Mosaic of amphorae being unloaded from a ship, Ostia / Southampton University, Creative Commons The trade networks of the Roman Empire are among the most intensively researched large-scale market systems in antiquity, By (left-to-right) Dr. Xavier Rubio-Campillo, María Coto-Sarmiento, Jordi Pérez-Gonzalez, and Dr. José Remesal Rodríguez Rubio-Campillo: Lecturer in Archaeology; Computational Archaeology, The[…]
Hundreds of ancient gold coins were unearthed in the basement of a demolished theater in northern Italy. Archaeologists are calling it an “exceptional discovery.” / Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities By Shannon Van Sant / 09.10.2018 Hundreds of ancient gold coins were found last week in the basement of a former theater in northern[…]
The charred papyrus scroll recovered from Herculaneum is preserved in 12 trays mounted under glass. Here is PHerc.118 in tray 8. The scroll was physically unrolled in 1883-84, causing irreparable damage. (Henrik Knudsen) A revolutionary American scientist is using subatomic physics to decipher 2,000-year-old texts from the early days of Western civilization. By Jo Marchant[…]
Ancient Roman inscription from Marseille (France) / Photo by Rossignol Benoît, Musée Calvet, Wikimedia Commons Quaestor to Consul or even Dictator, the path was clear. By J. McKeown The Cursus Honorum was the traditional path of magistracies a potential politician had to follow in order to get to the top of the political ladder. The[…]
Cicero Denounces Catiline, fresco by Cesare Maccari, 1882-1888 / Wikimedia Commons Examining Cicero’s views on the construction of Roman identity. By Fisher Wallace Pressman This paper examines Cicero’s Pro Archia Poeta Oratio and the author’s implicit and explicit views on how Roman cultural identity is construct ed. While the speech itself is the legal defense[…]
South transept of Tournai Cathedral, Belgium, 12th century / Wikimedia Commons The Romanesque style appeared to be a continuation of the Roman tradition of building, albeit a much simplified and less technically competent version. Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 09.14.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief Introduction Romanesque architecture is the term that describes the architecture of[…]
Forum, looking toward Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii Pompeii was not always a Roman town. By the mid-sixth century BCE, both Etruscans and Greeks had settled in the area. By Dr. Francesca Tronchin / 09.02.2018 Independent Scholar of Classical Art and Archaeology Preserved under Volcanic Ash Pompeii may be famous today, with millions of tourists visiting each[…]
Bacchanalia (cut), on a frieze / Photo by Roland zh, Wikimedia Commons Practices intimately tied to the soteriological aspirations of their adherents. Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 09.10.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief Introduction The Bacchanal by Peter Paul Rubens / Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Wikimedia Commons The term Bacchanalia describes the initiatory and celebratory[…]
The Roman Forum / Photo by Bert Kaufmann, Wikimedia Commons The best intentions often end in the most spectacular falls. By Zachary Scott Rupley / 05.2009 Adjunct Professor of History East Tennessee State University Conception and Temperament of Emperors; State of the World [LEFT]: Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century / Vatican Museums, Wikimedia[…]
Lucius Aemilius Paullus, acting as imperator, breaking ties of serfdom / Photo by Marco Prins, Louvre Museum, Creative Commons Imperator (“commander”) was a Roman title, awarded to victorious commanders and emperors. The Greek equivalent is strategos autokrator. By Jona Lendering / 08.10.2015 Historian and Founder Livius Onderwijs Iberian Origin? The Roman word imperator simply means[…]
The Amphitheater of Catania / Photo by gnuckx, Wikimedia Commons The Eternal City was not only a world power, a gendarme of the ancient world for a long period of time, but also a power of communication. By Dr. Mădălina Strechie Senior Lecturer in Ancient History University of Craiova Abstract The Eternal City was not[…]
As he led his troops into the mountains, Hannibal vowed: “You will have the capital of Italy, the citadel of Rome, in the hollow of your hands.” (Tomas van Houtryve) He pulled off one of the greatest military feats ever. Now new scientific evidence points to Hannibal’s legendary route to Rome. By Franz Lidz /[…]
Wide view of Circus Maximus, Rome, Italy / Photo by Peter Clarke, Wikimedia Commons The Circus Maximus as evidence to both the flexibility of public spaces and usages by the aristocracy from pre-Roman times through the Roman Empire. By Cody Scott Ames / 04.06.2016 Abstract It is a place where the general public can gather[…]
Highlighting the evolution of corruption and represents the highlights of the phenomenon from the social, economic and religious perspective. By (left-to-right) Ciprian Rotaru, Dumitru-Alexandru Bodislav, and Raluca Georgescu Bucharest University of Economic Studies Introduction The phenomenon of corruption can be dated with the rise of mankind. Although it is not an act with[…]
Sacrifice scene during a census: left part of a plaque from the Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus known as the “Census frieze”. / Photo by Jastrow, Louvre Museum, Wikimedia Commons “Quis custodiet ipsos custodies? – “Who watches the watchmen?” By Nico P. Swarz and Eric Ozoo Swarz: University of Botswana Ozoo: Baisago University College of Botswana[…]
Mosaic depicting Roman slaves, Tunisia, 2nd century CE / Wikimedia Commons The forms of servitude known in the classical world varied across time and place. By Keith Bradley Towards the middle of the fifth century AD the Christian presbyter and moralist Salvian of Marseilles composed a highly polemical tract, On the Governance of God, in[…]
The Massacre of the Triumvirate, by Antoine Caron, 1566 / Louvre Museum, Wikimedia Commons Roman eyes were fixed on Hispania in 75 BCE. By Tristan Hughes / 07.24.2017 Ancient Historian 75 BC and Roman eyes are fixed on Hispania. For the past five years one man has lead a bloody resistance in defiance of the[…]
The Entrance of Cornelius Sulla into Rome, where he was appointed as “Dictator” in the First Century BCE / Wikimedia Commons The truth is complex. By Marc Hyden / 07.27.2015 Historian Introduction For centuries, Lucius Cornelius Sulla has been reviled as a maniacal tyrant who defiled the Roman constitution and instituted bloody purges, but some[…]
The Tarpeian Rock / Photo by Lalupa, Wikimedia Commons The world quickened and mutated, and the Republic with it. By Tom Holland Historian In the beginning, before the Republic, Rome was ruled by kings. About one of these, a haughty tyrant by the name of Tarquin, an eerie tale was told. Once, in his palace,[…]
Antonine baths ruins / Photo by Aymen, Wikimedia Commons The Carthaginian assault on their Numidian neighbours gave the Romans the perfect excuse to crush this troublesome enemy once and for all. By Mark Cartwright / 05.31.2016 Historian Introduction An artist’s impression of what the Roman naval attack on Carthage may have looked like during the[…]
A fresco by Cesare Maccari (1840-1919 CE) depicting Roman senator Cicero (106-43 BCE) denouncing the conspirator Catiline in the Roman senate. (Palazzo Madama, Rome) / Wikimedia Commons One man would rise amidst the disorder of civil war, at least in his mind, to save it. By Donald L. Wasson / 02.03.2016 Professor of Ancient/Medieval History Lincoln[…]
The Rape of Lucretia by Titian (1490-1576 CE). Lucretia was raped by Sextus, son of the Roman king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. The incident, according to legend, brought about the downfall of the monarchy and the beginning of the Roman republic in 509 BCE. / Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons The corruption of Superbus and the rape[…]
Looking to the writings of Duncan Kennedy and Hannah Arendt for further insight. By Dr. Elena Giusti Assistant Professor in Latin Literature and Language University of Warwick Abstract The allegedly old-fashioned debate over the pro- or anti-Augustanism of Augustan texts was superseded in 1992 by Duncan Kennedy’s ‘reflections’ over these terms of reference. Since then,[…]
The Pantheon in 1836, by Jakob Alt / Albertina, Wikimedia Commons Religious worship was a public affair for ancient Greeks and Romans. By E.M. Berens Temples The Roman Maison Carrée temple in Nice, France / Photo by Danichou, Wikimedia Commons In very remote times the Greeks had no shrines or sanctuaries devoted to public worship,[…]
Augusts as Rome’s Pontifex Maximus (High Priest) / Wikimedia Commons Every citizen of Rome became his client and he the unchallenged sole ruler. Money Museum His conquests made Augustus the richest man of the Roman Republic. He could afford to cover all expenses that up to then had been covered by the whole of the[…]
The assassination of Julius Caesar, painted by William Holmes Sullivan, c. 1888 / Wikimedia Commons Dissatisfied Republicans rebelled, but the empire was born. 03.23.2018 Gaius Julius Caesar (13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a great statesman who changed history and left a great legacy. He was descended from the ancient and[…]
Boydell’s Collection of Prints illustrating Shakespeare’s works / British Library, Public Domain Rhetoric was a much-valued skill in Renaissance England, as it was in ancient Rome. By Dr. Kim Ballard / 03.15.2016 Linguist Rhetoric – the skilful use of language in order to move or persuade – was big business in Elizabethan England judging by[…]
Relief scene of Roman legionaries marching, from the Column of Marcus Aurelius, Rome, Italy, 2nd century CE / Photo by Barosaurus Lentus, Wikimedia Commons Looking at how war-making profoundly changed Greek and Roman society. By Dr. Harry Sidebottom Ancient Historian Introduction It is well known that the way in which a society makes war is[…]
A marble relief panel from Smyrna showing Roman slaves in chains. 200 CE. (Ashmolean Musuem, Oxford, UK) / Photo by Jun, Wikimedia Commons The revolt of the gladiator Spartacus remains the most successful slave revolt in the history of Rome. By Dr. Joshua J. Mark / 03.04.2016 Professor of Philosophy Marist College Introduction The revolt[…]
The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888), Lawrence Alma-Tadema. (Wikimedia Commons) Ancient Rome featured a myriad of, what could be understood, both then and now, as experiences that transcended sex and gender norms. By GVGK Tang / 11.14.2017 The ancient Roman satirist Lucian describes an exchange between two courtesans, wherein one of the women repeatedly characterizes her[…]