Hot drinks and early bedtimes were key to a comfortable winter. Images of Italy and the Mediterranean generally include bright sun shining on sparkling water and dusty groves of olive trees. In fact, according to Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, who wrote a 10-volume treatise on architecture in the first century, “Divine providence has so ordered it that[…]
Ultimately, it allowed Caesar to overthrow the Roman Republic and led to the establishment of the Imperial system. Introduction Julius Cesar is one of the most famous men in all of history. He was one of the greatest military commanders of all time and the man who transformed the Roman Republic into an Empire. One[…]
Dictators were only supposed to be appointed so long as the Romans had to carry on wars in Italy and elsewhere. A dictator was an extraordinary magistrate at Rome. The name is of Latin origin, and the office probably existed in many Latin towns before it was introduced into Rome (Dionys. V.74). We find it in[…]
Rome’s influence lives on in many ways today – in art, architecture and engineering, language and writing, philosophy, law, and citizenship. Introduction “All roads lead to Rome,” boasted the ancient Romans. For 500 years, from about 27 B.C.E. to 476 C.E., the city of Rome was the capital of the greatest empire the world had[…]
Although a saint, a bishop, and an important figure in a turbulent age, Sidonius is remembered particularly because of his somewhat dubious literary talents. By Dr. Lynn Harry Nelson Emeritus Professor of Medieval History The University of Kansas Introduction Europe in 451 CE Although a saint, a bishop, and an important figure in a turbulent[…]
By the British Museum / 02.28.2017 Bronze head from a statue of the Emperor Hadrian, 2nd century C.E., bronze, 43 cm high, Roman Britain © Trustees of the British Museum Fixing the Empire’s borders When Hadrian inherited the Roman Empire, his predecessor, Trajan’s military campaigns had over-stretched it. Rebellions against Roman rule raged in several provinces and[…]
The dead wait to be ferried across the River Styx. The Souls of Acheron (1898) by Adolf Hiremy Hirschl For the ancients, ghosts could be quite useful. By Dr. Evelien Bracke / 10.28.2016 Senior Lecturer in Classics Swansea University Dressing up, knocking on neighbours’ doors and asking for food is a very old tradition. Communities on the British Isles were[…]
Head of Janus, Vatican museum, Rome / Photo by Loudon dodd, Wikimedia Commons Sage advice from the ancients on new beginnings By Annelisa Stephan / 12.30.2012 We are in the territory of Janus, the ancient Roman god who gives us the name of our first month. Janus is the master of beginnings, as well as[…]
Detail from The Temple of Janus by Peter Paul Rubens. Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons On January 1, we consider the origins of Janus, after whom this month is named. Dr. Caillan Davenport / 12.31.2017 Senior Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History and ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow Macquarie University January 1 can be a day of regret and reflection – did I really[…]
A view on the Roman cavalry forces, especially the equites legionis. By Dr. Stefan Zehetner Institut für Alte Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Papyrologie und Epigraphik University of Vienna Introduction A view on the Roman cavalry forces, especially the equites legionis. The article describes a possible organizational chart of the legionary cavalry formation in imperial times. By[…]
Roman mosaic / Photo by Alberto Fernandez Fernandez, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wikimedia Commons Prostitution quickly became a popular source of income and pleasure for the Roman population, but it seemed to be viewed dichotomously. By Lauren Weisner / 12.01.2014 Prostitution quickly became a popular source of income and pleasure for the Roman population, but it seemed[…]
The battle marked the end of the internal conflict in the Roman Empire and the solidification of Christianity. Introduction The battle on the Frigidus River is a battle in the eastern Alps between the army of the Eastern Roman Empire under the command of the Emperor Theodosius the Great and the army of the Western[…]
The reign of Justinian was an extremely significant period. It marked the final end of the Roman empire in the West the establishment of the new Byzantine empire in the East. By Dr. Lynn Harry Nelson Emeritus Professor of Medieval History The University of Kansas The empire was united under the Eastern emperor in theory,[…]
Illustration showing Alaric in Athens, by Ludwig Thiersch / Wikimedia Commons If one wishes to consider German-Roman relations on a broad scale, there were actually four German “invasions” of the empire. By Dr. Lynn Harry Nelson Emeritus Professor of Medieval History The University of Kansas Trade Europe in 70 AD By about A.D. 70, the Romans had[…]
This painting by Roberto Bompiani captures a common 19th-century association of Roman dining and excess. A Roman Feast, late 1800s. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 72.PA.4 While Roman law was laying the foundation for a society of contract and exchange, Roman philosophers were listening to the Greek philosopher Epicurus, who said, “If you wish to make[…]
The Tauroctony / Photo by CristianChirita, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Wikimedia Commons The Roman deity Mithras appears in the historical record in the late 1st century A.D., and disappears from it in the late 4th century A.D. By Dr. Roger Pearse Ancient Historian Introduction The Roman deity Mithras appears in the historical record in the late 1st century A.D., and disappears from it[…]
After the death of Tiberius, the problem of the succession presented to the senate was not an easy one. By Dr. Guglielmo Ferrero (1911) Early 20th-Century Historian After the death of Tiberius (37 A.D.), the problem of the succession presented to the senate was not an easy one. In his will, Tiberius had adopted, and thereby designated[…]
An equestrian statue of a Julio-Claudian prince, originally identified as Caligula / British Museum, Creative Commons Looking, with late Italian historian Guglielmo Ferrero, at the facts cited by the ancients as examples of corruption in the Roman Empire. By Dr. Guglielmo Ferrero (1909) Early 20th-Century Historian Two years ago in Paris, while giving a course of lectures[…]
Was persecution a consistent imperial policy, and what types of punishments were inflicted on Christians? The Christian Martyrs’ Last Prayer by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1883)/Wikimedia Commons The image of cowering Christians being thrown to the lions by Roman emperors is a grisly staple of popular culture. But how accurate is it? By Dr. Shushma Malik and Dr. Caillan Davenport / 11.21.2016 Malik: Lecturer in[…]
Ancient Athens practically invented Western culture, but xenophobia led to the collapse of the Empire. Flickr/SantiMB The ancients knew that the key to a successful state was extending citizenship to those who need it. By Dr. Alastair Blanshard / 06.15.2011 Senior Lecture in Classics and Ancient History University of Sydney In the short period of its[…]
The entrance of Sulla into Rome / Creative Commons Factions seeking to manipulate the system for control. By the mid-second century B.C. the aristocrats who traditionally made up the ruling class in the Roman Republic had adopted the epithet “optimates” – the best men , or “boni” – the good men, following the Greek model[…]
Vercingetorix, atop his horse, surrenders to Julius Caesar. Painting by Lionel Royer. | Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons Caesar’s conquest of Gaul was a prelude to the start of the Second Roman Civil War, marking the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic. By Peter Coons / 10.21.2018 In 58 BCE, Roman proconsul Julius Caesar,[…]
Decimation in Beaver’s Roman Military Punishments, by William Hogarth, c.1725 / Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wikimedia Commons Punishment by lot for soldiers in ancient Rome. Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 11.04.2018 Public Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief Introduction Decimation (Latin: decimatio; decem = “ten”) was a form of military discipline used by senior commanders in the Roman Army to punish units or large groups guilty of[…]
When Britain went it alone. Shutterstock Centuries ago Britain attempted to sever ties with the continent – and it ended in murder. By Dr. Adam Rogers / 03.23.2017 Teaching Fellow, School of Archaeology and Ancient History University of Leicester From the first to the fifth centuries AD, Britain – though not officially Scotland, which lay beyond the frontier at Hadrian’s Wall – was[…]
Modern reconstruction of what the Second Temple would have looked like after its renovation during the reign of Herod I / Photo by Juan R. Cuadra, Wikimedia Commons Exploring Judaism from 515 BCE to the destruction of the Second Temple and the following rise of anti-semitism in early Christianity. Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 10.28.2018 Public Historian[…]
Examining interactions and the exchanges in the Eurasian networks during the first centuries of the Roman Empire. By Dr. Marco Galli / 12.16.2016 Associate Professor of Classical Archaeology Sapienza University of Rome Abstract This research focuses on four relevant points. From a historiographical perspective, the reconstruction of the trading routes represented a central theme in the[…]
Creative Commons One of the most fundamental characteristics of civilization is the rule of law, especially equal law. By Thomas Fortuna / 09.12.2011 494 BCE: Campaign at the Sacred Mount The Secession of the People to the Mons Sacer, engraving by B. Barloccini, 1849 / Wikimedia Commons The plebeians made up the majority of the[…]
The Plebeian struggle to gain equal standing with the aristocratic Patrician ruling class. Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 10.24.2018 Public Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief Introduction The Conflict of the Orders, also referred to as the Struggle of the Orders, was a political struggle between the Plebeians (commoners) and Patricians (aristocrats) of the ancient Roman Republic lasting from 500 BC to 287 BC, in which[…]
Decimation (William Hogarth) in Beaver’s Roman Military Punishments / Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wikimedia Commons The ancient Romans interpreted the favor of the gods as justification to perform ritual killings. By Dawn F. Carver, Jasmine Watson, and Jason Curtiss, Jr. Colorado State University-Pueblo The ancient Romans outlawed human sacrifice in 97 BCE after increasing discomfort with the[…]
The Republic at the Zenith of Its Power. Golden Liberty. The Royal Election of 1573, by Jan Matejko / Royal Castle, Wikimedia Commons This essay traces the Greek and Roman roots of Polish sixteenth- to eighteenth-century political thought by discussing the Polish nobility’s concept of the “Golden Freedom” (L. aurea libertas). By focusing on the Roman and the Greek[…]