In 327 Constantine was about 55 years old. By the standards of the day the emperor was an old man. But he had many reasons to be quite content. The Roman Empire had been united again under his rule and the introduction a couple of years back of a new…
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 327 was Constantijn ongeveer 55 jaar. Naar de toenmalige maatstaven was de keizer een oude man. Constantijn had veel om tevreden over te zijn. Het Romeinse Rijk was verenigd onder zijn leiding en de introductie van een nieuwe gouden munt enkele jaren terug, de solidus, was een groot economisch…
In de derde eeuw had het immense Romeinse Rijk zeker 50 miljoen inwoners, die sinds de Constitutio Antoniniana van Caracalla uit 212 – mits vrijgeboren – vrijwel allemaal Romeins burgerrecht bezaten. Verreweg de meeste mensen woonden op het platteland of in een van de vele honderden kleine steden van het…
I have heard and read it time and time again: Roman cavalry was terrible. It was only good at riding down enemy troops that had already routed. The Romans neglected their cavalry and therefore lost important battles. And because of this neglect, they were ultimately unable to fight off foreign…