Research « Alison Morton's Thrillers

'Feeling' the Virunum Amphitheatre

Last year, just before the launch of JULIA PRIMA, I wrote a post about Virunum, Julia’s birthplace. After poring over research papers and reading Géza Alföldy’s comprehensive and accessible Noricum, I was able to produce a reasonably informative piece for this blog.

But… (You knew that was coming.)

I had no ‘feel’ for Virunum. […]

Walking round Roman Emona

After breaking out of Italy, Romans spread all over Europe. During the 1st century BC they looked north and east and a Roman military stronghold was built on the site of the present day Ljubljana in Slovenia. Construction of the Roman settlement of Emona (Colonia Iulia Aemona), fortified with strong walls, followed in AD 14.

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Is it just a load of old stones and pots?

Why do I insist on clambering over old stones, foundations, really, of buildings dating back 2,000 years? Or paving slabs, funny concrete, remnants of wall paintings or bits of mosaic? And looking at broken bits of pottery and metalwork? And sometimes staring at beautiful whole glass and marble creations that I can’t possibly understand how […]