Assassin’s Creed Could Head to Ancient Rome as Hexe Faces Delay Reports
Codename Mars could take Assassin’s Creed to ancient Rome, while Hexe reportedly slips towards 2028. We sort the exciting rumour from Ubisoft’s confirmed plans.
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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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Lusius Quietus: The African Cavalry Commander Who Rose to the Heights of Roman Power
He came from the edge of the Roman world and rose through war to become one of Trajan’s most formidable commanders. Lusius Quietus seemed unstoppable, until power changed hands in Rome.
Radar Survey Probes the Buried Roman City of Truentum
A September radar survey at Martinsicuro covered five areas of ancient Truentum. The data are being processed as the municipality considers a future archaeological park.
Roman Laws Reveal the Machinery Behind Arena Animal Fights
Two late Roman laws expose the pressures behind animal spectacles: protected supplies of lions, costly military convoys and penalties for overstaying in cities.
Rome Came to Scotland with All the Gear
Hot baths, masked helmets and a sun god with possible special effects: Scotland’s Roman finds reveal an army with expensive tastes and an awkward habit of leaving.
A Face-Down Roman Burial in Croatia Holds an Unusual Glass Collection
Salona’s latest excavations uncovered 32 graves, including a face-down burial with varied glass vessels and a clue to the cemetery’s earlier walls.
Roman Oracle at Kibyra Matched Knucklebone Throws to 56 Life Predictions
A newly published inscription from Turkey preserves advice on travel, illness and trade, selected by casting five animal knucklebones.
A Pompeii Woman’s Perfume Bottle Emerges From a Buried Cupboard
Tweezers, a glass scent bottle and childhood charms survived in a Pompeii cupboard, alongside 38 bronze coins and a small box of lead weights.
20 Weird Roman Laws That Reached Into Everyday Life
A nearly naked theft search, forbidden dormice and a funeral exception for gold-bound teeth: twenty rules reveal the reach of Roman law.
Roman Painters Mixed Egyptian Blue Into the Plaster Itself
Wall fragments from a villa at Torre di Pordenone reveal how Roman decorators mixed Egyptian blue into lime plaster to create a pale backdrop for fish and other marine life.
Sherlock Holmes in Ancient Rome: Solving a Roman Murder Mystery
A soldier in a Velsen well left wounds, a worn dagger and clues in his teeth. Modern investigators have reopened his violent death.
The Secular Games: Ludi Saeculares
Once in a lifetime, Rome celebrated the beginning of a new age. For three days and nights, extraordinary rituals and spectacles brought the city together in a festival unlike any other.
Arctic Ice Grew in Roman Times. Modern Warming Reversed It.
New Arctic evidence places renewed ice growth in Rome’s imperial age. The findings connect ancient snowlines, the Little Ice Age and modern warming; but scientists differ on when a glaciation begins.
Roman Inscription Hidden in a Fortuna Wall May Date to the First Roman Emperor
A reused stone at Fortuna’s Roman baths preserves oversized letters, part of a name and a possible clue to a monumental building project.
Follow the Money: What 4 Million Ancient Roman Coins Tell Us
Buried money traces Rome’s growing reach; and the civilian activity that helped coins remain in use long after they left the mint.
The Enemy Kings Rome Paraded in Chains
They once ruled kingdoms and commanded armies. Then Rome paraded them before cheering crowds. But what awaited these captive rulers after their humiliation?
Roman Empire News
Roman Sarcophagus at Westminster Abbey May Have Held an Abbot
A new study links the skeleton in a Roman coffin to Westminster’s early medieval abbots, using radiocarbon dates, burial clues and the sarcophagus itself.
Roman Empire News
Scientists Recreate the Roman Lycurgus Cup’s Color-Changing Magic
Four months of trials led to glass inspired by the Lycurgus Cup. The latest stage brings it into Elliot Walker’s sculpture for Sheffield’s Festival of the Mind.
Roman Empire Anecdotes
Pertinax: Eighty-Seven Days Before Rome’s Imperial Auction
An experienced commander took over after Commodus’s murder. His programme for Rome soon brought him into conflict with the men guarding the throne.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Romans Changed Europe's Landscapes Far Beyond the Road Network
A hill of broken amphorae, a frontier across Britain and gold mines in Spain reveal the lasting ways Romans changed the landscape.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus: The Man Who Became Almost as Powerful as the Roman Emperor
He was not an emperor, yet his wealth and influence rivalled those of Rome's rulers. How did Gaius Fulvius Plautianus rise so high, and what threatened his position?
Roman Empire News
The 10 Best Roman Video Games, Ranked
Command legions, build cities and navigate imperial politics in our countdown of ten Roman video games, followed by two worlds with unmistakable Roman echoes.
Roman Empire News
Roman Desert Camps Point to a Lost Campaign in Arabia
Three camps east of Bayir trace a possible Roman expedition towards northern Arabia. A 2025 ground survey added pottery to the evidence first published in 2023.
Roman Empire Anecdotes
Petronius Probus: One of the Most Powerful Men in the Roman Empire
He was one of Rome’s wealthiest and most influential aristocrats, admired for his generosity but accused of ruthless ambition. Petronius Probus left behind two very different reputations.
Roman Empire News
Rome’s Pantheon Reveals Its Design from Above
Aerial footage puts the Pantheon’s dome and oculus in view, revealing the geometry behind one of Rome’s best-preserved ancient buildings.
Roman Empire News
Google Earth Clues Led to a Roman Villa’s Heated Baths in Kent
A community excavation at Trosley exposed painted rooms and a surviving hypocaust. Records from 2022, 2023 and 2026 trace the villa’s investigation.
Roman Empire News
DNA Shows Roman Spain's Genetic Pool Endured After the Empire Fell
A study of 243 ancient individuals finds that Mediterranean ancestry formed under Roman rule persisted through later migrations, with family ties traced across Hispania.
Roman Empire News
Roman Cave in Spain Holds at Least 120 Latin Inscriptions
A sanctuary at Cova Dones may hold the Roman Empire’s largest known collection of Latin cave inscriptions, with women’s names and vows to a goddess.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Emperor Julian the Apostate: The Philosopher Who Became Rome’s Last Pagan Emperor
He loved philosophy more than power, yet became one of Rome's most unusual emperors. Julian's ambitions would put him at odds with the world around him.
Roman Empire News
Roman Emperor’s Torso Attracts Young Buyers, Fetches $34.3 Million
A fourteen-minute bidding contest set a Roman antiquity record. Younger participants joined the wider sale, while the torso’s imperial identity remains debated.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
10 Things in Ancient Rome That Still Feel Modern
Buildings, objects and ancient texts show ten Roman practices with close parallels in everyday life, from busy streets to shared places of leisure.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
10 Roman Baby Girl Names and the Women Who Carried Them
Family ties, imperial daughters and influential mothers give these ten Roman names their ancient histories, from Augustus’s household to the Antonine court.