In the Vatican Museums, one can admire a wonderful collection of early Christian sarcophagi. Most date from the fourth century CE. This was a crucial period in the history of Christianity. In the middle of the previous century Christians still suffered persecutions under the emperors Decius and Valerianus. Around the…
After defeating Philippus Arabs at Verona in September of 249, Gaius Messius Quintus Decius had become the new ruler of the vast Roman Empire. The new emperor built the thermae Decianae or Baths of Decius on the Aventine Hill in Rome and was possibly also responsible for construction of the…
This is part 8 of my report about my walk along the Via Appia, from the Circus Maximus to the Villa of the Quintilii some 8 kilometres further to the southeast. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 can be found here. After leaving the Complesso di Capo…
I get the impression that very few people bother to visit the remains of Ancient Ostia’s synagogue. These are located some 300 metres outside the Porta Marina, the gate that faced the sea in Antiquity. The location feels rather isolated, and the situation was probably not very different some 2.000…
Summary Viriathus is assassinated by his friends, who have been bribed by the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio; Caepio defeats Viriathus’ successor and forces the Lusitanians to surrender; they are resettled on fertile lands; end of the Lusitanian War; The Senate renews the war against the Numantines, but the consul Marcus…
In 213, Caracalla was consul for the fourth time. He left Rome for the northern border provinces, and for the next two years he would fight to keep these safe and even strengthen them against Germanic incursions. Again, as with Severus’ Caledonian campaign, very few details have survived. It seems…
Thanks in large part to his capable advisors, Severus Alexander’s reign was exemplary and benevolent. As Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander Augustus, he held his second consulship in 226 and his third in 229, together with the noted historian Cassius Dio. Of his principal advisors, his grandmother Julia Maesa…