Trying to find the name of a book I read as a kid. A Roman Legion soldier was sent north past Hadrian's Wall into the wilds of Scotland on an espionage mission to pacify the local Celtic/Pictish(?) tribes. He was mistaken for a figure from legend, and ended up having great influence over the tribes. Spoiler for the ending after the jump. [more inside]
posted by seasparrow on Oct 14, 2008 - 8 answers

Any good books/sites you can recommend about city life in ancient Rome? [more inside]
posted by Kattullus on Jul 28, 2006 - 11 answers

Here is an appeal to the Classics scholars out there. Some time ago I read an article that told a story in passing of the effects of live drama upon an unsophisticated audience in a provincial town in the Roman empire. The citizens had hitherto never been exposed to the particular form--it was on the comedic end of the scale and involved singing as I imperfectly recall--and reacted with a sort of mass hysteria: they went into a mass swoon, rioted and things fell apart and days later there were still people in the streets singing the choruses of the songs. I have tried to Google this a number of times and have yet to find anything resembling what I read. Does this ring a bell with anyone here ?
posted by y2karl on Jul 10, 2004 - 19 answers