Romans | Alison Morton's Thrillers

Latin, eh?

What connects a Wallsend metro station, an ATM in the Vatican City, Asterix and Wikipedia?

Latin, of course!

Originating in Italy, it was spoken in Ancient Rome and spread through the Mediterranean into much of the then known world. Although now considered a dead language, many students, scholars, and members of the Christian clergy speak […]

Rome and the wolf

The shocking news that the icon of Rome’s foundation, a life-size bronze statue of a she-wolf with two human infants suckling her, is about 1,700 years younger than its city hit the headlines this summer.

Scholars had long established that the bronze figures of Romulus and Remus feeding from their adopted wolf mother were added […]

A little drop of magic and spellbinding

A Roman magic stone

My fellow writer, Janice Horton, is throwing a “Spellbindingly Fun Blog Party” today and as a little light relief, I’m joining in.

Magic was an integral part of Roman life – astrology, amulets, incantations, spells, healing and cursing formulas. Pliny’s conclusion, however, was cautious: though he dismissed magic as […]