Ruth Downie and Vita Brevis

Today, I’m delighted to welcome Ruth Downie back to the Roma Nova writing world. She’s talked before about historic truth and donkey poo, and wrote a poignant account ‘from below’ at the court of Boudica as part of A Year of Ravens. Of course, Roma Novans know her as the name on the endorsement for […]

History? Um, we know the ending...

All writers sneak a look at their reviews – we are so human (Not sure I completely believe those who say they don’t 😉 ) Looking at INSURRECTIO’s, I was struck by this one: “Although I enjoyed the first three, IV and V are disappointing; particularly this one. Because they are ‘backstory’, I already knew […]

Carina, Aurelia and the Pompeii gladius

Twenty-first century Roma Nova military train with state of the art weaponry; their firepower and weapon handling are undoubted. But they also train on a ‘volunteer’ basis with a modern carbon steel version of the traditional Pompeii gladius, a short sword in use from at least AD 79 and not uncommon in the 4th century […]