209 CE – A Year of Murder

I’ve finished the entire working draft of my next novel that is set during the year 209.  It is a historical murder mystery with a cast of Romans, Greeks, and native Britons. It is called A Murder of Crows on the Wall, a title that references both the fact it takes place along Hadrian’s Wall in northern England and involves initiates of the mystery cult of the god Mithras (who were called ‘crows’).

For the past year, my head has been in the third century CE, specifically the autumn of 209.  It’s been interesting to see what focusing upon that one period of history has brought up creatively.

Getting the novel finished has been a long process, but I’m so happy it’s finally done.  In the coming weeks I’ll post some thoughts here about the novel’s setting, characters, and theme, and also about the process of writing this historical murder mystery.  The next step is to solicit beta readers and ultimately agents and publishers.  Join me in my historical journey!

(More information about A Murder of Crows on the Wall can be found at garydevore.com/crows/)

 

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Oldest Mentions of Rome?

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archaeology, Rome

Brought to my attention by Dorothy King the PhDiva: “A fourth century BC sword may have the oldest known inscription of the name of Rome.”

The inscription reads: TR POMPONIO(S) C (f.?) (M)E FECET ROMA(I).  The letters in parentheses are supplied by the excavators, since often Latin inscriptions could leave out parts of words and endings.  They reconstruct it as: “Trebius Pomponius, son of Gaius, made me in Rome”.  Presumably the “ROMAI” they supply is in the locative case, which would be “AE” normally but was “AI” in Old Latin (or so JSTOR tells me)

The sword was found in 2003 in the excavations of a water cult sanctuary near San Vittore del Lazio (southern Lazio).  The excavators claim it is similar to swords used in the La Tène B2 period.  (Notice posted in Italian)

The sword is mainly dated by the Macedonian star decorations.  Another very early inscription that records it was made “ROMAI” is the famous Ficoroni Cista.  It also possibly dates to the 4th century BCE.  If both can be considered products of Archaic Rome (having recovered from the 5th century economic crisis), they are important archaeological evidence that the settlement on the Tiber called itself Rome.

Archaic inscription on the Cista: DINDIA MACOLNIA FILEAI DEDIT NOVIOS PLAUTIOS MED ROMAI FECID (“Dindia Macolnia gave me to her daughter, Novios Plutios made me in Rome”)