Bil Hardenberger Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Hey guys, I just started a new project, check it out here: CAESAR'S WARS I would appreciate any input, thoughts, etc. on this project. Enjoy! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childress Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Bil, I can't think of a better background source for your project than this one:Legionary: The Roman Soldier's (Unofficial) Manualhttp://www.amazon.com/Legionary-Roman-Soldiers-Unofficial-Manual/dp/0500251517The author has loaded his book with useful details on every aspect of the Roman legion- recruitment, weapons, foraging, pensions, etc and made it entertaining to boot. Sometimes laugh out loud funny despite the erudition on display.Good luck. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger73 Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 @Bil, do you want comments here or there (on your blog)? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 @Bil, do you want comments here or there (on your blog)?On the blog would be best, that way they are all in one place. Childress, thanks for the link, that's one I don't already have. I'll look into picking it up, 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 I posted the first writing sample last night.. please take a look at it if you get a chance. I would be very interested in any comments, critiques, corrections, or abuse you might have. Don't be shy, lay into me if you think I need it.If you do wish to leave a comment, please leave it on the blog so they are all in one place and easy to keep track of and take action on (if required).~PROLOGUE~ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicky Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2015/40/the-celts-blood-iron-and-sacrificeThis might be of interest. Episode 3 covers the revolt in Colchester - my home town. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Thanks Wicky... I think Dr. Roberts is the bee's knees, but I may not be able to watch that show (can't usually watch BBC programs online) unless it comes to BBC America or gets posted on Youtube.What did you think of the Prologue? Good, bad, indifferent?Cheers 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AttorneyAtWar Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I enjoyed the prologue Bil, it kept me engaged and I could definitely see the action in my head! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicky Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 (edited) If you get the chance to catch the series as it has experts demonstrating some of the tactics you vividly describe - in fact just after reading your Prologue close-quarter combat was demonstated in the last episode, along with some long sword slicing into a hung pig (dead I might add...). I'm no expert on the subject despite living in Britain's old Roman capital I just used to play in Roman and medieval graveyards as a kid digging up bones, and later working as an archaeological draughtsman piecing together and drawing pottery in a room full of ol' Roman bones stacked to the ceiling! Edited October 21, 2015 by Wicky 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 I enjoyed the prologue Bil, it kept me engaged and I could definitely see the action in my head! Thanks Raptor, I appreciate it.If you get the chance to catch the series as it has experts demonstrating some of the tactics you vividly describe - in fact just after reading your Prologue close-quarter was demonstated in the last episode, along with some long sword slicing into a hung pig (dead I might add...). I'm no expert on the subject despite living in Britain's old Roman capital I just used to play in Roman and medieval graveyards as a kid digging up bones, and later working as an archaeological draughtsman piecing together and drawing pottery in a room full of ol' Roman bones stacked to the ceiling!I am so jealous.. I was stationed in England for a few years (early 80's) and if I could move there I'd be there tomorrow. I'll keep an eye out for that series, but we rarely get the interesting shows like this, mainly the crap.. it's okay, we don't get the "good German beer" either, just the dregs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AttorneyAtWar Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Thanks Raptor, I appreciate it.I am so jealous.. I was stationed in England for a few years (early 80's) and if I could move there I'd be there tomorrow. I'll keep an eye out for that series, but we rarely get the interesting shows like this, mainly the crap.. it's okay, we don't get the "good German beer" either, just the dregs. No problem, I know I didn't go into very much detail, but you've got a customer already. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 (edited) Bil,Looks like you're off to a terrific start, and I say this as someone who's been a buff of the legions since elementary school, medaled twice in Latin in high school and was briefly (moved) State President of the Junior Classical League for South Carolina. At one point, I was seriously thinking of a career in Classics, but wound up going into military aerospace instead. Your blog looks great, but where do I leave comments? Maybe I'm blind, but I looked all over and couldn't find such an entry. I'll be happy to help you from my knowledge base and targeted research, but I've learned a lesson from the Dien Bien Phu project and am not simply going to guess at what to send you, though I do have something very special in mind I am going to post which, I believe, will contribute greatly to your war effort. Instead, please let me know what you need, and I'll take it from there. I have special expertise in certain areas relevant to your project. I even have some direct Roman legionary experience via a brief period of living archaeology at a huge encampment for military re-enactors covering from the ancient Persians through the LRRPs of Nam.Regards,John KettlerP.S. (post scriptum)While it's obviously not your fault, I should point out to those not familiar with the legions in Julius Caesar's time that the armor the men are wearing in the surrender of Vercingetorix at Alesia drawing is completely wrong for the period, since what's crudely depicted is the lorica segmentata from much later (think Claudius) rather than the lorica hamata (chain mail) typical for the Late Republic. Also, the shields (scuta) are horribly wrong. Edited November 13, 2015 by John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted November 15, 2015 Author Share Posted November 15, 2015 Hey John, thanks for the comments.. at the bottom of each blog entry there is an option to leave comments. All comments are welcome and encouraged. Send me anything you have that you think might be helpful, all help, especially practical experience is welcome. Feel free to PM me for my email address if you have something you want to send via email or other means.yeah, there is a lot wrong with that image and I plan on replacing it with one of my own creation. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted November 15, 2015 Author Share Posted November 15, 2015 I have just posted an update the ~PROLOGUE~ if interested. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 (edited) Bil,Am having Google account setup issues. Consequently, the comment I made on your blog can't be posted. Thus, I'm posting three remarkable videos here. You might say they lie at the very heart of your war effort. The armor isn't Republican, so please ignore that part. Both my minister's wife Latin teacher and I would've needed new underwear after seeing this amazing material!Roman Legionary Gladius Training I Roman Legionary Gladius Training II Conquest: Roman WeaponsThis is very good, though the general caution about armor issues applies. Also, I'm not at all impressed with the pilum throwing shown here. In an outing with Legion VI Victrix at the previously mentioned encampment, I got the opportunity to throw a few times. Doing it in the strictly forbidden left hand manner (would've been killed outright or left to die in infancy once this perversion was noted), I ripped off throws which made the guys green with envy--way past what they with all their practice could do. The pilum isn't all that heavy, and if you know what you're doing, flinging it, say, 40 feet is quite doable. I'm working from faint memory here, and it might be farther. How do I think I outperformed the supposed pros? It's not that those guys were weak, but that they seemed to forget a pilum is a ballistic object and is far more effective as a standoff weapon when hurled with significant up angle at release! When I threw, I first reached way back so I got maximum momentum and arm movement prior to weapon launch. Typically, the Romans charged (cursus) and threw while doing so, adding to the striking force. I had very little opportunity to throw (3 or 4 times), and I found throwing while running was tricky and would require serious practice. Should also point out that I had my pilum experiences while not in armor (Claudian lorica segmentata), wearing a helmet (cassis) or carrying a scutum. Regards,John Kettler Edited November 16, 2015 by John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 (edited) Bil, In someone's long list of followed Tumblr sites, I found this and immediately thought of you. Strikes me as something useful for your reference section. While it covers a great deal more than Roman matters, it also includes a Latin word of the day, with full diacritical marks and definitions. http://ahencyclopedia.tumblr.com/ Something else you should also be aware of is an important relatively recent (2011 for the revised edition) scholarly, but still readable, book called THE CATAPULT: A History, by Tracey Rhill, who is Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Wales and is the author of the highly related GREEK TECHNOLOGY. The cover blurb, from TECHNOLOGY And CULTURE, asserts it should now replace E.W. Marsden's (seminal) GREEK And ROMAN ARTILLERY. THE CATAPULT is quite the read, full of catapult (catapults and ballistas under that rubric) artifact discoveries of which I knew nothing. While I'm not ready to sign up for what seems to be a claim that Caesar's scorpios, used in the corner of his march camps, were manuballistas, I'm delighted to report the book explains something which has broken my head ever since I read the technical treatises. That is the cursed business of the half spring. Turns out (suggest you sit down for this) the half spring which has so bedeviled me and doubtless many others interested in the topic, is based on a Greek invention called a monoglon ("one arm") dating back to early 300 BCE. What you and I think of as a low tech, late Roman empire torsion engine is in fact the ancestor of the two-arm torsion catapult. It has a full spring. Thus, if you shorten that long span into two separate pieces, you get a half spring! That first-person combat account in Prologue 2is one of the most engrossing things I've ever read from ANY soldier in battle. Superb writing, too. It shines a light on how the Roman legionaries really fought the likes of which I've never seen. The Optio business as combat leader was quite the shock, for every book I've ever read on the Roman Army listed them as keepers of unit records, funds, etc. They were scarce educated admin specialists, immunes and exempt from the usual fatigues. Gratias ago te for providing that incredible account. May I suggest you pass this archaeological windfall to the crack Roman re-enactor group Legion VI Victrix (legionsix.org)? If they haven't seen it yet, it'll blow their minds. While their unit is very much post Julius Caesar at its core, they also do Republican Roman warfare. Regards, John Kettler Edited January 20, 2017 by John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 2 hours ago, John Kettler said: That first-person combat account in Prologue 2is one of the most engrossing things I've ever read from ANY soldier in battle. Superb writing, too. It shines a light on how the Roman legionaries really fought the likes of which I've never seen. The Optio business as combat leader was quite the shock, for every book I've ever read on the Roman Army listed them as keepers of unit records, funds, etc. They were scarce educated admin specialists, immunes and exempt from the usual fatigues. Gratias ago te for providing that incredible account. May I suggest you pass this archaeological windfall to the crack Roman re-enactor group Legion VI Victrix (legionsix.org)? If they haven't seen it yet, it'll blow their minds. While their unit is very much post Julius Caesar at its core, they also do Republican Roman warfare. Regards, John Kettler John, thanks for the information very interesting... The Optio of a Century to be the direct subordinate and second in command to the Centurion (a hand picked veteran) as described in multiple references... I see him, as a future-centurion in training, a coach, and an assistant to the Centurion who was in the front of the battle formation.. he maintained order, probably encouraged and guided the soldiers, and would take over command of the Century in the event of the Centurion falling. To think that a Centurion commanded and led an entire Century of around 80 men on his own without subordinate officers really makes no sense to me. Keep in mind that the manner of fighting as described in my text is a common sense combination of multiple texts that I have read.. nobody really knows how the Romans fought at the level described. My text is an example of how it might have been, not how it actually was, so I do not claim any "archaeological windfall" as you said. Thanks for the kind comments John, but for some reason I get the impression you are pulling my leg when you say "That first-person combat account in Prologue 2is one of the most engrossing things I've ever read from ANY soldier in battle.".. thanks, but I remain skeptical. Bil 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 8 hours ago, Bil Hardenberger said: Keep in mind that the manner of fighting as described in my text is a common sense combination of multiple texts that I have read.. nobody really knows how the Romans fought at the level described. My text is an example of how it might have been, not how it actually was, so I do not claim any "archaeological windfall" as you said. Was so confused by what you said I went back to Prologue 2 and reread it. Unless I flunked English, which I didn't, was an Honor Student, it appears to me the long indented passage whose terminus is indicated by the return to full column width at "Thus ended..." is indeed an archaeological windfall of the highest sort. The citation certainly indicates it to be from a recovered papyrus. Or are you going to tell me this is some sort of clever pastiche you artfully stitched together? If so, congratulations! I wasn't pulling your leg regarding my characterization of my reaction to that account, either. It was exactly how I felt and, in that instant, what I recalled of all the battle accounts I've read. Now, I should've indicated my remarks referred not to a book length treatment, but to a short passage, but I was swept up in the moment. Upon reconsideration, I believe there's another factor involved. That is my own lifelong interest in and affinity for the Roman legions. I don't recall whether or not I mentioned this before, but I believe, based on two experiences I had in a group hypnotic regression in which we got zero prompts as to who we were before, I was a legionary in a past or parallel life. Not only did I have that distinct impression individually, but later, a female friend of mine who was also there came up to me later unsolicited and privately revealed she's been my inept commander and had gotten me killed, for which she apologized! I was not anything other than a simple legionary, either, so it's not some ego trip where I was an emperor. Also possibly related is that many years later, someone did a remote viewing and healing session on me, using a energy technique called Reiki. She found no fewer than three apparent indicators of prior combat injuries: a cannonball hole through the chest, a deep cut to the head and a arrowhead or spearhead in my left thigh. Therefore, my extraordinary reaction may've been triggered by how this completely immersive and deeply detailed account hit me and resonated within my being. Patton famously believed he was a reincarnated warrior, and there are some fascinating accounts out there of others who've had their own prior incarnation/parallel lives experiences. One of these was a 2 y.o. boy with horrible nightmares of being trapped in a burning plane who had intimate knowledge of a WW II American fighter squadron in the Pacific--as a downed Corsair pilot--and could provide minute details, later verified by former members of the unit and his carrier, of the squadron's day-to-day life, names and idiosyncrasies of his "fellow" pilots, etc. There was a book about him, which I glanced through but haven't read, called Soul Survivor. Make of these what you will. I was going to end with what I thought to be an apt and famous quote from Hamlet, but after reading what Quora said of the passage, I've decided to skip it. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 31 minutes ago, John Kettler said: Was so confused by what you said I went back to Prologue 2 and reread it. Unless I flunked English, which I didn't, was an Honor Student, it appears to me the long indented passage whose terminus is indicated by the return to full column width at "Thus ended..." is indeed an archaeological windfall of the highest sort. The citation certainly indicates it to be from a recovered papyrus. Or are you going to tell me this is some sort of clever pastiche you artfully stitched together? If so, congratulations! John, as this is a work of fiction, this passage of course is the device I am using to justify the "found text" style of first person narrative that I am writing. Much like ER Burroughs did with his John Carter of Mars series. I'm happy that you appreciate that part of the write up, you are the first person to comment on it and that means something to me. I can't comment on the rest, not really a believer in reincarnation, however I have read that some scientists think that we might be born with some dormant ancestral knowledge (much like some animals are born with inherent survival skills), this is how they explain very young children knowing how to play a musical instrument without ever seeing it before, or a person getting hit on the head suddenly becoming an expert in some field like complex mathematics. Might be something to all that, who knows? Regards, Bil 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Bil, That you created it yourself is very cool and shows the depth of your research, too. That no such document actually was found practically brings me to tears over the loss. Somehow I forgot what your blog was about. Coming into it after months away and landing on Prologue 2, I wrongly believed it to be nonfiction. Doubtless, this is why you got the reaction you did, for I thought I was reading a truly historic document. Regarding sudden acquisition of math abilities, perhaps I need another bump on the head (hardly), since my TBI practically destroyed my ability to do math! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Bil, Two items recently came my way which may be of assistance to your project. One concerns forcible penetration and the other crucifixion. The first has its nominal topic, but it really gets into the legal status of Roman women, the expectations put on them, civil and criminal punishments and more. You might say these found me while doing other research. This is a legal article whose short title is Roman Ra_e, but it is a spectacular education on Roman law regarding women. http://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1084&context=mjgl Here is the most recent scholarship on crucifixion. eBay has actual Roman crucifixion nails available.http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/crucifixion/roman-crucifixion-methods-reveal-the-history-of-crucifixion/ Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 5 hours ago, John Kettler said: eBay has actual Roman crucifixion nails available. As well as splinters of the True Cross perhaps? Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 (edited) Michael Emrys, Whatever you say, Saint Helena! You did note I used a lower case "C" didn't you? A cricucifixion nail is a specialized naii with a very oversized head on it to make sure the writhing victim can't pull it through. Example below. Crucifixion nail from Roman fortress at Inchuthil, UK. Note shank is tapered! Sample is dated to within a few decades of The putative Crucifixion. Image Credit: AncientResource (which I never heard of before and is a must visit site if antiquities interest you). Regards, John Kettler Edited July 14, 2017 by John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Bil, My brother sent me this, er, remarkable testudo attack living history reenactment. It reveals a previously unknown active missile defense mode. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 13 hours ago, John Kettler said: Bil, My brother sent me this, er, remarkable testudo attack living history reenactment. It reveals a previously unknown active missile defense mode. Thanks John, though the Testudo was not an unknown formation, it was well documented. Unless you meant unknown to you. Here is an image of the Romans showing the strength of this formation.. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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