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Roman state existed for nearly thirteen centuries, repeatedly exerting a profound influence on the course of history. I present the history of ancient Rome in the individual articles below, which not always refer solely to the Eternal City itself but encompass the wider world of the Roman Empire.
I encourage you to submit your own articles and to report any corrections or factual inaccuracies.
The reign of Emperor Commodus (ruling from 17 March 180 to 31 December 192 CE), son of Marcus Aurelius, began just as the brutal Marcomannic Wars (bellum Germanicum et Sarmaticum) were finally winding down. At its height, according to Marcus Aurelius’s own letters, this conflict involved thirteen legions and dozens of auxiliary cohorts.
Located in present-day Bulgaria, approximately 50 kilometres from the capital city of Sofia, the mountain pass known as the Gate of Trajan (Bulgarian: Траянови врата) formed part of the Via Militaris, a Roman road constructed in the 1st century CE that connected the provinces of Thrace and Moesia Superior, and later linked the territories of the Eastern Roman Empire with the lands beyond its borders, commonly referred to as Barbaricum.
The war between Rome and the Achaean League, waged from 148 to 146 BCE and ending in the complete subjugation of the Greek states to the Roman Republic, was also a personal tragedy for one of the most influential cities in the history of Hellas – Corinth. Why, of all the cities of the League, was Corinth the one that had to pay the ultimate price?
In 286 CE (or 287 CE), an unprecedented situation occurred in the Western Roman Empire: the commander of the Roman fleet declared himself emperor and rose against the two legitimate rulers. The prevailing belief was that the Belgian usurper did so out of fear: he appropriated the spoils due to the emperor and, fearing arrest and execution, declared himself emperor. Was this really the case? What were the true political ambitions of Emperor Carausius?
The Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn), known to the Romans as Mona, is located on the northwestern edge of Wales. Separated from the mainland by the Menai Strait, it covers an area of 678.9 km², making it the largest island in the region.
In 451, one of the bloodiest battles of antiquity took place. The Huns, Romans, and Visigoths clashed on the Catalaunian Plains. A year after this battle, the fearless Attila invaded Italy but retreated across the Danube, where he soon died, allowing Rome to breathe a sigh of relief. To whom does the Empire owe its salvation? General Aetius? Emperor Marcian? Or perhaps Pope Leo? Who truly stopped Attila?
There are images that return like a persistent frame from an old film: a row of crosses stretching along a road, a body nailed to the wood, a face frozen in pain, and a garment girded around the hips, modest, almost symbolic, as if meant to shield not so much the body as the viewer’s conscience. In the collective memory, this image has already been polished, transformed by cinematic aesthetics and religious iconography, tamed. The cross appears as a symbol of faith or an individual’s drama, not as a part of the state machine. Meanwhile, Rome, which turned this punishment into a political tool, was not interested in shielding anything.
Lex Rhodia de iactu is a set of maritime law regulations originating from the Greek island of Rhodes. It concerned so-called maritime dumping (iactus), i.e., cases where a ship’s captain (the so-called magister navis) was forced to throw part of his cargo overboard in order to save the rest of the cargo, as well as the crew and the ship itself.
