DecimusCaesar

That's an extrordinary discovery. It would be worth seeing Maxentius' sceptre. Unfortunately they didn't say how well preserved were the other items such as the silk they found in the box.

Flavius Aetius was a brilliant general from the Later Roman Empire. Considering that he had a broken army of border troops and barbarian allies under his command, and that most of the Western Empire was already overrun by Vandals, Burgundians and Goths. He managed very well under terrible conditions (lack of resources, legions that were not at full strength and no areas for recruiting other men , fighting against numerous enemies with larger armies). He was remembered as 'the Last True Roman' who saved Europe from the Huns. It's a shame that there isn't much books about him. The only thing I can find on amazon is a novel about him, where he has a love affair with Galla Placidia. Yikes.

It's strnage seeing the family wearing purple cloaks. Wasn't purple reserved only for Emperors or important individuals?

If Magalus was a Celtic god then it is not surprising that he called upon him for vengeance. Perhaps he was a local god and it made more sense to call upon his powers in that area.

I hope you'll feel better soon.

This sounds like a good idea, yet it wasn't until the Later Roman Era that archery practice became common. The reformed armies after Diocletain made much more use of archers and missile troops than the first century legions had done during Caligula's day. Ammianus Marcellinus describes battles of his own time usually beginning with a long exchange of missiles between two armies; whether it was arrows, plumbatae or spears. The early era legions did make some use of missile Auxillaries, such as Syrian Archers and Balaeric Slingers.

I read that Senators during the late Republic wore colourful tunics during that era, compared with the Early Empire, when they wore clothes that seemed more drab. Is there any truth to this claim? I was under the impression that throughout the Roman era, the upper classes wore brightly coloured clothes.

I always find it odd that in some resteraunts non-smoking and smoking tables are placed right next to each other. I Remeber this when I was younger, but I suppose they must have changed this these days, due to a lot of stuf about Second hand smoke.

It seems to be a humorous satire on the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Although this time round it's us that's being dug up. I imagine that some archaeologists of the future might make many of the mistakes that we make about the past. It looks like a good read, are there any similar books of this type?

An interesting discovery; sadly though, everyone who has posted on that website don't seem to care about tit too much. Instead the whole thing has descended into an Israel/Palestine argument. What will become of this tablet?

This is pretty funny in a way. I posted a while ago about 'The New Chronology' hypothesis in the Pseudohistory thread, about how history only began a thousand years ago, and that the The Romans should have existed in the Middle Ages. Now we have one group of archaeologists claiming that the famous statue of the Wolf suckling Romulus and Remus to be dated from the Medieval era. The New Chronologists also claimed that the Pyramids were made out of concrete. Now we have archaeologists saying the same. The New Chronologists must be proud. But then again they say that Archaeology is useless, so they can't claim that these ideas for their own. I bet they regret saying that about archaeology right now. And I'm sure they will still take these ideas and claim that they are the truth, and that their hypothesis is right.

I like the line at the end "Your Mithras is a load of Bull!"

I saw a trailer for this. It was pretty funny seeing Crassus (in his most evil voice) telling someone that "they are either with us or against us".

I've never read a book about the American Civil War, but I did watch the Ken Burns documentary and I have searched for some articles about it on the internet. My only other knowledge of the subject is the (often inaccurate) portrayl of the war in films like Glory or The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Here is a clip from the Ken Burns documentary on the Civil War: Civil War - Honorable Manhood This is the most famous part from the entire series, the letter that Sullivan Ballou sent to his wife, Sarah before the Battle of Bull Run.

A brilliant review Skarr! I found the section on the personal letters fascinating, as well as the passage about the family living in Egypt. This book looks very interesting, and I will hopefully get it some time soon.

Happy Birthday Kosmo, Have a good one!!

There seems to be a lack of good primary sources for the Later Roman Empire. I was looking to buy a copy of the letters of Symmachus ( a late Roman noble man) and Amazon does sell some copies but they all seem to be priced between 150-200. That's far too much. Either way, if you purchase some books about the Fall of Rome (Peter Heather's book the Fall of the Roman Empire, for instance) you will find some excerpts from primary sources.

It's strange considering that one of the most famous statues from Rome might not be genuinally ancient. The image is one of the most famous, frequently shown in books and TV shows about the Romans (there is a replica of it in I, Claudius I believe).

Thank you for posting, Polecat!

Even with all the Roman sites around Britain, I have never met another person with an intrest in Roman History. Most people in Britain; if they have any knowledge of history, prefer the history of the Second World War to Ancient Rome. A majority of the Roman sites are not as imposing as Medieval castles, so I am not surprised to see a lot of people who show more intrest in the Middle Ages. I read that one history magazine had made a survey; where they found out that 20th century and Medieval history were the most read about periods in Britain. I don't know where ancient/Roman history turned up on the list, but It is obvious that the period isn't that well known in Britain.

Thanks Pertinax. I think I might have gotten it mixed up with another book.

I have to agree with all of you, and say that I am glad to have UNRV to come to for discussion on all things Roman (and some other stuff that doesn't fall into that category...) so, thank you!

Here is a link to the Official website for the 300 Movie. It contains a synopsis, trailers, photographs from the film and some other stuff. Here is the link: 300 - Official Movie Website