About Me

I was born in Transylvania (a Romanian region) in Simeria, a small railway town steeped in Roman history. Later in my life I worked as a research psychiatrist and my pioneering contribution to the treatment of depression in the medically ill is cited in the American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Psychiatry, American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and other established textbooks of medicine such as De Vita. I am also a pioneer in the pharmacological treatment of stuttering. Other books, journals and web sites also cite my work. Currently, I am a psychiatrist in private practice in Canada.

In 2003, I traveled with my wife to Celico, her hometown in Calabria, southern Italy. There I came across the legend of Alaric's rich burial under the stream Busento near Cosenza, a city I could see in the valley below Celico. At that point, something hard to explain happened to me. I began almost immediately a campaign of research, reading and traveling aimed at writing The Lost Gold of Rome: The Hunt for Alaric's Treasure. Sutton Publishing, now an imprint of NPI Media Group, included it in their portfolio and now the book is available in many parts of the world. It is currently being distributed in USA and Canada. I recently began campaigning for the commemoration of the fall of Rome in August 2010.

A picture of me in June 2007

Web	www.fallofrome2010.com

About this blog

Here I will explain in more detail why I started this blog and describe the topics I am primarily interested in covering in it. Researching and writing The Lost Gold of Rome was an excellent opportunity for me to learn the very simple truth that the events of late ancient and early Dark Ages Rome have had and still have an enormous influence on what is happening in the world today. In fact, many problems of our time can be understood fully only if one is familiar with the history of late ancient and early medieval Rome. It is unbelievable and disquieting that most people in the West do not know what happened in Rome in August 846. A profound ignorance of that part of European history dominates the minds of many Westerners. I am not going to spend too much time trying to understand what is the explanation of this anomaly. I prefer to offer something that fills this gap in the knowledge of the public. The readers believe that The Lost Gold of Rome can do the job as it is an easy, entertaining and highly informative introduction to the history of late ancient and early Dark Ages Rome. In addition, I will recommend other enjoyable and edifying books that examine this little known, but extremely important period in the history of Europe, such as the monumental and magnificent Storia di Roma nel Medioevo (History of Medieval Rome) by Professor Ludovico Gatto from the University La Sapienza, Rome.

But not only books can have a strong impact on the public's interest in historical knowledge important for cultural survival. Commemorations of famous events can also be very effective in this regard. That is why I think a remembrance of the fall of Rome in 2010 must be attempted. The Lost Gold of Rome and other books that I will recommend on this website can serve as handy source books to those interested in commemorating the fall of Rome, as well as to those wishing to expand their knowledge of late ancient and early medieval Rome in order to understand better the world of today.

Another reason I had to begin this blog was my interest in the formal application of the models and methods of psychiatry and clinical psychology to the study of historical motivations. I believe this is a fascinating and underexploited interdisciplinary field that may yield in the future more answers to our perennial questions about what drives history-making behaviours.

I wrote much of The Lost Gold of Rome in a cottage on this peaceful lake in Ontario.

Alaric, the fall of Rome, early medieval Rome and our time

Copyright notice: on this website, the images and the text are not in the public domain.
Legal notice

Liability: By contacting us for the purpose of joining our group in Rome in August 2010, you implicitly agree that at this point and at any time in the future, Daniel Costa and those who help him do not have and shall never have a legal relationship with you or anybody else connected with you one way or another (including but not limited to travel companions/dependants/other relatives/other persons) that you may consider bringing with you or you actually bring with you to Rome in August 2010. As well, by contacting us for the purpose of joining our group in Rome in August 2010 you implicitly agree that Daniel Costa and those who help him do not have at this point and shall never have in the future a legal relationship with any travel agent, provider or supplier of any imaginable services and goods, that you or anybody else connected with you one way or another (including but not limited to travel companions/dependants/other relatives/other persons) may interact with in preparation for your trip to Rome, during your travel to Rome or back home and during your presence in Rome in August 2010. By contacting us for the purpose of joining our group in Rome in August 2010, you implicitly agree as well that in Rome in August 2010, your interaction with Daniel Costa and those who help him and the interaction of those connected with you one way or another (including but not limited to travel companions/dependants/other relatives/other persons) with Daniel Costa and those who help him, will be limited to engaging in activities aimed at commemorating the fall of Rome. By contacting us for the purpose of joining our group in Rome in August 2010 you also implicitly agree that if you will consider joining us in Rome in August 2010 or you will actually join us in Rome in August 2010, Daniel Costa and those who help him shall play no role whatsoever in organizing your travel to Rome and back home, your hotel in Rome and any other activity or service imaginable by you or anybody else brought by you or connected with you one way or another (including but not limited to travel companions/dependants/other relatives/other persons). By contacting us you for the purpose of joining our group in Rome in August 2010 you implicitly agree that Daniel Costa and those who help him shall have no liability whatsoever in relation to any personal injury, death or illness, damage or theft of personal property, expenses or inconvenience caused through delay, disappointed expectations, accidents or any other losses (including consequential loss) suffered by you or anybody else connected with you one way or another (including but not limited to travel companions/dependants/other relatives/other persons), arising out of or in connection with any act or omission (including negligence) on the part of those who were involved in making the arrangements for our commemorative activities in Rome.