The Imposters who Tried to Impersonate Nero After the Death of the Roman Emperor
Imposture adds to History a series of episodes as astonishing as they are fascinating, and sometimes, even amusing. Countless are the individuals who, brandishing audacity as their banner, have elbowed...
View ArticleGrotta di Cocceio, the First Great Road Tunnel in the World, Built by the...
Between the years 37 and 36 BCE, Marco Vipsanius Agrippa, personal friend and right-hand man of Emperor Augustus, established the foundation of the most important Roman fleet (the classis Misenensis)...
View ArticleNaulochus, Agrippa’s Great Naval Victory over Sextus Pompey that Raised...
After the death of Julius Caesar, Rome was plunged into a civil war. Another one. If the previous had been due to the power struggle between the deceased and Pompey the Great, this time it was between...
View ArticleThe Temple of Isis at Pompeii, One of the First Buildings to be Unearthed...
The Temple of the Egyptian goddess Isis in Pompeii was discovered in 1764 during the initial archaeological excavations of the ancient Roman city buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. It...
View ArticleScrinium Barbarorum, the Department of the Eastern Roman Empire in Charge of...
Some time ago we dedicated an article to the frumentarii and agentes in rebus, who constituted what we might consider the Roman Empire’s secret services, although in reality that body performed more...
View ArticleOnly One Vexillum, the Roman War Standard, has Survived to the Present Day
The word vexillology, which names the discipline that studies flags, derives from the Latin term vexillum meaning flag or banner. But in turn, vexillum came from another Latin word, velum, whose...
View ArticleA Guided Tour of the Largest Handcrafted Model of Imperial Rome [Video]
“Il Plastico” is a model of ancient Rome created by Italian archaeologist and architect Italo Gismondi between 1933 and 1937, updated with archaeological discoveries until the early 1970s (it’s still...
View ArticleCenturiation, the Complex Land Distribution System in Ancient Rome
It was the year 40 BC when the famous Virgil traveled to Rome from his estate in Mantua to meet with Octavius and demand the return of some expropriated lands given to a retired legionary. It wasn’t a...
View ArticleThe Battle of Drepana, the Greatest Roman Naval Defeat in the First Punic...
A while ago, we dedicated an article to the long siege that the Romans subjected Lilybaeum to, the last Carthaginian stronghold in Sicily. We then pointed out that this episode, which determined Rome’s...
View ArticleThe Temple of Hadrian at Cyzicus was the Largest Built in Antiquity, and its...
Founded by Greek colonists from Miletus in the 7th century BC and located on a peninsula in northwest Anatolia, the city of Cyzicus was one of the most thriving metropolises of the ancient world,...
View ArticleMaximus, the Hispanic Usurper Proclaimed Emperor Who Ruled from Barcelona
A Hispanic Roman named Maximus? Clearly, all readers have immediately thought of the protagonist of the movie Gladiator, played by Russell Crowe. But the truth is, there was a historical figure with...
View ArticleCaesar, besieged with Cleopatra in Alexandria, Ordered his Ships to be Burned...
If we talk about the sieges that Julius Caesar experienced, the one at Alesia immediately comes to mind, where he defeated the Gallic leader Vercingetorix after a month and a half of fighting and after...
View ArticleThe Story of Caesarion, the Unfortunate Son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra
It was the year 30 B.C. when Octavian’s victory at the Battle of Actium ended the Third Civil War, turning Egypt into a mere Roman province. With this new political-administrative status, the dignity...
View ArticleLex Oppia, the Law that Banned Colorful Dresses and Excessive Jewelry, which...
Hannibal Barca never imagined that his brilliant victory at the Battle of Cannae (216 BC) would not only be studied in future military academies but would also allow him to leave the Italian peninsula...
View ArticleFemale Figures Identified in Trajan’s Column, Previously Considered Male
In a recent article published in the American Journal of Archaeology, a group of researchers presented an innovative analysis of the representations in Trajan’s Column in Rome. The study, led by...
View ArticleKingdom of Soissons, the Last Roman Stronghold in Gaul that Survived Ten...
In the tumultuous era of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, a small but significant domain known as the Kingdom of Soissons emerged. This territory, located in the northwest of Gaul, was...
View ArticleThe Great Conspiracy: The Coordinated Attack of Barbarian Tribes on the...
As we know, Valentia Edenatorum is the name the Romans gave to the colony founded in 138 B.C. along the Turia River in the Spanish Levante, meaning Valor of the Edetani. However, the term valentia was...
View ArticleDomitian, the Emperor Who Persecuted Rumors and Libelous Writings
Domitian, born as Titus Flavius Domitian in 51 A.D., was the last emperor of the Flavian dynasty, ruling the Roman Empire from 81 A.D. until his death in 96 A.D. He was the son of Vespasian and brother...
View ArticleFirst Mention of the Word ‘Abracadabra’: in a Roman Medical Work from the 2nd...
When we read or hear the expression Abracadabra, we immediately think of witchcraft, enchantments, magic, and things of that nature. Until a few years ago, many magicians used it in their performances,...
View ArticleFlavius Scorpus, the Hispanic Charioteer Who Won 2,048 Races Without Losing a...
Those who become fans of Those About to Die, a recent television series about gladiators directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Anthony Hopkins as Vespasian, will notice that among the main...
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