tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post3721001436653788465..comments2024-03-22T06:21:16.897-07:00Comments on JJ's Wargames: The Roman Emperor Aurelian Restorer of the World (Revised edition) By John F Whitecarojonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826580638291659193noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-10508321669913893092017-12-04T04:07:29.168-08:002017-12-04T04:07:29.168-08:00Sorry that should read Maccabees I&II not Judg...Sorry that should read Maccabees I&II not Judges.Mr Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03657702949814996671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-69293075947594029292017-12-04T03:56:40.293-08:002017-12-04T03:56:40.293-08:00Thanks Vince, We are both lucky and unlucky when i...Thanks Vince, We are both lucky and unlucky when it comes to historical texts. We are lucky that we have any at all, most are the #copies of the original done by monks whose religious/Vulgar Latin was moving away from the Roman version. Or they are from copies of later Byzantine writers who used sections from earlier sources for their histories. Finally they were quite often parchments reused by the church for writing religious subjects such as lives of saints etc. and we have managed to recover some of the text.<br />We are also unlucky just because we have these tempting bits of history preserved, you get to a section of Tacitus and then there is a gap so we don’t have the lives of Caligula or Claudius and it’s so annoying. Who knows what else is missing that would answer so much we have never even considered.<br />As for reliability, it is a problem, just imagine all we had was JJ's battle reports, there is the problem of undoubted bias, unfamiliarity of military terms, the self-aggrandisement and the total lack of information from anywhere else on the battlefield. Yet that would be all we had to go on.<br />The Augustan History’s which give us a lot of information on the 3rd century are regarded as dubious and occasionally fictional in places. We just don’t know. All we can say is that when inscriptions or coins are found that they can back up some of the facts, does that mean the rest is now safe to use? Obviously not but I suspect there will become a time when new evidence found starts to tip the balance.<br />Coin analysis does also help with events as well, for example in the later Seleucid Empire the minting of coins in a city for a leader tells us that it was now controlled by him and roughly when and that something had obviously happened to the previous owner to cause this.<br />You also have two conflicting texts from the same empire, Judges I&II in the Bible and Josephus War of the Jews differ quite widely, coin analysis backs up Josephus' version of events. <br />The Barons war review is finished and with the editor <br />Next up will be the NW Frontier <br />Mr Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03657702949814996671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-60409289409638394862017-12-03T10:08:21.689-08:002017-12-03T10:08:21.689-08:00Good review "Mr Steve".
You are right i...Good review "Mr Steve".<br /><br />You are right in saying that wargamers tend to play early Imperial Rome and then early Byzantines. After all early Imperials have all the good bits and little of the bad ones that later Roman armies had to work with.<br /><br />I tend to take many histories of this period with a pinch of salt, as a lot of description is woven around very few hard facts. The coin analysis is useful, but in the end it only tells you who was in charge and not how they got there or what they did.<br /><br />I look forward to the "Baron's War" review. Now that is a period of history that deserves more coverage.<br /><br />VinceVincehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03691369848035290908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-57194696190614402202017-12-02T03:23:32.208-08:002017-12-02T03:23:32.208-08:00Thanks for your kind comments, there are many more...Thanks for your kind comments, there are many more wonderful book reviews on this site which you can enjoy at your leisure however I do strongly suggest that you scroll down to the end first so as to make sure that you are not mistakenly reading one of Jons.Mr Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03657702949814996671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-53025482932968189902017-12-02T02:27:21.359-08:002017-12-02T02:27:21.359-08:00Really nice review, I have to admit I only really ...Really nice review, I have to admit I only really think of Romes wall's and Palmyria when I hear Aurelian so does sound interesting. <br />Best Iain caveadsum1471https://www.blogger.com/profile/02174163740406928172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-39310775316771400832017-12-01T16:10:46.638-08:002017-12-01T16:10:46.638-08:00Great narrative and thank you, each read makes lif...Great narrative and thank you, each read makes life a little bit richer.<br /><br />Regards<br /><br />PeterPeter Littlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09664350158453065725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-52587315284459268312017-12-01T13:21:28.333-08:002017-12-01T13:21:28.333-08:00Great review thank you! Really enjoyed your style ...Great review thank you! Really enjoyed your style of writing, especially the „...do what all emperors do when bored“ part. Made me chuckle time and again.Moiterei_1984https://www.blogger.com/profile/13808567081733803572noreply@blogger.com