After the celebration of his Vicennalia, Diocletianus had left for Ravenna. The emperor was now in his sixties and his health was not good. At the start of the year 304 he nevertheless became consul for the ninth time, together with Maximianus, who was now consul for the eighth time.…
Diocletianus styled himself dominus et deus, but towards the end of his reign as emperor it was crystal clear that he was not omnipotent. There was one enemy that proved to be invincible: inflation. Although the emperor tried to blame greedy and depraved individuals, the inflation had in fact been…
In the period discussed here, the Crisis of the Third Century seemed like a thing of the distant past. The Tetrarchy functioned well and the four emperors of the Roman Empire won important victories on all fronts. Rebellions were crushed, rebel leaders were eliminated, and after a few initial setbacks…
In the third century the vast Roman Empire had at least 50 million inhabitants. Since Caracalla’s Constitutio Antoniniana of 212 almost all of these possessed Roman citizenship, provided that they were freeborn. The large majority of the people lived in the country or in one of the many hundreds of…
In the year 284 the Roman Empire had two augusti, who were not on speaking terms. Of the two, Carinus was the legitimate emperor. Immediately after the death of his father Carus in the summer of 283 he had travelled to Rome to claim the purple. For about a year…
What a disappointment! I had hoped to get onto the ancient Via Latina from the Via Demetriade, but the archaeological terrain with the remains of the road turned out to be closed off with a fence. And that fence happened to be locked. I therefore took a couple of photos…
In the summer of 2018 I made a highly enjoyable walk along the famous Via Appia and published an extensive report about it on this website. Part of my walk happened to be a small piece of the less well-known Via Latina. Back then I already decided that one day…
The Museo Nazionale Romano opened its doors as early as 1890. The immense collection of the museum is currently distributed across four locations: the Palazzo Massimo and Palazzo Altemps, which have been discussed previously, the Crypta Balbi and the Baths of Diocletianus. The baths can be considered the museum’s original…
The Palazzo Altemps was named after the German cardinal Mark Sittich von Hohenems (1533-1595). The cardinal’s mother Chiara de’ Medici was a sister of Pope Pius IV, who sat on Saint Peter’s throne between 1559 and 1565. Pius IV will chiefly be remembered as the pope who presided over the…
The nineteenth-century Palazzo Massimo is currently the main seat of the prestigious Museo Nazionale Romano, which is completely dedicated to Roman civilisation. The museum has much to offer to visitors, basically too much for a single visit. This means it is virtually impossible to write a post about the museum…
Those who enter the village of Grand in the Vosges completely unprepared, will perhaps wonder how on earth it ever got its name. With a population of less than 400 souls, Grand is anything but grand. But the name Grand has nothing to do with the French adjective for ‘large’.…
The picturesque town of Desenzano on the shores of Lake Garda once had an imposing Roman villa. Like all Roman villas, this villa was primarily an agricultural estate. The part where the buildings related to agricultural production must have stood has not been excavated. The residential part has, although the…
Jonvelle in the Haute-Saône is a village with less than 125 inhabitants. Its main attraction is the Musée des Vestiges Gallo-Romain, which is dedicated to the remains of a villa from the Roman age. Nowadays we tend to think of a villa as a large house in the country, but…
In Rome it sometimes happens that a building or monument is unintentionally given the wrong name. That name then sticks, even though people later realise that it is actually incorrect. A good example would be the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, which was long thought to have been built…
A prominent element in the Roman policy of expansion was the founding of colonies in the territories of defeated peoples. The Second Samnite war (327-304 BCE) had seen the founding of the Latin colonies of Suessa, Aurunca, Pontiae and Interamna, which were followed in 303 BCE by Alba Fucens in…
Between 358 BCE and 351 BCE Rome had already fought a war against the Etruscan city of Tarquinii (Tarchna). In spite of serious setbacks that war had ended in a Roman victory, after which a forty-year armistice had been concluded. That armistice expired in 311 BCE, and it looks like…
In 354 BCE the Romans had concluded an alliance with the Samnites of southern Central Italy. The First Samnite war of 343-341 BCE had ended this alliance, but it had been renewed after the Roman victory in the conflict. The Samnites had subsequently fought on the Roman side during the…
In 343 BCE a war broke out between the Romans and Samnites, an Oscan-speaking people that lived in the hills and mountains of southern Central Italy. Roman behaviour was exceptionally opportunistic, as little more than ten years ago they had made an alliance with the Samnites. Now, however, they decided…
After the defeat of Praeneste and Velitrae peace returned among the Latin allies, at least for the moment. But Rome still had plenty of other problems to deal with. The war with the Volsci was a never-ending story and these old enemies proved to be exceptionally tough. In the years…
After the brief occupation of Rome by Brennus’ Senones in 390 BCE or 387/386 BCE[1] a large part of the city lay in ruins. It is now no longer possible to establish the scale of the destruction, but there is no need to doubt that the damage was significant. The…