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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.
Recently, the latest production of Netflix on the subject of ancient Rome appeared – “Barbarians”, which certainly encouraged many to watch, and me personally to buy access to the Netflix platform. Was it worth it and is the plot consistent with the historical truth? What will we find in the six episodes of the series?
The Roman army of the early empire is still considered to be the unrivalled role model in terms of quality, discipline and efficiency. The aim of the article is to show what the Roman army looked like from the inside: what the legal status of soldiers was; what the recruitment and training process and the service itself looked like; and, above all, what relations prevailed in the units between comrades in arms.
The works of the eminent Roman speaker, politician and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero (January 3, 106 – December 7, 43 BCE) are undoubtedly an icon of an ancient culture that laid the foundations our civilization in terms of legal, moral and social.
The city walls of Pompeii were not built by the Romans, but by a local Italic people, an Osco-Samnite population, long before the formal incorporation of the city into the Roman state after the Social War (1st century BC). During this war, the Samnite fortifications allowed Pompeii to resist – perhaps with success – the legions of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. What did the fortifications look like and what do we know about their centuries-old history?
In the last years of his reign, Emperor Nero (54-68 CE) has had to face many internal threats against his government. Gaius Calpurnius Pizon initiated a plot to deprive the Emperor of his life, in 65 CE. Despite the fact that the conspiracy was quickly discovered, the repression that it followed increased resentment to the Emperor.
At the far west, near islands (where, according to Homer, live personifications of dreams), close to gates, which follow to Underground, was supposed to live mythical folk – Cimmeroi (Homer, Odyssey, book XI, lines 14-19). We do not know habits of the tribe nor other information about their lives, because they are only mentioned as “the folk of land, where rays of sunshine does not come”.
Wars have accompanied the Romans from the very beginning. During the Roman Kingdom, any skirmishes and fights were rare and they were mostly local.
On December 13, 115 CE1, an unusually strong earthquake occurred in Antioch. Current estimates give strength of 7.5 on the Richter scale and 11 on the Mercalli scale. Antioch and the surrounding area were completely destroyed. To top it all off, the quake caused a local tsunami that seriously damaged the port of Caesarea Maritima in Judea (present-day Israel).
Apart from the derivative methods of transfer of ownership, requiring involvement from the previous owner (mancipation, in iure cessio, tradition), there were also primary methods recognised in the Roman law. Appropriation, accession, modification, acquisition of property from utilities, discovery of a treasure and usucaption all belong to this category. These methods were independent of the previous owner’s rights.
There used to be many categories a thing could belong to in the Roman law. The notion of thing itself was seen as very comprehensive and it contained both material things and various abstract concepts. A short description of the categories can help explain the extent of this notion and diversity of things in ancient Rome.
