German Gold Roman Blood

There is a disconect between rulers and those they govern. Their power, and the people they wield, guides the historical narrative, often distorting the truth. But sometimes, in rare moments of magnificence, by individual heroic, unselfish acts, all of their bluster and pretense is rendered insignificant. Mere window dressing for simple souls in need of comfort and reassurance. Easily swayed. For every great society, thousands will toil and suffer. Many will claim credit. Only one will have earned it. When magnificence was common. In 9AD, German barbarians will rise up in rebellion. Annihilate 3 of Rome's finest Legions, destroy a dozen forts, and drive the Romans from their land. United, they will stop Rome's northern expansion forever, and begin the destruction of Rome itself, saving Western civilization from an evil Empire. Erased from the record, is 52 days, that will change it all.

In the unseasonable heat of a spring morning in 80 B.C., Gordianus the Finder is summoned to the house of Cicero, a young advocate staking his reputation on a case involving the savage murder of the wealthy, sybaritic Sextus Roscius. Charged with the murder is Sextus's son, greed being the apparent motive. The punishment, rooted deep in Roman tradition, is horrific beyond imagining. The case becomes a political nightmare when Gordianus's investigation takes him through the city's raucous, pungent streets and deep into rural Umbria. Now, one man's fate may threaten the very leaders of Rome itself.

Figuring in myth, religion, law, the military, commerce, and transportation, rivers were at the heart of Rome's increasing exploitation of the environment of the Mediterranean world. In Rivers and the Power of Ancient Rome, Brian Campbell explores the role and influence of rivers and their surrounding landscape on the society and culture of the Roman Empire. Examining artistic representations of rivers, related architecture, and the work of ancient geographers and topographers, as well as writers who describe rivers, Campbell reveals how Romans defined the geographical areas they conquered and how geography and natural surroundings related to their society and activities. In addition, he illuminates the prominence and value of rivers in the control and expansion of the Roman Empire--through the legal regulation of riverine activities, the exploitation of rivers in military tactics, and the use of rivers as routes of communication and movement. Campbell shows how a technological understanding of--and even mastery over--the forces of the river helped Rome rise to its central place in the ancient world.

An introduction to the land, history, economy, culture, and people of Germany.