Why is a newspaper journalist writing about ancient history?
Any good journalist studies the past to explain the present, and I simply enjoy looking further back than most. Covering science gave me a completely different sense of time, making me realize how all of human civilization is a mere blink in the lifetime of our planet. A life-long fascination with history has taught me that the motives of human beings have changed little since civilization first arose. In Roman Britain I saw numerous parallels to our time, as well as a period with the kind of epic ambitions and conflicting loyalties that make for good storytelling. It was an era of desperate combat, strong passions and high adventure. Q: How much of “Hadrian’s Wall” is true? A: Any student of the late Roman Empire is struck by both how much we do know, and how much we don’t. The Wall existed, but we don’t know exactly what it looked like. The Great Barbarian Conspiracy of 367 A.D. is recorded in history, but we know almost nothing of its details or battles. Women lived in the garrisons
