Rome Articles

Like the Ancient Greeks, the Romans employed a barter system in the early days if their history. During the Republic, around the fifth century B.C., Roman merchants and citizens exchanged goods and services with one another. The customary barter good was the pecus, or cow (the Latin word for money is pecunia). This worked well when Rome was just Rome. But... [continue reading]

Although much of ancient Roman life revolved around negotium (work and business), there was also time available for otium (leisure). Ranging from swimming to playing board games to attending theatre performances, athletics and forms of entertainment enjoyed by Romans in ancient times were not much different from those that exist today. One of the most popular recreational... [continue reading]

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]

The basilica was a fundamental element of a Roman forum. It was used as a public building, much like the Greek stoa. It served as a meeting place for administration, as a law court, and as a marketplace. It also provided cover and shade for hot or stormy afternoons. After Christianity became the main religion of the Roman Empire, the basilica came to be... [continue reading]

The intoxicant known in English as `beer' takes its name from the Latin `bibere' (by way of the German `bier') meaning `to drink' and the Spanish word for beer, cerveza' comes from the Latin word `cerevisia' for `of beer', giving some indication of the long span human beings have been drinking beer. Even so, beer brewing... [continue reading]

Boudicca (died 60 or 61 CE) was the Celtic Queen of the Iceni tribe who lead a revolt against Roman occupation of what is now East Anglia, England. So charismatic was Boudicca that ancient sources record tribes joining her revolt which would not normally have supported an Iceni-lead objective. Boudicca was the wife of the Iceni King Prasutagas who ruled... [continue reading]

During his reign as dictator from 49-44 BC, Julius Caesar had a number of notable impacts on the city of Rome. One of the initial crises with which Caesar had to deal was widespread debt in Rome, especially after the outbreak of civil war when lenders demanded repayment of loans and real estate values collapsed. The result was a serious shortage of coinage... [continue reading]

Rome fancied celebrating its military conquests and victories. Victorious generals and legions would parade through the streets of Rome after an important battle, often to grand hoopla and celebration. Along with these processions, many commemorative monuments would be built to forever immortalize the grandeur that was Rome. Triumphal arches were one type... [continue reading]

By definition, a forum in Ancient Rome was meant as a gathering place for the people. Commercial exploits were obviously highly successful in the merchant forums of Rome, where all matter of food products and the citizens of the city could buy other necessities from local and traveling merchants. Beginning early in Rome’s history, during the period... [continue reading]

The temple was an important physical and ceremonial structure in any Roman city. Originally a gathering place (a templum), the temple evolved into a place for people to gather, to worship gods and deified emperors, and to perform ceremonial sacrifices and rites. The temples of the Forum Romanum, particularly from the period of the Roman Republic (509 &ndash... [continue reading]