DecimusCaesar

And a rather late Happy Birthday here as well!

An excellent review Ursus! I'll be keeping an eye out for this book in the future. I'd have to agree that many early 20th century books on Rome are much easier to read, than some academic modern fare. I think one of the main reasons for this is that modern historians seem to believe that history and historiography are equals. That's why some modern books are much more difficult to read. The modern historians sometimes break their narrative and go off on a tangent, for instance comparing the ideas of one academic against an other. These comparisons would be best suited for footnotes rather than the main text - I think that John Julius Norwich does this succesfully. I was reading a 1914 book on Republican Rome recently and I realise that early 20th Century authors tend not to do this. Instead they concentrate on the main drive of the historical developments, while the analysis is left at the Appendix at the end of the book. This makes them much easier to read, as I'm not being interrupted by several arguments about 'The Pyrrhic Wars' before I've even had a chance to form a narrative of the war in my mind.

Thank you very much for the link, Gaius!!

Finally they've put it on display! Shame that the base of spectre has rusted away, still the Earth orb on top is in good condition. Can anyone else make out the outlines of a continent on the orb, or is it just cracked? I wish that they'll find an Aquila standard too, but my guess is that they were melted down if they were captured. The gold or silver would have been too precious.

I was reading about the Roman Legions recently when I came across a reference to the Lixae. According to the source, the Lixae would accompany the Legion during the camapign. They would endulge in looting the native populations of their resources, especially food supplies, in order to trade them to the soldiers. The Lixae would also capture and trade slaves after battle, and as such they were valuable to the Roman economy. Anyone have more information about them, any primary sources? I would especially like to know their relationship to the army. Would they equip themseleves or would the army supply them weapons, tools etc, due to their logistical support? After all they sound as if they were instrumental to the Legions success in enemy territory.

Hopefully nobody that watches this film will believe that the Battle of Thermopylae happened like that. After checking the Imdb movie boards it does seem that the majority of people who want to watch this film are comic book fans, who don't care about the Greeks, History, ancient warfare etc. They also realise that the film has only the slightest connection to reality. So in a way it's better that they've done it this way. Take Mel Gibson's Apocalypto for instance. That film is very inaccurate according to Pre-Columbian scholars, and yet people who leave the cinema (including many critics) believe it to be a realistic depiction of the Maya. This is largely due to the attention to detail of the costumes, sets and the use of the native Yucatec language. Therefore a film that attempts accuracy but fails, is much more damaging than a film that never attempts to be a factual re-telling of a historical event.

Haven't people been finding Jesus, or at least his bones for at least a few centuries? Even all the way back to the Middle Ages.

Try finding a copy of Byzantine Armies AD 886-1118 by Ian Heath. It's a good visual guide to the Varangian guard. The book contains information on the armour and equipment of the Varangians, although it is very short. I believe that the Nordic Laxdaela Saga mentions the Varangians: Laxdaela Saga Hopefully this website might be of some use as well: Varangian Guards

I'm not quite sure how I first became interested in Rome. I've always been slightly interested in ancient history, ever since I was taken around local prehistoric sites. I remember sitting by a Stone age burial mound when I was very young, and trying to imagine how long ago the it was constructed. My intrest in the Ancient World both grew and waned during my childhood. I remember when I was around seven, I constructed some Egyptian style tombs out of boxes and toilet rolls, while at other times I became more interested in typical childhood stuff. Rather recently I was looking through a box of old stuff when I came across a copy of several children's books about the Romans, including a Ladybird book about life in Roman Britain and 'The Rotten Romans' by Terry Deary. So I had obviously been buying some Roman books much earlier than I originally thought. When I was a teenager I even joined an 'Ancient and Medieval History' book club in 1998/1999 and I brought some books, some of which were illustrated by Peter Connolly. Since then my intrest in the Classical World has expanded.

I agree that Suetonius is entertaining and he doesn't pursue scandal half as much as Procopius (read up what he wrote about Theodora, not to mention Justinain's wars in Africa...talk about over exaggeration). Other than that I also enjoy Plutarch's short biographies on the leading figures of the Greek and Roman worlds. They are easy to read and entertaining as well, although some of his biographies are better than others. Tacitus is another good read, although his text is not as easily digestable as Suetonius or Plutarch's. Even so, I did enjoy the annals as well as his accounts in the Agricola and the Germania, even if he does like to stress the brilliance of his old father in law, Julius. I also like the work of Amminaus Marcellinus, considering that he's the best historian of the Later Empire, although his work isn't nearly as good as that of Republican or early Principate writers.

Heres wishing you a very Happy Birthday Honorius!!!

I'm sorry that I'm a bit late, but, Happy Birthday Lost Warrior!! I hope you enjoyed your day!!!

I use Google Earth too, I've even pinned a few ancient sites of intrest- the colosseum- for instance. It is a shame that numerous areas are low-res as I would have liked to see more places. I heard that both the USA and Germany have been mapped entirely. Hopefully the UK will be up next.

Interesting news! It got quite a big coverage in the media a while ago too, I read about it in the local paper a few days back.

While it's true that the size of the Legion decreased during the Dominate Period ( c.5,000 in the first century, 1,000 in the fifth) the actual size of the Roman military expanded - it would have been around 150,000 men during the first/second century and closer to 300,000 by Thedosius the Great's era. The correct term I should have used was 'military' and not 'army' as the majority of people usually associate the word with the 'legion'. I apologise if I didn't make myself clear at the beginning. As for the quote about Gratian's army, I have searched in all sorts of books (Late Roman Army, Late Roman Infantryman - Cavalryman, Roman Military clothing, Romano-Byzantine Infantry equipment, Fall of the Roman Empire etc) and I couldn't find it. Just looked in Edwrad Gibbon's book a few minutes back and found the quote: The effeminate luxury, which infected the manners of courts and cities, had instilled a secret and destructive poison into the camps of the legions; and their degeneracy has been marked by the pen of a military writer, who had accurately studied the genuine and ancient principles of Roman discipline. It is the just and important observation of Vegetius, that the infantry was invariably covered with defensive armour from the foundation of the city to the reign of the emperor Gratian. The relaxation of discipline and the disuse of exercise rendered the soldiers less able and less willing to support the fatigues of the service; they complained of the weight of the armour, which they seldom wore; and they successively obtained the permission of laying aside both their cuirasses and their helmets.

They said that the armour and the helmets were too heavy and hot. I will try to find the source for this claim.

It's true that the Egyptians didn not like the Persians. One of the main reasons for this is that the Egyptians believed that the Persians were insulting their gods and their customs. Trouble between the two nations led to an revolt that Xerxes took several years to subjugate. duaring Alexander's day, his success in subjugating the country came from showing the Egyptian gods' respect (visting the temple of Zeus Ammon at Siwa) to donning an Egyptian headress. Something Persians had failed to do. On another note, it was consider very important (along with never lieing) to reconsider any descision they had made while drunk at a time they were sober. It's a wonder that they even remembered!

Thanks for the links Edgewaters. After reading other sources in the past few months it does seem to make sense to ditch the word Celtic (especially when referring to the Britons or Iberians, as Dr. James suggested) for something better. It is obvious that there was also a lot of differance between the Iberians, Gauls and Britons. It seems that they did share some things alike (Druidism existed in Gaul and Britain, but not in Iberia as well as the same "opened ended curve" art). The differnaces between these peoples and the Galatians are even bigger, considering the Galatians adopted some Hellenistic styles. Perhaps it is best therefore to adopt regional names or tribal names to specific areas. Too muddy the waters even more , could it be argued that the Hallstat and La Tene cultures should be viewed as seperate entities, or were they of the same origins (The La Tene developing from the Hallstat for instance).

The sheer size of the Late Roman army would have made it difficult to equip. After all it had doubled in number since the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine. Usually the best pickings for the armour and helmets would go to the Scholae Palatine, as well as the field army, the Comitatus. The Limitanei or the border troops would usually have to make do with inferior equipment. Even so, they were not the useless fighters that many people believe they were. By these time the lorica segmentata had gone out fashion (towards the end of the third century) and the lorica hamata became dominant, although lorica squamata was still popular (especially with the Cavalry Vexilliantones) . According to one source by AD 383 (during Gratian's reign) the Roman troops were refusing to wear armour and helmets, leading to some people to argue about the discipline of the army. Even so, this was still the era of the Cataphracts and the Clibinarii who were more heavily armoured than any troop type of the early Principate.

Great link Gaius! I think the wooden statue they discovered looks similar to a bog body.

I'm watching it right now. They've got two Hannibal docs playing. I think the next one is the big budget Docudrama. The one I'm currently watching seems to have some scenes from the 'Alexander Siddig' documentary.

Sorry I'm a bit late in replying Nephele. niaow would be a middle name. others would be dfdayd vsnae

This film caused quite a stir in Europe when it was first released. I remember reading some articles about it from worried film critics who thought that the film would glamourise Hitler. Others criticised it for showing a "Germans were victims too" sort of mentality, and that this was an insult to the neighbouring countries who had suffered under Nazi oppression. When the film was finally released all those fears and negative assumptions disappeared and it recieved glowing reviews from the media. On another note; this had been on my amazon wishlist for several months until I deleted it late last year. Now that I think about it, I should have just brought it. Hopefully they will have some low price copies around.

Thanks for posting the great link Kosmo! After reading around the site I've decided to add it to my favourites.

Same here. Yet, I misunderstood the rules first time round. I thought we were suppose to send in a work of fiction. Being unimaginative, I thought I wouldn't be able to do it. Then again if if its meant to be factual I'll probably give it a go. I also got a little persuasion from our Lord . I'll better get to work soon then!