Roman Empire News
Kapersburg Brooch Raises Questions About Life After Rome's German Frontier
A brooch and pottery near Kapersburg's Roman temple may point to later use of the site. New research adds context to the changing German frontier.
Roman Empire News
Forest Stones in Germany Identified as Roman Temple, Goddess Figure Discovered
Excavations at Kapersburg in Germany’s Taunus reveal a Roman temple, votive stones and a Victoria figure, while later finds raise questions about life beyond the Limes.
Roman Empire News
AI Assists in Finding the Rules of Ancient Roman Board Game
A marked stone from Coriovallum fits several simulated blocking games. The study narrows the possibilities without recovering the exact rules Roman players used.
Roman Empire News
Watch: Metal Detectorist Finds 934 Roman Silver Coins Near Cologne
A reported 934 denarii recovered near Wesseling form an unusually large hoard from Hadrian’s era. Archaeologists have not identified who buried them or why.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Publius Quinctilius Varus: The Roman Official History Remembered for One Catastrophe
Publius Quinctilius Varus is remembered for the disaster of AD 9, when three Roman legions were destroyed in the Teutoburg Forest. Yet long before that defeat, he had risen to the centre of Augustan power, holding major commands and shaping the administration of the early Empire.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
The Defeat Rome Never Forgot: Teutoburg Forest, 9 CE
In 9 CE, Roman authority in northern Europe collapsed in a landscape it believed already secured. The destruction of three legions in Germania did more than shock contemporaries – it reshaped Rome’s frontiers, ambitions, and memory of empire itself.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Drusus the Elder: Rome’s Most Successful Germanic Commander
Rome’s deepest advance into Germania was led not by a veteran general, but by a man in his twenties. Nero Claudius Drusus carried Roman power farther north than any commander before him, before his sudden death froze an unfinished conquest into legend.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Arausio: The Defeat That Reshaped Roman Power
The defeat at Arausio in 105 BCE was more than a battlefield disaster. It exposed deep fractures in Roman command, reshaped military power, and left a psychological legacy that influenced Roman responses to crisis for generations.
Roman Empire Anecdotes
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.
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 Anecdotes
Tiberius: Power, Paranoia, and Politics in Imperial Rome
Tiberius, Rome’s second emperor, was a ruler shaped by duty, suspicion, and an uneasy relationship with power. Unlike his predecessor Augustus, whose charisma and political acumen forged the foundations of the empire, Tiberius ruled with a more withdrawn and calculating approach
Roman Empire Historical Facts
The Spiraling Legacy of Trajan's Column: Art, Propaganda, and Power
Trajan's Column is an iconic piece of Roman art and architecture, rich with historical, artistic, and cultural significance.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Maximinus Thrax: How did a Barbarian Giant, Become Roman Emperor?
Maximinus Thrax, also known as Maximinus I, was a Roman emperor who reigned from 235 to 238 CE, marking the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Arminius: From friend of Rome, to German Leader at the Teutoburg Forest Battle
Over the centuries, Arminius and the battle of the Teutoburg Forest have left their footprint in history.
Roman Empire Historical Facts
Tacitus: The Chronicler of Rome’s Moral Decline
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, commonly known as Tacitus, was a Roman historian and politician. He is widely considered one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.
Roman Empire Stories
The Stoic Emperor: How Marcus Aurelius Outwitted Death in the Germanic Wilds
In the treacherous Germanic frontier, Emperor Marcus Aurelius faced assassination by tribal chieftains. Yet, with Stoic wisdom and a loyal centurion's aid, he transformed a deadly feast into a legendary tale of diplomacy and courage.