Amanda Cockrell, Roman Fictional Author

Roman History Blog - Featured Author

Amanda Cockrell, Roman Fictional Author
Puts it all down to Seneca for her Interest in the Romans

My first introduction to the Romans and the start of my fascination with them was in college when a friend gave me Rosemary Sutcliff's young adult novels of Roman Britain, and her adult novel Sword at Sunset which is still one of the best books about the (possible) historical Arthur that I have read. My high school ancient history course had concentrated on wars and dates and famous men, with a brief survey of archaeological finds, and no sense at all of those old Bones as having been actual people. I remembered something about Romans in Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill and went back and read that too, and they started to come alive.
Roman Fictional Author - Amanda Cockrell
What I like about the Romans is how wonderfully and appallingly like us they are. They are the template for Western government but also for western colonialism, with their self-assured conviction that Roman civilization was a boon to any conquered territory. They had an appreciation for art and the wonders of earlier civilizations and supported a thriving tourist industry to visit them and appropriate their antiques. They practised the slavery that was common across the ancient world, although it was economically and not ethnically based, a slave might buy his or her freedom, and freedmen often rose to great power. Their taste for bloody games has only been tamped down in us, not extinguished, despite Seneca’s conviction that watching violent death ate away a man’s soul, and rotted it. And yet they survived, Republic and Empire, for a thousand years, through mad or bloodthirsty leaders, civil conflict, plagues, and endless wars.
The Legions of the Mist - Book 4
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 My first novel was about the disappearance of the Ninth Legion somewhere in Britain, inspired by Rosemary Sutcliff’s account of the same events. I have written a lot of books since, mainly historical fiction, but I seem always to come back to the Romans. Seneca also said that “Wherever the Roman conquers, there he dwells,” and I think it is that that holds my interest: how the ones who settled in the far-flung provinces of the Empire, most often time-expired soldiers, married in, settled in, bred in, until they were part of the foundation of what that country became when Rome finally fell.

And then there’s research, an endless source of delight and aggravation as new information is dug up, most often literally. You find that a fact you cheerfully used in a previous book is not accurate after all. A town whose Roman name you used liberally because a key scene was set there, is now, as you write a sequel, held to have been called something else entirely. But then you discover... the Roman tourist industry offering dubious souvenirs even before pieces of the True Cross have begun to circulate: A cyclops skull, Senator, only three sesterces!... an auxiliary ala in Syria mounted on camels... conspiracy theories circulating after Nero’s death that he wasn’t really dead, false Neros popping up like Elvis sightings. This is the kind of thing that makes me love the Romans.
New Book
The Wall at the Edge of the World - Book 5
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My new book, The Wall at the Edge of the World, a sequel of sorts to Legions of the Mist, the Ninth Legion tale, opened up a new window for me: the weirdly counter-intuitive world of Roman medicine. The Romans knew a lot but because they were forbidden to conduct autopsies, they knew how to operate for cataracts, for instance, but didn’t recognize cancer or appendicitis. The Roman army was probably the best medical school in the empire, primarily because the only way to see someone’s insides as if they had already been opened up for you by an enemy spear. Regarding the pharmaceutical remedies contained in this novel, I don’t recommend trying any of them but they are all genuine, and I attempted to use mainly the ones that might have actually worked.
The Centurions - Book 1

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 In the equally weird world of publishing, I wrote my first book under my own name, and the next three, The Centurions series, under the pseudonym Damion Hunter because they were done for a book packager who insisted on pseudonyms in case a writer got tired of a successful series and wanted to quit. In that event, it could be given to another writer. Of course, what happened to me was that three books into a four-book series, my publisher was bought by another house which promptly cancelled all the original house’s contracts. But when Canelo Publishing wanted to revive them, we kept the pseudonym for all because in the interim Damion Hunter had acquired a small and devoted following among Roman reenactors, to whom I will always be grateful. I hope they will be happy to know that I am now at work on the long-delayed fourth and final book of The Centurions. All of my earlier Roman novels have now been republished by Canelo, and you will find them here:
https://www.canelo.co/authors/damion-hunter/ 

Barbarian Princess - Book 2
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If you want to know more about me or what else I write, my personal website is here:

http://www.amandacockrell.com/

The Emperor's Games - Book 3
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Copyright © 2020 David Lee
  

Balbinus and Pupienus

The Roman Emperors who Ruled for 98 Days

Decius Caelius Balbinus and Marcus Clodius Pupienus were both Senators of Rome. Balbinus was born into a senatorial family and was reliable and trustworthy as a Senator. Pupienus was born in humble surroundings and joined the civil service and rose through the ranks very rapidly showing to be an able administrator with a flair for leadership.

Pictures Wikipedia
Busts of Pupienus (left) and Balbinus (right)

When the emperor's Gordian I and Gordian II died at Carthage in 238AD, the senate who had supported the Gordians then declared Maximinus I as a public enemy then had to choose a new Emperor. They opted to choose two, Balbinus and Pupienus, two ex-consuls, to be joint rulers of the empire. Both men were in their 60's or early 70's. Balbinus and Pupienus became Emperor's on the 22nd of April 238AD for three months. They came to power in the Year of the Six Emperors.

Chronicle of the Roman Emperors:
The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial Rome
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This is a highly readable history and a unique work of reference. Focusing on the succession of the rulers of imperial Rome, it uses timelines with at-a-glance visual guides to each reign and its main events. Biographical portraits of the 56 principal emperors from Augustus to Constantine, together with a concluding section on the later emperors, build into a highly readable single-volume history of imperial Rome.

Balbinus looked after the Civil Administration whilst Pupienus raised an army to oppose Maximinus I. Maximinus had reached the borders of Italy and was heading for Rome. At Aquileia (coast of Northern Italy) Maximinus was murdered by the Praetorian Guard and the Second Legion. Pupienus was at Ravenna when the murder happened whilst raising his army. The conspirators took the heads of Maximinus and his son to Pupienus. He then took the heads to Rome in triumph.

Balbinus and Pupienus argued on who was more in charge, they distrusted and hated each other, even fearing an assassination from the other, thou they were very popular with the citizens. Balbinus thought that being an able administrator made him more senior whereas Pupienus thought his army career gave him the edge. After a reign of 98 days, the Praetorian Guard stormed the palace, and dragged Balbinus and Pupienus through the streets of Rome whilst being beaten and tortured and then murdered on 29th July 238AD.

Photo cngcoins.com
This silver Antoninianus obverse shows the bust of Balbinus and the reverse has two Clasped right hands with the legend 'CONCORDIA AVGG' meaning 'Harmony of the two Emperors'

The coins of Balbinus and Pupienus have legends on them which translate as “Harmony Amongst The Emperors” which goes to show how coins served as objects of political propaganda but in reality, it was nothing like that.
Photo cngcoins.com
This silver Antoninianus obverse shows the bust of Pupienus and the reverse has two Clasped right hands joined with the legend 'AMOR MVTVVS AVGG' meaning 'Mutual affection of the Emperors'

Gordian III was hailed emperor after the demise of Balbinus and Pupienus in the year of the Six Emperors in 238 AD. The six emperors were Maximinus Thrax, Gordian I and Gordian II, Pupienus, Balbinus and Gordian III.

Copyright © 2020 David Lee

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Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists
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Ancient Romans were the first people in history to enjoy safe & easy travel, Romans embarked on the original Grand Tour, journeying from the lost city of Troy to the Acropolis

Roman Emperors Poster - A3 size
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Highly visual A3 paper poster depicting a timeline of Roman emperors in the form of bust images. These images are taken from original Roman coins. Timeline starts in 27BC with Augustus and ends with Romulus Augustus in 476AD. Mentioned in between are: Caligula, Nero, Hadrian - to name but a few.

Ovid – The Roman Poet Banished From Rome!

Publius Ovidius Naso known better to us as 'Ovid' was a Roman Poet in the time of emperor Augustus. He was born on the 20th of March 43BC at Sulmo (modern Sulmona), Italy, a small town about 90 miles (140 km) east of Rome. He lived during the period of other great poets such as Virgil and Horace, who were much older than Ovid.

Ovid came from a respectable, well to do, established family. He and his brother were educated in Rome and growing up Ovid's father wanted him to learn rhetoric (the art of persuasion) to prepare him to become a lawyer. In Rome, Ovid had the makings of a good orator, great for a poet, but neglected his studies for his natural talent of verse writing. After Rome, he moved to Athens to attend a notable finishing school for upper-class young men. When Ovid's brother died at the age of 20 he gave up on the idea of law!
 
Photo socionicsdatabase
Ovid at Constanta

By the age of thirty Ovid had been married three times and divorced twice. He had one daughter who gave him grandchildren. The first two marriages were short but his third lasted until his death and he does mention love, respect and affection within that marriage.

The first work of Ovid was the Amores (The Loves) followed by the Epistolae Heroidum (Epistles of the Heroines), The Medicamina Faciei (The Art of Beauty), The Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love), and The Remedia Amoris (Remedies for Love). These early poems have a theme of love and sexual desire. It probably doesn't reflect Ovid's own life. After these works Ovid became established, so he went on to write more ambitious works like The Metamorphoses and The Fasti.

The Fasti was not finished due to the fact that a decree by Emperor Augustus in 8AD Banished Ovid to Tomis on the Black Sea (now Constanţa, Romania). What had Ovid done wrong to upset the Emperor? Ovid describes Augustus's reason for exile as a “carmen et error” meaning "a poem and an error", not a crime. What could this be? Probably the Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) and a personal indiscretion or mistake. The indiscretion or mistake might have been his adultery with Augustus’s granddaughter, Julia the younger, who was banished at the same time to Tremirus, a small Italian island in the Adriatic Sea. In 2BC Julia the elder, mother of the Younger was also banished for immorality, Julia the Elder was sent to Pandateria, a very small Island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. She was denied male company and forbidden to drink wine. The Ars Amatoria had been released whilst this scandal was still fresh and being talked about by the public. It's possible that Ovid had gone against Augustus’s moral reforms which he had introduced and this led to his banishment. We may never know the full reasons why!

The Ars Amatoria (English: The Art of Love) 
This is an instructional elegy series in three books by Ancient Roman poet Ovid. It was written in 2 AD. It is about teaching basic gentlemanly male and female relationship skills and techniques.
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  Ovid had a lighter version of Banishment called relegation, which meant that he kept his citizenship and property. His well-connected wife stayed in Rome looking after his interests.

Tomis was a semi-Hellenized port and was open to attacks from neighbouring people. There were few books and no high society. Latin was not spoken much there and the weather was bad. This was a cruel punishment for a man like Ovid. The Tristia and The Epistulae ex Ponto (“Letters from the Black Sea”) are a series of grovelling letters he wrote to Augustus via his wife and friends asking for a Pardon or at least a mitigation of sentence. Augustus and his successor Tiberius did not change the sentence and later Ovid seems reconciled with his fate as later poems hint at this. Ovid died in Tomis in 17 or 18 AD.
Photo wikimedia
Statue (1887) by Ettore Ferrari commemorating Ovid's exile in Tomis (Constanța, Romania)

Ovid's letters make out Tomis is unbearable, but he learnt the local language, made friends with the locals and read poetry to them. They exempted him from taxes and treated him well. The weather cannot be as bad as Ovid makes out as today its a seaside resort.

Even today, his banishment remains one of the great mysteries of ancient Rome! After 2000 years Ovid is still missed and on Thursday 14th of December 2017, Rome's City Council overturns the banishment.
  
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Copyright © 2020 David Lee

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Ovid - The Metamorphoses: (Penguin Classics)
Ovid's sensuous and witty poem begins with the creation of the world and brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation
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