Next year Cheops Books LLC will publish two Roman historical thrillers about Edward Ware’s long ago ancestors in the days of ancient Rome, Cherusci Plot about the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest and Vesuvius Plot about Edward’s ancestor and Pliny the Elder escaping from the Germans. We will also publish a brand new edition of Cleopatra’s Caper about Edward’s original Roman ancestor, Lucius Antonius, an officer under Julius Caesar during the Battle of Alexandria. In preparation for all this we will be publishing a series of blogs about Roman customs and traditions so different from our own.
One custom is very similar. The month of December was the season of the Saturnalia. At the end of the year the Romans made merry. Servants and masters traded places, and everybody gave out gifts. The Roman Forum was a busy place near Palatine Hill and the Colosseum. It was full of shops with wares on display imported from the vast Roman Empire. This is the reason that westerners celebrate Christmas in December.
