Roman Empire

[kero319.livejournal.com]

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

Comments

[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

[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.

[(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).

[(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

[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.