In ancient times there was widespread use of elephants in warfare. The first use of elephants in military campaigns probably occurred in India sometime during the first millennium B.C. The practice eventually spread eastward to Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, and westward to Greece and North Africa. In 326 B.C. Alexander the Great invaded India, […]
Book Review: Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan
July 23, 2013 By 1 Comment
Reza Aslan is from a moderate Islamic family who fled Iran after the overthrow of the Shaw. He converted to Christianity at the age of fifteen. Is he still a Christian? He says “The bedrock of evangelical Christianity, at least as it was taught to me, is the unconditional belief that every word of the […]
Book Review: Hannibal: A History of the Art of War by Theodore Ayrault Dodge
July 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Theodore Ayrault Dodge was a military historian who was born in 1842 and died in 1909. He fought as a Union officer in the American Civil War and wrote a number of biographies of history’s most famous generals, including Alexander the Great, Hannibal Barca, Julius Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus, Frederick the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte. In […]
Quotes of the day: On War.
May 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment
“In nothing less than war do events correspond to men’s calculation. Everything is at your disposal when adjusting a peace, but in battle you must be content with the fortune the gods shall impose upon you.”-Livy, attributed to Hannibal “An unjust peace is better than a just war.”-Cicero “In peace sons bury their fathers. In […]
Quotes of the Day
May 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment
“Others may fashion more smoothly images of bronze (I for one believe it), evoke living faces from marble, plead causes better, trace with a wand the wanderings of the heavens and foretell the rising of stars. But you, Roman, remember to rule the peoples with power (these will be your arts); impose the habit of […]
Book Review: The Arms of Quirinus
April 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The Romans left behind written records of their affairs beginning with the founding of the Roman Republic in 509 B.C., but the era of kings is shrouded in myth. In her historical novel, The Arms of Quirinus, Sherrie Siebert Goff has taken these myths and woven an intriguing tale of the founding of Rome. Even […]
In The Wake of Hannibal
March 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment
I have finished my first draft of my new work in progress In the Wake of Hannibal. Gisco was a real person. He traveled with Hannibal on his epic journey across the Pyrenees, through ancient Gaul, over the Alps and into Italy. He was in Hannibal’s inner circle and was with him at the battles […]
Book Review: Colossus Stone and Steel. The Four Emperors by David Blixt
March 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment
From A.D. 54 to A.D. 68, Rome was ruled by a madman. His name was Lucius Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, commonly known as Nero. Rome at this time ruled the civilized world from Syria to Brittania. Nero killed his mother and two of his wives, Octavia and Poppaea. (Although Poppaea’s death was probably unintentional) […]
Odyssey of an Etruscan Noblewoman by Rosalind Burgundy
February 23, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Etruria was a region in Northern Italy with a language and culture unique in the ancient world. The civilization flourished from about 650 B.C. until it was conquered and absorbed by the Romans. the last stronghold, Velzna fell to Rome around 265 B.C. In Odyssey of an Etruscan Noblewoman, Rosalind Burgundy tells the story of […]
Book Review: Caesar’s Ambassador by Alex Johnston
I loved this book. Historical fiction as comedy. A belly laugh on every page. Caesar’s Ambassador is narrated by Marcus Mettius, who serves as ambassador along with Gaius Valerius Troucillus to the German chieftain Ariovistus. “I don’t know why you’re so worried, Marcus. Everybody knows that harassing ambassadors is against the rules. Anyway we treated […]