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The Silver Pigs
''The Silver Pigs'' is a 1989 historical mystery crime novel by Lindsey Davis and the first book in the Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries series. Set in Rome and Britannia during AD 70, just after the year of the four emperors, the novel stars Marcus Didius Falco, informer and imperial agent. The book's title refers to 200-pound lead ingots "pigs" filled with silver ore and stolen from Roman Britain, which feature prominently in the plot. Plot summary This first novel in the Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries series introduces the main characters as well as establishes relationships that continue and grow throughout the series. Falco stumbles upon a conspiracy in the trading of silver ingots, but not before it claims the life of a young girl (Sosia Camillina) Falco meets and is smitten with. Hired by Sosia's uncle, a senator, to find out who murdered her and by the Roman Emperor Vespasian, to uncover the conspiracy, Falco finds himself on the next boat to Britain. Once there he meet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lindsey Davis
Lindsey Davis (born 1949) is an English historical novelist, best known as the author of the Falco series of historical crime stories set in ancient Rome and its empire. She is a recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger award. Life and career Davis was born in Birmingham and after taking a degree in English literature at Oxford University ( Lady Margaret Hall), she became a civil servant for 13 years. When a romantic novel she had written was runner up for the 1985 ''Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize'', she decided to become a writer, at first writing romantic serials for the UK women's magazine ''Woman's Realm''. Her dedication of the book '' Rebels and Traitors'' (2009) reads: "For Richard / dearest and closest of friends / your favourite book / in memory", and the author's website relates: "I am still getting used to life without my dear Richard. For those of you who haven't seen this before, he died in October 008" The author says in her publisher's newsletter: "The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centurion
A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 legionaries. In a Roman legion, centuries were grouped into cohorts and commanded by their senior-most centurion. The prestigious first cohort was led by the ''primus pilus'', the most senior centurion in the legion and its fourth-in-command who was next in line for promotion to Praefectus Castrorum, and the primi ordines who were the centurions of the first cohort. A centurion's symbol of office was the vine staff, with which they disciplined even Roman citizens, who were otherwise legally protected from corporal punishment by the Porcian Laws. Centurions also served in the Roman navy. After the 107 BC Marian reforms of Gaius Marius, centurions were professional officers. In Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the Byzantine army's cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fritha Goodey
Fritha Jane Goodey (23 October 1972 – 7 September 2004) was a British stage, radio and film actress known for her performance in the film '' About a Boy'' (2002), in which she played one of Hugh Grant's character's former girlfriends. Early life Goodey was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Career Goodey's stage work, most notably with Max Stafford-Clark's Out of Joint touring company, included Nadia in ''Some Explicit Polaroids'' (1999), Odette in ''Remembrance of Things Past'' (2000), Constance Neville in ''She Stoops to Conquer'' (2002) and Mrs. Garrick in ''A Laughing Matter''. She had recently won a coveted role in a revival staging of Terence Rattigan's '' Man and Boy''. Her radio works include ''The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' episode '' The Determined Client'' and Helena Justina in the serialisation of the Falco novel "The Silver Pigs". Death Having struggled with anorexia for years, on 7 Sep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anton Lesser
Anton Lesser (born 14 February 1952) is an English actor. He is well known for his roles as Qyburn in the HBO series '' Game of Thrones'', as Thomas More in ''Wolf Hall'', as Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in ''The Crown'', as Prime Minister Clement Attlee in ''A United Kingdom'' and as Chief Superintendent Bright in '' Endeavour''. Early life Born in Birmingham, Anton Lesser attended Moseley Grammar School and the University of Liverpool, where he read architecture. He then went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and on graduation in 1977 he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year. He is of Jewish background. Career As an associate artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Lesser played many of Shakespeare's great roles in the BBC Television Shakespeare productions including Troilus (''Troilus and Cressida''), Edgar (''King Lear''), Petruchio, Romeo, Henry Bolingbroke, Brutus (''Julius Caesar''), Leontes (''Winter's Tale'') ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Author's Club First Novel Award
The Authors' Club Best First Novel Award is awarded by the Authors' Club to the most promising first novel of the year, written by a British author and published in the UK during the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is presented. It has been awarded to the following: ''This list is incomplete'' *1954 - David Unwin - ''The Governor's Wife'' *1955 - Brian Moore - ''Judith Hearne'' (later republished as ''The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne'') *1956 - Harry Bloom - ''Episode'' *1957 - Edmund Ward - ''Summer in Retreat'' *1958 - Alan Sillitoe - ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' *1959 - David Caute - ''At Fever Pitch'' *1960 - Lionel Davidson - '' The Night of Wenceslas'' *1961 - Jim Hunter - ''The Sun in the Morning'' *1962 - John Pearson - ''Gone to Timbuctoo'' *1963 - David Rubin - ''The Greater Darkness'' *1964 - Robin Douglas-Home - ''Hot for Certainties'' *1965 - James Mossman - ''Beggars on Horseback'' *1966 - Leslie Thomas - '' The Virgin Soldiers' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glevum
Glevum (or, more formally, Colonia Nervia Glevensium, or occasionally ''Glouvia'') was originally a Roman fort in Roman Britain that became a " colonia" of retired legionaries in AD 97. Today, it is known as Gloucester, in the English county of Gloucestershire. The name Glevum is taken by many present-day businesses in the area and also by the 26-mile ''Glevum Way'', a long-distance footpath or recreational walk encircling modern Gloucester Fortress Glevum was established around AD 48, at an important crossing of the River Severn, and near to the Fosse Way, the early front line after the Roman invasion of Britain. Initially, a Roman fort was established at present-day Kingsholm in c. 65–70 AD. The Roman Legions based here were probably the Legio XX Valeria Victrix until 66 and then Legio II Augusta for their invasion of Roman Wales between 66 and 74 AD. Between AD 81 and 98, larger replacement walls were built on slightly higher ground nearby, centred on present-day Glo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isca Dumnoniorum
Isca Dumnoniorum, also known simply as Isca, was originally a Roman legionary fortress for the Second Augustan Legion (established ) in the Roman province of Britannia at the site of present-day Exeter in Devon. The town grew up around this fortress and served as the tribal capital of the Dumnonians under and after the Romans. The city walls of Exeter (some 70% of which survive) mark the former perimeter of Isca Name The name ''Isca Dumnoniorum'' is a Latinization of a native Brittonic name describing flowing water, in reference to the River Exe. More exactly, the name seems to have originally meant "full of fish" (cf. Welsh ''pysg'', "fish"), although it came to be a simple synonym for water (cf. Scottish whisky). This is also reflected in the modern Welsh name for Exeter: ''Caerwysg'' meaning "fortified settlement on the river Uisc". The same name was used for the River Usk (modern cy, Afon Wysg) in southern Wales, causing the settlement there (modern Caerleon) to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort for high-rank political officials ( senators and procurators) and were bodyguards for the senior officers of the Roman legions. In 27 BC, after Rome's transition from republic to empire, the first emperor of Rome, Augustus, designated the Praetorians as his personal security escort. For three centuries, the guards of the Roman emperor were also known for their palace intrigues, by which influence upon imperial politics the Praetorians could overthrow an emperor and then proclaim his successor as the new ''caesar'' of Rome. In AD 312, Constantine the Great disbanded the and destroyed their barracks at the Castra Praetoria. In the Roman Republic In the period of the Roman Republic (509–27 BC) the Praetorian Guard originated as bodyguards ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Titus
Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death. Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a military commander, serving under his father in Judea during the First Jewish–Roman War. The campaign came to a brief halt with the death of emperor Nero in 68, launching Vespasian's bid for the imperial power during the Year of the Four Emperors. When Vespasian was declared Emperor on 1 July 69, Titus was left in charge of ending the Jewish rebellion. In 70, he besieged and captured Jerusalem, and destroyed the city and the Second Temple. For this achievement Titus was awarded a triumph; the Arch of Titus commemorates his victory to this day. During his father's rule, Titus gained notoriety in Rome serving as prefect of the Praetorian Guard, and for carrying on a controversial relationship with the Jewish queen Berenice. Despite concerns o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aedile
''Aedile'' ( ; la, aedīlis , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order and duties to ensure the city of Rome was well supplied and its civil infrastructure well maintained, akin to modern local government. There were two pairs of aediles: the first were the "plebeian aediles" (Latin ''aediles plebis'') and possession of this office was limited to plebeians; the other two were "curule aediles" (Latin ''aediles curules''), open to both plebeians and patricians, in alternating years. An ''aedilis curulis'' was classified as a '' magister curulis''. The office of the aedilis was generally held by young men intending to follow the ''cursus honorum'' to high political office, traditionally after their quaestorship but before their praetorship. It was not a compulsory part of the cursus, and henc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aventine Hill
The Aventine Hill (; la, Collis Aventinus; it, Aventino ) is one of the Seven Hills on which ancient Rome was built. It belongs to Ripa, the modern twelfth ''rione'', or ward, of Rome. Location and boundaries The Aventine Hill is the southernmost of Rome's seven hills. It has two distinct heights, one greater to the northwest (''Aventinus Major'') and one lesser to the southeast (''Aventinus Minor''), divided by a steep cleft that provides the base for an ancient roadway between the heights. During the Republican era, the two hills may have been recognized as a single entity. The Augustan reforms of Rome's urban neighbourhoods ('' vici'') recognised the ancient road between the two heights (the modern Viale Aventino) as a common boundary between the new Regio XIII, which absorbed Aventinus Maior, and the part of Regio XII known as Aventinus Minor. Etymology and mythology Most Roman sources trace the name of the hill to a legendary king Aventinus. Servius identifies two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cursus Honorum
The ''cursus honorum'' (; , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices') was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The ''cursus honorum'' comprised a mixture of military and political administration posts; the ultimate prize for winning election to each "rung" in the sequence was to become one of the two ''consuls'' in a given year. Each office had a minimum age for election; there were also minimum intervals between holding successive offices and laws forbade repeating an office. These rules were altered and flagrantly ignored in the course of the last century of the Republic. For example, Gaius Marius held consulships for five years in a row between 104 BC and 100 BC. He was consul seven times in all, also serving in 107 and 86. Officially presented as opportunities for public service, the offices often became mere opportunities for self-aggrandizement. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
