​Welcome to Brook's Scroll this week! 

First, I have a thrilling announcement. This week, my debut novel, Antonius: Son of Rome was awarded a SILVER MEDAL in the international Readers' Favorite Book Reviewers Awards for 2020. This award was in the sub-genre of Biographical Historical Fiction, and I'm humbled and honored, as thousands of authors entered this competition. 

Now, let's get to the blog!!!

Because I have two very important ladies to cover, I'm going to address both Octavia and Cleopatra one at a time. Today is Octavia's day. To the left, you'll see a bust of her that probably dates from around the time of her marriage with Antonius. 

Octavia was born in Nola, Italy in 67 BC. Within the gens Julii, she was known as Octavia Minora (the Younger), for she had an older sister by the same name. (Roman names are horrible things for authors to wrestle with!) 

Octavian was her full brother and their mother's name was Atia. And here, I must add that if ever a woman's character was maligned by a series depiction on television, HBO's series ROME treated Atia of the Julii horrendously! But I digress... Octavia's father died, and Atia remarried Lucius Marcius Philippus. 

Sometime around 52 BC, Octavia married Gaius Claudius Marcellus. She was to give him two daughters and a son, posthumously. There must have been some pretty tense family dynamics going on, because Marcellus was fiercely anti-Caesarian. He opposed Julius Caesar staunchly and Philippus was inclined to side with him politically, too. So it's rather intriguing that Julius Caesar remained so very fond of this side of his family. At one point, Caesar made a long-distance offer to Pompeius Magnus of marriage to Octavia, with one small obstacle in the way. She was already married to Marcellus. Marcellus haughtily refused Caesar's plan, refusing to divorce here, and there was probably a juicy scandal, quickly smoothed over by Pompeius, who promptly married another lady, Cornelia.

I find this particular Octavia bust striking, because it shows how much she resembled her brother, Octavian (below at right). ​She was six years his senior and it makes me wonder how awkward it would have been for her once Marcellus died and suddenly she came under her brother's umbrella of control. 

I can't imagine she was pleased to marry Marcus Antonius. First of all, at the time of their betrothal, she was still in mourning, and so was he. Fulvia had recently died, leaving him widowed. Their marriage was signed and sealed when Antonius returned to Italy after his first fling with Cleopatra (more on her NEXT week!). 

But there was more. Not only was Octavia in mourning--she was PREGNANT with Marcellus's child and her delivery was imminent. Undoubtedly, she was coerced into marrying Antonius. And it's likely that he had little choice in the matter, as he was responsible, along with Octavian, for preserving peace, and this was Octavian's demand to seal their alliance at the Treaty of Brundisium. 

Plutarch's account, of course, is festive and full of joyful celebration, probably much like the Roman people felt at the time: 

"Everybody concurred in promoting this new alliance, fully expecting that with the beauty, honor, and prudence of Octavia, when her company should, as it was certain it would, have engaged his (Antonius's) affections, all would be kept in the safe and happy course of friendship. So, both parties being agreed, they went to Rome to celebrate the nuptials; the senate dispensing with the law by which a widow was not permitted to marry till ten months after the death of her husband."  
​     Plutarch, Life of Antony

I love coins! My father was a numismatist, so I think my affinity for them is genetic. Anyway, I love this coin, featuring Antonius and Octavia after they were wed. Look at her likeness for a moment, then scroll back up to the bust at the top of the page. She's wearing the same flipped back hairstyle and I think bears many of the similar features as in the marble. 

The coin here mentions that Antonius was both Imperator and Consul. Being hailed "Imperator" by one's legions was the highest accolade a Roman general could achieve on the field. And the consular title was the highest office in Rome, though by this time, the Republic was no longer holding regular elections. The powers that be--in this case, the Second Triumvirate--of which Antonius was a senior member at the time, gave him the "right" to declare the consulship.

Octavia and Marcus Antonius spent a good three years together. For about a year and a half, they lived in Rome proper, but then Antonius had to head east again to prepare for his invasion of Parthia (modern day Iran/Iraq). His operations at that time were located in Athens, and the Greek people loved Octavia and ancient sources state that the couple spent a very happy, but short interlude there. Sometime before they left Rome or shortly after arriving in Greece, Octavia bore Antonius the first of their two daughters. Both were named Antonia (more confusion for this author to differentiate in her story!). 

There were plenty of tense moments in Octavia's is marriage for alliance--not so much between Octavia and Antonius, but between Antonius and her brother. Things began to unravel shortly after their sojourn in Athens, when Antonius headed back to the East again, Octavia returned to Rome with the children, who included his two sons by Fulvia, Fulvia's children by Clodius, and Octavia's children by Marcellus, along with the two Antonias. This turned out to be the marriage's "fork in the road" and where I shall end Octavia's story, in the hope that you'll want to continue it in my next book. 

So what do we have left of Octavia besides a few coins or busts? Believe it or not, there is a ruin in Rome that Octavian built in her honor, the remnants of which can still be seen today. 

​This is the Portico of Octavia (red brick arch at right), which Octavian built in honor of his sister sometime after 27 BC. There was a lovely colonnade behind the Portico, connecting existing Temples to Jupiter and Juno, along with the magnificent Theater of Marcellus (also still standing). Marcellus, if you recall, was Octavia's son by her first husband, and he completed the theater which had been started by Julius Caesar before his assassination. Sadly, Marcellus died prematurely and suspiciously, too. In her grief, it's believed that Octavia built the library in memory of her son.

Octavia will be an integral character in my upcoming book!

I'm so excited about the next few weeks of blogging! I have some amazing guests with fascinating material and upcoming books to share. Also, I'll be sharing more about my own book--Antonius: Soldier of Fate, which launches on Friday, October 16th! Next week, we're headed for Alexandria, Egypt for an intimate look at HER MAJESTY, Cleopatra VII Philopater! See you then and READ ON!

Hello, readers!

I'm delighted to begin a series of blogs which will support content in my next book, Antonius: Soldier of Fate--the final book in the Antonius Trilogy. Today, I'll be sharing a little about Marcus Antonius's first three wives: Fadia, Antonia, and Fulvia Bambula.

Not much is known about Fadia--wife #1. She has certainly proven herself to be a favorite character in Son of Rome, though. Every reader loves her! Cicero is the only primary source that mentions Fadia, and it was in an assault against Antonius, in one of  fourteen speeches, known as the Philippics. So what do we know about her? First, she was the daughter of a freedman, Quintus Fadius. Whether or not she was actually a slave within the domus Antonii is unknown. Some Classicists suggest that perhaps Fadius was a man of great wealth and that Antonius chose the marriage to assist in his great debt. However, that cannot be proven, so it was delightful coming up with my own material concerning her.

Fadia and Antonius may have been parents, as Cicero mentions it, but if so, both mother and children were dead by the end of 44 BC. It is not impossible that she may have been a slave in the domus Antonii, as was the case in my novel, Son of Rome. 

High-born ladies, such as Julia Antonia, Antonius's mother, would indeed have had slave women to dress them, do their hair, make-up, and even accompany them shopping, the baths, or to cater to their needs at dinner-parties. As depicted in Sir Lawrence Alma-tadema's rich painting at right, "The Frigidarium", personal slaves, attached to wealthy nobles would have been at their disposal night and day.

Many question why Antonius would have married Fadia, since he was of a noble family and she was the daughter of a former slave. We'll probably never know his motives, so it was a fun thing upon which to build my story. Did they love one another? Were there children? Was there an awful tragedy as I wrote into my story in Son of Rome? Some scholars don't believe they were married at all and that Fadia may have simply been Antonius's first great love-affair.

​It is well-known that Antonia Hybrida (daughter of Marcus Antonius's uncle, Gaius Antonius Hybrida) was Antonius's first marriage to a noble lady. Antonia was also his first cousin. Though we consider such marriages incestuous in our culture today, Romans in the 1st century BC allowed the practice. However, they frowned upon unions to any closer blood relatives than that. 

Antonius's marriage to his cousin probably took place after his first adventures in the East as a cavalry officer under Gabinius. They remained married at least until after Caesar's victory at Alesia (52 BC). Alledgedly, Antonia formed a romantic relationship with Publius Dolabella. He and Antonius probably endured a rather stormy relationship, since Dolabella was married to Tullia, the daughter of Cicero, who was already at odds with the Antonii by that time. It's unclear exactly when, but once Antonius learned of the affair, he promptly divorced his cousin. Together, Antonius and Antonia had a daughter--another Antonia! (I swear the ancient Romans had ZERO imagination whatsoever when it came to names!)

At right, is a coin bearing the likeness of Fulvia Bambula, the 3rd wife of Marcus Antonius. Interestinly enough, it is the first coin bearing the profile of a mortal woman in Roman coinage. I say "mortal", as it was common practice to place representations of female deities on coinage.

Fulvia was first married to Publius Clodius, the politician and well-known riot-monger of Rome's late Republic. Cicero claimed in his Phillipics that Antonius was having an affair with Fulvia. (In my book Second in Command, she is the one who actually makes moves on him!) And there was a recorded altercation between Antonius and Clodius in the Forum Romanum (again mentioned in Cicero's Philippics.)


After Milo murdered Clodius, it wasn't long before Fulvia remarried another one of Antonius's colleagues--Gaius Scribonius Curio, the younger. When Antonius finally married her after Curio's death, he indeed had a wife of noble lineage, as Fulvia could boast descent from the famous Punic War hero Scipio Africanus. 

Like her heroic ancestor, Fulvia had no interest in household matters, though such was expected of women. She enjoyed being around men who wielded power, so as Antonius rose to prominence at Caesar's side she was undoubtedly involved in many aspects of his career. Possibly too much so, as was revealed while Antonius was in Egypt in 41-40 BC, when she and Antonius's brother Lucius Antonius were involved in the siege at Perusia. 

Fulvia was the mother of Marcus Antonius's Roman heir, named for his father but called "Antyllus". She also bore him a second son, Iullus Antonius. Iullus is mentioned in my final book, but his fate was as tragic as his father's. He fell into a romantic relationship with Octavian Augustus's daughter, Julia. When Augustus learned of this, he had Iullus imprisoned and the young man chose suicide. Fulvia's eventual fate was also tragic, and is an integral scene in my last book in the trilogy, Antonius: Soldier of Fate.

Next week, I'll be sharing about two very important ladies who share leading roles in Antonius's later life: Octavia and Cleopatra VII, Philopater. I hope you'll join me next week to learn a few fun-facts about both of them! In the meantime, READ ON and I'll be sharing my big cover reveal SOON!

It is hard to believe, but I've been an author for nearly a year and a half and it's been the most incredible experience. Researching, traveling WHILE researching, meeting new people, teaching workshops, brushing up on public speaking, seeing things from unique perspectives, and learning how to BE an author. Thank you for following me on this adventure, because that's truly what it is--a rip-roaring ADVENTURE!

In just two months, I will be done with the Antonius Trilogy. My final book (be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom for my first tiny portion of the cover reveal!) will launch on Friday, October 16th. And I CAN'T WAIT to share it with you! I will be announcing another giveaway soon, so be sure to keep an eye out on the website.

One of the most difficult things for me to embrace as an author is to stir up "buzz" about myself. I've never been very comfortable in that department. However, it's part of the game, and though I try to present blogs that are scholarly, interesting, and full of information about my books' period or characters, I feel I also need to share occasionally about myself.

Recently, a Twitter friend, contemporary romance author Elizabeth N. Harris from the UK, offered to interview me. I figured this was perfect timing, since I'd been needing to share a little more about "moi" on my blog in lieu of the upcoming book, so I accepted her kind offer. Here is my interview with her. I hope you'll get a few extra details from it about both my work and my background. 

Elizabeth: Hello! Welcome to the Author of the Week Page, where I interview Indie Authors, This week's Author of the Week is the interesting and wonderful Brook Allen. ​Hi Brook, welcome, let's start with what books you've written.​

Brook: The Antonius Trilogy: Antonius: Son of Rome & Antonius: Second in Command. My third and final book in this trilogy is due to launch on Friday, October 16th.​

Elizabeth: Tell me a little about yourself, see we're all nosy here!

Brook: First off, thanks so much for having me, Elizabeth. I’m a professional musician in my day-job and with rehearsals and performances, it takes up a lot of my time. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, there haven’t been many concerts or music lessons lately. Hopefully, things will be back to normal soon. My husband and I live with our two black Labradors in a rural community in Virginia’s beautiful, Blue Ridge Mountains.​

Elizabeth: I had to look those up Brook, they are really beautiful. What got you into writing?

Brook: I’ve been writing off and on since high school. However, after I focused on Roman Studies while going to grad school, I started the Antonius Trilogy. It’s been a labour of love now for over fifteen years and it’s hard to believe I’ll be done by the end of October. That means new projects, though. I’m looking forward to that!​

Elizabeth: That sounds interesting, who is your favourite author, and why?
 
Brook: Margaret George is my favourite author. She is truly the grande-dame of historical fiction in the US, and her characters are so varied. What a career this lady has had, from reaching the acclaim of being a NYT Bestselling Author to appearing live on a celebration honouring Garth Brooks. Her book, The Memoirs of Cleopatra led me to write my Antonius Trilogy. Best of all, she’s been my mentor along the way.
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Elizabeth: She sounds like a wonderful mentor. Who encouraged you the most to write?
 
Brook: My parents encouraged me first. I won some awards in high school for my writing. Then came my husband who has slipped into their shoes of being my cheerleader. Lastly, Margaret George’s encouragement, advice, and endorsement have been a great honour and joy to have.
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Elizabeth: How wonderful you've had so much support, Brook. Are you as avid a reader as a writer?
 
Brook: I try to be. It’s been an easy role to slip into during these months of the pandemic. However, when I’m working full-time in my day-job, it’s pretty much impossible to both read a lot and WRITE novels. I look forward to retiring so I can focus on writing like I’ve been able to do during these months of the pandemic.

 
Welcome to this week's blog! We are going to finish up my series on Roman Music and starting next week, I'll be featuring tidbits of material which will be included in my last book in the Antonius Trilogy, which will hopefully launch on Friday, October 16th.

It's time to focus on ancient Roman brass instruments, which were popular in gladiatorial games and the military. 

First, let's talk about the bucina or cornu. I have to state that these terms may be used interchangeably, and it is unclear whether they were one and the same instrument or two separate ones. 

The relief at right is in Osuna, Spain and is actually a copy of an original housed in the National Archaeological Museum, Madrid. Though this bucinator (horn player) is not mounted, there is evidence from other funerary steles suggesting that by the late 1st century BC or early 1st century AD, the bucina was used in association with cavalry units. But they were also used in camp life, probably to signal wake-up calls or meal-times.

​During my visit with Walter Maioli of the ensemble, Synaulia, Maioli showed me a reconstructed bucina/cornu that his ensemble uses. Like with today's brass instruments, a player must have a very firm embouchure--taut muscles around one's lips which help produce the tone. The instrument itself was made of bronze, as Roman ones would have been, however, it was surprisingly light-weight. It's certainly easy to see where later instruments such as hunting horns and eventually the French horn got their overall appearance.

I was able to locate some bucina sound samples, but you'll need to pare away some light percussion and tibiae (woodwinds) in the mix. The bucinae are surprisingly mellow--very much the way a well-played French Horn player sounds. However, keep in mind that there are no valves whatsoever, so it's the embouchure that firms up or loosens around the player's mouth to change the pitch. What you'll hear will have some intonation problems to the western ear, but one has to be impressed at the precision that might have been achieved on this ancient wind instrument: ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RFHor-CP-0

Strangely, the funerary stele to the left is described as the Stele of the Bucinator, A. Surus. Maybe Surus forgot his bucina that day, or it's possible the inscription was simply incorrect, because he's portrayed holding a tuba--the ancient Roman trumpet. Please don't bother to ask why the modern tuba is named thus, because I have no idea how that came to be. But the tuba of ancient times was similar to a Medieval or Renaissance herald trumpet. It had no valves, and how any of these brass instruments were tuned, or whether they had standard sizes is all open to conjecture.

As was the bucina, the tuba was used in both gladiatorial games and in the military and was the preferred instrument for signaling large units of men on the battlefield. Along with their fellow bucinatores, tubicines (trumpet-players), eventually formed a collegium or guild. 

In my research, I was able to locate several references in ancient sources, in which the tuba was mentioned. One pertains to the moment in time when Sulla stormed Athens: 
     Upon entering Athens, Sulla used his tubicines to signal his army into the city, but, due to the nature of the text, it is obvious that there was an enormous intimidation factor involved if one considers all this noise taking place at midnight. The Athenians must have experienced mass panic.
     When they had thrown down the wall, and made all level betwixt the Piraic and Sacred Gate, about midnight, Sulla entered the breach, with all the terrors of trumpets and cornets sounding, with the triumphant shout and cry of an army let loose to spoil and slaughter, and scouring through the streets with swords drawn... Plutarch, Vit. Sull. 619.

The second reference will feature as part of the story in my next book, Antonius: Soldier of Fate. Following the Battle of Actium, Antonius sailed to the northern coast of Africa in Cyrene, attempting to gather more legionary support:
     "...he did not go thither, but proceeded against Gallus (in Cyrene), in the hope of winning over the troops without a struggle, if possible, inasmuch as they had been with him on campaigns and were fairly well disposed toward him, but otherwise of subduing them by force, since he was leading against them a large force both of ships and of infantry. Nevertheless, he was unable even to talk with them, although he approached their ramparts and raised a mighty shout; for Gallus ordered his trumpeters to sound their instruments all together and gave no one a chance to hear a word." Cassius Dio, 51.9.

​In Rome, another magnificent frieze bears testimony to the use of the tuba. This time, the instrument was used in Titus's military triumph over Judaea. In the photo at right, the long tubae are easy to make-out, decorously crossed in front of the menorah, pillaged from the Temple of Herod in Jerusalem.

I am providing another Synaulia recording so that you're able to hear the tuba--the Roman trumpet on recreated instruments, which Maioli built. This recording is called "Imperium" and also features several other instruments we've covered. Listen for the "oom-pahs" of the softer bucina, and the shrill voices of the tibicines which join in midway through. 
​     Imperium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg5DKkDJ1X4 

Salvete, everyone! I hope you're enjoying the dog days of summer. This week I have the joy of introducing you to a very special friend of mine. Silvia Prosperi is a modern-day Roman! She was born and raised in the city and knows it like the back of her hand. She has assisted me with research, with seeing specific sites (I'll let her tell you more about that herself), and has given me much insight as to how the late Republican Forum was arranged. So hang on to your arm-chairs, because we're taking a virtual visit to Italy!
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One of the concepts I often find myself conveying to my guests during my tours in Rome (where I’ve  worked as a tour guide for 11 years) is that Rome today is just a city, but in the ancient times it was “an idea”.

Rome started as a city and extended well beyond its borders enlarging the idea itself of Rome. When a Roman citizen was in Spain or Syria, for instance, he was not feeling like a stranger and needed no “passport”, all these far Provinces were in fact still Rome to him.

The aspect of these cities and countries was in fact not too different from the capital he had left several weeks earlier: fora, baths, cobbled roads, aqueducts, theatres and amphitheatres, “tabernae” and the domus could be found everywhere, and also coins and languages were the same as he’d use at home. The first globalized world!

One weird consequence of this fact is that many “roman” emperors where in fact not born in Rome. Caludius for instance, was born in France, in modern Lyon, at the time called Lugdunum, while Trajan and Hadrian were from Spain. And what about Septimius Severus, who was from Leptis Magna, in current Libya, and consequently not white, but African? But they were not seen as “imposters”, they were Romans to all intents and purposes!
 
Another side effect of this globalized concept is that you do not find roman buildings only in Rome, but in many other countries. And obviously it is easy to “find Rome” just outside its walls, as I like to do with my guests when Rome is too crowded (though it’s not been a problem this summer of 2020—but usually it is!) 

Here is a list of my ten favorite spots, where we're headed, right now, for a quick virtual tour:
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​Appian Way: just outside the Aurelian Walls you’ll find seven miles of preserved ancient road surrounded by important Roman remains, above and underground. The stadium of Maxentius, the mausoleum of Caecilia Metella, Christian and Jewish catacombs are just some of the attractions of this open air museum, and I like to reach them by horse, totally forgetting about modernity.

​Park of the Aqueducts:  a little further on the way south of Rome you start seeing the arches of five ancient aqueducts scattered in the fields which is now a public park. It is amazing how runners and picnic sets live side by side, next to amazing structures of the first century BC and AD, one of the best legacies the Romans left us.

​“Castelli Romani”: the Appian way takes you straight into a series of hilly towns that ancient Romans liked for breezes during the summer. An ancient theatre in abandoned Tusculum (photo at right), the sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Diana on Lake Nemi, the castra and water tanks in Albano are all traces of the Roman past here.

​Hadrian’s Villa: on the eastern side of Rome you find the important town of Tivoli, famous for its travertine quarries still mined today (the blocks used to build the Colosseum came from here) and for the huge villa the emperor Hadrian built for himself to manage the Empire in a more relaxing environment.

Tiberius’ villa: going south you reach Sperlonga, where another emperor, Tiberius, prepared a wonderful residence directly on the Tyrrhenian sea. A summer triclinium (a banqueting hall) was created inside a grotto decorated with statues of Ulysses. Not far from Sperlonga, lies the town of Terracina dominated by the remains of the panoramic temple of Jupiter Anxur. The main piazza of the city is still the original marble pavement of the ancient forum and you can sit there at a table for gelato or a cup of coffee. 

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​Norba: this is a hidden jewel, a republican city destroyed during the civil war between Marius and Sulla and consequently abandoned. It dominates the valley over the Pontine Plain and a sense of archaic atmosphere surrounds you. 

​Subiaco: this town is more famous for its medieval history, since saint Benedict founded his order here and its first monastery. But you’ll also find the remains of a villa built by Nero and you can literally walk *inside* a Roman aqueduct, the Aqua Claudia. Amazing!

​Privernum: another town along the Appian Way, not very famous, but interesting because the excavations are still in progress and there’s an opportunity to take an active part in the archeological digging during certain times of the year. We call this project “archaeologist for a day” and we cooperate with the archeologists there to provide an incredible experience for our guests. 

Ventotene: the little island on the Pontine archipelago (near the more famous Ponza) is the site were Julia, the daughter of Octavian Augustus was confined in exile for five years. She was just the first of a series of “undesired” women of power: Scribonia, Agrippina Maiora, Octavia (the first wife of Nero). Of course, the prison was in fact a luxurious villa whose remains are still visible today. We often arrange sailing cruises lasting a few days, to explore this archipelago and enjoy this crystal clear sea at the same time.