necromaniac

I would say the Lugii ( or Lygians, or Lugians, however you may wish to pronunciate it). Painted themselves and their weapons and shields black, and attacked at night, which was very out of the norm for the times.

While reading through the Gallic War, I am also under the impression that there were more circumstances behind the scenes that helped attribute to Caesar's precarious situations during the war, and his eventual victory. This is all conjecture on my part, so..... We have Ariovistus, who during a parley with Caesar, mentions the fact the Caesar is having difficulties back home in Rome, and that Ariovistus is "not so much of a barbarian as to be ignorant to the fact of Caesar's problems.." Ariovistus, as Caesar mentions, was declared a friend to the People and Senate of Rome. Question is, how would Ariovistus have known what was happening in the Senate house in Rome proper? Did Caesar's enemies in the Senate approach Ariovistus, maybe secretly approving his motives of driving the Gauls out of their lands, while promising that Rome itself will not supply any more troops to Caesar during his campaign? We know that Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer was an officer under Pompey for a time, and that he was Consul until his death in 59BCE. He also was proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, and had contact with the Suebi, according to Pliny the Elder. Did Caesar have enough enemies in the Senate as early as 58BCE, to have some persons of influence connected to the Senate try to cause a disruption in Caesar's plans by approaching Ariovistus? Not to try and stop the taking of Gaul, but to stop Caesar from being the person who orchestrated it? Vercingetorix always perplexed me. His father, Celtillus, was supposedly put to death by his tribesmen for wanting to rule all of Gaul. It is clear then, that Vercingetorix was a noble of sorts. What is not clear though, is how Vercingetorix managed to raise the hopes of the Gauls for a successful revolt so fast. Under the assumption that Vercingetorix did not start planning a revolt at the beginning of the Gallic campaigns(58BCE), and with Caesar having friends and spies within the various trbies throught Gaul, in a relative time period of a year or two (GW began 58BCE, ending 51BCE), Vercingetorix managed to get himself elected leader of the revolt, plan strategies and logistics, and to have 100K's of troops at his disposal until the siege at Alesia. What I am trying to conject here, is that it seems probable that Vercingetorix had some outside assistance, as in non-Gallic. The gold needed to fund such an undertaking would have been enormous. During the campaigns, it would have seemed almost impossible for him to have raised such an amount of gold. Possible another Roman hand in the stirring pot of Vercingetorix, with the promise of gold and a kingship, in return for defeating Caesar?

beautiful sketches!!! now, where were you when my artist quit on the comic we were trying to create?!? hehe

pretty cool

While re-reading Commentarii de Bella Gallico, it seems Ambiorix just disappeared off the face of the Roman World, never to be heard from again. I can't find any other source if information that mentions his name outside Caesar's, which is strange in itself as Ambiorix was a pretty high profile player in the Gallic wars. Another odd fact, according to Mr. Caesar, is that Ambiorix and his followers crossed east over the Rhine, into Germanic territory, never to be heard from again. I have searched, and can not find any other sources mentioning the name Ambiorix. Any opinions?

Salve, LS. I would have liked to be part of the first Constantinopolitan generation. Alexandria, to sit in the library for hours on end

i literally almost fell out of my chair when i read that,

I believe Pompey was the de facto benefactor for the Senate, or at least trying to present himself as such for the time being; meaning that the legions under Pompey's control were supposedly fighting for the rights of the Republic. If Pompey would have won Pharsalus, I think he would have gone the same route as Caesar in any case.

At the time of Caesar's transcending the Rubikon, the only entity that may have been capable of retaining the Republic would have been the Senate. But, as we all know too very well, leaders from Caesar to the end of the Empire made legions loyal to themselves more than that to the SPQR, which in my opinion is a republics greatest fear. A Senate, or Republic for that matter, with little or no military back-up, will succumb to a general bent on a power-grab with the might of the military loyal only to him, and not to the people. Making promises of pay raises, donating land and raising the pensions for veterans only led to the solidifying of military support and loyalty to the general promising the gold.

Since the site has been dated at such a late period in the Empire, does anyone think that the graves could contain more "Germanic" soldiers, than Italian, persay? Maybe the soldiers were from the same area, and have been buried there successively over time? Very interesting.

I was in beta before launch, then quit and came back a few months ago to see how well it was going. Needless to say, the game leaves much to be desired. It is, after all, free, and a player is getting exactly what he is paying for. Redbedlam is so hell bent on trying to keep the game "realistic", that they sacraficed gameplay fun. The tasks given to become a citizen are ridiculous, and takes legitimally 2 real-time months to complete. While wandering aimlessly around trying to harvest items for the tasks (firewood, stones, etc), you can find yourself magically warping to a different location. The graphics are horrendous, but once again, the player is getting what he paid for; a pasty, potbellied half-naked Roman slave wandering about in early 90's style graphics.

I'm just now starting to read up the Vikings myself. Very interesting people, but not the blood fanatical marauders that they are potrayed to be, or so i've been reading.

True, under Aurelian.

How exactly did this battle halt the spread of Orthodoxy into Western Europe, when the two churches were still unified for a century more? The Bishop of Rome didn't split off until 1054. I left the word "potentially" out.

The Battle of the Bosnian Highlands May 27th, 927 King Tomislav of the Kingdom of Croatia completely annihilated the invading army of Simeon I of Bulgaria. The significance of the battle was this: The Bulgarians were a major power on the early 900's, receiving tribute from Byzantium, expanding their borders, and even having Simeon recognized by the Catholic Church as " Emperor of all Romans", a title equal to that of emperor of Byzantine. The defeat at the hands of the Croats halted the spread of Orthodoxy into Western Europe, weakened Bulgaria to the point where Byzantine could regain a foothold, administering crushing defeats agians tthe Bulgarians, eventually making them a province, and freed the Byzantines of much needed manpower to fight the onslaught of ever advancing Muslims.