Ph In my research about the third Punic war, the one in which Rome destroyed Carthage, I ran across an intriguing quote by the Greek historian Polybius. “The ruin of Carthage is indeed considered to have been the greatest of calamities, but when we come to think of it the fate of Greece was no […]
Book Review: Taken At the Flood; The Roman Conquest of Greece, by Robin Waterfield
May 25, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Exerpt From In the Wake of Hannibal-A Work in Progress
April 16, 2015 By Leave a Comment
I felt the baby kick today for the first time. I am excited but also afraid. Many women do not survive childbirth; so much can go wrong, and I’ve heard that it is exceedingly painful. But I really do want this baby; it will be so wonderful see at his little face, his tiny hands. […]
Did the Carthaginians Actually Practice Child Sacrifice?
March 6, 2015 By 2 Comments
In my work in progress, The Death of Carthage, my protagonist, Gisco, is informed by Indibal, the priest of Tanit and Ba-al Hammon that he must surrender his five month old son, Hanno, to be sacrificed to the gods. Aghast, Gisco seeks to avoid the sacrifice by taking his wife and three children to Roman […]
“Don’t Know Much About History”-Art Garfunkle
February 15, 2015 By Leave a Comment
This was a line in a popular song in the late 1960s. Art Garfunkle was not alone. The fact is, huge numbers of Americans really don’t know much about history. When I was writing The Death of Carthage, people would ask me what the book was about and I would say “The Second and Third […]
Book Review: Darkness Over Cannae by Jenny N. Dolfen
January 17, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Darkness Over Cannae is a work of art, in both the literary and the pictorial senses. It is lush with strikingly rendered illustrations, created by the author herself, which bring to life the sights one might have witnessed before, during, and after the battle. In Darkness over Cannae, Jenny Dolfen tells the story of the […]
Book Review, Outlander of Rome by Ken Farmer
December 27, 2014 By Leave a Comment
I would hesitate to recommend this book to serious readers of historical fiction as some of the historical inaccuracies would make one grind one’s teeth, or perhaps explode into paroxysms of laughter. I think, however, that the author knows his history and that the inaccuracies are intentional. He’s putting the reader on, perhaps out of […]
Book Review: Las Legiones Malditas by Santiago Postaguillo
December 16, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Las Legiones Malditas (The Accursed Legions) is the second in a series of three novels by Santiago Postaguillo about the life of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Carthage in the Second Punic War. The books are written in Spanish with no English translation available, but if your Spanish is up to the task, […]
Book Review: Watchmen of Rome by Alex Gough
November 6, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Watchmen of Rome takes the reader to the mean streets of Ancient Rome during the reign of Tiberius. Elissa is a priestess of the Carthaginian deities Baal-Hammon and Tanit, having received training from her mother, religious lore passed down in secret since the destruction of Carthage some 180 years before. She has a plan to […]
Book Review: Caesar’s Lictor by Alex Johnston
October 17, 2014 By Leave a Comment
“Please tell the chef to go easy on the garum.” If you want to read the joke to which this is the punchline you will have to read this book. But I’ll give you a clue, it is told by Julius Caesar and the butt is Cato. Alex Johnston scores once again with his novella […]
Book Review: Augustus by John Williams
October 10, 2014 By Leave a Comment
John Williams’ Augustus is an epistolary novel-that is, a work composed of letters and memoires. Some of the letters are taken from actual correspondence by historical figures of the time, such as Cicero and Maecenas, and others are complete inventions of the author, speculating on what the character would have written if given the chance. […]
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