Welcome to FrankGugino.com
I'm standing by the fields of the wonderful Agriturismo San Francesco in Tuscany near Cortona, Italy. My wife Patti Chisholm and I stayed here in September 2017, visiting the region for pleasure and to get some firsthand info on the Lake Trasimene battlefield. The images seen below are from the marvelous Museo di Annibale al Trasimeno
at Tuoro sul Trasimeno just north of the lake. I highly recommend the agriturismo and the museum- both were exceptional experiences.
These two giants of Ancient Roman history are the primary sources of my book which includes a bibliography for further reading. Polybius, a Greek, lived 200-118 BCE and was a friend of the Scipio family. He is considered the most reliable source for that period.
Livy aka Titus Livius was born in Padua. He lived 59 BCE- 17 CE and wrote 142 books while in Rome of which 35 are extant. He goes into exhaustive detail describing the events and issues during the war and delineating all the major players who were part of the narrative. His history of the period utilized many other primary sources which included Polybius. I'll have more to say about both in future blogs.
Welcome to my new website. My new novel, Man of Salt,
The Story of Marcus Livius Salinator and the Battle of the Metaurus in Hannibal's War with Rome
is available to order online from www.lulu.com.
Get a 40% Discount off the retail price!
Use this link to connect directly.
I 'll be posting images and pictures from Italy and writing in my Blog about the story.
If you like history and historical fiction you're going to like this book. It's the strange but true story of Marcus Livius, a real person who lived during the Second Punic War, Hannibal's War with Rome. Many of the characters are also real personages. I've created a cast of other characters to bring the story to life. If you ever wanted to know more about this conflict along with the compelling drama of one man's journey from darkness to redemption, then Man of Salt
is perfect for you.
I'd like to hear from you. Send me your comments. I appreciate any and all feedback. Just scroll down to the bottom of this page to send me an email. I'll respond ASAP.
A typical Roman army camp prior to battle. One of several images of the Battle of Lake Trasimene shown at the Museo di Annibale al Trasimeno.
I'll be posting more images from the 10 stations around the battlefield. It's the first of several major battles I describe in detail in Man of Salt. The others: Cannae, The Metaurus and Zama demonstrate the horrors of ancient warfare from the soldier's point of view.
