Romans | Alison Morton Author

Roman dating essentials

Julius Caesar (He’s the one on the plinth.)

Watching the countdown calendar to the publication day of INCEPTIO on 1 March reminded that the first of the month in the Roman system – the Kalends – ended up as our word for measuring the whole thing.

In my Roma Nova thrillers, I use […]

What have the Romans ever done for us?

One of my dear friends, the British Airways first officer who helped me with the complex flight regulations over Washington DC, sadly cannot make it to the launch event at Waterstones Tunbridge Wells on 12 March, but says he’s looking forward to reading INCEPTIO.

He quipped at the end of his email: “So just what […]

Latin, eh?

What connects a Wallsend metro station, an ATM in the Vatican City, Asterix and Wikipedia?

Latin, of course!

Originating in Italy, it was spoken in Ancient Rome and spread through the Mediterranean into much of the then known world. Although now considered a dead language, many students, scholars, and members of the Christian clergy speak […]

Rome and the wolf

The shocking news that the icon of Rome’s foundation, a life-size bronze statue of a she-wolf with two human infants suckling her, is about 1,700 years younger than its city hit the headlines this summer.

Scholars had long established that the bronze figures of Romulus and Remus feeding from their adopted wolf mother were added […]

A little drop of magic and spellbinding

A Roman magic stone

My fellow writer, Janice Horton, is throwing a “Spellbindingly Fun Blog Party” today and as a little light relief, I’m joining in.

Magic was an integral part of Roman life – astrology, amulets, incantations, spells, healing and cursing formulas. Pliny’s conclusion, however, was cautious: though he dismissed magic as […]