Questions tagged [ancient-rome]
Ancient Rome was a civilization centred around the city of Rome, that lasted from the 8th century BC to 476 AD (West); 1453 AD (East).
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Did ancient Romans converse with statues for inspiration?
Recently I encountered a passage from a book The Mask of Socrates by Paul Zanker
There were passionately cultivated Romans who sought in such statues conversation partners, who used them, as Seneca ...
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Which text asserts that "An assembly with no minority/opposition should be dissolved"?
This 19th century Jewish work, section 20 of Benjamin Aryeh Hakohen Weiss's "Even Yekarah”, refers to an ancient gentile text (this usually means Ancient Greece, but not necessarily) which ...
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Did early imperial China have a "uniform, multilevel administrative bureaucracy" that the Romans did not?
I'm reading Fukuyama's "The Origins of Political Order", and on pages 92-93 he makes the following claim (emphasis my own):
But most important, the state that emerged in China was far more ...
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Did the Romans ever get the idea to pardon Jesus or expunge the conviction when they adopted it as the state religion in 380, Edict of Thessalonica?
Given the premise of Jesus as being an innocent man being wrongfully convicted, wouldn't the very legally minded Romans or other jurists have the idea that the government should delete the conviction ...
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Did Romans complain about sundials?
In the episode History of Timekeeping from the excellent "You're Dead to Me" podcast, the host states that some Romans complained about the increasing use and public visibility of sundials ...
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Did Roman prosperity peak right on the eve of collapse (in particular c. 399)?
John Rapley and Peter Heather (Why Empires Fall, 2023, in Ch. 1 "Party Like It's 399"):
Rural population densities, and consequently overall agricultural output, reached maximum levels in ...
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What was the average height of men and women in pre-Roman Gaul?
I was having a discussion with my friend on how much taller Celts and Germanics were to Romans and it dawned on me that we had no idea how tall Celts actually were. I'm referring to the period when ...
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Were grapes luxurious food in Ancient Rome?
We always see in historical movies that a Roman emperor is sitting on his throne and a concubine feeds him with grapes. My question is that is this historically true? Were grapes so expensive that ...
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With money we will get men, said Cæsar, and with men we will get money
In Notes on Virginia, Jefferson wrote:
With money we will get men, said Cæsar, and with men we will get money.
I'm interested in where this was sourced. I don't expect that Jefferson was quoting or ...
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Were the names of the 10 months in the ancient Roman Calendar originally named after ordinal numbers?
I was wondering what the original names of the months in Latin? The earliest one that I can find is from TimeAndDate:Roman Calendar:
Months in the Republican Calendar
Month Names Number of Days
...
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Was there a love affair between Faustina the Younger and Avidius Cassius?
I recently watched episode 1 of season 1 of the Netflix series "Rome". According to that episode, Faustina the Younger (Marcus Aurelius's wife) had a love affair with the Roman general ...
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Who organised elections in the ancient Roman Republic?
I keep researching ancient Rome for my story world: alternative history where Rome has survived till the near future.
I remember from my primary school history course (and it was my favourite course) ...
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Did Roman Consuls have advisors like senior officials of modern governments (ministers/secretaries) have?
I have begun working on an alternative history story where the Roman Empire has survived to the present/near future. There are a few historical turning points where different decisions were made, each ...
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Why is this column in Pompeii constructed in two parts?
I found columns like this in Pompeii
The top and bottom are constructed from different materials, and in not quite the same shape.
What happened here? Has it been partially reconstructed? Is this a ...
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Roman Empire Netflix Map
Netflix's recent series, called "Roman Empire", has this miniature for the Portuguese language:
We can recognise this as a map of the Roman Empire, especially during the early Principate ...
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What did publicani markings on slaves sold out of the empire look like? [duplicate]
In this video, YouTube: Did Ancient Romans Use Tattoos? @ 4:35, the presenter mentions some "taxes paid" tattoo or branding for slaves sold outside of the empire. Do we have any evidence of ...
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How do we know when Nero was born?
If I go onto Wikipedia, I can see an answer of when he was born. But I can't really follow the sources. How do historians know when Nero was born?
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How were Ceasar's troops supplied with food during the Siege of Alexandria?
During the Siege of Alexandria, Julius Ceasar and a few thousand troops were stuck in the royal quarter of Alexandria for several months, with a local army surrounding them.
Did the royal quarter have ...
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Why is syncretism mostly described through an "interpretatio graeca", rather than any other polytheism? [closed]
Ancient Greeks such as Herodotus thought other culture's gods (e.g. Egyptian) are actually same deities as theirs, just having different names.
For example, Plutarch said
Not different gods for ...
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When did Pontius Pilate rule?
The most precise years for his rule I've seen is 26/27 AD to 36/37 AD.
Has someone gotten it down to at least a precise year?
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How aware were the latter Greek-speaking Romans (ERE: Byzantines) of the early history of Rome?
To what extent were residents of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire aware of the early history of Rome, its legendary founding, the monarchy, the republic and early empire? Did they have access to ...
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Did the polytheist Greeks or Romans call their priests “father”?
I assume not, but perhaps it has just escaped me, because I am so used to this form of address from the Greek Orthodox Church. There might be texts showing that some of them did, or texts commenting ...
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What prevented the Romans from naval expansion? [closed]
Now, I have a very poor understanding of history (my high school didn't even have a history class), so if I'm missing something please point it out.
The ancient Roman Empire was pretty large for its ...
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When did subtractive notation become common for Roman numerals?
The additive notation of Roman numerals for 4 and 9 is IIII and VIIII. The subtractive notation is IV and IX.
Wikipedia doesn't go into detail about which form was known and popular during which ...
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Roman armies seem to dislike fighting at night, Livy called it dishonourable. Skulking about. (Ennius, Scaenica, 254-7) Why?
The query is in relation to Roman preference to erecting a secure camp at the end of each day and disparaging comments made regarding opposing forces who us e the night to their advantage. For example ...
user56240
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How many Jews lived in Rome in the period immediately before (and during) the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE)?
I have been researching some of the events that occurred during the Jewish-Roman wars in ancient Israel.
I have tried to find approximate population records of the Jews before and during the period of ...
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How was the Roman Empire officially referred to by contemporaries throughout the 1st to 6th centuries AD?
I understand that the notion of state in the specified period was different from the modern one and maybe was gradually changing over time. However, I still believe that contemporary sources ...
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How would a Roman soldier address his superior officer? Reversely, how would a superior officer address a lower ranking Roman soldier?
Let's pretend for a second there is a legionnaire named Marcus and a centurion named Augustus. Would the legionnaire refer to his superior officer as "Centurion Augustus"? Or would he say &...
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How did ancient Roman family names survive to current day use?
Family names in Ancient Rome were in disuse after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Still some of them are in current use, for example, my grandmother's last name "Cicero&...
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Did Lucian of Samosata make this joke on purpose?
This is going to be a bit of a niche question, so bear with me.
Recently I've been reading the work of famous satirist Lucian of Samosata. He's pretty funny, but the thing is, I can't read the ...
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What is the origin of the Roman hand-laying ritual which the word "assert" traces back to?
According to the OED 2nd edition (and OED 1913, L&S, and Gaffiot) the earliest known attestation of the word assert is a Roman hand-laying ritual:
assert, v.
(əˈsɜːt)[f. L. assert- ppl. stem of ...
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What was the estimated weight of transport wagons (plaustra) in 1st through 3rd century Rome?
I am writing a paper about land transport using oxen carts and wagons in central Italy during the High Empire (late 1st century BC to early 3rd century AD), including some computing simulations of ...
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What early sources other than the books of Maccabees and Josephus are there for Judean rebellions under Antiochus IV?
Other than the books of Maccabees and Antiquities of the Jews (book XII) by Josephus, can anyone help me by pointing me to other early (3rd century or earlier) sources for the Judean rebellions under ...
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What was this king/ warrior's exact name (AGATHOFLIS)
I'm reading some books (in Arabic) about north African history, and exactly the Igilgili (modern day Jijel ) region and I found a story about a warrior / king who tried to conquer the region (4th ...
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Which Roman writer wrote this passage?
I'm operating off of fuzzy memory here and I’m unable to find the source of this passage. Some time ago, I read a passage from some ancient Roman writer that went something like this:
“He came and he ...
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What was at the start of Early Roman codices?
What was on an early Roman codex before the actual text of the author? For example, we have the title, author, copyright notifications and other publication information. In contrast what would you ...
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Was the quality of Roman armor really worse than the armor of knights of the XII-XIV centuries?
When I was studying the metallurgy of ancient Rome, I saw a rather controversial study done by Michael Fulford, David Sim and Alistair Doig called "The production of Roman ferrous armour:a ...
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How did Scipio Africanus recruit his army for Zama?
The story of the Second Punic War doesn't quite add up to me. According to Cottrell [1], after the battles at the Trebia, Trasimene, and Cannae, Hannibal had slaughtered in battle 1/5 of the Roman ...
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Why did Hadrian put Jupiter's statue in Beith Hamikdash?
The third Roman Jewish war happened 'because Hadrian put Jupiter's statue in Beith Hamikdash' (Temple in Jerusalem).
Why would he do so?
I've heard that originally his relationship with his Jewish ...
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Did Hadrian have any children?
the Roman ruler's daughter coveted Rabbi Yishmael for his physical beauty. When she was told that he would have to be executed as well,
she asked that the skin of his head be flayed while he was ...
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Did Mithridates VI ever lead 500,000 soldiers?
When criticizing ancient sources and ancient army numbers, Hans Delbrück mentions a Mithridatic army allegedly 500,000 strong:
"In the battle of Chaeronea Sulla is supposed to have defeated 120,...
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Why do ancient Jewish sources increasingly downplay Rome's role in Jerusalem's destruction?
Josephus, the (in)famous Judeo-Roman historian, in his pivotal account of the Jewish-Roman war, seeks to persistently and systematically distance the Romans from any moral responsibility in the Temple'...
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Did Rome annex Byzantium, the Greek city state, around 47AD?
This well-received YouTube video claims that Rome annexed Thrace in 45AD and then the Greek City State of Byzantium in 47 AD. Byzantium is also the last surviving Greek City State after the Rome ...
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Was Uranus a Roman god?
Is Caelus the Roman equivalent of Uranus, or did the Romans adopt the latter and incorporated him in their mythology while keeping his original name?
I've seen multiple conflicting answers on the ...
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How tall was the average Italian Roman in the late Republic/early Imperial period? [duplicate]
I've seen word of a study using bodies found from around 500 BC to 500 AD that gave average heights for women about 155 cm and men 165 cm, but this seems to me to be a wide range of time and area. By ...
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What language did Gaius Julius Caesar speak with Cleopatra?
What language did Gaius Julius Caesar (GJC) speak with Cleopatra?
My thoughts:
GJC spoke Latin.
Cleopatra spoke many languages, including Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Egyptian, Greek.
Or did they need a ...
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Who was the tallest Roman ever found?
Was Maximinus Thrax the tallest Roman known to have ever lived? I am suspecting there might be taller specimens. Or maybe there aren't and he is simply the tallest.
user54389
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Did the Roman Republic really have 60 legions?
A common claim is that during the last civil war of the republic, the combined legions of Antony and Octavian totaled 60 legions. Another variant is that Octavian alone commanded 60 legions after ...
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Were the Romans Trojans or Latins? [duplicate]
I was reading the Aeneid by Virgil and it looks like the Romans allegedly descended from the Trojan soldier Aeneas. The book then explains how this soldier fathered generations that fathered someone ...
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What is the "bag on a stick" Hercules is holding in this picture?
The picture in the upper right of this page depicts Hercules/Heracles (or is it King Erystheus?) sitting on a chair or a throne, with the Nemean lion's skin and a club. Archaeolovers clarifies why ...
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