Project writer in need.

**~~The Kybrothilian~~** · September 07, 2011, 08:05 AM

Greetings, people of the Invasio Barbarorum forum. I have come here to gain little help in some important matter. This doesn't have much to do mod series (as great and fantastic as they are) but a dissertation.

Or actually I'm not sure if it can be called a dissertation, treatise, thesis or essay, as I have a hard time to find the corresponding English term for it. Basically, I'm creating myself a topic in question form (My topic being "How and Why the Roman military changed", which is why turn to this forum community) and then write about 12 pages to explain it in-depth.

The exact thing what I want to ask you is more sources. For you see, usually people have crapload of sources with their projects, but currently I have only three: The website Romanarmy.com, which I picked from the Europa Barbarorum website's links section, and two books by Adrian Goldsworthy, The Complete Roman Army and In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire, which I found from the local library. Because the library didn't have any more books on the subject, and I don't have the money to buy books from the bookstores, I would like to ask, if you aware of any other internet sites, that could be used as sources in this project. Because Goldsworthy's books have more emphasis in the principate army, these sources should be about the early period (kingdom and republican time) and the late period. Sources about Byzantine Roman empire are not so much needed, as I only plan to talk about them in the conclusion part.

Thank you for your time and thank you beforehand for any help.

~Scutarilegion

**Joar** · September 07, 2011, 08:23 AM

Well, you can start off by checking out our University thread ( link ). There's plenty of information to be found in those topics and links.

**~~The Kybrothilian~~** · September 07, 2011, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by Joar

Well, you can start off by checking out our University thread ( link ). There's plenty of information to be found in those topics and links.

I appreciated your help, but the links don't seem send me to sites that have info on Roman military, though info on Sassanids and barbarian invasions seems common.

**Joar** · September 07, 2011, 08:52 AM

There are several topics that discuss the changes of the Roman army. Check the Discussion & Debate section.

**~~The Kybrothilian~~** · September 07, 2011, 08:58 AM

oh, I though you meant strictly the links. However, the discussions and debates are rather limited help, as I cannot use them as sources.

Edit. Sorry, I just noticed that these "Discussions and debates" have a large amount of information in the OP's posts, and I may be able to use these as sources.

Edit.2. Now I realized that the guides in the discussions&debates section are really just guides, how to act in a Roman way in the game. So not really stuff I can use for writing a Dissertation/Treatise/Essay/whatever.

**Renatus** · September 07, 2011, 11:25 AM

You have already found Romanarmy.com and this has probably led you to RAT (www.romanarmytalk.com). If not, you will find there an enormous number of discussions on all aspects of the Roman army, some of which may be relevant to your project. As you have noted, online discussions of themselves are not much use as sources but they may contain links or references that can be cited.

There is really no substitute for books or articles in academic journals and I wonder whether your local library could help here. In the UK, there is the Inter-library Loan Service whereby a library can borrow a book from another library and then lend it on to you. It can also get photocopies of journal articles, usually from the British Library. Is there a similar facility in Finland?

Unpublished theses can be found on the British Library EThOS website (http://ethos.bl.uk) and many of these can be downloaded free. If you search for 'Roman' or 'Roman army', you will find a number of theses, some of which may be relevant. If your researches turn up a journal article that interests you, you may find it on JSTOR. If so, some articles are available for purchase. You do have to pay a few dollars but, once your payment has gone through, you can download the article immediately.

I hope that some of this is helpful and that I have not been teaching my grandmother to suck eggs, as we say here!

**~~The Kybrothilian~~** · September 08, 2011, 01:26 AM

Originally Posted by SeniorBatavianHorse

These might assist you:

Roman Unit Sizes

Roman Army Ranks and Titles

Decline and Fall - an Industry

Late Roman Re-enacntment (Fectio)

Barbarians and Politics

Something to get you started!

Thank you, those should prove useful!

Originally Posted by Renatus

You have already found Romanarmy.com and this has probably led you to RAT (www.romanarmytalk.com). If not, you will find there an enormous number of discussions on all aspects of the Roman army, some of which may be relevant to your project. As you have noted, online discussions of themselves are not much use as sources but they may contain links or references that can be cited.

There is really no substitute for books or articles in academic journals and I wonder whether your local library could help here. In the UK, there is the Inter-library Loan Service whereby a library can borrow a book from another library and then lend it on to you. It can also get photocopies of journal articles, usually from the British Library. Is there a similar facility in Finland?

Unpublished theses can be found on the British Library EThOS website (http://ethos.bl.uk) and many of these can be downloaded free. If you search for 'Roman' or 'Roman army', you will find a number of theses, some of which may be relevant. If your researches turn up a journal article that interests you, you may find it on JSTOR. If so, some articles are available for purchase. You do have to pay a few dollars but, once your payment has gone through, you can download the article immediately.

I hope that some of this is helpful and that I have not been teaching my grandmother to suck eggs, as we say here!

Thanks. IIRC it is possible here, that I can request the library to bring a book from another library in the town, but I'm not usre if it possbile to request a book that is in another city's library.

**Renatus** · September 08, 2011, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by scutarilegion

Thanks. IIRC it is possible here, that I can request the library to bring a book from another library in the town, but I'm not usre if it possbile to request a book that is in another city's library.

It would certainly be worth an enquiry. Every country has its own system, of course, but here I have been able to borrow books obtained from the British Library, university libraries and libraries in other towns, using the Inter-library Loan Service.