The 40-day Lenten season, when many Christians observe fasting, began in mid-February. A scholar explains how the practice may have emerged around the fifth century.
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Articles on Roman Empire
Displaying 21 - 40 of 59 articles
Societies and cultures that seem ossified and entrenched can be completely upended by pandemics, which create openings for conquest, innovation and social change.
New research suggests ancient climate change shaped the fate of western civilisation.
The history of early Christianity shows the power of the Bible used as a sign of resistance against repression at the hands of the Romans.
Through archaeological studies of architecture, excavated trade goods, and ecofacts we can trace globalisation back thousands of years.
With much public discussion of President Donald Trump as, potentially, a king, a scholar of Roman history and rhetoric sees 2,000-year-old parallels.
The British prime minister is fond of a common form of political rhetoric especially loved by the Romans: the promise of a ‘new age’.
The pagans paved the way for our modern festivities.
Although the universe of “Game of Thrones” evokes the medieval era, several key figures in the series are directly inspired by characters from Roman antiquity.
With the launch of the Libra cryptocurrency, Mark Zuckerberg reveals his dreams of building a new virtual country, perhaps inspired by the Roman Empire.
Tacitus’ Annals is a powerful and darkly humorous examination of imperial Rome. Though his work was little read in the Roman world, it has influenced great thinkers such as Hobbes and Montesquieu.
In the fourth century, Christian churches in North Africa faced a crisis of trust. A separate church of the Donatists emerged that lasted for centuries.
Behind today’s mythical Santa Claus from the North Pole, is a real saint – St. Nicholas. How he came to be today’s gift-giving jolly figure from the North Pole is a fascinating story by itself.
Once Britain slipped away from the Roman Empire in the early 5th century, signs of Roman life began to disappear.
New research has rubbished perceptions of Roman Britain as a region inhabited solely by white Europeans.
The new TV show Britannia dramatises the second Roman invasion of Britain. It captures the core elements of the story (despite inaccuracies) but recent archaeological finds offer thrilling insights into this time.
Though their activities were depicted alluringly in murals, the sex workers of Pompeii were slaves who lived hard lives.
At Ebbsfleet, in northeast Kent, archaeologists have finally uncovered the site where Julius Caesar’s fleet landed in 54BC.
Suetonius’s unforgettable tales of sex, scandal, and debauchery have ensured that his writing has played a significant role in shaping our perceptions of imperial Rome.
A row about whether Roman Britain was ethnically diverse has turned nasty.
Top contributors
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Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
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Professeur d'histoire ancienne, Université de Lorraine
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Senior Researcher, Historian and Complexity Scientist, University of Toronto
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Professor of Archaeology, Durham University
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Associate Professor of Classics and Head of the Centre for Classical Studies, Australian National University
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Senior Lecturer in Classical Studies, The Open University
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Senior Lecturer of Archaeology, University of Exeter
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Honorary Professor, The University of Queensland
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Paul Eliadis Chair of Classics and Ancient History, The University of Queensland
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Reader / Associate Professor in Environmental Geoscience, Sheffield Hallam University
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Head, Public Engagement, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney
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Senior Lecturer in Ancient History, Cardiff University
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Professor of Roman Archaeology, University of Glasgow
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Senior Research Fellow, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge
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Senior Lecturer in Ancient History, University of Leicester
