historical « Alison Morton's Thrillers

So what's this 'Roma Nova' about?

It’s about books. No, it’s about stories of people, their aspirations, their dilemmas, their loves and their adventures. It’s about sacrifice, passion and loyalty, about betrayal, power-hunger and redemption. And it takes the imagination on one of the most intriguing ‘what if’ stories ever…

Roma Nova is an imaginary country (except in […]

The Mysterious Youth of Magdalensberg

Modern copy in the collection of the Landesmuseum Kärnten at Magdalensberg

When I was writing JULIA PRIMA, my research about her hometown of Virunum uncovered the story of the Youth of Magdalensberg (Der Jüngling vom Magdalensberg), an ancient Roman bronze statue dating to the first century BC. Now, Romans, statues – […]

'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. […]