DecimusCaesar

Welcome to the Forums Leonida! Thanks, i've been curious about Sparta under Rome ever since I read Paul Cartledge's The Spartans. He gives some impressions of Sparta under the Roman Empire but that section of the book seems almost an afterthought seeing as the main drive of the book is the Golden age of Sparta.

I think the new series will run for less than 12 episodes like the last series, which will leave even less space to fit in the events that lead up to actium, if the series ends there.

Impressive stuff. Strange that they made a guess at an Iranian Empire that conquers Israel in the near future. Was it just me or were the borders of the Islamic Caliphate exaggerated in that animation, It certainly did not rule Eastern Europe and Constantinople in the Middle Ages, although it might have done after the Ottomans conquered Eastern Europe. very nice animation. Where goes the Seleucid Empire?

I don't know if this has laready been mentioned but according to IMDB they are filming Episode six of the series - 'Phillipi'. It seems old Marcus Junius Brutus will be leaving the series earlier than I thought.

Ha ha ha! R2 the mighty Gladiator - shame he doesn't have any arms to weild the sword. The Ballistae they have in those pictures look impressive.

Miguel is right that when starting out in studying the Romans it is best to start with the basic stuff rather than the academic works. A few examples would be the series of books published by Peter Connolly for Oxford Publishing. The books (Ancient Rome, Pompeii, The Tiberius Claudius Maximus series) are written for beginners in a simple and easily understandable form. As a bonus the books are also well illustrated, showing how buildings, fashion, weapons etc looked like during that era through Mr. Connolly's excellent illustrations. An Academic work by Peter Connolly that is worth reading is 'Greece and Rome at War' - which details the arms, armour and battle tactics of the Classical World. Other excellent books include Robin Lane Fox's 'The Classical World: An Epic history of Greece and Rome'; 'Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome' by the Adkins Brothers; any book by Adrian Goldsworthy; The Chronicle of the Roman Republic/Emperors series (which Cato reviewed a few days ago); books by Michael Grant (History of Rome, Gladiators, Fall of the Roman Empire etc); titles in the Fontana History of the Ancient world (Roman Republic, Roman Empire, Later Roman Empire). Other books about the Later Roman Era that are worth a look ae 'The World of Late Antiquity' by Peter Brown, The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity' by Averil Cameron. For futher research it is also worth getting Classical History books published by Oxford and Cambridge universities.

Anyone know of a good biography to be had on the Emperor Diocletian?

J.F.C Fuller attempts to explain Caesar's lack of interest on supplies and logistics. He claims that Caesar "was not an organizer" and had a distaste for it. He never organized his campaigns properly and fuller says his invasion of Britain was "amateurish" in the extreme because he failed to get adequate provisions. He seems to have made most of his decisions on a whim. Strangely enough he does make frequent mention of getting corn supplies in his work, which means that it was not sufficently organized. if it was he would not feel the need to mention it at all.

I've only seen a few shows or films with Caesar in it, so I would have to agree that Ciaran Hinds is the best one to play Caesar.

Good article, I read it a few weeks ago on another site. I also have Niall Ferguson's book on the British Empire which is also pretty good, even if the conclusion is weaker compared to the rest of the book. I read an article around the beginning of the year in which Ferguson toured America telling numerous figures how America's Foreign Policy should be set out. In one intreview he managed to anger every conservative and every liberal in the room, some even stormed out. It was pretty funny stuff.

Those two squares changed colour right before my eyes...weird!

Has anyone played this MOD for Rome: Total war? It is still incomplete, but the purpose of the MOD is to turn Rome: Total war into a historical simulation, it is even more realistic than RTR. I tried downloading the Beta version many months ago but it simply would not work on my system, the game crashed to the desktop before it even got past the loading screen (I haven't played Rome: Total War or its MODs for a long time). Here is a link to their official site for more info: Europa Barbarorum Will anyone be trying it out? If you already have it, is it any good?

I've searched in the book and I can't find any mention of the swastika or why it's depicted that way, perhaps the swastika is placed in a different direction by Richard Hook, the artist. The figure itself is listed as F3, but isn't given a description like the other 2 figures in the appendix. There is no entry in the Oxford Classical Dictionary on the Swastika.

I saw similar stuff except it was views on politics, economy (relevant to today) made by Adolf Hitler.

Alexander also wanted to gaze towards the outer ocean, that is why he pushed his men so hard in India during the mutiny, so he could have claimed to have seen the ends of the earth. To go from the 'Frog pond' of the Mediterranean to the Outer Ocean in India would have been the ultimate achievement.

This certainly the best academic research I've ever come across, I would like to take part in study them too...

He he he he.... a lot of people don't think too highly of politicians anyway Phil

Weren't some spoils given to the temples?

Pyrrhus was certainly unlucky. He attempted to use the same hammer and anvil tactics that Alexander had used against the Persians, but due to bad timing he would always outflank the Romans a little to late, meaning that his infantry had already taken heavy damage.

The Greeks certainly knew of them. Xenophon for instance says that he could not locate the city of Nineveh which had been laid waste to by the Babylonians and Scythians at the Fall of the Assyrian Empire. Can't find anything about Romans but Pantagathus is right that there would have been some books about them in the Library of Alexandria. I don't think I have come across any referance to them in any Roman Text, though I might have come across them, but have forgotten about it since. They are an intruiging Civilisation and if the murals they have left behind are true, then they were certainly bloodthirsty.

Excellent review Favonius! A brilliant balance between praise and critcism, It's admirable that you give your own view on Goldsworthy's theories. I have already placed the book on my wish list in Amazon. I am a fan of Adrian Goldsworthy's other work 'In the Name of Rome'. I shall be looking forward to reading the book.

Ha ha! I notice quite a few mistakes on road signs like those myself. And to think the Government tells us to go out and excercise more, Go cycle they say. Well at least one politician in the 80's told us to 'Get on our Bikes'.

If the Celts could be placed as a racial group, who would be closest to them? It is my guess that it is in Germany,Austria, Switzerland and France seeing as those were among the first homelands of the La Tene Culture Celts. It has always confused me that the Jastorf Culture in Germany was not more heavily influenced by the La Tene Culture seeing as they existed in such close proximity. Caesar tells us that the Celts in southern Gaul had been corrupted by trading with Romans, especially their fixation with Roman wine. Yet the Jastorf culture refused both Celtic and Roman culture for centuries. Was it to do with lack of trade or was it because the German tribes lacked a material culture before the 3rd Century (when the first villages and town come into existance on the archaeological record)?

Thanks Phil, I will buy them off Amazon shortly.