Colonia Iulia Emona

This is the Roman precursor of modern Ljubljana, the capital of the state of Slovenia. Emona was a colony of Roman veterans founded in 14 A.D. by Tiberius and the first major town on Italian soil that you would enter when you came from the east. Its location at the amber road and its firm control of itinerary roads arriving from the Noricum, Pannonia, and Aquileia made it a prosperous town that soon outshone its earlier competitor Nauportum, located further west, and continued thriving until it was routed by Attila in 452 A.D. and fell entirely desolate.

Emona and some of its attested inhabitants play significant roles in our series of historical novels, "Romanike", that's why we (my wife and I) have studied its well researched layout.

This digitised parchment sketch was inspired by an animated reconstruction of the Colonia Iulia Emona.

Reconstruction of the Roman Colonia Iulia Emona (now Ljubljana, Slovenia)

A map of the Middle Rhine in the Roman Age

This map which I have created myself covers the broader area in which the main parts of the six-volume "Romanike" series are set, centering on the modern territory of Mainz-Wiesbaden-Frankfurt at the Middle Rhine and Lower Main: a territory that has been little explored by historical novelists so far.

The time, the early 10th century A.V.C. (ab Urbe Condita) or mid 2nd century A.D., corresponds to the period of outward peace between the vanquishing of the second Jewish Uprising and the outbreak of the Marcomannic Wars when it is just becoming visible for those who have eyes to see how the Romanike - the Roman Empire - has begun to rot in her core. Right through the map runs the upper Germanic Limes , the fortified border between the Roman Empire and the Barbaricum that has never been contested - so far.

Most names on the map are archaeologically attested except for Castellum Taunensium, Mount Dounobriga and Cirmacium that I have made up because it is not known what these places were called by the Romans.

The Serpent and its Priest: Forthcoming in March 2015

Forthcoming in March 2015: "The Serpent and its Priest", a new annotated translation of the 2000 years old satire "The Pseudomancer" by Lucian of Samosata. This is the extraordinary historic record that inspired our "Romanike" novels: How Alexander of Abonuteichus, the Rasputin of the ancient world, founded a religious order that deceived even the emperors of Rome and how one sceptic, Lucian, tried to unmask his fraud.

Read more about Glycon, Alexander's man-headed serpent god, on these blog entries:

"Present-day skeptics are fond of presenting their kind of thinking as the latest thing, a relatively new invention that was developed only with the struggle and sacrifice of freethinkers and scientists during the Enlightenment. However, the writings of Lucian of Samosata, who lived in present-day Syria nearly two thousand years ago, show that the skill skeptical inquiry is quite ancient.

Lucian writes of the popular god Glycon, a god who was said to have descended from the heavens to take on the earthly form of a snake. That snake was held in the arms of Alexander of Abonoteichus, who was said to have discovered him. Upon hearing of the wonders of Glycon, who was said to have been able to heal the sick and raise the dead, Lucian went himself to see what it was all about."

Read more: Ancient Skepticism and the Snake God Glycon

"Human existence requires the suspension of disbelief.  Sure she loves you.  Of course the boss values your contribution.  Your children aren’t little savages.  And if you work hard enough, someday your genius will be recognized.  Or maybe you’re just born, muddle through life, and die, and no matter what miraculous feats you’ve accomplished and Sisyphean tasks you’ve somehow triumphed over, in a few thousand years you will be unknown and unmourned.  But that’s just plain boring.  Suck it up cowboy, and make some noise.  Invent a new philosophy.  Start a revolution.  Write a timeless song.  Finish that heartbreaking novel.  Or, if you’re feeling edgy like the Greek prophet Alexander of Abonutichus (105-170 A.D.), make yourself a hand puppet and declare it a god.  It’s bold.  It’s ironic.  It worked for Jim Henson.  After all, if Fozzie Bear has not yet been nominated for sainthood, it is no doubt merely an oversight by the beatification committee.  Or perhaps he’s Protestant.  Some sins are just unforgivable.  There were a lot of philosophies and theologies indolently laying about the Greco-Roman World in at the opening of the 2^nd Century A.D, but Alexander of Abonutichus’ cult of the snake god Glycon achieved stunning popularity given its foundation in puppetry. ..."

Read more: Muppet Theology

Chaeremon of Apamia

Chaeremon is the first priest of the dragon goddess who enters the stage in the initial volume of the "Romanike" series. He calls himself the Herald of the Lady of All and second in the hierarchy of his order. Close to nothing is known about him before he pops up in the provincial capital of Pannonia to establish his fledgling cult. He claims to come from a place named Apamia, far in the east of the world: there were several cities of this name, but whether any of them is really his home is unknown.

It is not evident, either, whether he has Roman citizenship, for he is never referred to with a triple name (like, say, Caius Iulius Caesar) nor is he ever seen wearing the traditional dress of the citizen, the toga. Chaeremon prefers effeminate long robes under which he is able to hide his hands or other objects, and in violation of Roman customs he displays a black coloured beard in the fashion of eastern barbarians. Like all the other disciples of the Lady of All, he is marked by a heavy jewelled collar which he often pairs with a diadem from which a dragon's head protrudes or with a high pointed hat and a staff. 

Chaeremon is an extremely dominating and impressive character, exceeding paternal authority over strangers or subjects and leaving no one unaffected who meets him. In his religious order he serves as astrologer, and for some reason he is capable of calculating any person's horoscope at the speed of the wind, a procedure that takes other men of his profession considerable time, especially with the clumsy numerical system of the ancient Greeks given. He also has significant scientific and technological knowledge by which he contributes to the designs of his cult. In public he is usually accompanied by four Marcomannic bodyguards, two men and two women, who are as loyal to him as they are ruthless to others.  

The healing waters of Sirona

Did the Romans from Mogontiacum "yonder the Brook" who visited us in Aquae Mattiacorum find that as strange? Wiesbaden has founded its status as a spa of global fame, as everybody knows, on 27 thermal springs. Whenever I visit the town centre, I have made the habit, that was already cultivated by my grandfather, to fill a few bottles with water from the mineral spring that must already have flowed through the temple of the goddess Sirona who is revered by our protagonist, Restitutus, so much. This time a young mother from abroad was sitting at the bank in front of the spring, observing me surprised and asking, finally, what I was going to do with that water.
"You may cook a soup from that," I said, "but, primarily, we drink it. If you got a sore throat, for example, it's quite an effective cure, I found." When we walked away, I turned once again and saw how the young lady was filling an emptied coffee mug from the spring and tried a gulp.
Her "Bah!" resounded through the whole lane. As she slapped her hand on her mouth in horror, I shouted at her from the next inlet, "You only have to get used to the taste!"
It is possible. Really. My wife has managed, too.