Tag: Rome

In 88 BC the activities of king Mithridates of Pontus called for urgent action. The king had invaded the province of Asia and massacred 80'000 Roman and Italian citizens. Sulla, as elected consul and as the man who had won the Social War, expected the command, but Marius wanted it, too. The senate a...

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...

Tiberius GracchusGaius Gracchus The brief emergence and demise of each of the brothers Gracchus (Tiberius in 133 BC, Gaius in 120 BC) onto the scene of Roman politics should send shock waves through the entire structure of the Roman state of such magnitude that their effects would be felt for genera...

Ancient History Sourcebook:Suetonius: De Vita Caesarum--Divus Titus, c. 110 C.E. [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 Romans and Hellenes; thus, for ex...

Rome, as the capital of the Roman empire, was the most important city. The city grew and so it became occupied by important buildings. These buildings are all built close to each other making a center for entertainment and other causes like political leaders going to the Forum. These buildings are t...

With Julius Caesar campaigning in Gaul, Clodius exercised his powers as the virtual king of Rome with neither Pompey nor Crassus interfering. Among his measures was a law which distributed corn no longer at half price but for free to the citizens of Rome. But his conduct was generally reckless and ...

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 ...

Lucius Domitius Aurelianus was born of poor parents on 9 September AD 214 in Lower Moesia.His father was a tenant farmer of a wealthy senator Aurelius, after whom the family were named. Aurelian rose through the ranks of the army, serving with distinction on the Danube frontier.By AD 268, when Aureo...

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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...

Ancient History Sourcebook:Suetonius: De Vita Caesarum--Domitianus, c. 110 C.E. I. DOMITIAN was born on the ninth day before the Kalends of November of the year when his father was Consul-elect and was about to enter on the office in the following month [October 24, 51 C.E.], in a street of the sixt...