Rome History English

The Migration Age is still envisioned as an onrush of expansionary "Germans" pouring unwanted into the Roman Empire and subjecting it to pressures so great that its western parts collapsed under the weight. Further developing the themes set forth in his classic Barbarians and Romans, Walter Goffart dismantles this grand narrative, shaking the barbarians of late antiquity out of this "Germanic" setting and reimagining the role of foreigners in the later Roman Empire.

This new, original translation of Cornelius Nepos's Lives of the Great Commanders is the first to appear in many generations. The Roman writer Cornelius Nepos (circa 110 BC to 25 BC) was one of the first biographers in the Western tradition. He composed memorable and entertaining sketches of some of the most famous statesmen of antiquity.

The Roman Empire reached its zenith within the first two centuries of the fall of the Roman Republic, expanding its territory and spreading its influence well beyond the borders of Europe. During that time, a sort of global peace was achieved, which historians call the Pax Romana. But what exactly is the Pax Romana, and how does one delve into this huge, ever-expanding subject?

The Parthians in whose hands the empire of the east now is, having divided the world, as it were, with the Romans, were originally exiles from Scythia. This is apparent from their very name; for in the Scythian language exiles are called Parthi. During the time of the Assyrians and Medes, they were the most obscure of all the people of the east. Subsequently, too, when the empire of the east was transferred from the Medes to the Persians, they were but as a herd without a name, and fell under the power of the stronger.

For hundreds of years, Palmyra’s wealth was a testament to its greatness, and its leaders displayed their political acumen by playing the middleman between the powerful Roman and Parthian Empires. As a result, the Palmyrenes built an eclectic culture that was as sophisticated as any of their contemporaries, but eventually the leadership of Palmyra overestimated their power and the greatness of their city quickly came crumbling down. One of the most significant females in late antiquity was Zenobia, who for just a few short years in the late 3rd century CE ruled the wealthy Palmyra.

The legend of the foundation of Rome by Romulus in 753BC accords very well with the earliest defensive walls on the Palatine Hill, made of clay and timber and showing evidence of animal sacrifices. To trace the continual efforts to fortify Rome is to trace the rise and fall of the Roman Empire - through the taking of the city by the Gauls in 390/387, the wars with the Italian states, the threat of Hannibal, the establishment of the Republic, attacks by the northern tribes and eventual division and collapse.

The morning of August 24, AD 79, seemed like any other in the Roman city of Pompeii. So no one was prepared when the nearby volcano Mount Vesuvius suddenly erupted, spouting ash that buried the city and its inhabitants. The disaster left thousands dead, and Pompeii was no more than a memory for almost 1,700 years. In 1748, explorers rediscovered the port city with intact buildings and beautiful mosaics.

Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great were two of the greatest generals Rome had ever produced. Together they had brought vast stretches of territory under Roman dominion. In 49 BC they turned against each other and plunged Rome into civil war. In this audiobook, Adrian Goldsworthy relates the gripping story of this desperate power struggle. Drawing on original accounts of the war, he examines how legion was pitched against legion in a vicious battle for political domination of the vast Roman world.

The Byzantine Empire was founded during the chaotic third century. It was the time when revolts and civil wars were common, and Roman emperors merely lasted for a year. Despite being one of the most captivating historical periods of all time, the Byzantine Empire is a lesser known one.

After the Western Roman Empire ended in 476, a host of new, primarily Germanic people inherited Roman lands, wealth, and ideas in Western Europe. The most notable of these were the non-Germanic Huns, but after them came the Gepids, an important but overlooked group. The Gepids were no less bellicose than the other Germanic tribes or the Huns, causing immense destruction throughout Europe and constantly threatening the stability of the Eastern Roman Empire. The Gepids knew how to use the powerful Byzantine Empire to their advantage and to make alliances with other Germanic tribes.

As Rome swelled with tradespeople, artisans, slaves, and wealthy merchant families, its politicians struggled to maintain the fundamental democratic properties of the republican government. Rules were bent and broken, politicians and voters were bribed and lied to, and eventually, the power of Rome fell to the one man who could muster the respect and loyalty of the world-famous Roman army. That man was Gaius Julius Caesar.

Throughout the Roman Empire cities held public speeches and lectures, had libraries, and teachers and professors in the sciences and the humanities, some subsidized by the state. There even existed something equivalent to universities, and medical and engineering schools. What were they like? What did they teach? Who got to attend them? In the first treatment of this subject ever published, Dr. Richard Carrier answers all these questions and more.

It is hard to find an island on the map more central than Sicily. Located at the crossroads between Europe and Africa, and between the eastern and western Mediterranean, Sicily has rarely been governed as an independent, unified state. Nonetheless, the island has always occupied a front-row seat to some of the most important events in history.

The modern world has the ancient Romans to thank for the origins of many modern technologies, conveniences, and ideas, from running water, baths, and republican-style government to roads. Similarly, by the third century BCE, the Romans were prodigious monument builders, so much so that the memory of the great Roman Republic and the Roman Empire continues to exist within a cityscape of stone. Rome’s public spaces were filled with statues, arches, temples, and many other varieties of monumental images, and each of these structures had its own civic or religious function.

Rome's complex relationship with animals goes right back to its foundation myth, and even today, the wolf remains a symbol of the Eternal City, forming part of the logo for the capital's football team, A.S. Roma. According to tradition, the city of Rome was founded by Romulus, who, with his brother Remus, was nursed and sheltered by a she-wolf. A detailed analysis of Roman attitudes toward animals reveals a great deal of information about Roman society in general, particularly its sense of morality and ethics.

In the minds of most people today, Gaul equates to modern France. However, the vast geographical area that Caesar named Gaul, in fact, was made up of a number of very distinct regions and covered, in addition to modern-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Northern Italy. The Romans called the northern area of the Italian peninsula, which is now part of modern Italy, Cisalpine Gaul, or Gaul on this side of the Alps.

Every great nation or empire has had at least one horrific military loss or disaster in their history, and the Roman Empire, perhaps the greatest empire that ever existed in the Western world, was no exception to this rule. While Rome certainly suffered defeats and outright massacres over the course of its long and storied history, none of them were as disturbing for the Empire as the battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE.

Ancient Greece has laid way for some of the most influential people, systems and stories of our civilization. It is hard to believe on one hand because technology-wise the Greeks were very primitive, yet on the other hand they were essentially on of the earliest roots of Western civilization.

In the history of ancient Macedonia, the last three Antigonid kings—Philip V, his son Perseus, and the pretender Andriscus or Philip VI—are commonly overlooked in favor of their predecessors Philip II and his son Alexander the Great, who established a Macedonian empire.

Belisarius and Antonina were titans in the Roman world some 1,500 years ago. Belisarius was the most well-known general of his age, victor over the Persians, conqueror of the Vandals and the Goths, and as if this were not enough, wealthy beyond imagination. She made a name for herself by traveling with Belisarius on his military campaigns, deposing a pope, and scheming to disgrace important Roman officials. This unadulterated power and wealth did not mean that Belisarius and Antonina were universally successful in all that they undertook.