Mark Feeley - Writes A Roman Adventure Novel

Roman History Blog - Featured Author

Mark Feeley - Writes A Roman Adventure Novel

  

Thirty or more years ago, I bought a copy of Ammianus Marcellinus’ History of the Later Roman Empire.” After reading it, I was hooked. The characters, the politics, the drama were all totally absorbing and created a rip-roaring tale which ended in the Roman defeat at Adrianople. I began to wonder, who were these people? How did they feel about the world around them and an empire which was beginning to crumble and fade? To find out more I completed an MA in Classical Civilisation at the University of London. I then toyed with the idea of doing something academic but baulked at the thought of having to learn Latin (I admire those who can). Instead I decided to write a book, thinking that this would give me the freedom to write about all the Roman things I love.

  

Author Mark Feeley

Reading Ammianus Marcellinus led to this book being written!

  

The Realm of a God is the final product. It is the start of an adventure story which will traverse the era. Servius, an ambitious Burgundian prince, must build a career for himself at an imperial court which is riven by conspiracy and faction. Valentinian, the aging emperor, is in poor health and those around him are beginning to search for a successor. Against this backdrop, Servius must journey to Rome to seize two champion racehorses. It is a task which will bring him into contact with the subtle scheming of the powerful Anicii, and the barbarous cruelty of the bagaudae.

 

If you would like to know more about my book or my thoughts on the Roman world, please visit my website at https://www.markfeeleyauthor.com/

The Realm of a God

 

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Rome is crumbling. Beyond the Alps, the barbarian tribes are gathering. As part of a peace agreement, Servius, a young Burgundian prince, arrives as a hostage at the emperor’s court. Set to work in the imperial stables Servius soon makes new friends, but as he waits to become a soldier the world around him is changing. The emperor is ill and the succession in doubt. As others plot, Servius departs for Rome to seize two champion racehorses. Faced by the jealousy of the Anicii and the blood curdling brutality of the bagaudae, he can only survive by protecting the emperor’s honour ….

 

Ammianus Marcellinus - The Later Roman Empire: (AD 354-378)

This book inspired our Featured Author Mark Feeley! 

 

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Ammianus Marcellinus was the last great Roman historian, and his writings rank alongside those of Livy and Tacitus. The Later Roman Empire chronicles a period of twenty-five years during Marcellinus' own lifetime, covering the reigns of Constantius, Julian, Jovian, Valentinian I, and Valens, and providing eyewitness accounts of significant military events including the Battle of Strasbourg and the Goth's Revolt. Portraying a time of rapid and dramatic change, Marcellinus describes an Empire exhausted by excessive taxation, corruption, the financial ruin of the middle classes and the progressive decline in the morale of the army. In this magisterial depiction of the closing decades of the Roman Empire, we can see the seeds of events that were to lead to the fall of the city, just twenty years after Marcellinus' death.

 

Links

Roman History on Twitter https://twitter.com/romanhistory1
Roman History Website http://romanancienthistory.blogspot.com/

Copyright © 2020 David Lee

 

Roman Butcher and his Bookkeeping Wife

Famous Funerary Relief of a Roman Butcher
and his Bookkeeping Wife

  

Ancient Roman butchers had standardized chopping blocks, hatchets and cleavers along with refined butchery practices. This second Century funerary relief panel shows a typical Roman butchers shop. The butcher is by his table with his hatchet

and the meat displayed on the walls. His bookkeeping

wife sits opposite.

 

An ancient Roman relief with a scene of a butcher shop.

Rome, 120-150 AD

 

Relief Museo della Civiltà Romana. Rome, Lazio, Italy. Photo: pinterest.com

Recently in Ipplepen, Devon, England, a Roman butchers shop has been discovered. Cow bones found at the site prove that this butcher slaughtered local cows for their prime cuts of meat. This prime beef along with other meats was delivered by road using the sophisticated road system of the empire in the 4th century AD.

  

A cow skull being unearthed at the Ipplepen site.

(Ipplepen Archaeology Project)

Photo: smithsonianmag.com

 

The normal practice for cattle would have been to keep them into old age for the pulling of ploughs etc. but at this site, they were one and a half to two years old. The right age for producing the highest quality meat. This means that this site was being used for professional beef production.

Ancient Roman Cooking: Ingredients, Recipes, Sources

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This lively, authoritative account of a crucial period in Britains history has been revised and updated to incorporate the very latest findings and research. Guy de la Bédoyère the popular face of Romano-British archaeological studies puts the Roman conquest and occupation within the larger context of Romano-British society and how it functioned. With nearly 300 illustrations and dramatic aerial views of Roman sites, and brimming with the very latest research and discoveries, Roman Britain will delight and inform all those with an interest in this seminal epoch of British history.

 

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Rob Edmunds - Writes Roman Historical Novels

Roman History Blog - Featured Author

Rob Edmunds - Writes Novels of Roman Historical Interest

Firstly, I would like to thank David from Roman ancient history for giving me the opportunity to introduce my books to everyone. Unusually, the two books I've written on Roman themes will be published together. Perhaps that’s a good thing as, if you enjoy the first one, you won’t have to wait to see how the story unfolds! The first is entitled Masinissa: Ally of Carthage and its sequel is Masinissa: Ally of Rome. Both take a distinctive perspective on some of the major events that occurred during the Second Punic War. There have been novels which feature Rome and Carthage as the main actors in that conflict, but I’ve taken the third major force in the region for my novels. Numidia was divided into two kingdoms at the time, the Massylii which supported Carthage and the Masaesyli which was allied with Rome. The hero of my books was a Numidian prince who would ultimately unify Numidia and turn it into the breadbasket of Rome. He would rule a unified Numidia for 54 years. He is still revered today across eight countries in North Africa and the Sahel region as the founding father of the Amazigh / Berber people. The story begins in 213BC at the point when Masinissa is entering the war as the commander of a powerful cavalry force and concludes a little after the climactic Battle of Zama in 202BC.
Masinissa: Ally of Carthage (Book 1)

 

You can get this book at https://amzn.to/30U7taL

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My interest in this story was a little accidental. I’ve always had a strong interest in the classical period and Mediterranean civilization, but I’d never heard about Masinissa before, which I suspect may be a common admission from even those people who are very knowledgeable about Roman history. My interest grew as I researched the period and events and came across people who knew far more about them than I did. One conversation was particularly striking. I was speaking with a professor of ancient history from a quite eminent university and he told me that he felt the decision Masinissa took to abandon his alliance with Carthage and instead forge an alliance with Rome was one of the five most momentous decisions ever taken in history. There may be some bias in that contention, but it brought home to me just how important Masinissa’s story was. He weakened Carthage and strengthened Rome. If Carthage had won that war, so many things in our world might be different, right down to the most fundamental things like the alphabet and language I’m using now. Another thing which galvanised and motivated me was the very positive and encouraging comments and interactions I’ve received from people within the Amazigh community in North Africa and elsewhere. He is a very important historical and cultural figure across the entire region.

 Masinissa: Ally of Rome (Book 2)

You can get this book at https://amzn.to/2DGWKaU

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From a cultural perspective, the heroine of my books is even more interesting than Masinissa. Sophonisba was, between the 16th and 19th centuries, alongside Cleopatra, the most popular female figure for dramatic depiction. There are many paintings and plays about her, including one by John Marston, composer of the poem/song Rule Britannia. There have also been 15 operas and 2 ballets about her, and she was the central figure in the very first epic of cinema, Cabiria,which played in theatres

worldwide in 1914.

 

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Scipio Africanus freeing Massiva

I hope with these books I will revive interest in her and Masinissa. Their stories are truly epic. Hopefully I’ve done some sort of justice to them! As an aside, as I’ve mentioned Cleopatra, Masinissa’s great grandson, Juba II married the daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Cleopatra Selene.

Masinissa statue

In terms of the covers, the first depicts Masinissa and Sophonisba in the Brysa citadel of Carthage. The second is likely to be have been in Cirta or Constantine in Algeria as it is now. It is a scene that has been represented many times, most famously probably by the court painter of King Louis XVIII Simon Vouet.

 

The fortress of Xativa

 I have a little bit more about my books in my website robedmunds.net and my twitter profile is robedmunds11. Feel free to say hi! The e-books are currently available exclusively with Amazon and kindle unlimited but will be available on all other platforms from October 15th. The physical books are also available to pre-order from the Amazon, Waterstones, Troubador and even e-bay I believe! They will be published on August 28th.

Cape Farina

 

The temple of Melqart

 

Links
Roman History on Twitter https://twitter.com/romanhistory1
Roman History Website http://romanancienthistory.blogspot.com/

 

A selection of Roman History books can be found at

http://romanancienthistory.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_11.html

  

Copyright © 2020 David Lee