflict between the jews on the mountain and the Romans was replayed metaphorically between Silva and a Jewish woman (which is in the mini-series I think).

Marshall has suffered at the hands of test audiences before. His brilliant "The Descent" had a really downbeat ending, but American test audiences hated it. So they changed the ending allowing one of the protagonists to live. I think the same thing happened with "The Last Samurai" where the test audiences couldn't accept the fact that Tom Cruise bought the farm in the end. For a film that is all about metaphorically falling on your sword, this revised ending totally fudged the theme (for me anyway). Same with the Butterfly Effect - the guy was supposed to die in the end, but again…test audiences didn't want Aston Kutcher to die so the film was changed. The fact that test audiences are reacting badly to the movie could mean that it'll be great. Or it could mean that its really bad, but judging on his work so far, Marshall doesn't do really bad, so I reckon this film may well turn out the be wicked. I'll go and see it and hope they do a directors cut with the downbeat ending that Marshall probably filmed in the first place (they all die and the hero doesn't return to the Pict tribe to hook up with the girl).

You can't have "The Warriors" without the Baseball Furies. That's just wrong.

This is a madhouse!