Tag: Rome

The Carthaginians had not lost everything, though they had been driven out of waters where they had collided with Greeks and increasingly with Italian traders also. There were two paths still open to them. their original exploitation of Africa, both the mountainous north and the oases and caravan r...

A notable situation occurred when, at the festival of the Lupercalia in February 44 BC, Mark Antony offered Caesar the crown as king of Rome. He rejected the offer dramatically, but with obvious reluctance. The idea of a king still remained intolerable to the Romans. Many senators though suspected ...

In 52 BC, just as Pompey's jealousies reached their height, a great rebellion was organized in the very heart of Gaul by the heroic Arvernian chief Vercingetorix. So stubborn and so able was the Gallic chief that all Caesar's energies were required for the campaign. On an attack on Gergovia Caesar e...

Despite the wise measures which had pacified Spain during the governorship of Gracchus, the Roman administration was soon after conducted on the lines of tyranny again. Before long, the whole country was seething with hatred of its new masters, and praetors or consuls who could barely hold their ow...

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Ancient History Sourcebook:Suetonius: De Vita Caesarum--Divus Claudius, c. 110 CE. Translated by J. C. Rolfe. [Arkenberg Introduction]. Rolfe's annotations appear in brackets with no attribution; mine are noted. I have also replaced modern place names, as used by Rolfe, with those in use by the Roma ...

Marius, Vatican Museums, Vatican City Marius was of humble beginnings, having been born near the town of Arpinum in Latium. First serving in Spain, Marius was essentially a military man. He did not hold any public office until he was voted to the position of Tribune of the People in 119 BC.In 115 BC...

Pompey the Great (106-48BC), Roman general and statesman, the erstwhile ally and son-in-law of Julius Caesar, but later his arch-rival for power. Pompey was born Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in Rome on September 29, 106BC, into a senatorial family; his father, Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, was consul in 89BC. ...

Caesar, Gaius Julius (100-44 BC), Roman general and statesman, who laid the foundations of the Roman imperial system. Caesar(died 44 B.C.E.) By Plutarch Written 75 A.C.E. After Sylla became master of Rome, he wished to make Caesar put away his wife Cornelia, daughter of Cinna, the late sole ruler of ...

b. Sept. 15?, AD 53, Italica, Baetica [now in Spain]d. Aug. 8/9, 117, Selinus, Cilicia [now in Turkey] Latin IN FULL CAESAR DIVI NERVAE FILIUS NERVA TRAIANUS OPTIMUS AUGUSTUS, also called ( 9798) CAESAR NERVA TRAIANUS GERMANICUS, ORIGINAL NAME MARCUS ULPIUS TRAIANUS, Roman emperor (AD 98-117), the f...

The Latin words res publica which mean 'commonwealth' or 'state' is the source of today's term 'republic'.Rome was never a democracy as we would understand it today, nor as the Greeks understood it. For Roman society and the power within it was firmly divided by class.Most obviously, there was a div...

After Caesar's great victory at Pharsalus, all was not yet won. The Pompeians still controlled the seas, Africa was in their hands and Juba of Numidia was siding with them. Caesar was not yet master of the empire. Therefore, at the first possible moment, Caesar had set out with a small force after P...