Ancient Rome

The Roman Empire, which at times included much of the known world, came into being following the five centuries of the Republican period in the history of Rome. The Roman Empire was founded in 27 B.C. and existed as a unified entity until approximately A.D. 480. During this period, the Roman Empire extended from the Middle East to the British Isles. The Roman Empire is remembered for its influence of language, law, military operations, and culture. The Roman Empire was ruled by a succession of emperors, and a 200-year period of peace that began with the reign of Caesar Augustus is known today as the “Pax Romana.”

Ancient Rome

Heavy Roman Cavalryman, First Century CE

Artwork: Johnny Shumate

Roman cavalry before 400 BCE was recruited from the aristocracy in limited numbers. As the cavalry expanded, recruits came from beyond the aristocracy. Read more

In an ambush led by Arminius (later known as Hermann), three Roman legions were destroyed in Germania in 9 CE. The event, one of Rome’s worst defeats, was seized upon by nationalists in the 19th-century, and later by the Nazi Third Reich, as the mythological origin of the German state. Paintings such as “The battle of Hermann in the Teutoburg Forest,” (1840) by Wilhelm Lindenschmit the Elder, helped popularize Hermann as the father of the German nation.

Ancient Rome

Havoc in the Teutoburger Forest

By Michael D. Greaney

One of the most devastating events to shake the early Roman Empire was the defeat of Legate Publius Quinctilius Varus and his army at the hands of Arminius in the Battle of Teutoburgerwald in 9 ad. Read more

Ancient Rome

Zenobia’s Bloody War of Independence

By Glenn Barnett

The pages of history tend to dwell on the men who created empires. No matter how ephemeral may be the famed exploits of an Alexander, Caesar or Napoleon, historians have written volumes on their behalf. Read more

An artist of a much later age attempted to depict classical artillery in the painting below. Greeks devised weaponry that launched bolts and stones, often with great accuracy.

Ancient Rome

Types of Weapons Used by Ancient Greece

By Mike Markowitz

When we think “catapult,” we imagine the types of weapons used for hurling rocks, dead plague victims, or unlucky cows against a castle. Read more

Mounted Goths on the edge of the Roman Empire eye some of the fruits of the civilization beyond.

Ancient Rome

The Gothic Wars Battle of Adrianople

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

In 376 AD the Goths appeared on the lower Danube frontier of the Roman Empire. They came as a whole tribe, with warriors, women and children. Read more

Ancient Rome

Hannibal and the Second Punic War

By Jonas L. Goldstein, LCDR, USN (Ret.)

The Carthaginian hero Hannibal Barca has long been considered to have possessed one of history’s greatest military minds. Read more

Ancient Rome

How Hannibal Hammered the Roman Army

By Keith Milton

Gisgo, a commander in the Carthaginian army, sat on his horse nervously as he waited with other members of the staff for their general, the now-famous Hannibal, to complete his final inspection. Read more

This high-relief sculpture carved on a sarcophagus of the 2nd century ably depicts the confusion and havoc of battle between Romans and Celtic warriors.

Ancient Rome

The Gallic Wars: To Northern Gaul

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

The gray skies of winter still shrouded the town of Vesontio on the Dubis River. To the south, when not obscured by mist and rain, rose the Jura Mountains, and beyond that the lofty peaks of the Alps and the nearest Roman Province, Gallia Cisalpina. Read more

A Roman soldier dictates a letter to a scribe outside a permanent Roman camp in Germany.

Ancient Rome

Roman Generals: Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo

By Harold E. Raugh, Jr.

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo was probably born between 4 bc and ad 1. His younger half-sister was first the mistress and then the consort of Gaius Caesar Germanicus, better known as the Emperor Caligula. Read more

Ancient Rome

The Battle of Milvian Bridge: Battle for the Western Empire

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

In ad 305, there occurred an event unprecedented in the history of the Roman Empire. Emperor Diocletian voluntarily abdicated to live the simple life of a farmer on his country estate. Read more

“The Catapult,” by Edward John Poynter (British, 1836-1919) depicts a siege engine manned by Roman soldiers at the walls of Carthage during the Third Punic War. “Carthage must be destroyed” (Delenda est Carthago), the words of Cato the Elder as quoted in Pultarch's “Life of Cato,” are carved on one of its massive beams.

Ancient Rome

The Siege of Carthage: Death of an Empire

By David A. Norris

According to legend, Carthage was founded by Dido, daughter of the king of the Phoenician city of Tyre. Read more

Belisarius is shown triumphant over the Ostrogoths and heading for Rome.

Ancient Rome

Military Myths and Legends: Belisarius

By James Allan Evans

It was a sorry tale. A brilliant general, military hero, and faithful servant of the state, blind and reduced to penury in his old age, sitting on the main street of Constantinople begging for his living. Read more

The third-century Great Ludovisi Sarcophagus in Rome shows Romans battling Goths. This detail depicts Hostilian, younger son of Emperor Decius. His other son, Herrenius, was killed in the battle.

Ancient Rome

Philippolis: Roman Disaster on the Western Border

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

It was early spring, ad 235, on the Rhine frontier. In the imperial tent of a Roman encampment, 26-year-old Emperor Severus Alexander wept at his mother’s side. Read more

Ancient Rome

Warrior Queen’s Revenge

By Eric Niderost

In the spring of ad 60 Gaius Suetonius Paulinus could look back on the last three or four years with a mixture of pride and satisfaction. Read more

European knights battle Seljuq Turks outside the walls of Antioch. The city was a stronghold blocking the Crusaders’ way to the Holy Land.

Ancient Rome

Deus le Veult! The Siege of Antioch

By John Murphy, Jr.

Shortly before dawn on June 3, 1098, Bohemund of Taranto, one of the leaders of the First Crusade and the survivor of many campaigns, stood in the shadow of the Tower of the Two Sisters, one of the strongest points in the defenses of the ancient city of Antioch. Read more

Ancient Rome

The War Chariots of the Celtic Elite

By Andrew M. Scott

To the Latins they were Gauls; to the Greeks they were the keatoi (Keltoi), or Celts. A warrior people who at one time roamed Europe from Britain to the Black Sea, Celts reached the height of their power and cultural influence around the 2nd century bc. Read more

Marcus Licinius Crassus sought glory on the battlefield by following in the footsteps of his idol, Alexander III. It all came crashing down at Carrhae (in modern-day Turkey) at the hands of the Parthian Empire in 53 BCE.

Ancient Rome

Marcus Crassus, Alexander and the Battle of Carrhae

By Glenn Barnett

Alexander of Macedon, called “the Great,” died in June of 323 BCE having conquered the mightiest empire yet seen on earth. Read more

Ancient Rome

The Betrayal of Viriathus of Spain

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

In 150 BC a young shepherd wandered down from the hills to surrender with others of his kind to the Romans. Read more

Romans end their march of the day by building a fortified camp surrounded by a ditch. No camp was ever overwhelmed in the Gallic or Civil Wars.

Ancient Rome

Roman Marching Camps: An Essential Element in Rome’s Empire-Building

By Arnold Blumberg

From the late 3rd century bc to the 3rd century ad, Roman troops on campaign built a defended camp at their resting place each night. Read more

Julius Caesar was a politician who believed his posting to Gaul could raise his reputation and power. Germanic tribes invading Gaul played into his hands.

Ancient Rome

Germanic Tribe Run Amok: Caesar vs. Ariovistus

by Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

East of the Rhine the horizon melted away in an unbroken emerald sea upon which, or so the legends told, giants piled up ranges of rugged hills. Read more

Ancient Rome

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