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 […]

Robert Harris, one of the inspirations for Roma Nova’s existence

When I first picked up Robert Harris’ Fatherland in my local independent bookshop in 1992, I was fascinated by the concept of ‘what if Nazi Germany had won the war?’ What would have been the alternate path of history?

Fatherland was intrinsically a political thriller. In 1992, the whole of Europe was attempting to realign […]

Ben Kane and A Day of Fire

Today, I don’t have one special guest but six! My writing friend Ben Kane has been working with a group of other historical authors to write a collaborative novel in six stories. This venture could have been as risky as the eruption of Vesuvius, the volcano at the centre of their story, A Day of […]