Tag: Rome

In the years that followed the fall of Perseus, Macedon and Greece had sunk into a increasing misrule. In 149 BC there appeared a new Macedon claimant to the throne, Andriscus, calling himself Philip and pretending to be the grandson of Philip V and son of Perseus. The pretender had soon been allow...

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...

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...

Plutarch's Lives: Caius Gracchus Caius Gracchus, at first, either for fear of his brother's enemies,or designing to render them more odious to the people, absentedhimself from the public assemblies, and lived quietly in his ownhouse, as if he were not only reduced for the present to liveunambitiousl...

If Rome had suffered heavily in the war, Carthage was almost ruined. and the peace brought worse disasters still. First, the vast mercenary forces which had been levied, but not yet transported to Sicily, mutinied for not having been paid. And for three years the Carthaginians carried their lives in...

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 ...

Two important events marked the reign of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome. He made Christianity a lawful religion in Roman society, and he founded the city of Constantinople, the brilliant capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Flavius Valerius Constantinus was born in the Ro...

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...

Crassus grew up as the son of a consul and distinguished general.His career to fame and phenomenal wealth began as he started purchasing the houses of Sulla's victims. Had Sulla confiscated all their belongings he sold them off cheap. And Crassus bought and made sensational profits when selling them...

Though in his absence Cinna revived the legislation and the methods of Sulpicius. When violence broke out in the city, he appealed to the troops in Italy and practically revived the Social War. Marius returned form exile and joined him, though he appeared more intent on revenge than on anything else...

In 91 BC the moderate members of the senate allied themselves with Livius Drusus (the son of that Drusus who had been used to undermine Gaius Gracchus' popularity in 122 BC) and aided him in his election campaign. If the honesty of the father is open to doubt, that of the son is not. As tribune he p...

The Provinces 1) Baetica (Hispania)19) Noricum37) Cappadocia2) Lusitania (Hispania)20) Pannonia38) Pontus3) Tarraconesis (Hispania)21) Dalmatia39) Armenia Inferior4) Narbonensis (Gallia)22) Dacia40) Sophene5) Aquitania (Gallia)23) Moesia41) Osroene6) Lugdunensis (Gallia)24) Thracia42) Commagene7) B...