Medusa

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 I had been in e-mail contact with James Duffy where he told me that he dropped the Gladiators of the Empire series. I always thought of suggeting Book on Demand to him because his publisher claimed that he did not sell enough copies. Russ, could you get him over to Myrmidon books, then maybe he had the right publisher behind him for this kind of book?

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.

The first two volumes were really thrilling but the later books of that series are not that good anymore.

Second best, Medusa, surely? *lol* Salve Russ, You dealt with the topic more freely while James Duffy's gladiators were very authentic and the way he described the training it felt for me if I was walking onto the training ground myself (though at the time I read the first volume I had a ruptured muscle fibre in my left calf and wished I could train instead of lying on the sofa). Anyhow, I look forward to your sequel to "Gladiatrix". Vale optime, Medusa

I love the Simon Scarrow books but my favorites are not that widely known: James Duffy "Sand of the Arena" "The Fight for Rome" The author had intended to write a trilogy but since he did not sell enough of the first two volumes he cancelled this project which makes me very sad since they are the best novels on gladiators I've read so far.

Reading the new book by Dario Battaglia "De Rebus Gladiatoriis" in Italian. I have a review copy of it and want to write a review for Ancient Warfare.

FELICES DIES NATALIS!!!!

I just got these BBC-documentaries as a DVD boxed set as a Saturnalia gift from my boyfriend and have had time to watch the first disc on which is also the documentary about Tiberius Gracchus. I too stumbled over the fact that his brother Gaius wasn't mentioned at all. I have to admit that all films on that DVD seem to be inaccurate, they focus on certain events of the person's life, e.g. Caesar's war in Gaul, Nero acting after the great fire. Of course 50 Min. are not long but it could have been better. The bonus DVD is about the Colosseum and shows Gladiators in totally unauthentic armor, and this is called a documentary and not a movie. From a reknowned TV station such as the BBC I would have expected much better quality. But the same problem occurs with ARTE who made a documentary on the Germanic people. It is also very inaccurate.

Did you guys think about Chester? I have been there nearly three years ago. Many Roman things to see, e.g. the amphitheater, etc.

IO SATVRNALIA!!! I wish everybody a nice Holiday Season!

Because of this review I ordered the book straight away from Amazon. I'll read it once I'm finished with my current read.

The gladiators shown are a secutor (with scutum and gladius) and a retiarius (with trident). A Samnite gladiator is known only from the republic time and the scholars do not know what his armatara really looked like if he was a predecessor to the murmillo. The pairing retiarius vs. secutor became one of the most popular ones and is seen on many depictions.

If it's by Nigel Pennick and Prudence Jones I got the German translation of this book and enjoyed reading it. It is indeed a good overview of the European Pagan cults.

I read both, Pompeii and Imperium and I have to admit that Pompeii was much better than Imperium. I thought that the story of Pompeii was more thrilling.

Trier is said to be German oldest town founded 14 BC.

Katherine Welch mentions in her aforementioned book that the name Colosseum was first attested in the 8th century and is either derived from the colossal size of the building or more probably from the Colossus of Nero which stood nearby. A dedicatory inscription calls the building "amphitheatrum novum" which reads in full: I[mp(erator)] T(itus) Caes(ar) Vespasi[ans Aug(ustus)] amphitheatru[m novum (?] [ex) manubi(i)s (vac.) [fieri iussit (?)] "The Emperor Titus Caesar Vespasianus Augustus had the new amphitheatre built from the profits of war." G. Alf

I recently read about Caesar's "hunting theater" in Katherine Welch's book "The Roman Amphitheatre". She lists the following sources for this: Suetonius, Iul. 37 Dio Cassius, 43.22-3 Plinius Historia Naturalis 19.23 (mentions only vera stretched over the Forum Romanum while Caesar's hosted gladiatorial games in 46 BC, presumably in the "hunting theater" erected for this event)

Arena always refers to the place where the action takes place. The word actually meaning sand, sandy place. The building or the seating construction (which was during the Republic temporarily) was called in that time spectacula or when referring to Caesar's munus in 46 BC 'hunting theater'. The word spectacula is also find on the dedicatory inscription of the stone amphitheater of Pompeii. In the Imperial period it became common to call the thing amphitheatrum derived from Greek but the building type being something unique Roman. For those who want to know more about this topic I could recommend the following books: Katherine E. Welch "The Roman Amphitheatre - From Its Origins to the Colosseum" Cambridge University Press (New York, 2007) David L. Bomgardner "The Story of the Roman Amphitheatre" Routledge (London, 2002)

Hi Russ, Many thanks for pointing me out as being an expert on gladiatrices (BTW this would be the correct spelling of the Latin plural of gladiatrix as far as I know but I'm not an expert on Latin language though). For all who are interested in the article I wrote for this board as well on those of my website follow read this thread: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9890&st=0 Here you will find the links to the articles in question.

Gladiators where nicknamed in Ancient Rome as "barley eaters" and I guess it had a reason why they were called so. They ate a lot of barley and most probably other pulses. This the Austrian scholars found out from the bones excavated at the Gladiator cemetary in Ephesos. Most probably every now and then they of course had meat or maybe even fish whatever was available. Pulses are easier to prepare in masses and also cheaper. I have to dig out the exact information though being there in the following article most probably as I haven't read it yet: Kanz, F. and Grossschmidt, K. "Dying in the Arena: The Osseus Evidence from Ephesian Gladiators" in Roman Amphitheatres and Spectacula: a 21st Century Perspective, BAR International Series 1946, 2009

We are based in Hamburg (one part of the group) and the other in Saarland/Rheinland-Pfalz. Check out our website which you will find in my signature.

MEDVSA That's the arena name I have chosen for my reenactment because I didn't want to take neither Amazone nor Achillia (the only two known names of gladiatrices) but took a name from Greek mythology as was common among gladiators.

Except for the books already mentioned I like the following: Roma Sub Rosa mystery series by Steven Saylor as well as SPQR by John Maddox Roberts (also mystery) First three volumes by Colleen McCullough about Marius and Caesar etc. The Far Arena by Richard Ben Shapir Gladiators of the Empire series by James Duffy In German: Fortunas Rache and Die Legionen des Raben by Maria W. Peter (mystery) Leichtes Geld and Flammenmeer by Peter Lichtenberger (mystery) Die Schule der Gladiatoren by Wolfram zu Mondfeld/Barbara zu Wertheim

Have you read the rest of the series? I've just ordered the latest in the series, "The Triumph of Caesar" It's been over three years since the last Gordianus book so I hope it's worth the wait! I've read all books before "The Judgment of Caesar" but not the latest one which obviously is "The Triumph of Caesar". I also have not read the volume with the short stories in it though the title "A Gladiator dies only once" is of course appealing to me ;-) But I'm not into short stories at all, I rather prefer full length novels.

Thanks for your birthday wishes!