Roman Empire Articles

Augustus is well known for being the first Emperor of Rome, but even more than that, for being a self-proclaimed “Restorer of the Republic.” He believed in ancestral values such as monogamy, chastity, and piety (virtue). Thus, he introduced a number of moral and political reforms in order to improve Roman society and formulate a new Roman government... [continue reading]

Regarded by the Romans as “fatale monstrum”- a fatal omen, Cleopatra is one of the ancient world’s most popular, though elusive figures The Egyptian Queen has been immortalized by numerous writers and film-makers, most popularly by Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra, and by Hollywood in Cleopatra (1963) starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard... [continue reading]

NOTE: This article has now become the definition of Caracalla. Even though it is now a duplicate entry we're keeping it for all those who have linked to it. The emperor Caracalla was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus on the 4 of April, 188, in Lugdunum (Lyon), where his father Septimius Severus was serving as the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis... [continue reading]

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 CE) has been hailed as “one of the noblest figures in antiquity” and his work, Meditations, would certainly attest to the truth of that praise.  Aurelius is known today as “the last of the good emperors” and, while his depiction in the film Gladiator(2000) is highly fictionalized (especially concerning... [continue reading]

Phoenician traders arrived on the North African coast around 900 B.C. and established Carthage (in present-day Tunisia) around 800 B.C. By the sixth century B.C., a Phoenician presence existed at Tipasa (east of Cherchell in Algeria). From their principal center of power at Carthage, the Carthaginians expanded and established small settlements (called emporia... [continue reading]

Batavian revolt was a rebellion of the Batavians against the Romans in 69-70. After initial successes by their commander Julius Civilis, the Batavians were ultimately defeated by the Roman general Quintus Petillius Cerialis. The year of the four emperors A century had passed since the emperor Augustus (27 BCE-14 CE) had changed the Roman republic... [continue reading]

Inscribed on Augustus’ mausoleum after his death in AD 14, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, the Achievements of the Divine Augustus, includes an extensive description of Augustus’ monumental building in the city of Rome. Monumental building provided a means of converting economic capital into a symbolic reminder of one’s success. Augustus... [continue reading]

This thesis examines the development of Roman Illyrian policy, from the late Republican hegemony over the region to the establishment of permanent imperial frontiers on the Danube and the beginning of the process that would integrate Illyricum ( the area between the Adriatic Sea and the River Danube ) into the Roman Empire. This thesis has two principal... [continue reading]

The history of Jewish Christianity is a very tragic one. During the first few years of its existence, it enjoyed an enormous growth in numbers, both in Jerusalem and in the rest of Judaea and Samaria. The early Jewish Christians of the Jerusalem Church were respected both by their countrymen and by the Gentiles of the churches founded by Paul in Asia Minor... [continue reading]

How prosperous were the Romans? Their individual experiences ranged from wretched poverty to fabulous wealth, and that variety makes generalizations difficult. Many kinds of evidence can be used to address this question. Three approaches to the problem are particularly direct and encompassing. The first approach is to calculate the average income. This... [continue reading]