Roman Empire

Welcome to our website's section on the Roman Empire, one of the most fascinating and influential civilizations in world history. For over a thousand years, the Romans ruled a vast territory stretching from the Mediterranean to the North Sea, leaving an indelible mark on art, culture, language, law, and politics. The Romans were masters of engineering, building roads, aqueducts, and monumental structures that continue to impress us to this day. But the Roman Empire was not just about conquest and military might; it was also a complex society with a diverse population, a rich mythology, and a unique worldview. In this section, we invite you to explore the many facets of the Roman Empire, from its founding myths and legendary heroes to its decline and legacy. Whether you are a history buff, a student, or just curious about the ancient world, we hope you will find this section informative, engaging, and inspiring.

The remains of the Roman triumphal arch found in Serbia. Source: Serbia Archaeological Institute.

25 January, 2024 - 13:47 Sahir

Emperor Caracalla’s Triumphal Arch Unearthed in Serbia

A lesser-known fact about Serbia is that 17 Roman emperors were born in its territory, with Central Serbia being under Roman rule for 800 years. Evidence of this history was unearthed in December,...

Various shots of the mosaic now confirmed dated to the 5th century at Chedworth Roman Villa. Source: Stephen Haywood/Ian Shaw/ © National Trust Images

20 January, 2024 - 16:53 Sahir

Roman Mosaic Date Brightens Up Britain’s Dark Ages in More Ways Than One

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it’s popularly believed that its fall to ‘barbaric’ forces by the beginning of the 5th century, plunged all of Europe into a ‘Dark Age’, where towns and villas...

Left; the reconstruction imae of Feb=nsatantion Man. Right; The first evidence of Roman-British crucifixion has been found in Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire, England. The heel of a man found with an iron nail pounded through his heel bone was clear evidence of crucifixion. Source: Left; Impossible Factual/BBC, Right; Albion Archaeology

18 January, 2024 - 02:57 Nathan Falde

Face of the Only Victim of Roman Crucifixion Found in Britain is Revealed

Experts have successfully reconstructed the face of a man who was a victim of Roman crucifixion, a discovery hailed as "almost unique" by Corinne Duhig, a bone specialist from Cambridge University...

An aerial image depicting the interior walls of a Roman temple found in Spello, Italy, which experts believe to be an ancient pagan temple of fourth-century Italy and the late Roman Empire. Source: Douglas Boin/Saint Louis Univiersity

8 January, 2024 - 16:55 Sahir

Pagan Temple Shifts Rome's Narrative of Rapid Conversion to Christianity

The ruins of an ancient pagan temple under a parking lot in central Italy 70 miles (112.65 km) north of Rome, sheds light on the cultural shift during the transition from Roman imperial theology to...

Composite of excavations, burials and artifacts from the Roman necropolis recently uncovered near Rome. Source: Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti Paesaggio Etruria Meridionale

4 January, 2024 - 13:45 Nathan Falde

Opulent Tombs & Untold Wealth Revealed at Newly Found Roman Necropolis

Archaeologists involved in a two-year-long excavation project at the site of a planned solar energy plant near Rome unearthed something astonishing and totally unexpected. While exploring under a...

Gladiator mosaic at a Roman villa in Nennig, Germany. Source: Carole Raddato / CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED

24 December, 2023 - 17:39 Riley Winters

Spartacus: The Rebel Gladiator and His Final Last Stand – Part 2

(Read Part 1) Led by the Roman gladiator Spartacus, the Third Servile War stretched on from 73 to 71 BC, an attempt by thousands of Roman slaves to escape the gladiatorial ring. As a Thracian, forced...

Scene of the Persecution of Christianity in ancient Rome. Source: Monsalvettstock/Adobe Stock

22 December, 2023 - 19:55 Robbie Mitchell

How Did Christianity Survive the Roman Empire (Video)

Christianity's survival amidst the stringent Roman Empire highlights the resilience of its early believers. In a time when the Roman stance against new religions was harsh, Christians faced...

A computer-generated image of the battle that is thought to have taken place on a remote mountainside south of Chur around 15 BC between Roman troops advancing northwards through the Alps and local Suanetes. Source: Courtesy of Leona Detig

15 December, 2023 - 21:52 ashley cowie

Lost Roman Battlefield in Switzerland Discovered Through Thousands of Artifacts

In 2019, a spectacular Roman dagger was metal detected in a remote region of the Swiss Alps. Now, a team of scientists and students have mapped a 2,000-year-old Roman battlefield representing the...

Drawing of male Pict. Source: Public Domain

14 December, 2023 - 19:55 Robbie Mitchell

The Picts, the Scottish Tribe That Gave the Romans Hell (Video)

The Picts , a group dwelling north of the Forth–Clyde isthmus, in what is now Scotland, remain shrouded in mystery despite their historical notoriety. The term "Pict" emerged around the third century...

Archaeological excavations at the Interamna Lirenas site in central Italy's Lazio region have revealed the prominent remains of a theater. Source: Alessandro Launaro

12 December, 2023 - 21:57 Nathan Falde

Interamna, An Obscure Roman Village Escaped 3rd Century Decline of Empire

Two thousand years ago, the ancient Roman settlement of Interamna Lirenas in central Italy’s Lazio region was a typical remote Empire town. It was believed to have suffered the same fate as so many...

The Roman aqueduct that supplied water to Viminacium, a large city on the Roman frontier, Serbia. Source: Carles Lalueza-Foz/Cell

10 December, 2023 - 22:01 ancient-origins

How the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire Shifted Populations

Despite the Roman Empire's extensive military and cultural influence on the nearby Balkan peninsula, a DNA analysis of individuals who lived in the region between 1 and 1000 AD found no genetic...

The journey of Hannibal, a strategic genius whose audacity and brilliance reshaped the course of ancient history during the Second Punic War.

9 December, 2023 - 16:00 Robbie Mitchell

The Story of Hannibal: The Nightmare of the Roman Empire (Video)

In the tapestry of ancient conflicts, the clash between Rome and Carthage etches a defining chapter. Carthage, a maritime power commanding critical Mediterranean trade routes, resisted Rome's...

Boudicca became the warrior queen who led a revolt against Roman rule in ancient Britain. Source: NorLife/Adobe Stock

5 December, 2023 - 19:52 Robbie Mitchell

Boudicca: The Truth Behind the British Legend (Video)

Boudicca, the enigmatic warrior queen of the Iceni, has become a legendary figure in British history. Her rebellion against the Roman Empire, shrouded in the accounts of historians Tacitus and...

Made from boiled grape syrup and used to sweeten both food and wine, sapa had a downside – its production utilized lead pots which may have caused the Roman Empire’s demise. Source: Ruslan Gilmanshin/Adobe Stock

5 December, 2023 - 15:57 Robbie Mitchell

Did an Artificial Sweetener Destroy the Roman Empire? (Video)

The fall of the mighty Roman Empire remains shrouded in historical mystery, with various theories attempting to unravel its demise. One intriguing proposition suggests that the empire's collapse may...

From left to right - Galba, Otho, Vespasian, and Vitellius Source: Wolfgang Sauber/CC BY-SA 3.0, Fred Romero from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0), Sailko/CC BY 3.0, Louvre Museum/CC BY 2.5

27 November, 2023 - 13:57 Miriam Kamil

The Year of the Four Emperors, Ancient Rome's Epic Saga

The Roman emperor Nero was the last of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. During his rule, he was disdained by his people because of his vanity and inadequacies as leader. He had one wife executed and he...

The moment of the discovery of the wind chime in Viminacium. Source: Ilija Danković, Archaeological Institute

14 November, 2023 - 21:54 Gary Manners

Roman Winged Phallus Wind Chime Talisman Unearthed in Serbia

New research at the Viminacium site in eastern Serbia, once capital of the Roman province of Moesia Superior, has made a remarkable find. As soon as archaeologists began their latest exploration of...

Cursus Publicus, ancient Roman courier and transportation logistics masterpiece, fuelled the Roman Empire's success. Source: Bill Perry/Adobe Stock

10 November, 2023 - 21:59 Aleksa Vučković

Cursus Publicus: The Ingenious Postal System of the Roman Empire

No great empire is truly functional without a proper system of communication and transport. Logistics are what keeps a vast realm ticking like a good mechanism, and what brings it together into one...

Battle Scene with a Roman Army Besieging a Large City by Juan de la Corta (17th century) (Public Domain)

8 November, 2023 - 22:30 Mario Bartolini

Diocletian’s Utopia: The Tetrarchy Of The Roman Empire (285 – 325 AD)

When Roman General Diocletian was designated Emperor by his army in 284, he followed suit of many General-Emperors before him and engaged in war against the legitimate Emperor in place in order to...

Legendary Iranian king Rostam, depicted in this 7th century CE mural at Panjikent, Sogdia, with an elongated skull in the fashion of the Alchon Huns (Public Domain)

8 November, 2023 - 20:00 Robbie Mitchell

The Huns Used a Grotesque Practice to Unify Their People (Video)

The Huns , infamous invaders of the Roman Empire , employed a unique practice to distinguish and unify their people. Recent archaeological investigations and DNA analyses have shed light on their...

Dr Murray Cook (bottom left) and other members of the dig with the remains of the ancient Roman Road in Stirling, Scotland. Source: Stirling Council

3 November, 2023 - 13:55 ashley cowie

Most Important Road in Scottish History Found in Stirling

Archaeologists digging in Stirling, Scotland’s ancient capital, have unearthed a section of Roman road in the garden of a 17th century drovers inn. This ancient track, unlike all others, was later...

A sample of Poidebard’s (1934) aerial photographs: A) fort at Qreiye; B) Roman fort and medieval caravanserai at Birke; C) fort at Tell Zenbil; and D) castellum at Tell Brak.

27 October, 2023 - 18:46 Sahir

Declassified Cold War Spy Satellite Images Reveal Roman Forts In Syria and Iraq

In their examination of aerial photographs from the 1960s and 70s, archaeologists have identified 396 uncharted Roman forts in the Syrian and Iraqi regions along the Syrian steppe, from “the world’s...

Roman soldiers on the march and their general (vukkostic /Adobe Stock)

27 October, 2023 - 18:22 Mario Bartolini

Third-Century Roman Empire: Revival From Chaos 270 – 285 BC

During the period designated by modern historians as the era of Roman military anarchy which lasted from 235 to 285 AD, 20 generals unconventionally elected as emperors fought and succeeded each...

Constantine the Great. Source: SVasco / Adobe Stock.

25 October, 2023 - 20:53 Robbie Mitchell

Constantine's Death Threatened to Split the Roman Empire (Video)

Constantine's demise in 337 AD marked a turning point in the Roman Empire's trajectory . After his death, the city of Constantinople, which he had fostered, thrived while Rome, the former capital in...

Busts of Hadrian and Antinous. Source: YouTube Screenshot / Royalty Now Studios.

20 October, 2023 - 17:00 Robbie Mitchell

Facial Reconstructions of Emperor Hadrian and Antinous (Video)

Hadrian, born in 76 A.D. in Italica, Spain, faced adversity when both his parents passed away, leaving him a ward. He developed a deep affinity for Greek culture and literature, earning him the...

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