Calculating travel time in ancient times

When I wrote my book, The Road to Alexander, I knew I was going to be travelling a lot.  He’d dragged his army (like a gaggle of geese, as Ashley dryly remarks*) from one end of the known world to the other – over mountains, swamps, and deserts. Luckily, I had an incredible ressource to help me plot the journey – Michael Wood’s “In the Footsteps of Alexander”, a book literally written while following Alexander’s army. Invaluable and fascinating! But from book IV to book VII, the couple voyage to Africa, Gaul, Scandinavia, and then down the coast of France and Portugal, through the ‘Pillars of Hercules’ and on to Carthage, Rome, Pompeii and finally home again in Alexandria.  But how to calculate the time it took to travel that route?

Overland routes were the easiest – although roads were often just tracks, they existed, and in those days, there was brisk trade from north to south, and east to west. Walking time is fairly easy to calculate, and the larger towns and cities were logical stopping points. But what about sea voyages? How fast did the boats go, how long did it take to get from Alexandria in Egypt to the port of Massalia (Marseilles)? Luckily the library steered me to a fascinating book on ancient travel by boat, and wonder of wonders – it was in public domain and online! So off I went to research, and this book became my new favorite as I happily plotted and planned Alexander and Ashley’s trip.

A few years later, I stumbled across this wonderful site – and now writers of history can click on a map and get travel times in Ancient Rome, and I spent a lot more time than I’d care to admit clicking on routes.

Ancient travel is mostly composed of marching, riding, sailing, or plodding along in a cart pulled by oxen.  What brings a book to life are details of everyday life – and what adds even more veracity is (trying at least) to keep travel time as close to reality as possible. I hope these online ressources can help authors as much as they helped me!

Speed Under Sail of Ancient Ships.  Lionel Casson. New York University (article) http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/TAPA/82/Speed_under_Sail_of_Ancient_Ships*.html

Travel times in Ancient Rome: ORBIS. http://orbis.stanford.edu/#

For walking – use the Hiking Time Calculator: https://trailsnh.com/tools/hiking-time-calculator.php

Mile per day riding: On Roads / trails
Level or rolling terrain: 40
Hilly terrain: 30
Mountainous terrain: 20

Off-Road (or unkempt trails etc)
Level/rolling grasslands: 30
Hilly grasslands: 25
Level/rolling forest/thick scrub: 20
Very hilly forest/thick scrub: 15

Un-blazed Mountain passes: 10
Marshland: 10

Assumptions
An average quality horse, of a breed suitable for riding, conditioned for overland travel and in good condition.
Roads and trails are in good condition.
Weather is good to fair, and travelers are riding for around ten hours a day.

Notes
Halve these distances for a horse pulling a cart or for a very heavily laden horse, and essentially, it depends on the horse. Horses are athletes, and well conditioned horses that are used to travelling long distances can travel much further than horses that are not used to such activity. If your horses don’t get out and do this particularly often, then 20-30 miles (30-50 km) per day is probably a good estimate. Wikipedia supports this, with a claim of 30 miles (50km) per day for a small mounted company. This involves the horse walking for most of the duration of the day, with short breaks.

Excerpt from “The Road to Alexander”

*I nodded. ‘Fine, let’s go south. I was worried about spending the winter in the mountains anyway.’
His mouth twitched. ‘Well, that’s another reason we’re going.’
‘Fine. Did you tell your men?’ I asked sarcastically, ‘or did you just say “march south”, as if they were a gaggle of geese?’
‘A gaggle of geese?’ His eyebrows rose. ‘I don’t think my men think of themselves as geese.’
‘Oh? Well, excuse me. It’s a just silly impression I got, that’s all.’
‘Explain.’ It was an order.
‘Did you tell them why you did it?’ I asked, getting angry now. ‘Did you bother to explain? Do you know what they’re saying?’
‘About what?’
‘You know damn well about what. I’ll tell you what they’re saying. They’re saying that Parmenion had no trial. They’re saying you were the judge, the jury, and the executioner, and that you did it out of sheer fury! That’s what they’re saying.’
‘Where did you hear this?’ His eyes were blazing.
‘In the stables, the grooms are talking. Alex, you have to do something. You can’t just expect your men to read your mind and follow you blindly. They deserve your trust.’
‘Oh? They do? What about Philotas?’
‘I think he was an exception,’ I said levelly. ‘But if you go on pretending to be a god, he’ll become the rule.’
‘Pretending to be a god?’ Alexander sat heavily on the bed and stared up at me. ‘You, of all people, telling me that? I see you’re blushing. Good, so you do see the irony of your statement.’
‘I only meant that you could explain. Call your men together and give them one of your speeches, you do that so well. They want to see you; they love you and want to follow you. But if you close yourself off from them, they will be hurt, then angry, and then they will refuse to follow.’ I looked at him pleadingly.
He studied my face for a few minutes, then looked down at his feet. He wiggled his toes. ‘They really love me?’ he asked, looking up again.
‘What do you think?’
‘I wasn’t sure, you know, after last night. It came as such a shock.’
‘I know.’ I sat next to him and touched his shoulder. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’ve already written a speech, and I was going to give it before we broke camp.’ He grinned.
‘You did?’
‘Yes, I wasn’t going to drag my men around after me like an old sack. Or a gag of geese.’
‘A gaggle.’
‘Yes, nice word. I think you worry too much, Ashley of the Sacred Sandals. You worry and fret like an old mother hen.’ He took my hand and pulled me down on the bed next to him. He started to take off my tunic, not heeding Brazza who was packing the rug, or Axiom who was taking down the lamp.

Excerpt from The Road to Alexander by Jennifer Macaire

Hamster post about hamsters

My twins bugged me for years about getting hamsters, but since we had a cat I told them "no." So when the cat died (of old age) the boys and I went to the pet shop and bought hamsters. I wanted two males or two females - of course we got one of each sex. And they had little wrestling matches (delighted comments from the boys) I rushed out and bought a second cage - too late - at 6 a.m. we were woken up by Sebi screaming that "Brownie has Kittens!" And sure enough - in Brownie's cage were five tiny pink...things. Baby hamsters are Not cute in the beginning. The twins (aged 10) named the new babies (Verb, Adverb, Paragraph, Page, and Cootie.) Cootie being the runt of the litter. My daughter, aged two, loved to play with the hamsters and would take them out of their cage. I would tell her to put them back or they'd bite. She didn't care. She got bitten a few times but it just made her stop squeezing them so hard.

 One day I was vacuuming the dining room and my daughter (2 years old) came running in screaming "Stop Stop - the babies are all over!" She'd taken them out to play and left them in the dining room. Horrified I stopped the vacuum cleaner and started to look for one-inch-long baby hamsters. I found four, but not Cootie. Hands shaking, I started to take apart my vacuum cleaner, when I noticed our dog, Fudge, lying under the table licking her paws.

Eyes narrowed, I crouched down and said, "Fudge, bring it over here!" Sheepishly, she got up and walked over and spit a tiny hamster out onto my outstretched hand. The hamster was a little wet (well, a lot wet) but intact and perfectly fine. I sighed and put all the babies back with their mother, and put the cage high, where my daughter couldn't reach it.

 The baby hamsters all found good homes with the twins' schoolmates. (The hamsters were also invited to spend a week in my daughter's kindergarten class, where the mother hamster promptly bit the pricipal's thumb much to the children's delight.) About a month later my daughter set the father hamster free in our garden. ("But he wanted to play in the bushes!") and the mother hamster lived on for a few more years and then died peacefully in her bed. (Hamsters only live about 3 years, so don't get too attached to them).

The twins, by then, had another hamster that they "rescued from a bunch of 'wild hamsters' in the pet shop that were picking on him" - he was the smallest hamster I've ever seen. He looked like a gray walnut with long, wild, Einstien hair. He was so weak and sickly the boys named him Kenny - after the South Park character who was always dying. Kenny didn't grow very much bigger, but he lived to a ripe old age of nearly 5 years - an amazing feat for a hamster. He was also the sweetest hamster, and never bit anyone, not even children or principals.

When Kenny died, an old hamster practially all white by now and moving stiffly like an old man - (he died sitting in his food dish, so it took us a while to figure out he was actually dead) we decided to give away the hamster cage and not have anymore small animals. Until my daughter wanted goldfish. But that's another story.

Writing and rambling about murder mysteries - real and imagined!

Still writing. Not done with the mystery book yet. Is getting to the exciting part. Bodies left and right now. Killer getting carried away.
I was wondering if I wasn't taking out some frustration on my characters. Sort of a therapy. Maim and kill with words and take out imaginary characters instead of losing one's temper and driving over the neighbor's cat who insists that your front garden is the only place it can pee.
Actually I don't have a problem with the neighbor's cat since it mysteriously disappeared a few months ago.
No, I'm making up stories again. The poor thing died of old age and obesity. I kept it out of my garden by shutting my front gate - it was too fat to leap up over the wall. My neighbors have a wonderful gourmet restaurant and the cat obviously got the leftovers.
In the village next door, there was another restaurant. It closed after two people were discovered buried in the back garden. A couple. Rumor has it that the man found his wife with another man. And that is what I heard for ages, until I found out from a policeman what really happened. Supposedly the couple were gypsies and had been blackmailing the owner for quite some time. Finally he snapped, shot them, and buried them in the garden.
How many people had dinner in the restaurant while the couple rotted in the ground? I never ate there - when we moved here that was already old news. It took me a while to find out the true story.
Even older news was the story of the man who lived in Gambais and he would go to Paris on the train, find a woman to come clean his house, kill her, and incinerate her in his oven. He's a famous French serial killer. They caught him because of the train tickets. A ticket to and from Paris, and just one ticket from Paris. A one way trip for some poor cleaning woman. That affair, heavily covered by newspapers at the time, was easy to verify. But people living in the village are not eager to talk about the affair. Not unusual - it must bring the property values down quite a bit...
In Houdan, not far away, another mystery was recently solved. A hundred years ago, a woman had been accused of putting arsenic in her husband's meal and poisoning him. His body tested positive for arsenic. So did her children, her mother in law, and everyone in the house. She was put on trial and convicted of murder and attempted murder of over fifteen people. She died in prison. About a hundred years later, a scientist and historian, curious about the affair and about the unusual geographical nature of the area, convinced the town to let him exhume and test the people in the cemetery. Turns out nearly everyone was full of arsenic. The ground water, it turns out, is poisoned. A sort of natural arsenic spring. The woman was declared innocent posthumously, but most people still talk about the 'Houdan poisoner'.
I like the fact that people prefer to think of the woman as guilty. It's more exciting, and besides, she's dead poor thing and can't defend herself. I wondered about other historical reputations, like that of the infamous Tokyo Rose, who was also acquited of spying, and yet still retains her reputation. Does history ever tell the truth? What about the princes in the tower? Did Richard kill them?
I think so. But there are people who disagree with that, saying that history has distorted the facts.
Since it's obvious that even history that's only a few yers old (the man who killed the couple in his restaurant) and a hundred years old (the poisoner from Houdan) can be twisted, imagine what many centuries of propaganda can do? I suppose we'll never find out what happened to the two princes in the tower.

Alpha's Alpha by Elizabeth M. Valey

Blurb

Lee never thought he’d find his mate at a club, but even less so, did he expect him to be, Alkaline, the leader of the mafia organization known as the Claws. If the lion shifter were not an alpha, things might be easier, but as it is, his mate is bent on keeping them apart. Not that it matters to Lee, he’ll hunt him down and make him his. 

Alkaline doesn’t do sweet. Nor vulnerable. Nor submissive. So when his lion decides that his soulmate is an alpha puma, he refuses to accept it. After all, whoever heard of two alphas mating? However, resisting Lee is harder than he ever imagined. 

With two men battling for dominance, who will end up on top? And will their romance survive the match? 

Available at 

Evernight Publishing

Amazon.com

Amazon.uk

Bookstrand

Thank you for having me at your blog today!

I’m excited to share my latest release with you, Alpha’s Alpha (Moon Point 2). This story is a standalone of a brand new series which revolves around the shifter bar, Moon Point. If you’ve read Evernight Publishing’s Owned by the Alpha anthology, you’ll find the first story in the series there.

Most of the time when I’m writing I have some background music playing and that usually influences my writing in one way or another. Alpha’s Alpha wasn’t any different. 

Spotify open, headphones on and hands on the keyboard I set to work. From the first moment, Lee’s and Alkaline’s story was mainly shaped around Maroon 5’s music, albeit with a few exceptions. Below is a short list of some of the songs which influenced the story and a little side note so you can see what part they touched the most. 

 

I hope you enjoy it!

1.       Animals by Maroon 5 ~ Lee and Alkaline met and kissed for the first time when this song was playing in the background.

2.       Cold by Maroon 5 ~ When the men decided to walk away from each other, this is the song I kept replaying.

3.       It was always you by Maroon 5 ~ In what part of the story do you think I played this song?

4.       Dani California by Red hot Chili Peppers ~ This song is Moon Point’s unofficial anthem. Its drunken patrons love singing to it. It’s a fun song.

5.       Lost by Icon and the Black Roses ~ At certain moments of the story both characters felt, well, lost. It’s an emotional song.

How important is music for you? Do you like to listen to something while reading? Let me know in the comments!

Excerpt

The beat of the music made the floor vibrate. The strobe lights flashed, creating a maddening effect. Lee lifted his arms toward the ceiling, and swayed his hips. He mouthed the words to the popular song, allowing the rhythm to wash over him and obliterate any thoughts and worries he still carried from the long day at work.

The animal within him stirred. Tossing and turning, it gathered energy from the pulsing tones and climbed to the surface as if awakening from a long sleep. Lee’s blood pumped faster. His vision refocused, throwing everything into sharp contrast, from the shimmering contents of beverages in clear glasses, to the glittery eye makeup of a random stranger. The club smelled like sweat and alcohol. Bodies pressed together, swaying, moving. Glass shattered somewhere followed by a chorus of “Oh!” and loud laughter. All around, people enjoyed a night out, oblivious to anything more than what lay a few feet from them. Unaware of the hunter in their midst.

 ~~~~~~~~~ 

Available at 

 Evernight Publishing ~ Amazon.com ~ Amazon.uk ~ Bookstrand
 

About Elyzabeth M. VaLey

Elyzabeth M. VaLey is a writer of sizzling, sexy romance who firmly believes in happy ever after.  From paranormal to contemporary, fantasy, or historical, she enjoys exploring her characters' darker side and writing stories about tortured heroes, strong heroines, and all that comes between them and their love. 

When she's not writing, she can be found walking in the Spanish countryside with her black Lab, exploring castles, or enjoying some tapas with her friends. 

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