Diaries of an Explorer

I am a mercenary for hire/ explorer. My profession has led me to to travel all over this vast Roman Empire. Join me as document my travels.

[ancientrometravellog]

Sacking of Rome

Rome 410 A.D.

 I have arrived back in Rome this past year. For the past two years the city has been besieged by foreign invaders, this now being the third time they have come back. Moral between soldier/citizens has grown thin as more soldiers begin abandoning the army due to the empires hiring of barbarian mercenaries. The men see serving in the army as pointless now if a foreigner can take their place instead. For the time being Rome has been the center of the World, but this past decade has seen an increase in attacks from the barbarian’s that have caused the western frontier to almost collapse entirely.  The band of Barbarians have been come to known as the Visigoths who are led by King Alaric. Ironically, Alaric was a mercenary for hire as he was part of the Roman Army at one point in time.  He has been raised by the army and as a result know the methods of attack as well as our weaknesses. There has been rumors around the city that another siege on the city is imminent.

August 24th 410 A.D.

 King Alaric and his men have broken past the cities defense and entered through the Salarian Gates. Those that survived the initial attack states that Alaric was offering up his slaves as a peace treaty who were received by the citizens at the gate. The survivors had states though that once inside the slaves began attacking, which leads me to believe they were Alaric’s soldiers all along. His men have now taken the city and either killed or pushed back most of the Romans defenses and citizens. Surprisingly enough it looks like he has left most of our structures intact. The fate of the city is now in his hands as Alaric negotiates with Emperor Honorius for supplies and gold.

The Sack of Rome by the Barbarians in 410 by Joseph-Noël Sylvestre, 1890

Alaric escorts the Christian treasures of Rome to safety at Saint Peter's Basilica during the Gothic sack of AD 410.  http://gloriaromanorum.blogspot.com/2019/08/proceed-to-rome-and-desolate-that-city.html

[ancientrometravellog]

Hadrian’s Wall

August, 128 A.D.

 My travels have led me to the province of Britannia where a wall has been constructed on orders of Emperor Hadrian. The reason being for this wall in the Emperor’s own words were “To separate the Romans from the Barbarians”. I have only but a few miles along this wall so far, but from what I am told, is that it is a continuous barrier of stone. The wall itself is impressive length as it runs east to west from the North Sea to the Tyne River. Not only just a wall, but it also consists of small forts, observations towers, and milecastles in between.  Since it is construction about 6 years ago, there has been new additions added on, or so the soldiers tell me. As I can see so far, there is no set template standard for the construction of each new addition as each legion that has come in to defend and fortify the wall had made minor adjustments. From what I can see the stretch of the wall has three features which consist of a Fort, a Milecastle, and a Turret. There are at least over fifteen forts, eighty milecastles, over a hundred and fifty turrets strategically placed. For more added protection the soldiers have dug Vallums along the exterior. This is essentially a giant ditch that I am told must be maintained on the regular as barbarian invaders have been known to try and fill them back up. The significance of Emperor Hadrian’s wall shows that now, the empire is no longer focused on expansion, but not on protecting the territory that we hold.

Artist’s reconstruction of Poltross Burn milecastle on Hadrian’s Wall © Historic England (illustration by Peter Lorimer)

Schematic section of Hadrian’s wall  https://learnodo-newtonic.com/hadrians-wall-facts

[ancientrometravellog]

The Trajun Forum and Markets

June 7th , 117 A.D.

 Today I woke up early so I could head to the center of the town to see the great forums and check out the market. The locals have said that these complexes have been under construction for the past 6 years now and that it is quite a feat to be viewed.  The townspeople have decided to commemorate this forum along to with the adjacent market by naming it after the the great Emperor Caesar Divi Nervae Fillius Nerva Trainus Optimus Augustus. I must say that his Emperor title is a mouthful which is probably why the city decided to shorten the names to the be called Trajan Forum and Trajan Market. The emperor has continued with the tradition of building a forum to commemorate the glory of the past Caesar Emperors.  His forum, however, looks to be bigger than all the surrounding forums combined. I had a little trouble finding the entrance at first, but eventually located it on the southside of the complex. The entrance way consists of an enormous arch with a massive statue of Emperor Trajan himself riding on his chariot in what I can only image is a display of him going into battle. Once I made my way into the center of the forum, I saw another statue of Trajan riding upon his horse.  I am almost certain the man personally commissioned these pieces himself to portray himself in all his glory. It is also interesting to note that the Emperor was able to fund this project from his conquest in the Dacian Wars. In fact, Trajan had even built a column in the northern part of the forum dedicated to his victories in the war. The column is made a of marble and stands over 100 feet tall! Starting from top to bottom are carvings of the war that spiral along the column, the illustrations are basically a narration of stories from the wars beginning to end. Then, atop of column sits a bronze eagle that stares down onto and over the forum.  Once inside the forum, the main square you can see was lined with more pillars and paved with white marble. Towards the northside of the forum stands the entrance to the Basilica Ulpia which is named after Trajan’s family name. There were a great deal of peoples, where I could describe it as a town hall of sorts because they were discussing social issues and conducting business. I must pay my respects to the Apollodorus, as he main engineer behind these plans to build and oversaw the construction.  Adjacent to the forum is Trajan’s Market, which is an impressive feature in of itself. The Structure stands 6 stories tall and wraps along the eastern side of the forum. I was told that the construction has been going on for some time now even before Trajan’s reign, but it was him who had finished completing it just a few years prior. These Romans sure are adept in building such complex and multilevel stories. They demonstrate the advanced architectural planning they went into the design and I am sure the buildings will stand the test of time.

The Imperial Fora    https://www.teggelaar.com/en/rome-day-3-continuation-3/

Lynne Lancaster “ Building Trajan’s Market” pg. 756

The Imperial Fora    http://www.essential-architecture.com/ROME/RO-029.htm

[ancientrometravellog]

Flavian Amphitheatre

November 80 A.D.

It has been over a decade since Emperor Nero’s death at his own hands. A succession of unsuccessful emperors had occurred following Nero’s death.  General Vespasian then took power to create a lasting dynasty and undo the memory of Nero’s reign. Vespasian had decided to celebrate his legacy by creating a Coliseum  conveniently located on the eastside of Palatine Hill near Emperor Nero’s palace. Unfortunately, he did not leave to see his. It was now up to his son Titus, the next successor to finish coliseum.

 The year is now 80 A.D. Titus has just finished construction of the Flavian Amphitheatre aka the Roman Coliseum this past month and in celebration has announced 100-day games event. Excitement has flooded the streets, as I hear children and adults speaking of the past day’s events. The coliseum itself it truly a sight to behold, as it encompasses a giant oval stadium arena spanning at least 6 acres, which by my estimations hold up to tens of thousands of people. An acquaintance who works in the arena invited me to take a tour of the subterranean levels and I must say I was quite impressed by the intricate design. Below the arena consisted of a network of corridors, cells, and elevators, which are used to hold prisoners, animals, and different contraptions for the day’s events.  According to their schedule, the day begins with beast hunts. I was quite surprised to see how much effort goes into the decorating the arena. For one hour the arena is just a sand pit and the next it has been fully outfitted to resemble a Forest. After the beast hunt finished, the beast fights began. As you can imagine all sorts of different animals were pitted against each other such as lion’s vs tigers or polar bear vs. seal. At this point I think they were just interested to see how a fight between beast would play out. This made me think though how much preparation had to be done and how long it must have taken to get these animals from around the world.  These displays to me were impressive in their rights but more impressive was the power of the Emperors might it displayed.

View of the Flavian Amphitheatre,  Giovanni Battista Piranesi,  Views of Rome and Environs c.1750s

Flavian Amphitheatre, Pozzuoli, Campania, Italy. Roman civilization, 1st century, age fotostock

[ancientrometravellog]

The Great Fire of Rome

Friday July 20th   64 A.D.

 I have just returned from my expeditions in Sudan and arrived in the port of Ostia which is situated on the Italian Peninsula and about 32 kilometers from the city of Rome. I was on my way to the city when out in the distance, I could see the skies were black. After a few hours of walking and as I got closer towards Rome, I could see orange hue coming from the city. As I approached closer, I could smell smoke in the in the air, and then I could that the city was on fire. According to the locals, the fire had been burning for over a day now. It had broken out near the merchant markets outside of the Coliseum Circus Maximus. At one point the whole stadium which stretched for at least a mile was engulfed in flames. From there on out the flames had spread from section of the city to another. The city has had its fair shares over the year, but this fire I believe has been the most devastating. It has been almost two weeks now, with the fire burning for six days straight. At one point it died down it died down then immediately started back up. In all, I count a total of nine days the fire has raged since its outbreak. I can only imagine in a city of a million people, the hundreds of thousands that have now been left displaced and homeless due to the fire’s destruction. This once great city now mostly reduced to ashes and ruin. I hear that of the 14 districts of Rome, only 4 remain standing, a few completely wiped out, the rest were reduced to the bones and foundation. In the aftermath, Emperor Nero had returned to the city from Antium with plans to build his new palace over the now burnt ruins. Over the past few weeks, I have heard whispers from citizens around town that it was Nero himself who was responsible for starting these fires. People are beginning to speculate that this was his plans all along in order build his grand new palace. Other sources have told me that the Emperor is aware of these accusations and is looking to redirect the blame. Rumors are spreading that he looks find a scapegoat as cause for the fire, in the new religious sect known as Christians. I fear the worst is yet to come for this religioous group.

"The Fire of Rome" by Robert Hubert (1785)