Roman Empire

The Death of Caesar

A vivid portrait of one of history’s most momentous conspiracies.

When the Romans met the Christians

What was it like for a Roman to encounter a Christian for the first time? As the Empire reached its greatest extent, Pliny the Younger found himself face-to-face with members of the new religious group.

Carthaginian soldiers on elephants fighting with Romans in the Third Punic War, 1760. Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.

Mamertines: The Sons of Mars

The struggle to control the straits dividing Sicily from southern Italy brought Carthage and Rome head to head. It was a world in which ruthless mercenaries called Mamertines prospered.

‘Domina’ by Guy de la Bédoyère review

On the women who made imperial Rome.

Bronze bust of Minerva, c. 1st-2nd century AD. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

‘Sacred Britannia’ by Miranda Aldhouse-Green

A study of cultish rituals in Roman Britain reveals a cross-fertilisation of religions.

‘Brutus: The Noble Conspirator’ by Kathryn Tempest review

Brutus: The Noble Conspirator by Kathryn Tempest is a meticulously researched, beautifully written biography of Julius Caesar’s assassin.

Marcus Junius Brutus calls for Caesar’s death, by Robert-Guillaume Dardel, c. late 18th century. Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris. Public Domain.

Brutus: An Honourable Man?

Marcus Junius Brutus, the man who conspired to kill Julius Caesar, was not quite the friend to his fellow Romans that the legend suggests.

Charlemagne, Muhammad and the Fall of Rome

Henri Pirenne transformed the way historians think about the end of the Classical world and the beginning of the Middle Ages.

Stele representing the "paiment of taxes", Jaumont limestone, 2nd-3rd century, Metz. Kept in Musées de la Cour d'Or

Roman Loans

Dealing with debt in the Roman Empire.

A stela with Oscan inscription from Pompeii, first century BC, reading: ‘Vibius Popidius, son of Vibius, chief magistrate, was in charge of this work and the same man approved it.’ (The Trustees of the British Museum)

The Language of the Roman Empire

What language did the Romans speak? Latin was used throughout the Roman Empire, but it shared space with a host of other languages and dialects...