Although the choices literally are limitless, there are certain obvious initial decisions to be made. Is the character male or female? How old is he or she? What are the primary traits of this person? What appearance does he or she have? What is the character going to do? What knowledge and personality features will he or she need to accomplish the character's function? The answers to these questions (and the reasons for the answers) can be personal or can be compelled by the story you want to tell. Usually, I find the character flows from a mix of both.

All of that sounds very complicated and esoteric. But really, it's only a matter of letting the character tell you who he or she is. I can try to illustrate the process by explaining some of the mental gyrations that led to the development of one of my own characters. Aelia Cassius was created because I needed a "mother" character for a writing group set around 200 BC in Rome. I wanted a Patrician woman with a bit of money and some political connections. She needed to have some independence of action, or the part would not be fun to write, so Aelia could not have a husband who would order her around and compel obedience. I did not want to deal with a divorced husband floating around in the background. Aelia was, therefore, a widow.

Now… what would a Patrician Roman widow have been like in 200 BC? I had no clue about that! So, without even realizing I did it, I took the stilted speech pattern and rigid approach to life displayed by one of my high school teachers and imposed them on poor Aelia. From her very first post, Aelia was a humorless Roman Matrona of inflexible principle and overweening pride. She was perfectly crafted to fulfill her purpose in life: scheming, plotting and gossiping in furtherance of her son's political career.

But over the years, Aelia had to change. For one thing, the story for which she was created was gone. For another, she was too much of a one-note song and became boring to write. So, when "Maria Marius" needed a cousin, I grabbed Aelia who was ready to hand. Aelia lost twenty years, became slender and lost her fixation on Roman Female Virtue. Quite the opposite in fact. "Maria" needed a relative engaged in something illegal. So Aelia became a working girl. I did not want to write about some poor tramp plying the Via Sacra, therefore Aelia catered to a select clientele of well-heeled and highly positioned men who exercised great power in Rome.

Creating an interesting character is not something that occurs overnight or takes place in a vacuum. The interactive aspect of the writing affects the manner in which you see your own characters. I had never described the physical attributes of the new Aelia in any posts. Several male writers intersected with her--and each of them saw her differently. To one, she was a dyed-blonde bimbo. Another saw her as a hard-eyed brunette with the soul of a brass cash box. The third saw her as a red-head with ice blue eyes… an honorable woman, caught by hard times. His view of Aelia changed my own approach to her. She remained a widow, but this time around, her husband was the victim of a murderer. She was left with insurmountable debts and had to scramble to keep from being crushed. So, she sold the one thing that was left in her control, thereby making herself a social outcast--and becoming a much more interesting person along the way.

Now, suppose that you want to create a male character--a warrior. What else do you need to decide about the man? According to Decius Aemilius, the first thing to ascertain is what the guy's hair looks like and whether he has any scars--and if so how many. You also need to know whether the character has a "cool name." Then you need to consider why he is a warrior. Cultural demands create a different sort of person than one who is fleeing an abusive home. Perhaps the guy merely ran into a persuasive recruiting sergeant. How long has he been a warrior and how old was he when he saw his first combat? Is he a leader or a follower, that is, can he successfully command others or is he just good at fighting the enemy? Did he work his way up through the ranks or was he from the sort of background that caused him to be handed a command? How loyal is he? Does he stick by his friends? Is he out only for personal gain? Will he be loyal to his friends at the cost of betraying his homeland?

Some of those questions can only be answered in context. If the man is a member of the Athenian army in the third century BC, he probably is not an aristocrat. If he is…then why is he in the army? By way of contrast, a Gallic warrior fighting Romans in the first century BC is quite likely to be an aristocrat. And if he is not, then why is he fighting Romans? Drakus Domitius adds that he always wants to know the man's heritage. What is the character's ancestry? What are his socio-political circumstances? And, above all, what are his goals?

Once you have answers to at least some of these questions, then what? You need to sketch the character so that other people can see him or her. One way to do that is to write several paragraphs of exposition. However, that is extremely difficult to do in an interesting manner. The better way is to place your character in the middle of the action and let his personality and physique become apparent to the reader as events unfold. (This has the advantage or permitting you to begin writing without deciding every little thing and setting it in stone.)

It's easier to demonstrate than it is to describe. So, with the permission of Baldwin II Belgae, I give you the following account of two men who have not seen one another for many years. Pepin The Bard confronts his former teacher, Cyricus:

“Your weathered face hasn’t gotten any prettier old man!” After a hearty growl and a rough embrace Pepin took a seat at the table next to the Master at Arms.

“And your sharp tongue hasn’t gotten you killed yet? eh Master Pepin?” Cyricus had a gravely voice and the age worn face of a hardened soldier. His pate was mostly bald and what hair he did have took the form of thin gray wisps. He looked past the peak of his days, but Pepin knew from his strong grasp there was more to this old warrior than met the eye.

“Its good to see you again boy. What is it that brings you through our fair lands?” The Master at Arms speared a piece of wild boar with his poniard and took a warrior size bite.

In nine sentences we know all that we need to know about Cyricus. He's aging but strong, a vital and ironical man who has lost his hair but not his capacity to live life to the hilt--the kind of guy who spears wild boar with his belt knife!

So now it's time to put all this into practice. Create a character. And next time, we'll figure out how to build a storyline for him!

As early as the first century B.C., Virgil described the Italian landscape, "Olives and cheerful herds cover her (Italy). Here there is continual spring and summertime in months that do not belong to them, twice the herd becomes pregnant, twice the tree bears fruit."

A garden has always been an important part of a Roman home, though originally it was more of a vegetable patch than a decorative garden. Pliny tells us that the matrona was responsible for provisioning the household from the hortus.

The Twelve Tables, the ancient laws of Early Rome, give us our first reference to gardens. Table VII concerned land rights and the ancient 'heredium' or the inheritable portion of the property and appears to refer to the vegetable garden, 'hortus' coming into use at a later date. And later still, came the peristyle garden. These were usually placed toward the rear of the house in the area of the hortus. Diodorus Siculus associates the introduction of the peristyle garden with the Etruscans.

As the garden grew in status in the Roman home and became an integral part of the Roman lifestyle, the area alloted the garden area was increased and in some of the more fashionable homes, a second or third peristyle garden was added. In the home of Obellius Firmus in Pompeii, there is an L-shaped peristyle garden and an extra garden area behind the first.

The defining feature of a garden is that its a place where plants are grown and Roman gardens are no different. Plants are selected by the gardener or owner for the contribution they make both to the life and beauty of the garden and to the owners. Those plants found in a Roman garden are the plants originating within the Roman empire or those regions bordering it.

The gardens of Pompeii give us a remarkable insight into the types of plants and flowers grown in Roman gardens. The study of vegetal micro and macro-remains reveal a good many species which were the most widespread in the region and frescos very frequently depict plant subjects, often accurate enough to permit identification of the variety.

In the early gardens, the flowers that were grown usually would have been those associated with an orchard or vegetable plot. A notable exception is the poppy. A reference in Pliny shows that these flowers were grown in gardens at least as early as the sixth century BC when Targuinius, armed with a cane, 'knocked off the heads of the tallest poppies in his garden'. Pliny also describes several cabbages including one that formed sprouts. Other vegetables fennel, parsnip, asparagus, mustard, capers and parsley. Pliny the Elder tells us that in the early days, the vegetables grown were more of the garden variety because they required little cooking and saved fuel.

Gardens of Pompeii, Annamaria Ciarallo, Lérma di Bretschneider

Ancient Roman Gardens, Linda Farrar, Sutton Publishing Limited

Natural History, A Selection, Pliny the Elder as translated by John F. Healy, Penquin Books

Houses, Villas, and Palaces in the Roman World, Alexander G. McKay, The Johns Hopkins University Press

"Among his other good deeds in this life, he and his wife, the noble countess Godgiva, who was a devout worshipper of God, and one who loved the ever-virgin St. Mary, entirely constructed at their own cost the monastery there [Coventry], well endowed it with land, and enriched it with ornaments to such an extent, that no monastery could be then found in England possessing so much gold, silver, jewels, and precious stones."

Elamite: haltamtu
Persian: huwaja
Greek: elymais
Hebrew: elam

Ancient kingdom in todays southwestern Iran, east of the Tigris river and north of the Persian Gulf.
To Elam belonged four prominent cities: Awan, Anshan, Simash and especially Susa, the capital.
Elam is known for its matrilinear system of succession. A newly appointed ruler was always referred to as 'son of a sister'.

Culturally, Elam did in several fields achieve far less than its neighbour countries, and much was imported from them.
Writing came from the Sumerians and large parts of the architecture came from Babylonia.
There is relatively little literature from Elam, and of religion we know practically nothing.

Elamite language is only partly understood by scholars, it had nothing relative to Sumerian, Semitic or Indo-European languages, and there are no modern descendants of it.
After 3000 BCE the Elamites developed a semipictographic writing system which we call Proto-Elamite.
Later the cuneiform script was introduced.
Through large parts of Elam's history we hear nothing about its situation and status.

6th millennium BCE: First traces of civilization the area of Elam is one of the oldest civilized areas in world history.
Around 2000: Elam is a strong power, being able to conquer and destroy Ur.
Around 1600: It is believed that the Kassites, who captured Babylonia, also destroyed Elam.
Around 1160: Under king Shutruk-Nahhunte Elam once again rises to power, and enough to drive the Kassite out of Babylonia.
From this came the first (and short-lived) Elamite empire.
Around 1120: Susa and Elam is sacked by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar 1. This lead to the end of the Elamite empire.
Around 750: A new Elamite kingdom rises, but it is not the great power of old days, and is often threatened by the Assyrians.
645: Elam is conquered by the Assyrians, and annexed into their kingdom. Elam would never again rise to be a great power. It was later conquered and sacked by Media as well as Persia.