Brook Allen
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About Brook
  • The Antonius Trilogy
  • Contact
  • Brook's Research

Welcome to
​Brook's Scroll


​If you're historical fiction aficionados, travelers, dreamers, or adventurers, you'll want to take a look. People in the ancient world communicated in a surprising plethora of ways. Scrolls were only one format, and in Marcus Antonius's Rome would have been used specifically by the aristocracy or learned individuals, like scribes, who might even be well-educated slaves. Sometimes scrolls were used for correspondence, especially in arid, hot areas like Egypt or Syria. Other uses were for public records or to record official documents. Though often made of papyrus, scrolls were sometimes made of vellum--leather--which would last longer in humid regions. 

Brook hopes you'll make yourself at home and read through her scrolls to learn more about her work as an author, her research, travels, thoughts, and adventures!"

A Building of Mystery

5/26/2019

0 Comments

 
This week, I've chosen to share about my favorite building in Rome. It was there when my book's action took place and I even wrote a scene within it. That building is the Tabularium.

I like to think of the Tabularium as a "mystery building". Traditionally,  scholars believed it was built to house public records, as well as provide office space for magistrates. However, studies in the past several decades has caused some historians to disagree on its use. But what is amazing is; it's still standing on the western end of the Forum Romanum, and one can even go inside. Its exterior appearance screams "Roman". Graceful arches give powerful evidence of its excellent design. To me, it's amazing! This place is older than Christianity! The ruthless dictator, Lucius Cornelius Sulla ordered it built in the 70's B.C., but it was completed by Quintus Lutatius Catulus, a former Consul.

Another incredible fact about the Tabularium is regardless of its original purpose, it's been in use since it was first built. Even today, it houses collections from the Capitoline Museum. If you visit there, it's in the downstairs portion of the museum. Just past an extraordinary  funerary stelae exhibit, turn right, and you'll begin ascending stairs which will take you into the Tabularium. From its lofty terrace is one of the finest views of the Forum Romanum--have your camera READY!

While the purpose of the Tabularium is still in question, it must have held great importance, both politically and spiritually, to the Roman people, as its location was at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, beneath the Temples of Jupiter and Juno. In Antonius: Son of Rome, I've chosen to present it in the context of a public records building. In fact, an important scene in my story takes place there, between Marcus and Fadia. 

When visiting the Forum Romanum, I always stand amazed at the bold tenacity, engineering, and sophistication of ancient builders. Romans KNEW how to construct stunning buildings and make them last--even through millennia.  




Picture
A majestic arched corridor within Rome's historic Tabularium, located on the western end of the Forum Romanum.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture

© Brook Allen 2019
Website Design by Michelle Gill
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About Brook
  • The Antonius Trilogy
  • Contact
  • Brook's Research