It's Been Six Months! (Ok, seven, but...)

Hello everyone.

Firstly, I apologise for not posting here for two days; I have been very busy behind the scenes tweaking this and poking that and thinking about future content, particularly with 2025 looming on the horizon. And I had to go to hospital, but, as Granny Weatherwax once said “I aint’nt dead”.

It was always my intention after six months or so to take stock, see what was working and what wasn’t, and then maybe refocus and improve on what content I can bring you and, in particular, to try and drive audience interaction.

Firstly, I’m not abandoning anything that I have already been doing, although my focus will shift somewhat. I am predominantly a Roman historian. It has always been my first love and remains so. It’s what I have written about for 20 or more years. It’s what I studied, and I grew up in Wales, not far from tons of awesome Romano-British archaeology.

I’ve tended to drift a little into areas of history that I don’t really specialise in, and whilst this is cool and fun, it’s slightly terrifying to dabble in, say, medieval history, get three-quarters of a way through an article and then suddenly realise that the source you’ve been using is absolute poppycock and you have to start all over again!

You should always stick to what you know, even if you still find amazing new stuff as you go. The shift in focus then will mainly be towards Roman history, as you might be able to tell by the subtle name change.

I also want to increase participation without forcing people to think that they have to interact to part of the ‘gang’. If you want to just carry on reading, please don’t ever feel any pressure to do anything otherwise. Frankly, if it was me, I’d just sit back and read, too.

But one thing people always do when they find out what I do for a living is start asking questions. Questions that they’ve been carrying around in their head, waiting for the off-chance that they find a Roman Historian knocking about in the supermarket, looking for fermented fish heads or something. Or, you’ll have questions about Roman life that, when you Google them, you find some blog somewhere written by some fool that you’re never entirely sure you can trust. Even Wikipedia, which is a pretty good way of finding sources to follow, has all sorts of gibberish about Romans on it, from false quotes to incorrect dates. August institutions have information on their websites that is either 100 years out of date (because that’s the last time anyone catalogued their stuff), or they’re just copying/pasting it from somewhere mad, too.

So let me be your guide. Let me be the person you ask those questions of.

Did the Romans wear underwear? What did they have for breakfast? How much tax did they pay? Could you mail a letter, and if so, how long would it take? Was Nero really mad? Did gladiators ride rhinos like in that new movie? How long did they live for? How did they wipe their arse? Did they believe in ghosts?

If you have any questions, I want you to ask me, and I will write an appropriate response. You can ask your question via any of the normal social media platforms (although I am not on Twitter anymore because… well… it’s awful - I am on Bluesky, which is a very nice space). You can drop me a line here or just leave a question in the comment section of any post.

You do not have to subscribe to ask a question, but I will give priority to those who do and paid subscribers will definitely get an answer (within reason!)

Have fun with the new look and the new format, and, as always, thank you so much!

J

Thanks for reading! If you’re stuck for a Christmas gift for a loved one, or for someone you hate, or if you have a table with a wonky leg that would benefit from the support of 341 pages of Roman History, my new book “The Compendium of Roman History” is available on Amazon or direct from IngramSpark at the link below. Please check it out by clicking the link below!