Roman

All cities have their histories, and these often blend elements of myth and reality, particularly when it comes to their earliest history and foundation.  None is more elaborate than the founding of Rome. The myth says that the city was first established on a specific day, the 21st of April in 753 BC. The story […]

In the 60s BC, the Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius, later known as Pompeius Magnus or Pompey the Great, undertook a series of wars in the Eastern Mediterranean on behalf of the Roman Republic.  These were famous conflicts, as Pompey won successive victories, bringing the remainder of the Seleucid Empire in Syria under Roman occupation and

We know how the Roman Republic’s war machine facilitated its rise. By the third century BC, the Roman legions were the most significant fighting force in the Mediterranean. But often less commented upon is how the political institutions of the Roman Republic allowed for the rise of the city on the Tiber to pre-eminence across

In 1810, by which time he had built an empire that spanned most of continental Europe, if the Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, wanted to get a message from Paris to Rome, he couldn’t send it any faster than the Romans were able to nearly 2,000 years ago.  By the first and second centuries AD,

In Monty Python The Life of Brian, a film set in Roman Judaea around the time of Christ, there is a scene where the film’s main protagonist, a reluctant messiah called Brian, is selling snacks at the local amphitheater. His goods were unusual, to say the least, and included larks’ tongues, wrens’ livers, chaffinch brains, and

Within the complex system of Roman religion and mythology, few figures were as significant as the Vestal Virgins. These were intertwined with the entire creation myth of Rome itself.  The legendary founders of the city, Romulus and Remus, were said to have been raised by a she-wolf on the banks of the River Tiber. Still,

The Romans built arguably the greatest empire of pre-modern times. But, of course, there were bigger empires than it. For example, the Mongol empire was much more extensive. But these other great empires were often short-lived and unstable, and the people who lived in them did not acquire a decent standard of living.  By contrast,

The word Cupid is synonymous today with matchmaking and relationships. Type in the word ‘Cupid’ to Google, and you will immediately be confronted with dozens of internet dating sites while OkCupid.com has been one of the world’s largest online dating platforms for the last fifteen years. Anytime we see an image of a small child-like