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Carl Goff
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 Posted: Wed 15 Apr, 2009 7:35 pm Post subject: Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions! |
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This year's the 2000th anniversary of the Battle of Teutoberg Forest. (Teutoberger Wald, if you prefer the original German.)
In commemoration, Harry Turtledove's put out a historical novel about the battle. I haven't been able to find a copy yet (*grumble*God-forsaken backwater state*grumble*), but Turtledove's generally a pretty good writer, and when he writes a historical, he does a thorough job on the research.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Give-Me-Back...067/?itm=1
Just thought I'd keep you all in the loop.
Oh, East of sands and sunlit gulf, your blood is thin, your gods are few;
You could not break the Northern wolf and now the wolf has turned on you.
The fires that light the coasts of Spain fling shadows on the Eastern strand.
Master, your slave has come again with torch and axe in his right hand!
-Robert E. Howard
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Chuck Russell
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| Posted: Wed 15 Apr, 2009 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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hmmm that sword is a little late for the date (the pompii style on the book cover should be a mainz or fulham no?) hehe also the helmet is off, and look at all that stabby room in the center of the shoulders  hehehhe. Matt Amt would poke you there for sure!
thanks for the bookmark! 
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M. Eversberg II
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| Posted: Wed 15 Apr, 2009 10:11 pm Post subject: |
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Can't you order yourself one off that website?
M.
This space for rent or lease.
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Mikko Kuusirati
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| Posted: Wed 15 Apr, 2009 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Chuck Russell wrote: | hmmm that sword is a little late for the date (the pompii style on the book cover should be a mainz or fulham no?) hehe also the helmet is off, and look at all that stabby room in the center of the shoulders hehehhe. Matt Amt would poke you there for sure!
thanks for the bookmark! |
Heh. It's a composite image - looks like the artist wasn't a geek like us for old stabbity things, and just used what vaguely relevant photos happened to be at hand. Happens a lot in publishing. At least they apparently knew what the book was about, in broad terms, which is way more than I could say about many bestseller covers...
"And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."
— Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum
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Matthew Amt
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| Posted: Thu 16 Apr, 2009 5:47 am Post subject: |
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Avete!
Yeah, considering some of the garbage I've seen on book covers, this one isn't bad! The gear is only off by 20 or 30 years, and it's all decent stuff. Something odd going on with that "gap" in the middle of the armor--looks more like something was blacked out with PhotoShop.
Wait a sec, are we judging a book by its cover?? Well, no, just judging the cover of the book. It's the story that counts.
Valete,
Matthew
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Ken Speed
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| Posted: Thu 16 Apr, 2009 6:24 am Post subject: |
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It might be worthwhile to read Turtledove's book and then read either ROME'S GREATEST DEFEAT by Adrian Murdoch or THE QUEST FOR THE LOST ROMAN LEGIONS by Tony Clum. Mr. Clum was the amateur archeologist who found the site of the Teutoberg Massacre. Both books make excellent reading and I can't say that I'd recommend one over the other. Murdoch's book has more to do with the event and Clum's book has more to do with the search and discovery so take your pick.
After reading both books I find myself wishing we knew more. On one hand we know immeasurably more about the actual events than we did before Mr. Clum's discovery and yet there are huge pieces of information still missing. We don't for example, know what Arminius' real name was and only have his Romanized name, it was later German writers and popularists who altered his name to Herman. Even the name of the event seems to be in error, according to Murdoch "wald" can be translated from German as either forest or pass and the discovery of the site shows that the massacre took place in a narrow somewhat swampy pass rather than a forest. It also seems that it wasn't really much of a battle and much more like a days long ambush by the tribesmen and a running retreat by the Romans.
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Antonio Lamadrid
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| Posted: Thu 16 Apr, 2009 11:50 am Post subject: |
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| Ken Speed wrote: | | We don't for example, know what Arminius' real name was and only have his Romanized name, it was later German writers and popularists who altered his name to Herman. |
From the Wikipedia. I do not know how reliable this information is.
"Arminius" is probably a Latinized variant of the Germanic name Irmin meaning "great" (cf. Herminones). During the Reformation but especially during 19th century German nationalism, Arminius was used as a symbol of the "German" people and their fight against Rome.[3] It is during this period that the name "Hermann" (meaning "army man" or "warrior") came into use as the German equivalent of Arminius; the religious reformer Martin Luther is thought to have been the first to equate the two names.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arminius
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