Lanista

There's an amazing novel about this subject, you know...

Because the Romans never faced a competently led phalanx "in its prime." The same way as people ask who was better, Marciano or Ali. Busby's babes or Ferguson's treble winners. Superman vs the Hulk. I don't think it's a pressing debate though. It's just a bit of fun.

To address the inflexibility of the phalanx in this context: I think (and I stand to be corrected) that the Macedonian formations at the time of DogsHead (cos I can't spell Cyconcephale or however it goes) and the other later battles had lengthened the the sarissa to ludicrous extremes. Admitedly, it wasn't ludicrous when facing other phalanxes because size mattered. But I think that Philip and Alexander's formations were much different - the old combined arms approach and the "hammer and anvil." In later times, the phalanx evolved into the primary weapon, something it wasn't in earlier days. I'm preaching to the converted here - but the Alexandrian phalanx held the enemy in place whilst the cavalry administered coup de grace. That wasn't the case at the time of Cyconcephalae. If Alex had gone west instead of east, we'd all be speaking Anglo-Hellenic or something. For Romanophiles, it hurts to admit, but I can't see an early legion matching Alexander and his chums in anyway shape or form. It's the best debate in Ancient History, this. And a never ending one - there must be a thousand posts on this board alone about it *lol* Cheers Russ

slowly...but it'll get there in the end.

Hey, Medusa - welcome to the UNRV! You'll have a great time here, I'm sure. Hope all is well with you and yours. Cheers Russ x

Macdonald Raises The Eagle Of The Ninth With Jamie Bell & Channing Tatum -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many of you may remember The Eagle of the Ninth from recommended reading lists as a young teenager / your parent's bookshelf, so it's good news today that Kevin Macdonald is set to turn the classic 1954 novel into a film, starring Jamie Bell and (probably; he's in talks) Channing Tatum. The story is set in Roman Britain, where a young man called Marcus Aquila (Tatum, possibly) ventures north of Hadrian's Wall to discover the whereabouts of the Ninth Legion, which his father commanded, which vanished 15 years before*. With him is a young Celtic slave, Esca (Bell), rescued from a gladiatorial arena and helping him in his quest, as he disguises himself as an occultist to travel north of the Wall. The film of course rests on the same subject matter as Neil Marshall's horror-y approach to the story of the Ninth in Centurion, which is currently shooting: one of the odder subject overlaps in recent Hollywood history. The script's been written by Jeremy Brock, who also worked with Macdonald on The Last King of Scotland, with production due to start in August. Apparently Hungary will stand in for Roman England, but Scotland will be playing itself. We're not sure what that says about Scotland. In the meantime, Macdonald's State of Play opens on April 24. *When Rosemary Sutcliffe wrote the novel, historical thinking was that the Ninth really had vanished oop north, but since it has emerged that they were probably wiped out in either Palestine or somewhere near the Caspian Sea, fighting the Parthian Empire. So there. (source: empireonline)

this is pointless. obviously England are going to win the world cup - it says so in every paper. Not only will we win, but nothing less than winning each game 5-0 will be acceptable to the press now that we've won five games in a row. expect quarter final penalty shoot-out agony.

I've just read Douglas Jackson's "Caligula" novel which was a bright, entertaining novel. Very pacy and engaging, I'd recommend it throughly. Cheers Russ

I think that best we can hope for on Sulla is a BBC drama-documentary. He's a fascinating character, but not enough people know about him to make a movie profitbale I reckon.

Thanks Decimus C :-) Cheers Russ

Interesting stuff. http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/05...ield/index.html

I think he means (and I could be wrong) in novel terms. Some novels based on history have complex family trees, where as others - like Pressfield's Gates of Fire and the Afghan Campain just have entries about the character. So as opposed to listing Leonidas and all his family, it would have an entry for "Leonidas, King of Sparta who led the defence at the Hot Gates" and "Gorgo, wife of Leonidas" and so forth. But I could be wrong about that, but that's what it felt like to me). Cheers Russ

I don't think it is out of print - Amazon has copies for sure. Also, the sequel "Lady of the Light" is still available. Not standing the test of time is debatable: TLB came out in 1994 and the sequel in 2007. So I reckon that any publisher willing to release a continuation that long after the first would disagree. I know that Donna is working on the third book right now. I can't praise Gillespie's work highly enough. Both books have been successful critically and commercially - which is rare for novels with this subject matter. I believe that Donna Gillespie will be recongised as the Mary Renault for our times. ---As for books recently read, I finished Paul Kearney's "The Ten Thousand" - a historical fantasy based on Xenophon's march. Great stuff and due its fantasy setting it doesn't have to answer any accuracy questions. That said, I think that it was fairly true to actual events. I really enjoyed it. Cheers Russ

Banderas turned down the role in Gladiator, I think. What Decimus Caesar says is true, I reckon. Most (not all) movies go to please the lowest common denominator even the worthy ones. Think Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai" - he was supposed to fall on his metaphoric sword in the end, but the preview audience went mad that Tom got killed, so now we have a rubbish end to a brilliant movie - how much better would that film have been with the original ending. So, I don't think a test audience from Akron or Delaware would sit still for a film laced with funny accents. It's almost accepted that films that depict a classical setting are played with English accents...in fact, if I recal there was a minor controversy when Bruce Willis was rumoured to be up for the Leonidas role in one of the "300" iterations beacuse people feared that he would not put on a faux English speaking voice. Kind of like John Wayne saying that "that man was the son of god" I guess. Its daft, but there you are. Cheers Russ

Hi guys - first of all, thanks so much for your kind words. It really means a lot because this forum is reknowed as being one of the "go to" places for information on Ancient Rome. So any comments on here are absolutely great. For the US guys...the book doesn't come out in the USA till April, but if you join Librarything you can get a free advance copy I understand (most of those guys hate it, though...c'est la vie) or you can order it from the UK, but that might be really expensive (though they are doing new and used for 1p + P&P so they they tell me. But don't get those...that would be bad *lol*). But yes, PP - its a MASSIVE list of people, most of whom have the backing of the big publishing houses and their own fan-base. What I said in the jokey request is true though - I'm really trying hard because yes it would be ace to win, but also for the publishing house that took me on. I really want to see them do well out of it too. Originally the award was going to be a public vote, then the top five would go before a judges panel. Then they changed it to two public votes...I'm not sure that is the best way for the small guys to progress, but those are the rules! Anyway - despite the fact that there are a few inaccuracies in Gladiatrix, I'm sure you'll enjoy it if you can get hold of it. I mean...I knew that the inaccuracies were there! I just did to annoy you guys... No, I'm kidding... Thanks to all and UNRV for backing me on this. I'll keep you posted on events. And yes, if the second book comes you, UNRV is already in the acknowledgements bit...I wrote it after all the help I got with the First Dacian War questions a few months back! Cheers guys Russ

Hi - Primus Palus has endorsed this, so here goes.... Voting has opened in the David Gemmell Legend Award, and my novel "Gladiatrix" has been nominated. Its like the X-Factor of Heroic Fantasy Novels, and I'm hoping to be the comedy fat-bloke that gets the humour votes (making me the Rick Waller of Heroic Fantasy I guess). The original concept was to have a public vote and then a judging panel for the top five voted for by the public, but now its a two-leg vote off. So if I get through, this annoying message will come through again in April

Hi Wiz - thanks for the links: when I saw your post it made me think "Damn, I need to look at that stuff!" Thanks again Russ

Hi Wiz - what research did you do. Are there any links you could point us too as this is topic of interest to me also (well, the palace part, not the computer modelling part which I wouldn't have a clue about!). Cheers Russ

Simon Scarrow is one one of the best writers in the field of Historical Fiction today. Not only are his books massively entertaining, they're sumptuously researched and accurate which I know is a major issue for many of the people on this forum. The main characters are utterly compelling because they're so believeable. I can't agree with the costume drama criticism levelled by the Augusta: these are stories about soldiers, and though the technology of war changes, the emotions and experiences of soldiers are hardly different from 1st century legionary to 21st century Royal Marine. The horror and the humour of war is something that is pretty timeless. Scarrow can walk the line of entertaining whilst informing. Reading fast-paced, historically accurate novels about the Roman Legions is something of a joy for me. Also, I don't think that something has to be read with a Thesaurus in hand to be intelligent fiction. It's not enough to dismiss these books as "turn you brian off at the door" stuff - there is a lot more to them than that! Cheers Russ

Well that and that fact that it didn't take a life time of training to learn how to use a crossbow.

By happy chance, this was on the other night and I taped it. It was called "True Gladiators." Thanks all! Cheers Russ

With you guys, that's the case when anything comes out...

Thanks very much for this rich information, it's very much appreciated. Thank you for taking time out to provide this research, it will really help :-) Cheers Russ

This is true, and I always try to remain upbeat about this sort of things, but I have to say that this one isn't filling me with confidence! Cheers Russ