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Ala = auxiliary cavalry unit, recruited usually from the barbarian ranks.
Blinded horse eyes = It was a common practice to keep the battle horses blind eyed laterally, so the animal don’t get distracted during the fight.
Centurion = commander of a centuria, Roman military unit counting one hundred legionnaires.
Cohors = auxiliary Roman military unit. Their main role was engineering. They were also deployed as light infantry (javelins) or archers.
Dacian flag = a dragon of a sort made from a wolf’s head, sported in battles. It can be seen on the Trajan’s Column, in Forum Traiani.
Dacus, (pl. Daci) = tribesman from the Dacian branch of the Thracians, from the same tribal union with the Getae: they inherit the kingdom of Burebista and, under the king Decebalus, they fought three heavy wars against the Romans. Their capital was Sarmizegetusa Regia, in today’s Transylvania.
Decimation = the original signification was the summary execution of ten percent of a dishonored legion. This occurred at very rare occasions when the Roman legions made culpable of cowardice.
Decurion = commander of a decuria, the smallest Roman military unit, counting ten soldiers.
Donaris = ancient name of the Danube River.
Geta (pl. Getae) = tribesman from the southern branch of the Thracians, close related with Daci. Under king Burebista, the Getae organized a powerful army, counting about 250,000 soldiers, by unifying almost all the Thracian tribes North of Danube river, menacing the Roman Empire. Caesar planned an expedition against Burebista, but he was assassinated before. Just months later, the Geta King is murdered in an aristocratic plot.
Gladius = typical Roman sword, used by the legionnaires and by the gladiators.
Greek fire = incendiary dispositive invented by Greek engineers for naval battles. It had the propriety to burn on water. The secret of the Greek fire was never revealed. Most credible theories sustain is a raisin or paraffin based mix. By extension is used for incendiary liquids used in antiquity.
Jupiter = the supreme Roman god.
Latium = central Italian province with the capital at Rome, where the Roman Empire originates.
Legatus = representative.
Legion = the base unit of the Roman army, composed from variable number of units. At the origins, legionnaires were recruited only from Roman citizens. Very well drilled, the legions transformed Rome from a commercial seasonal village into a three-continental Empire.
Mars = the Roman god of war.
Pillum = short light spear used for throwing rather than pricking.
Roxolan = tribesman of uncertain origins from Central Europe; their rituals and technology are suggesting they are related with the Celts. Some other rituals, as skull deformation, are singular.
Vigila = night guarding shift. The night was split in four vigiliae.
Zalmoxis (also Gebeleisis) = the supreme divinity of the Dacian tribes. It is confirmed in history: Daci were unleashing arrows against the sky when they were mad with their god.
St. Maarten, 19 July 2012
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Name: (Rares) Gabriel Szeitz
Born: 14/07/74 – Ajud, Vrancea, Romania.
Passed away: unknown as yet.
Adoptive country: Island of St. Maaten (Dutch Caribbean)
Currently spoken language: English
Highest education: Universal History and Classical Latin, bachelor degree in Late Roman Empire and Latin Literature.
Languages: Romanian (perfect), Latin (written, very good), English (very good), French (good), Spanish (good), Dutch (basic), Creole (understood only).
Career span: archeological camp supervisor – sign maker – salesman – freelancer journalist – redactor en chief – teacher – military service – teacher again – dishwasher – kitchen helper – bartender – construction helper – freight manipulator – bartender / assistant manager – bankrupted business owner - ?
Literary activity: poems published at age 16 (national coverage magazine) – prize for the most special work entered in contest (zonal level) – prize for novel (zonal level) – prize for literary critics (zonal level) – novel accepted by editor, never printed – prize for essay (national level) – two short stories published in “Anticipatia” (CPSF) (the ‘best of’ in Romania)
Favorite writer: Stephen King
Least favorite writer: Tax Office
Contact:
e-mail:
[email protected] Facebook: Gabriel Szeitz
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How one starts writing a novel? Well, beat me, I don’t know. With an idea, perhaps. What about a painful idea? Because this idea was a pain in the neck, to say the least. This idea didn’t let me sleep. And it didn’t let me write what I was intending to.
I was working to a novel, provisory called Monotonous, then provisory re-called Past East. I wrote like 2000 words in my fifth chapter, and I went to sleep, thinking about my novel – I’ve got couple of good smelling ideas – and I said to myself I can afford a little lecture before I pass out. I started reading Orson Scott Card’s considerations about fantasy writing, but I couldn’t focus. I remembered I had an unfinished short story of my favorite and I start munching in King’s tale. And, out of nowhere, and with no connection, The Roxolan Princess (straight name) began to spin inside my head as a marble in an empty tin can. That was loud and noisy. What in heaven I know about the Roxolans? I forced myself to sleep with all that noise. I slept short and agitated, and I woke up to write further on Past East. I made my coffee, I smoked my tobacco, I sat by my cheap laptop and I opened a new word document, typing The Roxolan Princess as title. I never stopped for twelve hours, which time I had the first draft, the second one, and I finished. By the noon I was telling myself 3000 words should be enough as a literary jogging. By midnight I keep telling myself that 6000 words are not enough. But you know what? I had enough of this Princess. This is the final point:.
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