A way to pass the time

[fritsje5]

Hey guys, I thought I'd give you all a book tip!

If you're interested in Roman ancient history as I suppose most of you guys are, and you're into reading, a great series is the Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough. They're really quite historical, very in-depth, incredible reading, awesome characters and it's made up of five books with around 800 pages each, which means you could have about 4000 pages to hold you over until release. They span from the beginning of Marius' climb up the cursus honorum to the ascendancy of Octavian (I believe about a hundred years?), including Sulla, Pompey and Caesar as well. It's perhaps a bit like Game of Thrones, with all the political intrigue and character driven story and whatnot, except that they aren't fantasy and they're set in the Roman era. They're also a lot better in my opinion.

Also, general relevant books thread.

Cheers!

EDIT: To clarify, they're actually six books and they're rather around 900 pages each, it seems. These are the titles of the individual books (in order), and a short bit on what they are about.

The First Man In Rome: This book relates the social climb of Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the wars of these era, Marius' first six consulships and the Cimbric invasions.

The Grass Crown: This book is largely about the Social war, followed by the civil war between Marius and Sulla and Marius' seventh consulship.

Fortune's Favorites: This book starts with a short account of the Mithridatic wars, followed by the civil war that yields Sulla the dictatorship of Rome. It also delves into the early career of Pompey as he starts off as Sulla's henchman.

Caesar's Women: This book is about the early career of Caesar.

Caesar (Or Let the Dice Fly): This one's about Caesar in Gaul, Vercingetorix, and then the march on the Rubicon and the following civil war.

The October Horse: Caesar in Alexandria, Cleopatra, the assassination, and the early career of Octavian.

[Sun Jetzu]

hows the story? is it like first person, third person or just like a 4th person tale lol
What i mean by that is it like just a documentary?

[fritsje5]

The series covers about a hundred years I think, so it's not from the viewpoint of a character you'll see events. It's very much a story though, rather than a documentary. Its aim is to tell the story of Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Ceasar and Augustus as historically as possible within the frame of a novel I suppose. There is also a fair amount of maps, glossaries etc to further reinforce the story and clarify the Roman political process etc.

[Julio-Claudian]

Its aim is to tell the story of Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Ceasar and Augustus

Sounds just like 'The Fall of the Roman Republic', a collection of Plutarch's lives of Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar and Cicero.

[fritsje5]

Sounds just like 'The Fall of the Roman Republic', a collection of Plutarch's lives of Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar and Cicero.

I believe that's where a lot of its information comes from, yeah. I haven't read Plutarch's accounts but I'd assume they are similar, they have the same subject matter after all.

[Julio-Claudian]

I believe that's where a lot of its information comes from, yeah. I haven't read Plutarch's accounts but I'd assume they are similar, they have the same subject matter after all.

Presumably.
I'm reading them now for the second time. I always enjoy the ancient authors so much more.

[fritsje5]

Presumably.
I'm reading them now for the second time. I always enjoy the ancient authors so much more.

I suppose that's fair. I do hope I can prevail on you to try these anyway, if you see them lying around somewhere. Do you have any further recommendations?

I Claudius takes its cue from Suetonius and Tacitus and is pretty good historically so far as historical fiction goes...as a novel (and a TV series) it's excellent entertainment.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll re-watch the series in the near future.

[Sun Jetzu]

sounds like a good read. I wish I had the time nowadays to finish a good book uniterupted lol
Ive been watching this latley though i feel you might appreciate it

[Gugg]

sounds like a good read. I wish I had the time nowadays to finish a good book uniterupted lol
Ive been watching this latley though i feel you might appreciate it

I like that series, but there's one thing I hate about it that annoys the ***** out me, and that is that all the battles take place in forests. I don't know why this is a big issue for me, but that's why I haven't watched it all. I should be able to ignore it, but I can't.

[fritsje5]

Yup, I've watched one or two of those.

If anyone else knows about a book about the time period they would recommend, feel free to chime in!

[PhallosMaximus]

Hey guys, I thought I'd give you all a book tip!

If you're interested in Roman ancient history as I suppose most of you guys are, and you're into reading, a great series is the Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough. They're really quite historical, very in-depth, incredible reading, awesome characters and it's made up of five books with around 800 pages each, which means you could have about 4000 pages to hold you over until release. They span from the beginning of Marius' climb up the cursus honorum to the ascendancy of Octavian (I believe about a hundred years?), including Sulla, Pompey and Caesar as well. It's perhaps a bit like Game of Thrones, with all the political intrigue and character driven story and whatnot, except that they aren't fantasy and they're set in the Roman era. They're also a lot better in my opinion.

Also, general relevant books thread.

Cheers!

It's actually 6 books (1: The First Man in Rome - 2: The Grass Crown - 3: Fortune's Favorite - 4: Caesars Women - 5: Let the Dice Fly - 6: The October Horse).
And yes, they are very good.

The only thing she does not know fully about, is military formations and tactics in Roman times. She makes some mistakes there, but that is only a very small part of the books, so it does not matter. Otherwise some very belieavable portraits of ancient characters, based on historical evidence and texts.

[fritsje5]

It's actually 6 books (1: The First Man in Rome - 2: The Grass Crown - 3: Fortune's Favorite - 4: Caesars Women - 5: Let the Dice Fly - 6: The October Horse).
And yes, they are very good.

The only thing she does not know fully about, is military formations and tactics in Roman times. She makes some mistakes there, but that is only a very small part of the books, so it does not matter. Otherwise some very believable portraits of ancient characters, based on historical evidence and texts.

Yep, you're right. I'll put the titles in the first post to clarify. Do you know any books like these? I remember having seen the video series I, Claudius when I was younger and enjoying that as well, but I'm not sure as to its historical merit.

Phallosmaximus. Good name, that.

[Lord Tomyris]

Yep, you're right. I'll put the titles in the first post to clarify. Do you know any books like these? I remember having seen the video series I, Claudius when I was younger and enjoying that as well, but I'm not sure as to its historical merit.

I Claudius takes its cue from Suetonius and Tacitus and is pretty good historically so far as historical fiction goes...as a novel (and a TV series) it's excellent entertainment.

[PhallosMaximus]

Yep, you're right. I'll put the titles in the first post to clarify. Do you know any books like these? I remember having seen the video series I, Claudius when I was younger and enjoying that as well, but I'm not sure as to its historical merit.

Phallosmaximus. Good name, that.

Well, there is the HBO-series "Rome". I have the 10 disk Blu-Ray version of both seasons, and it is quite good. They have changed several of the main characters though, so it's not that historical correct. If you can accept that, it's a very good series, but sadly they did not have the money to create any big battles.

The old film "Cleopatra" from 1961 with Elizabeth Taylor still have some good naval battle-scenes from Actium and is surprisingly modern to watch. And Richard Burtons Marcus Antonius is pretty good,- he was a larger-than-life character who could drink and **** more than everybody else, and still get up and beat an army the next morning! Very close to the real Richard Burton...

Cheers,

[fritsje5]

Well, there is the HBO-series "Rome". I have the 10 disk Blu-Ray version of both seasons, and it is quite good. They have changed several of the main characters though, so it's not that historical correct. If you can accept that, it's a very good series, but sadly they did not have the money to create any big battles.

The old film "Cleopatra" from 1961 with Elizabeth Taylor still have some good naval battle-scenes from Actium and is surprisingly modern to watch. And Richard Burtons Marcus Antonius is pretty good,- he was a larger-than-life character who could drink and **** more than everybody else, and still get up and beat an army the next morning! Very close to the real Richard Burton...

Cheers,

Yeah, I know about some of those, but I'm rather more interested in books, I'm not sure why. By the way, I just discovered something I think you'll be happy to learn: there's a new novel in the series, the 7th, called Antony and Cleopatra! It was published in 2007, no idea why that one slipped past my radar. I've got something to look forward to the coming weeks, it seems!

Adufka, I haven't been able to find anything about a Czech translation, sorry

[Gugg]

Yeah, I know about some of those, but I'm rather more interested in books, I'm not sure why. By the way, I just discovered something I think you'll be happy to learn: there's a new novel in the series, the 7th, called Antony and Cleopatra! It was published in 2007, no idea why that one slipped past my radar. I've got something to look forward to the coming weeks, it seems!

Adufka, I haven't been able to find anything about a Czech translation, sorry

I'm going to buy the first novel in the series in a few days. English is not my native language, but I like to read books in their original language, rather than translations. I think it ruins the book.

[PhallosMaximus]

Oh cool, I never heard about the 7th one either.
I guess I'll have to have that one too.

Books:
Peter Connolly - "Greece and Rome at War" Greenhill 1998 - 320 pages
John Warry - "Warfare in the Classical World" University of Oklahoma Press 1995 - 224 pages

These are both big coffee-table sized books and richly illustrated. You can read them cover to cover like a novel, or take a single chapter.
Fantastic read if you like the subject matter. Not at all dry, but very informative.

They can be expensive in Europe, but I imported them from the US where books in general are much cheeper.

Cheers,

[Sun Jetzu]

the best book ive read of that time is called Varus I believe and its about the tuetonberg campaign. told through the eyes of Arminius. I love the way the germans looked at the romans lol

[Adufka]

Is that books available in any other languages? czech for example?

[Julio-Claudian]

So I was just reading this article. And apparently there is going to be a remake of I, Claudius by HBO???!?!!?!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/t...C-classic.html