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Now its obvious that Alera is based on the Roman Empire, and Jim Butcher publicly acknowledges Ancient Rome as his inspiration. But what of the actual references to Rome?

Just three good examples of references are:

Appia, most likely a reference to the Appian Way(a.k.a. "Via Appia"), an important rode in Ancient Rome.
Tiber: The majority of events of Cursor's Fury takes place at a bridge on the Tiber River.
Romanic Era: This is a direct reference to Rome. At one point Tavi explains the terms "Romanic" and "Romans" to Max. Romanic Era refers to an era in Aleran history when a people dubbed the Romans, lived and flourished, surprisingly without the aid of Furies

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

kalium.livejournal.com

The military structure, a number of names of ranks and positions, the Legion...

Direct references to Rome are pretty much beyond counting.

From: (Anonymous)

yeah, i noticed those too, and i edited wikipedia about it lol.

So is Alera a civilization that came forward(in an alternate timeline) after the fall of rome or what?

From:

kalium.livejournal.com

My guess is that Alera is the Roman civilization, plus the power of the Furies.

From:

kero319.livejournal.com

Well it can't ''be'' the roman civilization, since they have the ruins of Appia and the Romanic age of Romans. So it would have to be a direct descendant of the Roman Empire

From:

kalium.livejournal.com

That depends on how you define things like "Roman civilization". It is the same one, if it has continued more or less undisturbed for 1000+ years? At what point do you draw this most arbitrary of lines in the sand?

The early Romans were absolutely nothing like the Romans at the height of the Holy Roman Empire, yet we consider it all one civilization.

From: (Anonymous)

Hmm good point. Well i would mark the end of the roman empire around the time when it split into Eastern and Western Empires. If not then, then it is definitly when it became the Byzantine Empire.

I would think that Alera, if it is really a part of the roman empire, is at some point around the Crisis of the 3rd Century, a time about 235-283 a.d. This would make the fighting of the Lords justified.

However, if its not really part of Rome, then Alera would be around the Valentinian Dynasty . This would make good use of the threats of Icemen, Marat, and Canim. That is the vandals would be the Canim, the Visigoths the Marat, and the Huns the Icemen(the Huns and Visigoths could be switched).

From: (Anonymous)

the hre and the roman civilizations are different connected only by the name the hre came way after Rome was sacked the traditional ending point for the western roman empire

From:

red-jeb.livejournal.com

No. The Holy Roman Empire is not considered to be the same civilization as the Roman Empire. It just isn't.

From:

tsk1979.livejournal.com

Actually Alera is set in the future. Remember all the talk about ancients who built big buildings without furies? Well thats "us". Somewhere down the line magic came and technology went, but then as sir Arthur C Clarke says "Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic"

From:

jimbutcher.livejournal.com

Technically, Alera is set more or less in the present. :) It just isn't happening on Earth.

There's plenty of Lost Roman Legion stories out there. Mostly, the stories are about where they went, and what they did when they got there. This one just happens to be about the world they got lost on, and the society that developed there over the next couple of thousand years.

Jim

From: (Anonymous)

I belive your reason to make the most sense since their world does not in anyway resemble our own so they cannot be one and the same. It also brings the question what happen to the romans most likely they became intergrated with the already established Alerans. Which would also explain the reason why Alerans use alot of roman words and descriptions and the lost of the history of the romans who built the buildings without furies.

From: (Anonymous)

Ur retarded

From:

cowboysandy.livejournal.com

I like how you call the author of the books retarded for his post (and you can't even spell "you are" right)

As for is "jimbutcher" the author, clicking on his name here, and going to his offical website and clicking on the link "blog" takes you to the same Live Journal blog page. So it seems like it's a good chance it is him.

From: (Anonymous)

I was calling the guy who responded to Jim Butcher retarded. Of course the author is right, you don't have to try to sound smart by agreeing with him.

From: (Anonymous)

Ludus game is most likely related to a Roman game of the same name (or close). Wikipedia mentions Ludus game having checkerboard type black and white squares of fewer number than mentioned in the beginning of Cursor's Fury, and the second tier of board is new as well, but these changes could've easily come about in the evolution of Romanic culture into Aleran, as stated the second tier board represents the skies of the battlefield, only accessable to wind-crafters obviously not present during Romanic times.

From: (Anonymous)

this is what Jim said about it

Author Jim Butcher, when participating in a recent online debate about this subject, said "Alera is set more or less in the present. It just isn't happening on Earth.

"There's plenty of Lost Roman Legion stories out there. Mostly, the stories are about where they went, and what they did when they got there. This one just happens to be about the world they got lost on, and the society that developed there over the next couple of thousand years.