Explore the history of Ancient Rome — from the founding of the Republic to the fall of the Empire. Politics, warfare, culture, and legacy.
On Christmas Day, 800 AD, Pope Leo III placed a crown on the head of the Frankish king Charles in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and the assembled congregation acclaimed him Emperor of the Romans. Whether Charlemagne was surprised by this — his biographer Einhard claims he said he …
Marcus Tullius Cicero was the greatest orator Rome produced, possibly the greatest the ancient world produced, and he was killed for it. His head and …
Nearly a thousand letters written by Cicero survive, along with approximately ninety letters addressed to him from other correspondents. They span the …
The 1963 Cleopatra directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz — or rather, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and then by Mankiewicz after Mamoulian was fired, with …
Cleopatra VII Philopator was the most politically capable ruler the Ptolemaic dynasty produced, and she failed anyway. This is not a contradiction. …
Colleen McCullough published The First Man in Rome in 1990 and over the following fifteen years completed six more novels covering the late Roman …
Ancient Rome has not left contemporary art alone, and contemporary art has not left ancient Rome alone. The relationship between them is different …
In the Altes Museum in Berlin there is a circular painted panel, tempera on wood, roughly 30 centimeters in diameter, made in Egypt around 200 AD. It …
Edward Poynter’s Cave of the Storm Nymphs, his Israel in Egypt, and his Lesbia, along with the Roman paintings of his contemporaries John William …
Ephesus was the most important city in the Roman province of Asia — which meant it was one of the most important cities in the world. At its imperial …
