DecimusCaesar

One of my favourite mods for the game is 'the Terrae Expugnandae' version. It's not as historically accurate as RTR (which is also brilliant) but it does have several features taken from other mods including the Mappae Mundi campaign map, the new formations mod and some of the best skins from several other mods (the Imperial Legionnaires are particurarly impressive...you can even train the Heavy Legions of the Trajanic era with arm manica and greaves). One of the best features of the mod though is that they have altered some of the settings meaning that battles run much more smoothly than before, which means for much larger battles than before. For me RTR often ran too slowly and jerked too often on larger battles but with 'Terrae Expugnandae' it runs much better than before. The only downside is some glitches, but these are apparent in every mod (and even in the Vanilla version). I have just come across the Demo for Medieval 2 : Total war: Medieval II Demo I haven't downloaded it yet, but I don't think my computer is powerful enough for it to work, whic is a shame! Either way I might try downloading it to see if it works...

There's some truth to what Spittle says. I read a review of the book of the series recently and the reviewer praised it as an excellent overview of Roman history especially for those who have no prior knowledge of the period or had any intention of reading up more about the Romans. The same could be said about the series... I have never seen a 100% accurate portrayl of Rome in any documentary, film or Television epic and I never will. Although this series plays loosley with history, I do think that it does a good job with it's short budget and short running time (1 hour). Perhaps if the episodes ran for more than this then we would get a more accurate and detailed depiction of events. As such we have to make do with some events and characters being omitted or altered to fill in the time and to make it flow smoothly. Each documentary would have to run for several hours to get a detailed view of each period and no television studio would dare do that (too costly, plus they have other shows to air). One thing I will give 'Ancient Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire' is that it is the only TV documentary that has attempted to show that Rome was not a static culture, and that it remained the same for centuries. Instead they have attempted to show a Rome which had changing fashions, politics, architecture, religion and attitudes. I Don't think I've ever seen a show that has bothered tackling the era of 'Tiberius Gracchus' in a fairly accurate way or one that has bothered to depict AD 4-5th century Rome in a realistic manner other than this documentary. This show would be much better if they got rid of the statements at the beginning of each program stating that the events and characters are portrayed in a accurate way. Most people will believe therefore that events actually took place like this, instead they should warn the viewers that the events portrayed are an 'interpretation' of the historians and it's not 100% realistic. Even so, without any other documentary about Ancient Rome reaching the standards of this series, I will have to say that despite it's numerous inaccuracies and low budget it is probably the most realistic depiction of the Roman era aired yet. Perhaps when another documentary or film about the period is aired in the future and is even more inaccurate than 'Ancient Rome', we will begin to see this series' virtues. Compared to Gladiator, Spartacus, Attila etc and the countless documentaries aired on the Discovery or History channel which declare that "Julius Caesar conquered Britain" and that his Gallic War was launched as "revenge for the sacking of Rome in 390 BC" or that "Caligula was an nasty, evil, mad Emperor who wanted to decimate Rome" we begin to see that 'Ancient Rome' is head and shoulders above them.

People were educated according to their wealth or their family position. Those who were poor could not attend as their work was needed elsewhere. Those who could afford it went to Ludii at the age of 6 where they would often leave by the time they were 11. The education in the Ludus was basic but those who could afford it would later go to a Grammaticus where they wuld be taught subjects such as history, geometry, music and astronomy. A lot of attention was also put on the study of Greek and Latin literature. Those who wanted work as a politician would have to consult a rhetor, who would teach them the proper way to do speeches. Only the wealthiest families could afford this sort of education. Later the quality of education declined in the Empire and many of the mathematical and scientific studies were ignored as more students took up studies in literature and history, leading to a decline in the sciences.

I wonder what the next intelligent species would think when they dig up a fossilised artifact of our own time? I am imagine it would be something humdrum like a water-bottle or something instead of something impressive. Even so that water-bottle would be seen as something incredibly significant and scholars would claim that it was a religious offering or an object of significant wealth to our own period or something.

It seemed to have collapsed in Britain at a fast rate, according to the Archaelogical record there was no trace of Romano-British existance by AD 600, showing that a collapse had occured within few years of Honorius's letter to the Britons. A lot of it had to do with the decline of Roman towns which had already been sealed up even during the Roman period itself. With the Empire cutting off links with the island the people must have abandoned the towns rapidly and returned to a agricultural existance.

I was wondering why the site wouldn't work yesterday. I thought that you were doing some repairs or changing the content.

I thought it was alright but not the best episode that's been yet. It's true what Pertinax and GPM said about the episode being all about Josephus, what with 'the Year of the Four Emperors' being rushed over pretty quickly and Vespasian then dissapearing to Rome half way through the episode. The costumes were all round pretty good, with Romans in their lorica Segmentata, Imperial Type helmets and rectangualr scutum, although I did see some of the old props including some Montefortino helmets from Republican times in there as well. The low budget was more evident in this episode than in the others, probably due to the fact that the vast majority of the episode was devoted to fighting. Lacking in 'Rome' sets, Jerusalem looked a little bit too CGI as did some other stuff such as the arrows flying into the Roman shields and the smoke billowing out of the temple. I see that next week's Constantine episode is going down an untrodden road with a fairly accurate depiction of fourth century Rome with men in trousers and shirts, Limitanei and Comitatenses and so on, so hopefully the next one will be worth seeing.

Wasn't there such a thing as 'Hanson' day to celebrate those long blond haired musicians who wrote 'Mmm...Bop' ? At least in their home state or city... If you can have that, then I don't see why you can't have Paris Hilton Day

I have read an article since this paper was publishied asking if historians have any place dictating a country's policy. Since Niall Ferguson first said that America should become an Empire and started telling numerous politicians and generals in the US what they should do in Iraq and the actions the US must make in it's foreign policy in the next few decades. People have been asking what right do historians have to start putting down objectives for a country to achieve. Do historians have a place for dictating policy or should they just sit back and write up the events of the past?

Wouldn't sacrifices be offered to Mars before a war began as well? Along with the having the Augurs read the signs from the flight of birds and so on... It's a wonder the Romans had time to get ready with all the ceremonies they had to perform.

Interesting article and a wonderful discovery. Strange considering the body of the Pre-Constantine christian found at the burial site amongst the pagans. Maybe they will unearth even greater things.

Julius Nepos... Well he didn't have much time to cause any damage to the Empire, seeing as it was on it's last legs when he came to power. I think the Empire was at it's high point during the reign of Antoninus Pius, so I'd have to go with him, although he isn't my personal favourite emperor.

Great article Virgil! We Britons are quite a deverse genetic group then...or maybe we aren't...or maybe we are . Either way P. Clodius is right by saying that we are all citizens of the world. All this talk of who belongs to which genetic group is rather bizzare when scientists are saying there's no such thing as 'Race'. It doesn't matter which race or group you are we are all human beings.

Does America want to go down the path of Empire? Personally I don't believe so but it does want to protect it's intrests and wealth from other nations, so in the future it will have to walk down this path as a necessity unless the US will willingly make do with less (and that is unlikely). Once you become a major World power you can't go back to being a self-sufficient nation unless the country collapses and that won't happen either.

Longbow...The deformed Hoplite is Ephialtes, the Greek man who betrayed the Spartans by showing them the secret path that would lead to their rear.

His other daughter Agrippinia the Elder was married to Germanicus the hero of the Legions on the Rhine. She became a thorn in the side of Tiberius during his reign before she was exiled. She also spawned little Gaius 'Caligula' and we all know what he got up to...

They have now added the Sassanid Empire to the list. Strange that the other empires all disappear when they show a new one. You would have thought that the Byzantine Empire had collapsed at the time that the Sassanid Empire ruled according to that clip. Still, it would be too difficult to have the borders of those empires changing continually. If they add 'Saladin's Empire' then they should also add the territories of the Fatimid Empire as well seeing as Saladin conquered it's territory on his path to building an empire.

I have had a growing intrest in Agrippa and I personally believe he should be more well known. One of the most interesting aspects of his life is his realtionships with other figures of the era. His daughter was the wife of Quinctillius Varus, whose Legions were massacred at Teutoburg. His marriage to Augustus's daughter Julia provided heirs to the Empire that died before they got to power. Even so, his blood flowed through the veins of the members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, showing that his actions would affect Rome long after his death. Let's hope he gets the attention he deserves in Rome's next season, instead of the grumpy old man he was portrayed as in I, Claudius.

Great review Pertinax! I have a few books on Hadrian's wall but these are very short, basic stuff. If this is a must have then I better start saving up for it now. It sounds like a real classic.

I think they will also be trying to attract some fans of the Sopranos with all the fighting that's going to be between gangsters in the nest season. I'm looking forward to it.

Congratulations!

Thanks for that Longbow. I think the one youve posted is the unofficial trailer that I saw before it was removed. Here is the official trailer for the film: The trailer that Longbow has posted is much better than the official one as it contains more scenes and runs for longer. This one contains an armoured rhineocorus and Gerard Butler shouting...a lot. Looking forward for the film, even if it is becoming even more estranged from Herodotus's text.

Thanks for posting the Season 2 promo clip Violentilla! The most surprising thing from that clip was the Phillipi sequence. I thought that they were going to pull off another Pharsalus with that and completely avoid showing battles altogether. It is very surprising to see it on screen. Cleopatra and Egypt are starting to look more traditional (Cleopatra in black plaited hair...palace walls with hieroglyphs and New Kingdom style paintings). I see that Octavian is turning into the leader in this series as well. I wonder what they are going to do with Vorenus and Pullo, it would seem that Vorenus is now dependant on Pullo, the opposite of last season.