#Mare Nostrum Empires

[tabletopbellhop]

We record the 6th Birthday Ep of The Tabletop Bellhop LIVE tonight!

Includes, a Bellhop Backstory segment, door prizes, anniversary giveaways, and more!

Reviews Mare Nostrum Empires from Academy Games Star Tycoon from Good Games Publishing Kettle for Robot Quest Arena from Wise Wizard Games

We go live at 8 Eastern at: https://twitch.tv/tabletopbellhop

[stirringwinds]

Random question: have you ever heard of an egregore, and do you think that’s what the nations basically are?

kind of, yes 🤔—as per wiki, for everyone else:

Egregore (also spelled egregor; from French égrégore, from Ancient Greek ἐγρήγορος, egrēgoros 'wakeful') is an esoteric concept representing a non-physical entity or thoughtform that arises from the collective thoughts and emotions of a distinct group of individuals.

nations, as i see them, are very much dreamed into being through the hopes and beliefs of humans. sort of an ironic 'and so, humanity made god/the gods in their image.' many nations definitely have a special relationship with the land itself, just as many human cultures are very much rooted in and coloured by a sense of physical space and place too—think of the significance of the Yellow River as the 'cradle' of Chinese civilisation, the Nile for Egypt, the ancient symbolic significance of Mount Fuji to Japanese culture, the broader importance of the Mediterranean to Rome as 'mare nostrum' (our sea) or how the Mexica city of Tenochtitlan was built on and associated with Lake Texcoco. but at its core, the source of their being imo, is humanity (as there are nomadic nations too, for example, who have more fluid relationships with the land, when you consider various ancient seafaring cultures too). for clarity's sake, i'm using the term 'nation' more loosely as a representation of human cultural-political communities, as i'm aware in a stricter definition, 'nations' and 'nationalism' are a strictly modern phenomenon.

i think there's an elegant irony in how nations can seem almost godlike in their (conditional) immortality, and how many were likely considered some variant of divine in many cultural traditions (the roman story is literally that romulus and his brother remus were the children of Mars, the god of war, no?)...but ultimately, they owe their existence to us regular humans whose lifespans are a fraction of theirs. it's like, as representations of human cultural-political communities, they are these larger than life concepts that encompass both the good and bad of humanity; encompassing every beautiful work of art and poem ever composed—but they've also been the ones in whose names wars were fought in since antiquity. they cannot die no matter how badly their incarnate body is injured because the souls of humans that believe in them are what bind them to the world...but by that same token, even the proudest empires of their day—like babylon, rome or carthage—have also been rendered mortal and subject to the unforgiving hand of history; all the rise and falls, and beginnings and endings.

[claudehenrion]

Relire l'Histoire, à contre rythme des relectures actuelles...

La réécriture de l'Histoire était un passe-temps d'amateurs, avant que les pratiques de la Gauche, qui raffole de cet exercice, ne viennent polluer notre paysage politique. Le hollandisme puis la macronie lui ont conféré une sorte de ''sacralisation laïcarde'', parmi leurs autres idées mensongères... ce dont nous n'avons pas fini de payer les conséquences : l'addition est déjà lourde, et le pire est à venir... Heureusement, des historiens dignes de ce nom nous gratifient parfois d'hypothèses qui nous aident à mieux comprendre le monde moderne à travers les crises artificielles que fabriquent, pour nous perdre, les dirigeants du moment.

Un bel ouvrage de cette lignée vient de ''sortir'' ou plutôt de ressortir : c'est une réédition commentée de l’œuvre d'un historien belge, Henri Pirenne, jusque là totalement inconnu de moi, pour ma plus grande honte. Cet historien bien de son temps (col cassé, moustache et bouc bien peignés !) est mort à ma naissance --sans qu'on puisse établir de lien entre ces deux événements, d'ailleurs. Il avait écrit (donc dans les années 1930) de passionnants ouvrages qui ont été oubliés, dans l'anonymat du vulgum pecus (dont je revendique de faire partie, sans fierté ni arrogance !), mais qui ont été jugés majeurs par toute une école d'historiens ouverts, insoumis (si j'ose !) au stupide ''penser correct'' qui mène l'Occident –et le monde, avec lui-- à une perte qui semble irrémédiable.

Ce ''complotiste'' avant l'heure aux yeux des aveugles qui s'auto-proclament ''l’intelligentzia'' (et qui, donc, penchent à gauche, par mimétisme !) avait émis, dans un excellent ''Mahomet et Charlemagne'', publié après sa mort, en 1937, mais que je n'ai lu que très récemment, l'idée que c'est à cause des invasions arabes que le monde romain survivant à l'Imperium s'était divisé et avait disparu, et que ''Charlemagne (et donc le Saint Empire romain-germanique) n'auraient pas été possibles sans Mahomet''. La 2 ème guerre mondiale a arrêté net toute idée hors du champ politique. Pirenne est tombé dans l'oubli, et sa thèse fut jugée scandaleuse par la ''bien-pensance'', déjà myope à en être aveugle. On peut y adhérer ou pas (pour ma part, j'ai du mal avec certaines de ses déductions, qui me semblent ne pas avoir été démontrés par la suite du temps, mais cela est sans importance, même à mes propres yeux).

Car ce qui compte, c'est une explication ''qui se tient'' de toutes nos crises actuelles, qui étaient donc visibles dès les années '30, donc avant que la folie ne sorte des asiles, au point que la belle Collection Quarto de Gallimard a demandé à à trois historiens, A.Marchandise, Ph.Senac et G.Warland, de réunir les trois Essais majeurs d'Henri Pirenne dans un nouveau livre ''Histoires de l'Europe'', où l'on découvre que ni les invasions barbares, ni même la disparition politique de l'Empire romain n'ont eu une influence réelle sur son organisation sociale, sur sa foi chrétienne, sur son espace commercial, sur l'existence de sa ''Mare nostrum''. Le vrai basculement n'est devenu perceptible qu'avec l'explosion fulgurante de l'islam qui, détruisant les voies de communication, a repoussé le barycentre de l'Occident vers le nord de l'Europe –d'où le lien avec Charlemagne.

Pirenne démontre que le formidable Empire romain, qui allait de l'Ecosse aux confins du Sahara (en Libye et en Egypte) et de l'Espagne à la Syrie et à la Turquie actuelles) n'a pas été bouleversé en profondeur par les invasions dites ''barbares'', à part à Rome-même : les vainqueurs ont eu l'intelligence de comprendre le charme et les avantages de ''s'assimiler'' à une civilisation largement plus ouverte et plus prometteuse que la ou les leur(s). (NDLR – comme on aimerait que, dans leur propre intérêt plus encore que dans le nôtre, les barbares du XXI àme siècle soient capables de la même réflexion-adaptation... Passons). Notre roman national résonne de la fusion gallo-romaine : des francs de Clovis aux wisigoths et aux vandales, notre pays est encore très ''marqué en profondeur'' par les mœurs de l'ancien ''colonisateur'', par Rome et les survivances de sa catholicité... jusque à mon joli village de Mougins, où les ruines de la Via Julia et des ''castra'' de surveillance contre les ligures sont encore visibles, dans ma propre propriété.

Tout ce décor, harmonieux malgré les batailles et les guerres va être détruit, très vite, par l'arrivée des guerriers d'Allah, au VII ème siècle : ''Tandis que les germains, écrit Pirenne, n'ont rien à opposer au christianisme de l'Empire, les arabes, eux, sont exaltés par une foi nouvelle qui veut détruire le monde ancien et régner sur la Terre entière '' (NDLR : objectif clair et précis dont pas un iota n'a été modifié ni même n'a un tout petit peu évolué, dans le discours actuel de l'islam). De ''Mare nostrum'' unifiante, la Méditerranée va devenir de manière permanente un obstacle infranchissable --sauf pour de nouveaux envahisseurs infiltrés parmi de soi-disant ''migrants''!-- et le village de Mougins sera ''razzié'' à plusieurs reprises, comme tant d'autres.

 Pirenne fait découvrir à ses lecteurs que l'Empire romain (qui n'était pas ''issu d'Athènes et de Jérusalem'' pour rien !) était avant tout un art de vivre (j'en parlais récemment, à propos de Ravenne et de la Syrie et de la Jordanie actuelles --où je l'avais ''rencontré'', dans sa partie byzantine, lors de voyages ''initiatiques''). Il en déduit, avec près d'un siècle d'avance sur ce que nous vivons, une opposition ''de facto'' entre une Europe de l'ouest, marquée par un esprit de liberté, d'individualisme et d'altérité mélangés issus du christianisme et de sentiment d'appartenance à une ''Nation''... et une Europe orientale, plus impériale, autoritaire et disciplinée –il dit ''germanique'', et explique par là même, dès 1937, l'impossibilité chaque jour plus évidente d'une Europe unie : personne, jamais, n'a réconcilié l'huile et l'eau... ou le feu et l'eau.

Au moment où une métastase soudaine du conflit israélo-palestinien est en passe de bloquer le trafic du détroit erythréo-yéménite de Bab el-Mandeb qui n'a jamais si bien mérité son nom de Porte des lamentations (Il représente –on l'oublie trop souvent-- entre 25 et 40 % du commerce mondial, et sa fermeture risquerait de précipiter la Chine dans une crise économique majeure, déjà commencée, mais qui recevrait là un coup de grâce : un conflit y paralyserait l'équilibre économique du monde)... il faut absolument lire Pirenne : il n'y a rien de plus éclairant, en ce moment, puisque à défaut de résoudre les maux dont se meurt notre civilisation, cela permet –au moins-- de comprendre les raisons profondes des malheurs d'hier pour évaluer les menaces d'aujourd'hui ! Ce n'est pas tous les jours qu'il est possible de s'offrir une telle possibilité d'anticipation !

H-Cl.

[warsofasoiaf]

Is there a possible world where the western Roman Empire somehow survived but just in Italy?

Anything's possible with enough caveats.

However, we should also note that while Emperor Zeno did abolish the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy considered itself the new rulers of Rome and themselves as Romans. Theodoric the Great considered himself to be "Gothorum Romanorumque rex" the King of Goths and Romans. The real question is, can this Italian Rome sustain itself from Gothic invasion just from the productivity of its Italian provinces, or would it need to retain productive provinces such as Carthago? I'd say that it would need to retain provinces and Mare Nostrum in order to effectively bring in money, but it also needs to revitalize their tax structure to effectively fund the legions and build a society that stressed civil service to have the manpower to resist invasions from the north.

Thanks for the question, Cle-Guy.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[kaelula-sungwis]

Untimely - Mare Nostrum (Explored) by doughty.landscapes Via Flickr: The Carthaginians besieged the Roman empire at the start of the second Punic war in this territory: Saguntum. © Edwin Doughty 2020 - No Unauthorised Use Please. For more information: Edwin Doughty - Galleries and prints Follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/edwin.doughty/

[pazodetrasalba]

Pirenne

Dear Caroline:

This question does come a bit out of the blue. The only reason I can think for it is that Henri Pirenne was basically a social and economic historian, and that you might have considered an oracle on all things economic by the inquirer.

In fact, it is a question I rather like, given my background. My first degree at uni was in History, with specializations in Ancient and Medieval, so I was relatively acquainted with the key ideas of the famous Belgian historian, who is one of the many heroes of the discipline. The fact that he mainly wrote in the last years of the 19th century up to the first decades of the 20th means that his theses are inevitably outdated. History makes very little objectively measurable 'progress', but some things do change after about a century...

When I read 'Pirenne thesis', what immediately came to mind was the argument - I think he makes it in Mohammed and Charlemagne- that the real Middle Ages begin with the Muslim conquests, and not the fall of Rome. Said conquest cut access in the West to what had been the Mare Nostrum, leading to accelerated economic decline which reached its nadir withe the Carolingian empire, after which a 'new West' disconnected from Rome started to grow. In a completely unrelated way, this actually ties with Henrich's thesis about the  Church’s ‘marriage and family program’.

Still, I think the thesis being referred to is the one in Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade, about the rebirth of towns in the Middle Ages. The idea here was, I think, that until about the 10th century, old Roman cities had become husks and pale shadows of their former selves,  fortresses, episcopal seats, abbeys and occasional royal residences for the feudal aristocratic elite. But when trade starts reviving from the 10th to the 13th centuries, a new class of merchants and artisans arrises that repopulates these cities - especially through the creation of suburbs- that positions itself against the feudal order and in time, wrests control of the towns and gives it to a proto-bourgeois  urban patriciate.

Rather more interesting than how much of a divide there was between feudal lords and merchant princes, though, would be searching for the reasons of economic growth that started in this approximate timeframe. There was a famous debate among (mostly) marxist historians in the 70s and 80s, the 'Brenner Debate' on whether demography, commercialization or class relations are the ultimate instigators of said economic growth.

[piratesexmachine420]

Apologies, I haven't gotten around to reading TTOU yet (I know how these things go) -- but I'm curious if this phenomenon has applied to other countries too.

Is "Saudi Arabia" considered a mere descriptive term for a region in the Arabian Peninsula (one presumably controlled or influenced by members of the house of Saud)? Is the term "Republic of the Congo" assumed to be a clipping of "Democratic Republic of the Congo"? Is "Republic of Korea" assumed to be a clipping of "Democratic People's Republic of Korea"? If so, is the conjectured Korean state believed to have comprised two provinces (north and south)? Is it understood that "Indian Ocean" referred to its proximity to the subcontinent, or do they believe that "Indian" marked possession -- "India's Ocean" -- a la Rome and its Mare Nostrum? Are the lunar "seas" understood to have Latin names via an attempt at linguistic neutrality (well, neutral among Europeans anyway), or is it common to think that the Roman Empire once colonized the moon?

Note: sorry if these came off as leading questions -- I'm actually curious what the answers are! Though, I do admit that I am a biased Yank, who feels that the internet as a whole likes to denigrate the idea of U.S. identity a little more than necessary. Up to you to judge which bias is stronger here.

Hey, uh. So. What do you mean, "Nameless country that predated the Republic of Texas"? How much data did humanity lose between the 21st century and Aspen's time period? Or is like, "America" just a word that means "nameless" in Interlingua? Or did "America" become a taboo word and it was lost the same way that the old word for bear was taboo? Is the Republic of Texas censoring all mention of America??

How do you lose the name of a country like that????????????

America is the name of a continent -- two continents, in fact. It's not the name of a country.

[whats-in-a-sentence]

The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, 'the great sea' of the Hebrews, the 'sea' of the Greeks, the mare nostrum of the Romans, bordered with orange trees, aloes, cactus, maritime pines, made fragrant with the perfume of myrtles, framed in rude mountains, saturated with a pure and transparent air, but incessantly worked by underground fires, is a perfect battlefield, in which Neptune and Pluto still dispute the empire of the world.

"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" - Jules Verne

[blog34rjoj5o]

eu4 achievments

Europa Universalis IV (EU4) features a wide range of achievements that players can unlock by accomplishing specific goals or meeting certain conditions during gameplay. Achievements in EU4 add an extra layer of challenge and provide players with unique objectives to strive for. Here are a few examples of achievements in EU4:

"A Protected Market": Control centers of trade in Alexandria, Antwerp, Beijing, Constantinople, Genoa, and Venice simultaneously.

"Mare Nostrum": Restore the Roman Empire as Byzantium.

"World Conqueror": Own all provinces in the world as a single nation.

"Master of India": Control and have cores on every province in the Indian subcontinent as a European nation.

"The Rising Sun": Unify Japan as a Daimyo and then conquer all of China, India, and Russia.

"Terra Mariana": As Riga, form the Baltic Empire and own the Baltic region.

"The Iron Price": As a Norse nation, own and have cores on all of the British Isles.

"Basileus": As Byzantium, restore the Roman Empire.

"Sworn Fealty": Have a consort from each of the 12 different cultures in the game.

"Sunset Invasion": As a New World native nation, conquer a European capital.

These are just a few examples of the numerous achievements available in Europa Universalis IV. Each achievement offers a different challenge and requires specific actions or goals to be accomplished during gameplay. Completing achievements can unlock new rewards, provide bragging rights, and add replay value to the game.

Note that the list of achievements may vary depending on updates and expansions to the game. For the most up-to-date and comprehensive list of achievements in EU4, you can check the game's official website, forums, or in-game achievement menu. If you want to know more about eu4 achievments so visit here.

[flannelunderpants]

Black Sea Empire, Mare Nostrum

The Black Sea drainage basin

[tabletopbellhop]

Celebrate The Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast's 6th anniversary!

Ep 250 is live on Youtube https://youtu.be/8eOi-bQLhBY

We launch 2 giveaways, share our backstory, host a short AMA, and more.

With reviews of Mare Nostrum Empires, Star Tycoon, and Kettle for Robot Quest Arena!

[amediterraneandestiny]

The Roman Empire at its greatest extent in 117 AD

[20k-leagues-speedrun]

CHAPTER VII THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS

The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, “the great sea” of the Hebrews, “the sea” of the Greeks, the “mare nostrum” of the Romans, bordered by orange-trees, aloes, cacti, and sea-pines; embalmed with the perfume of the myrtle, surrounded by rude mountains, saturated with pure and transparent air, but incessantly worked by underground fires; a perfect battlefield in which Neptune and Pluto still dispute the empire of the world!

It is upon these banks, and on these waters, says Michelet, that man is renewed in one of the most powerful climates of the globe. But, beautiful as it was, I could only take a rapid glance at the basin whose superficial area is two million of square yards. Even Captain Nemo’s knowledge was lost to me, for this puzzling person did not appear once during our passage at full speed. I estimated the course which the Nautilus took under the waves of the sea at about six hundred leagues, and it was accomplished in forty-eight hours. Starting on the morning of the 16th of February from the shores of Greece, we had crossed the Straits of Gibraltar by sunrise on the 18th.

It was plain to me that this Mediterranean, enclosed in the midst of those countries which he wished to avoid, was distasteful to Captain Nemo. Those waves and those breezes brought back too many remembrances, if not too many regrets. Here he had no longer that independence and that liberty of gait which he had when in the open seas, and his Nautilus felt itself cramped between the close shores of Africa and Europe.

Our speed was now twenty-five miles an hour. It may be well understood that Ned Land, to his great disgust, was obliged to renounce his intended flight. He could not launch the pinnace, going at the rate of twelve or thirteen yards every second. To quit the Nautilus under such conditions would be as bad as jumping from a train going at full speed—an imprudent thing, to say the least of it. Besides, our vessel only mounted to the surface of the waves at night to renew its stock of air; it was steered entirely by the compass and the log.

I saw no more of the interior of this Mediterranean than a traveller by express train perceives of the landscape which flies before his eyes; that is to say, the distant horizon, and not the nearer objects which pass like a flash of lightning.

We were then passing between Sicily and the coast of Tunis. In the narrow space between Cape Bon and the Straits of Messina the bottom of the sea rose almost suddenly. There was a perfect bank, on which there was not more than nine fathoms of water, whilst on either side the depth was ninety fathoms.

The Nautilus had to manœuvre very carefully so as not to strike against this submarine barrier.

I showed Conseil, on the map of the Mediterranean, the spot occupied by this reef.

“But if you please, sir,” observed Conseil, “it is like a real isthmus joining Europe to Africa.”

“Yes, my boy, it forms a perfect bar to the Straits of Lybia, and the soundings of Smith have proved that in former times the continents between Cape Boco and Cape Furina were joined.”

“I can well believe it,” said Conseil.

“I will add,” I continued, “that a similar barrier exists between Gibraltar and Ceuta, which in geological times formed the entire Mediterranean.”

“What if some volcanic burst should one day raise these two barriers above the waves?”

“It is not probable, Conseil.”

“Well, but allow me to finish, please, sir; if this phenomenon should take place, it will be troublesome for M. Lesseps, who has taken so much pains to pierce the isthmus.”

“I agree with you; but I repeat, Conseil, this phenomenon will never happen. The violence of subterranean force is ever diminishing. Volcanoes, so plentiful in the first days of the world, are being extinguished by degrees; the internal heat is weakened, the temperature of the lower strata of the globe is lowered by a perceptible quantity every century to the detriment of our globe, for its heat is its life.”

“But the sun?”

“The sun is not sufficient, Conseil. Can it give heat to a dead body?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Well, my friend, this earth will one day be that cold corpse; it will become uninhabitable and uninhabited like the moon, which has long since lost all its vital heat.”

“In how many centuries?”

“In some hundreds of thousands of years, my boy.”

“Then,” said Conseil, “we shall have time to finish our journey—that is, if Ned Land does not interfere with it.”

And Conseil, reassured, returned to the study of the bank, which the Nautilus was skirting at a moderate speed.

During the night of the 16th and 17th February we had entered the second Mediterranean basin, the greatest depth of which was 1,450 fathoms. The Nautilus, by the action of its crew, slid down the inclined planes and buried itself in the lowest depths of the sea.

On the 18th of February, about three o’clock in the morning, we were at the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar. There once existed two currents: an upper one, long since recognised, which conveys the waters of the ocean into the basin of the Mediterranean; and a lower counter-current, which reasoning has now shown to exist. Indeed, the volume of water in the Mediterranean, incessantly added to by the waves of the Atlantic and by rivers falling into it, would each year raise the level of this sea, for its evaporation is not sufficient to restore the equilibrium. As it is not so, we must necessarily admit the existence of an under-current, which empties into the basin of the Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar the surplus waters of the Mediterranean. A fact indeed; and it was this counter-current by which the Nautilus profited. It advanced rapidly by the narrow pass. For one instant I caught a glimpse of the beautiful ruins of the temple of Hercules, buried in the ground, according to Pliny, and with the low island which supports it; and a few minutes later we were floating on the Atlantic.

[asklepiean]

The Big Bad Book List For Cultores

Update April 27 2022: I haven’t updated this list since I wrote it, and I don’t think I’ll do it in the future (I read too much and never remember to write the titles here). If you’d like some suggestions on what to read because you can’t find anything that suits your needs, feel free to ask.

When approacing a new tradition is vital to study the culture that gave birth to it. Here you can find a list of books/papers(*)(**) I think can be useful for anyone interested in Roman culture. This list is in fieri, I'll update it regularly and with every book suggestion you will write in the comments/reblog.

Books are not in chronological/alphabetical order are divided in:

General

Historiography

Literature and philosophy

Politics and society

Religion

Society

Army and warfare

Rome in the history of political thought

(*)Library Genesis, Electronic Library, academia.edu, ResearchGate and sci-hub are your best friends - use them

(**) I’ll try to find an english translation for the books, but it won’t be possible for every one of them. I’ll write the original title and you can decide if you want to use Google Translate or skip it.

General

Beard M. - SPQR, A History of Ancient Rome

Erdkamp P. - The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Rome

Flower H.I. - The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic

Johnson D. - The Cambridge Companion to Roman Law

Scheidel W. - The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy

Reddé M. - Mare nostrum

Sallares R. - Malaria and Rome. A History of Malaria in Ancient Italy

Rüpke J. - A Companion to Roman Religion

Historiography

Ancient

Sallust - The War With Catiline

Sallust - The Jugusthine War

Suetonius - The Twelve Caesars

AA.VV. - Historia Augusta

Erodianus - The Empire From The Death Of Marcus

Livy - From The Founding Of The City

Appian - Roman History

Plutarch - Parallel Lives

Polybius - The Histories

Modern

Mommsen T. - History of Rome

Gibbon E. - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 

Ferrero G. - Greatness and Decline of Rome

Literature and philosophy

Seneca - De Ira

Seneca - De Brevitate Vitae

Seneca - De Vita Beata

Seneca - De Tranquillitate Animi

Seneca - De Clementia

Seneca - Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Seneca - Apocolocyntosis Divi Claudii

Epictetus - The Discourses 

Marcus Aurelius - Meditations

Martial - Epigrams

Vergil - Aeneid

Vergil - Georgics

Vergil - Eclogues 

Ovid - Heroides

Ovid - Ars Amatoria

Ovid - Remedia Amoris

Ovid - Metamorphoses 

Ovid - Fasti

Ovid - Tristia

Catullus - Poems

Politics and society

Ancient

Cicero - De Re Publica

Cicero - De Legibus

Cicero - De Officiis

Cicero - In Verrem

Cicero - Pro Caelio

Cicero - Pro Lege Manilia or De Imperio Cn. Pompei

Cicero - Philippicae

Cicero - In Catilinam

Cicero - De Domo Sua

Cicero - Epistulae ad Atticum

Cicero - Commentariolum Petitionis

Modern

Syme R. - Roman Revolution

Gelzer M. - The Roman Nobility

Millar F. - The Crowd in Rome in the Late Republic 

Millar F. - Rome, the Greek World, and the East vol. 1-3

Millar F. - The Emperor in the Roman World, 31 BC–AD 337

Millar F. - The Political Character of the Classical Roman Republic, 200-151 B.C.

Millar F. - Politics, Persuasion and the People before the Social War (150-90 B.C.)

Millar F. - The Mediterranean and the Roman Revolution. Politics, War and the Economy

Millar F. -  Political Power in Mid-Republican Rome Curia or Comitium

Badian E. - Roman Imperialism in the Late Republic

Badian E. - Foreign Clientelae (264-70 B.C.)

Morstein-Marx R. - Mass Oratory and Political Power in the Late Roman Republic

Mouritsen H. - Plebs and Politics in the Late Roman Republic

Mouritsen H. - Politics in the Roman Republic

Münzer F. - Roman aristocratic parties and families

Yakobson A. - Petitio et Largitio. Popular Participation in the Centuriate Assembly of the Late Republic

Lintott A. - The Constitution of the Roman Republic

Goldsworthy A. - In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire 

Canfora L. - Julius Caesar: The Life and Times of the People’s Dictator 

Fezzi L. - Crossing the Rubicon: Caesar's Decision and the Fate of Rome 

Religion

Beard M., North J., Price S. - Religions of Rome, vol 1-2

Dumezil G. - Archaic Roman Religion

Flower H.I. - The Dancing Lares and the Serpent in the Garden, Religion at the Roman Street Corner

Gradel I. - Emperor Worship and Roman Religion

Price S. R. F. - Rituals and Power. The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor

Rüpke J. - On Roman Religion. Lived Religion and the Individual in Ancient Rome

Rüpke J. - Pantheon. A New History of Roman Religion

Scheid J. - Quand faire, c'est croire 

Scheid J. - The Gods, the State, and the Individual. Reflections on Civic Religion in Rome

Fishwick D. - The Imperial Cult in the Latin West 

Fishwick D. - The Imperial Cult in Roman Britain

Army and warfare

Harris W.V. - War and Imperialism in Republican Rome. 327-70 B.C

Rich J., Shipley G. - War and society in the Roman world

Starr C. G. - The Roman imperial navy

La Bohec Y. -  L'armée romaine sous le Haut-Empire

La Bohec Y. - L’armée romaine sous le Bas-Empire

Goldsworthy A. - The Roman Army at War 100 BC – AD 200 

Goldsworty A. - Roman Warfare 

Goldsworthy A. - The Punic Wars

Goldsworty A. -  The Complete Roman Army

Rome in the history of political thought

Machiavelli N. - Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livius

Constant B. - The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Modern

Rousseau J.J. - The Social Contract 

Montesquieu - Considerations on the causes of the grandeur and decadence of the Romans

Mably G.B. - Observations sur les Romains

Millar F. - The Roman Republic in political thought

[a03feed-percico]

Mare Nostrum

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/39If4Kq

by TheRealSokka

In 31 BC, Rome is on the brink of war. Nico di Angelo, for his part, hadn't thought it would involve him in any way. Nor did he expect to suddenly find himself on a ship with some of the strangest people he's ever met; sailing across the Mediterranean to stop a mysterious evil from taking advanatge of the chaos in the Empire.

(Heroes of Olympus-style adventure; full summary inside)

Words: 5041, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Multi

Characters: Nico di Angelo, Percy Jackson, The Stoll Brothers (Percy Jackson), Thalia Grace, Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson), Charles Beckendorf, Leo Valdez

Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson

Additional Tags: Antiquity AU, Roman Civil War, Adventure across the Mediterranean, Romance, Friendship, Mythological and Mortal Adversaries, Percy has a Ship, Final Pairings yet undecided

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/39If4Kq

[bluboothalassophile]

Slaves of Rome

Jason stood there, his chest heaving, the blood sticky as it dried on his sweat soaked skin as his eyes flicked up to the stadium where he saw him. The green knowing eyes stared at him as the crowd roared around him as the Emperor stared down at him. The heat was merciless, the sand was burning hot beneath his feet, and the weapon rested heavily in his hand. The Emperor lifted his hand then, his thumb neutral which had the crowd silencing as everyone held a bated breath.

The thumb lifted upwards and the crowd roared, he saw her smile beside the Egyptian and the Emperor as he looked down at his feet before he was herded towards the exit of the arena. The weapon fell into the loose sand as he walked into the halls.

His life had not always been this.

He had once been respected, a member of one of the most respected families in Jerusalem. His father a wealthy merchant who’s trade empire had spanned around Mare Nostrum, with rich trade with the Egyptians and Romans. His father’s wives, one, Talia, was an Egyptian noble, the other was a freed slave from Hispania, Selina. He had many siblings, Richard, Timothy, Cass, Duke, Damian, Athanasia, Helena, Thomas, and Bruce, and it was because of them he had come here.

Ten years ago he had played in the fields with his younger siblings, an accident had lead to the death of a Roman General before the eyes of his own son and son’s family. The Roman’s had merely witnessed his family in the field near the horses, they had not witnessed the act which had lead to the horse trampling the general. Damian's stone had missed it’s mark, startling the stallion when it hit the beast in the rump, and the herd followed the stallion. When the Romans had come, as the eldest man in the house at the time, Jason had taken the fall. Kal-El had come for his head, instead, at the threat of a Jewish revolt upon his death, he was sentenced to the hard labor of being a galley slave. That hadn’t killed him as Kal had hoped, so five years ago Kal-El had put Jason in the arena, and thus far, Jason was undefeated and now no death outside the arena would be permitted because his family still held massive power.

Now he was a gladiator, the best in Rome.

His eyes flicked around at the other slaves here. A Jewish Gladiator, the best in Rome, undefeated.

There was a ruckus which had him looking over as an ivory pale woman broke the ranks of the chains, her fury had her grabbing a knife as she slashed a guard’s throat, spinning around to use the body as a shield as she propped herself up under the deadman’s weight when the arrows were shot, the other slaves dove out of the way as she dropped the body, rolled, snarled. Her eyes were pale, icy blue as he threw her dagger and ran. Jason stepped back, stuck his foot out, catching foot, which had her sprawling into the hard dirt of the hall. She was on her back before he anticipated as she slammed her knee into his groin, gasping for breath he doubled over as stars exploded before his eyes. She caught his chin with her finger, tilting his head back, he tried to breathe, and she smiled before her elbow slammed into his cheek which had him crashing into the ground as the world decided to waver. He watched her flee, her black braids flying behind her as the guards chased after her.

That Celt! He groaned as he rolled onto his back, pushing himself up onto the wall.

~~~*~*~*~~~

She ran, grabbing the corner as she vaulted herself upwards, slamming her knee into one guard as she blocked another hit, spinning low as she hooked his knees then slammed another elbow into the guard. She gasped when she felt a slice on her side which had her staggering back, feeling blood seep from her wound then as she glared at the guard. The guard spun his sword in a large arch, and she held up her arms when something hit her knees and slammed her head into the wall causing her world to black out.

~~~*~*~*~~~

He glared at her as she was tossed onto floor, her wound crudely dressed, and her black hair was spilling over everywhere, the odd braids tangled about her face. Jason stared at the Celt.

“Fucking Celt,” a guard muttered. “Keeps trying to escape.”

Jason looked over at the woman who lay there limply.

“That was not very smart,” he said in latin. She tilted her head back a bit, glared at him dangerously then.

“Not even the gods could contain me,” she replied in slow, halted latin.

“You’re a Celt,” he said as he shifted to lean on the bars between them.

“I am what I am,” she replied tiredly.

He nodded then slowly reached over, her hand caught his wrist as her face contorted in an animalistic wildness. “Let me see that,” he ordered.

“Back off,” she growled.

“No, get up, get over here,” he ordered. Catching her wrist he yanked her to the bars, she grunted in pain then tried to fight him until he jabbed the wound which had her moaning as she curled in on her side.

“I’ve never seen a fighter like you,” he said. “Where are you from?”

“Nowhere,” she snarled.

“Jason,” he offered his name to her, and she looked up at him with suspicious eyes. “I’m a slave, Celt,” he smiled. “Jewish.”

“People of one God,” she said.

“Yes, Children of God,” he corrected.

“Raven,” she muttered as he pulled his smuggled flask of alcohol to start cleaning her wound. It was clean, she growled lowly as she muttered in a language he had never heard before. She was beautiful, he supposed, now that she wasn’t trying to kill him.

Curly black hair, blue eyes, ivory colored skin, and a slight figure with thick hips, thighs and curvy calves. She was strong, not like a woman from his home or the Greek princess who he serviced. This woman was not muscled from training or show. Everything about this Celt was carefully depicting a wild woman who survived; he stared at the other scars and the ink marring her skin in unRoman appearance. There was history here, history of people he didn’t know, but the intricate design was carefully thought out, beautifully mapped, and intriguing. She was unlike any Celt he had seen in the arena; most of them being brightly colored with sunny, silver, or bloody red hair.

“Why?” she whispered.

“Because no one should suffer of cruelty,” he said.

“I am cruel,” she smiled weakly.

He said nothing.