Ancient Rome
Drusus the Elder: Hero of Rome
By P. Lindsay PowellOn a sultry summer night in 9 BC, 29-year-old commander of Augustus Caesar ’s army in Germania bolted upright in his cot, dripping with sweat. Read more
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
On a sultry summer night in 9 BC, 29-year-old commander of Augustus Caesar ’s army in Germania bolted upright in his cot, dripping with sweat. Read more
Ancient Rome
Jugurtha, king of the desert nation of Numidia, was a long-time antagonist of Republican Rome. Over more than a decade of war, he was a bold and cunning battlefield commander who used swiftness and determination to make fools of Roman consuls, even as the Romans were systematically conquering his country. Read more
Ancient Rome
Tacfarinas, a former soldier of Rome’s Numidian cavalry, reined in his steed at the edge of the cliff with the ease of one born in the saddle. Read more
Ancient Rome
The snow-capped peaks of the Ceraunian Mountains stared down on the sturdy barks hunting for a suitable place to land on the coast of Epirus on January 5, 48 bc. Read more
Ancient Rome
The lash bit into the flesh of the woman’s back, beaten raw by metal balls tied into the ends of leather thongs. Read more
Ancient Rome
In the evening hours on a midsummer day in 102 bc, Roman Consul Gaius Marius decided that tomorrow was to be the day to confront the barbarians. Read more
Ancient Rome
The huge gangplank dangled in the air, suspended by a rope and pulley from a massive pole standing upright in the bow of the Roman galley. Read more
Ancient Rome
When Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix was governor of Cilicia in 95 bc, he received an embassy from the Parthians. Read more
Ancient Rome
Long ranks of Carthaginian infantry stood on a dusty plain a few miles east of the ruined town of Cannae on August 2, 216 bc. Read more
Ancient Rome
What began as a polite truce between armies that allowed each to draw water from the same river turned into the battle that would give Greece to Rome. Read more
Ancient Rome
On October 28, ad 312, a Roman emperor was drowning. The sight must have amazed his soldiers. All summer Rome had been filled with rumors of the western emperor, Constantine, and the ease with which he and his army had crossed the Alps and, once on Italian soil, strung together a handful of victories in the north. Read more
Ancient Rome
After a summer of starvation and siege had been imposed on the city’s people during the fall of Jerusalem, the great Second Temple was finally on fire. Read more
Ancient Rome
Few weapons in world history have had such great tactical importance as the Roman gladius. To understand the importance this short sword had on the battlefields of antiquity, it is best to start with the Roman historian Livy. Read more
Ancient Rome
Two Generals met in the Fall of 202 BC in a last-ditch attempt to secure a mutually agreeable peace between their respective nations. Read more
Ancient Rome
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
After five hours of continuous slaughter, an eerie calm descended on the blood-soaked plain near the Roman city of Adrianople. Read more
Ancient Rome
The third century BC saw fierce naval competition arise all across the Mediterranean. In the west, the Romans and Carthaginians struggled for control of the sea. Read more
Ancient Rome
The tattered banners of Hercules fluttered in the howling wind along the Frigidus River in western Italy, hard athwart the Adriatic Sea, on the afternoon of September 6, 394 ad. Read more
Ancient Rome
Of the thousands of commanders who have served in history’s armies, why is it that only a few are remembered as great leaders of men in battle? Read more
Ancient Rome
The early years of Rome’s second war with Carthage were some of the darkest the Republic had ever known. Read more