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normasue
The Trojan War | Bernard Evslin
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I'm slowly making my way through my collection of Trojan War stories.
The author refers to Ulysses (Odysseus) as the "boldest pirate-king." What an interesting description. It gives a vivid idea not only of his character but of his ancient lifestyle in so few words.

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Vansa
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I love these, will definitely manage all 4! Thanks for this interesting ( and really useful to #readyourkindle) reading challenge, @CBee!!

CBee You‘re totally welcome! 2mo
9 likes1 comment
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NotCool
Homer and His Iliad | Robin Lane Fox
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Mehso-so

I like the Odyssey more than the Iliad. So maybe that‘s part of this, but the author is more trope then man. He tells you that he brings the Iliad with him when he travels and it never fails to move him to tears. I‘m picturing him on Southwest Airlines between a overtired toddler and their parent assuring them “It‘s okay! It‘s just…Achilles!” And sobbing.

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The_Book_Ninja
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Mehso-so

It‘s 410 BC & Xenophon leads a 10k strong army of Greek mercenaries, retreating from a failed attempt by their Persian paymaster, Cyrus, to seize the throne from his brother after their father dies. As they make their way back to the Black Sea & eventually Greece, they battle hostile natives & hardships caused by the terrain. Granted, it‘s a classic but it was a bit of a slog. It‘s repetitive & monotonous but, like Xenophon, I got there in the end

Bookwomble I hope you had a great festive and New Year holiday 😊 3mo
The_Book_Ninja @Bookwomble Thank you Wombie! I did. Still no kitchen until 13th of Jan but took the wife and kids to Covent Garden for Xmas dinner. I hope you and Mrs Womble had a good one 3mo
25 likes2 comments
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RamsFan1963
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Pickpick

109/150 In my opinion, no one writes about Rome and Roman history better than Mary Beard. Informative, enlightening and very detailed. If the reader is looking for a gossipy, lurid book, full of orgies and sadistic violence, then they've come to the wrong place. Beard brings us into the day to day life of the emperors, not always exciting, every day wasn't full of assassinations, palace intrigues and romantic rendezvous. ⬇️⬇️

RamsFan1963 They had to do the boring parts of governing too, doing the paperwork, attending committees, listening to the grievances of the commoners, and finding the finances for their building projects and military campaigns. 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5mo
Read4life 🍁👻🎃 5mo
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GondorGirl I preordered a signed copy of this (which might be the nerdiest thing I've done this year), but haven't had the chance to read it yet. I'm really looking forward to it! 5mo
DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 5mo
RamsFan1963 @GondorGirl I rarely preorder books, but I did preorder this on Audible so that I would receive it on my birthday. It was my gift to myself 5mo
TheSpineView Fantastic! 5mo
Andrew65 Excellent 👏👏👏 5mo
69 likes1 stack add8 comments
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Cuilin
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TheBookgeekFrau Many - Cleopatra, Caesar (Julius and Augustus) Marc Antony, Cicero, Greek and Roman Gods, etc and so on 😂 7mo
dabbe Heck ya! Claudius, Augustus, Livia, Antony, Cleopatra, Germanicus, Caligula ... I could go on and on. Same as you, @TheBookgeekFrau! 😍 7mo
rwmg The Emperor Caligula puts in some appearances. His sisters Livilla and Agrippina get walk-on parts. (edited) 7mo
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Bookwormjillk I‘m honestly not sure 🤣 7mo
TheBookgeekFrau @dabbe It's like a star-studded night in Hollywood 🤣 7mo
dabbe @TheBookgeekFrau 🤩⭐️🤩 7mo
AnnR The book refers to Emperor Caesar. The timeframe of the story is well after the reign of the first emperor Caesar Augustus. Later on, the term 'Caesar' was used as an imperial title and not particularly a personal name. 7mo
jenniferw88 Domitian Caesar - Younger son of the Emperor.
Titus Caesar - Elder son of the Emperor.
Vespasian Augustus - Emperor of Rome
7mo
Cuilin @Ann_Reads lots of Caesars. 7mo
Cuilin @jenniferw88 more Caesars 7mo
AnnR @jenniferw88 @Cuilin Thanks for the information. I think the author of Tiger, Tiger purposely made the Emperor's identity vague, as this was a fictionalized account. I was confused at first though, thinking it was the first Caesar Augustus but the general time period doesn't match. (edited) 7mo
Bluebird Nope, mine had none (or at least none that I recognized!) 7mo
Deblovestoread Cleopatra, Mark Antony, Brutus, Herod are the ones I remember most. 7mo
thegreensofa The multiple authors in my book (short stories) all took real characters and some unknown relatives, filling in the blanks with their own imagination. They tried to keep true but admitted to jazzing things up just slightly to get some points of their stories across. I think it was forgivable. Sadly, no one is left from Pompeii to differ. 7mo
AnnR @Cuilin For future tagging, I changed my profile name to AnnR. Thank you. 7mo
35 likes15 comments
review
pr.alm
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Pickpick

The mountains look on Marathon –
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dream‘d that Greece might still be free;
For standing on the Persians‘ grave,
I could not deem myself a slave.

‘The Isles of Greece‘ by Lord Byron

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RebL
Alexander the Great | Paul Cartledge
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Teams message with classics degree-holding coworker:
ME - What‘s a laconophile?
ME - Oh, he digs Spartans.

THEM - Probably a jerk. That‘s how it tends to go with Classics guys like him.
ME - I appreciate your learnéd insight.
THEM - Sparta guys are another version of WWII fanboys.
~
I didn‘t love this book.

12 likes1 stack add
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Cuilin
The Romans | R. H. Barrow
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Thank you for your thoughtful responses for the July prompts and chats. Here is my short list for August #BookedInTime Roman Civilization. I promised @Caitlin_Sheridan I would start with The Wolf Den. Thank you all for being such amazing participants. Also thanks to @dabbe for composing a spreadsheet. (checkout previous posts & add your book) & @jenniferw88 for her expertise on the 1600‘s. You are all amazing. 🤩

rwmg My choice is part of a series which I had been reading but had paused (probably distracted by another series) so I will probably read others in the series as well. 8mo
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rwmg I may also read a more tangentially related book, a novel by Amin Maalouf about Mani 8mo
rwmg My online Reading Group's choice for September is also relevant, so I may read it early (UK title “Founding Fathers“, US title “Children of the Wolf“) 8mo
rwmg BTW, I know it's early but the novel I'm reading at the moment is about a Roman gladiator found frozen in Arctic ice and revived. Most of the first 2/3 of the book is his memories of his life in Rome as he regains consciousness. 8mo
ChaoticMissAdventures I am looking at this one, I read I, Claudius a few years ago and really liked it, this is said to be similar. 8mo
Bookwormjillk I‘m going to try 8mo
kspenmoll I have Pompeii as well @Bookwormjillk 8mo
Cuilin @rwmg they all look like interesting reads. 8mo
thegreensofa I‘m going to read a new release of short stories tied together, about what different people were doing when Mt Vesuvius erupted. Having been there and to Herculeum, I am interested in what it might have been like living there at that time. 8mo
Cuilin @thegreensofa I love that it‘s different writers. Looking forward to your thoughts. 8mo
DebinHawaii I‘m going with Murder at the Limes by Alex Wagner as it‘s on Kindle Unlimited & not too long, but I don‘t see it in the Litsy database. ☹️ I‘m going to request they add it. 8mo
Cuilin @DebinHawaii looks like it‘s a series too! Hope it‘s good. 8mo
rockpools Could I join you for the Roman read? I keep eyeing all of your posts, thinking I‘d like to give that a go… 8mo
Cuilin @rockpools absolutely, welcome. Good luck choosing a book!! So many to choose from. I will add your name and at the end of the month I‘ll post some questions. 8mo
rockpools @Cuilin Thank you 😊 8mo
54 likes17 comments