The Late Republic was in ruins. Civil war was common. Violence broke out between political factions. Bloody slave revolts erupted. As Rome’s old republican institutions imploded, the Republic began...
In 29 AD, Livia, the Empress of Rome and the widow of Emperor Augustus, died at the age of 86. Although she was the mother of Tiberius, the current Emperor of Rome , and an Empress through her own...
Although the Julian Dynasty of ancient Rome has delivered many examples of powerful and ambitious imperial women, not all of them were meant to become an empress. The reign of Emperor Augustus alone...
When word of his younger brother’s life-threatening illness reached him, Roman General Tiberius (later Emperor Tiberius Caesar Augustus) who was in Pavia at the time, crossed the Alps like a man...
Livia Drusilla was the third wife of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Prior to her marriage to Augustus, she was married to a Roman politician by the name of Tiberius Claudius Nero. Through this...
Mad emperors, fierce warriors, brutal entertainment, and lascivious lifestyles. These are the familiar images of ancient Rome, but what was it really like? Rumors abounded regarding Roman emperors...
Rome is one of the richest sources of new archaeological finds and some, like this one, are really amazing. Recently, archaeologists unearthed a Caligula palace along with gardens and a private...
The Romans left behind remarkable monuments and their influence on architecture cannot be overstated. Many of their public monuments commemorated a military victory and sought to legitimize their...
An investigation into crucifixions reveals evidence using the latest medical technology on how the horrific form of execution was slow and excruciating, providing new insights into the death of Jesus...
Nero (in full Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) was a Roman emperor who lived during the 1 st century AD. He was the fifth and last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which had been...
Caligula was Rome’s most tyrannical emperor. His reign from 37-41 AD is filled with murder and debauchery, to levels even his infamous nephew Nero could not reach. The great-great grandson of Julius...
Tiberius was a Roman emperor who ruled the empire during the first half of the 1st century AD. As he was the successor of Augustus Caesar, his adoptive father, he was the second ruler of the Roman...
Imagine a glass you can bend and then watch it return to its original form. A glass that you drop but it doesn’t break. Stories say that an ancient Roman glassmaker had the technology to create a...
To say that the Roman Empire had its ups and downs would be the understatement of all understatements. No “nation” was more abruptly destabilized or even more abruptly stabilized than that of ancient...
The ancient Roman decree of damnatio memoriae (“damnation of one’s memory”) was a mark of great disgrace and a punishment, deemed worse than execution, for an ancient Roman. The object of the...
Roman Emperor Caligula fell severely ill six months into his rule. When he recovered, he abandoned the toga for silk gowns and often dressed as a woman. He also declared himself as a living god...
In the ancient world, the public were not so privy to information about the scandalous sex lives of central societal figures. Still, sexual rumors have always existed and, in this way, historical...
Roman leader Caligula is well-known for his brief stint as the emperor of Rome, from 37 AD through 41 AD. Some say that Caligula displayed signs of madness during his reign. According to historical...
