The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Finding Carthage Among The Romans The destruction of Carthage by the armies of the Roman Republic in 146BC was a seminal event in the rise of Rome to power across the Mediterranean. In popular memory, Carthage has, ever since, been remembered as that ‘enemy’ of Rome....
The Five Armies That Made Europe Regrettably, war is inevitable. Many of us who have had the privilege of being born in Western democracies after 1945 have been spared having to confront war directly. This has created a false optimism that future generations may not...
Poet on a Volcano Many artists hope that they will be lasting figures in history. A few even boast that they will. But no boaster ever succeeded as well the Latin poet, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, who shouted out at the end of what he thought might be his last book ‘Non...
Those Who Are About To Die: Gladiators and the Roman Mind, by Harry Sidebottom Harry Sidebottom has written an invaluable work for scholars and storytellers alike. Those Who Are About To Die is a masterclass in how to both educate and entertain the reader...
Summer Reads from Aspects of HistoryLucy Ashe Author of The Sleeping BeautiesThe Eights is Joanna Miller’s debut novel that combines fascinating historical research with the creation of four compelling female characters, The Eights is set at St Hugh’s College, Oxford,...
Have you ever thrown a coin into the Trevi Fountain in Rome? You probably stood with your back to the fountain, as advised by everyone around you, but when you turned back, you may well have caught a glimpse of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. He is the armoured gentleman...
Cicero, the greatest public speaker of the Roman Republic, started life with a handicap. The name “Cicero” was obscure. While Rome was a republic, with all of its magistrates selected in annual elections, a hereditary nobility dominated politics. To be a Scipio, a...
In the introduction to Lest We Forget, Tessa Dunlop writes: “Monuments and statues are inanimate, static entities that depend on their relationship with human beings for relevance and agency.” This statement goes to the heart of this brilliant book. Each monument is...
Rufus Varro returns for another thrilling mystery in Richard Foreman’s latest instalment to the Spies of Rome series. Assassin is the third novella and sixth story, and a welcome addition for fans of the series. But with a fast-paced plot, new readers will soon be...
Richard, our favourite reluctant spy and even more reluctant poet Rufus Varro is back – and there’s been a murder. Why was Assassin a story you wanted to add to the Spies of Rome series? I partly wanted to write a novella that was in the mold of Steven Saylor's Roma...
