Centurion-Macro

Merry Christmas all, hope you all enjoy yourselves!

I was always under the immpression that they used whatever swords they could lay their hands on. I thought that the Greek Hoplite blades were used along with Etruscan blades. But I may be wrong.

When I first read that book I disliked it a lot more than the others. I have never been interested in the Middle East that much. But when I read it again along with 'Centurion' I loved it. I think it is interesting how they have to comprimise with the Jews or they would make an uprising, so there are no Empire statues etc.

I think the IX Hispania is interesting. Although we can probably guess what happened to them, we do not know a lot. I agree with Primus. Some of Crassus's troops ended up in China and the Middle East while most of the survivors of the Varus tragedy were either enslaved or killed in rituals.

Fabius Pictor. His work was completely destroyed, and we are left with only a few quotes and mentions of his work. He was the first Roman to write about Rome and it would have been great to see him describing the first families of Rome etc etc.

Because games and history are both hobbies of mine, so combined they would be greater. And why shouldn't it be a history lesson? it woulsd be fun, while at the same time educational, and they can not do that with the games around now.

I agree. The only one I really enjoy is 'Great Battles of Rome' the battles in it are all accurate, but as you can only fight and not build the game gets boring fast. The others have only scetchy information in them and while they might be good games, they are not historically accurate.

Thanks all!

Simon Scarrows new book (The Gladiator). It was quite good, but I did not like the ending at all, as it was too short and left a lot of things out.

I think the actual storyline for the book is interesting, but I like the ones set in Britain the best.

I found that quite a good story, as the Roman navy is largely forgotten in Roman stories. ~I am liking The Gladiator. I am halfway through right now and I think it is going to be one of his best stroies yet.

Sure they had good cavalry at their disposal, but not enough. Seriously, if the Romans really did have enough cavalry then they would have done a lot better in wars. In Sicily (a good old example) the Romans got attacked and were bleeded by probing attacks by the Carthaginians. Their own cavalry tried to stop them, but they did not have enough. Now Sicily was a big campaign, so you would have thought they would have had enough cavlary to protect the marching columns, but they did not.

Oddly enough, I have never heard of the The Vindolanda Tablets. The painted glass bowl looks great though, with its picture of...what is it? a Samnite Gladiator?

Last book I read was 'Hell Will not Wait'. It is a World War 2 story about the Allies in Italy.

That picture of the Porchester Roman defenses does look formidable. It makes you wonder how bad the Saxons were for Rome to have to build all the forts... Would it have balistae mounted on it?

Thanks for the info! So there was actually a fleet made just for Britain? I will goggle it and see how big it is... Would the II Legion in PORTVS ADVRNI that you mention be the II Augusta legion? Also, you mention mobile forces. How big do you think these forces would need to be to garrison each fort?

For the past few days I have been trying to find out more about the Saxon Shore Fort network in Britain. On the internet I have found vague articles and sites which give me brief information about where the forts were situated and why they were put there, but there is little information about the man power there and the resources put into the Saxon Shore Fort network. I would like to know who was garrisoned in the forts and in what numbers. Did they have navies patrolling with the forts and how did they destroy the Saxon ships? The one quote that I found on the internet said, "The Saxon Shore Fort Network depleted man power from Hadrian's Wall". But I have not found any more evidence to support that. So do any of you guys know anything about the Saxon Shore Fort Network? Thanks. Centurion.

You are right. They were all annoyances at different times and places throughout the Roman Empire. And you are right with the fact that Rome was a huge menace to the non-Roman population everywhere. The only thing I am completely sure about was the Barbarian menace over the Rhine. They were by far the worst threat to the Empire from pre Pax Romana all the way to the fall of Rome. They never gave up attacking and so the Roman defenses on the Rhine had to be heavily fortified.

I suppose to a lesser extent, the Saxon raiders who attacked Britain were a great menace. As troops were removed from Britain and sent to other places, the Saxons became a great menace and used to destroy many coastal towns and villages. The Roman's were forced to build a fleet and The Saxon Shore Fort network to repel the invaders. But that drew manpower away from the already depleted Roman forces in Britain and so the Scotti and Picts upped their attacks on Hadrian's wall, and in 367 AD the wall was overrun by Picts, Scotti and the Saxons. The Roman beat them off, but many men were killed and I think it was because of the Saxons who drew manpower away from Hadrians wall.

Welcome to the site Sandra! ~What Mythology stories do you like the best? my favorites are Homers Iliad and Odyssey.

I am going to go with his illness. I do not know much about Caligula, but I think that he had something wrong with him. Either that, or he just went mad with power...

Really? I might check it out when it comes. I find Roman Britain a fascinating topic.

I am now reading Eagle and the Snow...it is brilliant. I am just about finished. I am near the end now, where they are at the 13th milestone and have decided to fight it out. I think this book is one of my favorites that I have read this year.

I agree. I like the shouting and swearing, as that is what the Legionaries would have done. They are very easy to read, and they are re-readable as well, which is something that many books are lacking these days. ~I did not know he has been criticized though. That is rather stupid, as all the swearing makes sense in the situations where it is used.

I can not think of many off the top of my head, but... ~Nero's crucifying of Christians, who he blamed for the fire of Rome in AD 69. ~Commodus fighting gladiators...all of whom had been blinded, had their arms broken, and were half starved.