Did Ancient Romans Have Pets?
From loyal dogs to exotic monkeys, Romans shared their homes with creatures of every kind. Art, inscriptions, and archaeology reveal a world where animals were companions, protectors, and symbols of affection.
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Anecdotes, historical facts, fictional stories and news curated from a small team of human writers, fascinated with Ancient Rome and its myriad myths and legends.
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Flamma: The Gladiator who Refused his Freedom Four Times
A Syrian-born gladiator who could have walked free but chose the arena instead. Flamma, offered his liberty four times, defied freedom itself to win eternal glory beneath Rome’s roaring crowds.
Incense in Ancient Rome: Smoke, Ritual, and Power
From temple rites to family altars and funerals, incense in the Roman Empire was a ritual tool with global supply chains, moral debates, and political weight.
Orosius: The Fall of Rome Through Christian Eyes
From Braga to Jerusalem, Orosius carried letters, relics, and arguments—but his legacy rests on the Historiae, a sweeping Christian vision of world history that shaped medieval thought.
Titus and Domitian: Brotherhood on Rome’s Imperial Stage
Ancient writers cast Titus and Domitian as rival brothers, with the younger plotting against the elder. Inscriptions, coins, and monuments, however, reveal a dynasty that publicly honored unity, complicating the image of fraternal enmity.
Pompeii’s Taverns and Wine Bars: The Hospitality Business of an Ancient City
Behind Pompeii’s grand villas thrived a bustling world of taverns, inns, and bars. From graffiti complaints about watered wine to marble-clad counters that lured passersby, these establishments reveal the everyday rhythms of food, drink, and company in the Roman world.
The Amazons in Roman Thought: From Fierce Foes to Fascinating Myths
The Amazons, at once feared and admired, stood at the edges of Rome’s imagination. In poetry, art, and history, they became shifting symbols of conquest, gender, and empire—figures through whom Romans defined themselves against the “other.”
Strabo: Mapping the World of Rome
Strabo’s Geography stitched together mountains, rivers, and peoples into a vision of Rome’s dominion. His work, both silent and selective, mapped not just lands but identities, placing cities, cultures, and empire within concentric circles of belonging.
The Elderly in Ancient Rome: Voices of Respect and Fear
Old age in Rome was both feared and revered. Cicero praised its dignity, Juvenal mocked its weakness, and proverbs marked sixty as the threshold of decline. Between honor and ridicule, the elderly lived at the margins of Roman society.
Inside Roman Society: How Ordinary Life Shaped an Extraordinary Empire (Part 2)
Chains, poverty, bread, and spectacle — everyday realities shaped Roman life as much as empire and conquest. From slaves in collars to crowds in the arena, ancient voices reveal a society built on labor, patronage, and performance, where survival and glory intertwined.
From Circus Maximus to Amazon: The Real Story of Scorpus
Scorpus, star of the Greens, won 2,048 races before dying in his twenties. Celebrated by Martial and mourned by Rome, he rose from servile origins to become the darling of the Circus Maximus — a legend forged in speed, danger, and the roar of the crowd.
Inside Roman Society: How Ordinary Life Shaped an Extraordinary Empire (Part 1)
Behind Rome’s power and conquests lay the daily lives of its people. From family and education to poverty, slavery, law, and spectacle, their routines and struggles reveal how ordinary Romans shaped the empire’s enduring legacy.
How did Emperor Hadrian’s vengeance led to modern Palestine
Hadrian’s suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt reshaped Judaea forever. Jerusalem became Aelia Capitolina, Jews were barred from their holy city, and the province itself was renamed Syria Palaestina—a lasting reminder of how Rome used power and memory to punish rebellion.
Niche Perfumes in Ancient Rome: How Did Emperors Smell Like?
Elite Romans treated scent as strategy. From Cleopatra’s Mendesian blends to Nero’s perfumed banquets, ancient niche perfumes signaled rank, taste, and power.
Gaius Caesar: The Lost Heir of Augustus
Gaius Caesar, grandson and adopted son of Augustus, was groomed as Rome’s imperial heir, showered with honors and entrusted with command in the East. His sudden death at twenty-three shattered Augustus’ dynastic hopes and reshaped the course of the empire.
The Aroma of Rome: Perfumes of Power, Pleasure, and Prestige
Perfume in Rome was far more than adornment. From daily anointing after the bath to clouds of incense greeting emperors in the streets, scent became a language of status, ritual, and identity—at once a personal luxury and a public symbol of power.
Roman Empire Anecdotes
Frontinus: Rome’s Master of Strategy and Water
Sextus Julius Frontinus embodied Rome’s genius for both war and order. From battlefield stratagems to aqueducts, his works reveal the mind of a senator who mastered strategy and sustained the Eternal City.
Roman Empire Anecdotes
Galen of Pergamon: Rome’s Most Famous Physician
From the sands of Pergamon’s arena to the palaces of Rome, Galen became the empire’s most famous physician, serving gladiators, emperors, and shaping medicine for over a millennium.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Valerian: The Only Roman Emperor Who Was Captured Alive by an Enemy
Valerian’s capture by Shapur I in 260 CE was Rome’s most humiliating defeat—its emperor turned into a Persian trophy. His fate, ambiguous and unforgettable, inspired centuries of reinterpretation, from Christian polemic to Byzantine invective and Persian pride.
Roman Empire News
How Assassinations Lit Rome’s Civil Wars: What Can Roman History Teach Us
Political murder rarely restores an old order; in Rome it rewired incentives, putting armies, money and short-term bargains above process. From Caesar’s Ides to the auction of 193, assassinations taught Romans to price power—and to expect violence to decide it.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
The Plague of Cyprian: Disease, Faith, and Crisis in the Roman Empire
The Plague of Cyprian ravaged the Roman Empire in the 3rd century, killing thousands daily. Beyond its mystery symptoms, it reshaped society, challenged imperial power, and fueled Christianity’s rise.
Roman Empire News
How Roman Pandemics and Plagues Allowed Ecosystems to Recover from Pollution
The Roman Empire’s great plagues reshaped not only society but also nature. New science shows that during times of crisis, pollution levels dropped and the Mediterranean briefly healed.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
How Gaius Marius Changed Rome’s Armies Forever
Gaius Marius reshaped Rome’s war-machine. By opening enlistment to the capite censi, organizing legions by cohorts, lightening baggage—“Marius’ Mules”—and elevating the eagle, he turned a citizen militia into a professional army that outlived the Republic.
Roman Empire News
Why Roman Numerals Endure in Watchmaking — And the Curious Case of IIII
Roman numerals on watch dials are more than decoration — they’re heritage. From medieval towers to Swiss ateliers, the choice of numerals, and the curious survival of IIII, reveals a story where symmetry, superstition, and prestige meet.
Roman Empire News
I’m a Roman Empire Nerd: Spartacus back to Netflix is a Historical Nightmare
Netflix’s revival of Spartacus will thrill fans of gladiatorial drama. For history-minded viewers, though, the series remains a stylized fiction that recasts a fragmentary past into soap-operatic certainties.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Gaius Marius: The Rise and Fall of Rome’s Saviour
From humble Arpinum to seven consulships, Gaius Marius saved Rome from Jugurtha and the northern tribes. Yet his ambition, violence, and rivalry with Sulla turned triumph into terror, leaving a legacy both heroic and destructive.
Roman Empire News
Roman Mines as Environmental Catastrophes: How the Empire Polluted the Mediterranean with Lead
Rome’s silver and gold wealth carried an unseen price. Mining and smelting poured lead into the air and seas, leaving a chemical signature in the Mediterranean that scientists can still measure today.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Trebonianus Gallus and Volusianus: Father and Son, in the Shadow of Crisis
Trebonianus Gallus and his son Volusianus ruled Rome for barely two years, beset by plague, invasion, and revolt. Their swift rise and violent fall reveal the empire’s fragility in the crisis of the third century.
Roman Empire News
Galerias Romanas 2025: The Roman Galleries in Lisbon, Portugal
The Galerias Romanas, or Roman Galleries in Lisbon are occasionally pumped out and opened to the public for limited viewings, typically twice a year.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Sulla: Rome’s Reluctant Tyrant
Sulla marched on Rome, ruled by terror, and then did the unthinkable—he gave up absolute power. A paradox of reformer and tyrant, he reshaped the Republic through blood and law, leaving a legacy that foreshadowed Caesar and the emperors to come.
Roman Empire News
Purple Pollution: How Rome’s Lust for Luxury Stained the Ancient Seas
Rome’s emperors wrapped themselves in purple, a color that signaled power and divinity. But beneath the gleam lay stinking vats, mountains of broken shells, and coastlines scarred by waste. The latest discoveries at Tel Shiqmona reveal the hidden cost of Rome’s most famous luxury.
Roman Empire Anecdotes
Juvenal: The Poet Who Held a Mirror to Rome
Juvenal’s satires turn rage into art, exposing Rome’s vices with a voice both fierce and sublime. His life remains shadowed—shaped by exile, poverty, and suspicion—but his verses endure as monuments of indignation and moral force.