Tag: Roman Empire

Slaves were trained as gladiators, and in 73 BC such a slave, a Thracian named Spartacus, broke out of a gladiator training camp at Capua and took refuge in the hills. The number of his band swelled rapidly and he kept his men well in hand and under strict discipline and routed two commanders who we...

In 133 BC king Attalus III of Pergamum died without heirs. The dynasty had been loyal to Rome through all the shifting policies of the last seventy years. And Attalus, dying, bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people, if only to solve the problem of succession. His only demand was that Pergamum an...

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When the Social War had broken out, Rome was fully occupied with its own affairs. Mithridates VI, king of Pontus, used Rome's preoccupation to invade the province of Asia. Half of the province of Achaea (Greece), Athens taking the lead, rose against its Roman rulers, supported by Mithridates.When Su...

Prehistoric Europe 00003. Oval hut, Terra Amata (Nice), France, c. 400,000 BC. 00006. Caves, Lascaux, France, c. 15,000-13,000 BC. 00006a. Swimming deer (at Musée d'Aquitaine, France), photo 1990, K. Cohen, San Jose State U. 00010. Menhirs, Carnac, Brittany, France, c. 4250-3750 BC. 00010a. Alignmen ...

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In the same year as Scipio's election to the consulship (134 BC), his colleague, Fulvius Flacchus, was called to deal with a terrifying rebellion of the slave population in Sicily. A huge slave population had been built up all across Italy as a direct result of Rome's vast military successes of the ...

The Roman Empire’s achievements in infrastructure, sanitation, public health, and governance are widely celebrated. However, alongside these advancements, a recent study highlights a darker legacy: widespread lead pollution that caused an estimated 2- to 3-point drop in IQ across Europe during the P...

Publius Aelius Hadrianus, called Hadrian, was Roman emperor from AD 117 until 138. He regarded his 20-year reign as a golden age of peace and prosperity, comparable to that of his great predecessor Augustus more than 100 years earlier (see Augustus). Monuments to Hadrian's reign are the Tivoli villa...

Since the passing of the Licinian Law in 367 BC, the old contest between the orders had dwindled into nothing more than a patrician faction either to evade the law or to recover some fraction of exclusive privilege by indirect methods. In effect the old charmed circle had become extended so as to in...

The patricians found it at least necessary to make occasional concessions - often indeed such that their expected effect could be practically evaded. As early as 445 BC they were obliged to legalize marriage between patrician and plebeian. But they fought to the last against admitting plebeians to ...

Step back in time and traverse the annals of history as we unveil the grandeur, triumphs, and complexities of Ancient Rome. From its legendary founding to the echoes of its enduring legacy, the story of Rome is an epic narrative that has left an indelible mark on the foundations of Western civilizat...