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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In Ancient Greece or Rome, could a slave (not an ex-slave) themselves own slaves, apart from the fictional Eumaeus (Odyssey Book 14 lines 450-453)? [duplicate]

In Homer's Odyssey the swineherd Eumaeus is a trusted slave of Odysseus' family, having been bought by Odysseus' father Laertes. Yet we are told in Book 14, lines 450 - 453, that Eumaeus himself owns ...
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Did Octavian Augustus have a famous horse?

Did Octavian Augustus (the founder of the Roman empire) have a famous horse like Bucephalus, and if so, do we know that horse's name?
Carbophile's user avatar
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Did Romans collect notes/minutes/protocols of Senate meetings? Ditto Greeks?

Did Romans have official note-takers of important meetings, such as Senate debates? If so, did any of them survive? Similarly for Greeks. Plato's "Apology" is the closest thing to minutes ...
Michael's user avatar
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Do any sources besides Livy record the first incident of serial murder by prominent Roman women in 331 B.C.?

Titus Livy lived during the turn of the first century A.D. and in Book 8, Chapter 8 of The History of Rome, he relays the story of some sort of plague that was ravaging Rome in 331 B.C., afflicting ...
Curious Layman's user avatar
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How were streets lit at night, before street lights were invented? [closed]

For example, how were the streets of ancient Greek cities and of ancient Rome lit at night? I suspect that street lights as we know today didn't exist in ancient Greece and Rome, so there were other ...
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What are "stripes" in relation to ancient Roman slaves?

I'm reading the Cambridge medieval history collection, specifically the chapter on Roman law (Justinian and earlier, vol2, ch3), and there is this sentence pertaining to serfs: And for some offences, ...
Matt's user avatar
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Are there any open-source 3D reconstructions of Ancient Rome?

I was wondering if there are any open-source i.e. crowdsourced projects generating 3D models of Ancient Rome during the Republic and Imperial Times? I’m especially interested in the area of the Forum ...
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What was the physical appearance of Theodoric I, the King of the Visigoths?

What was the physical appearance of Theodoric I, the King of the Visigoths? Although there are paintings portraying him as blonde, I haven't come across any sources that provide a description of his ...
Lucas Ribeiro Barros's user avatar
15 votes
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Why are Spanish cultures labeled as 'Latin' today, but Italian and eastern Europe cultures aren't?

Based on my limited understanding, I'm just wondering what had to have happened to make the area of the largest Latin speaking civilization (ancient Rome) no longer be later attributed to being 'Latin'...
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Is there a relationship between the Roman/fascist salute and the gestures of the Roman emperor in the Colloseum? [closed]

Last October I went to visit Rome and enjoyed a tour through the Coliseum. Our tour guide told a number of stories about the Coliseum, most of which sounded plausible enough. However, one thing seemed ...
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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 ...
d_e's user avatar
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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 ...
R-Obsessive's user avatar
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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 ...
Amos Joshua's user avatar
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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 ...
SuperYoshikong's user avatar
-3 votes
2 answers
544 views

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 ...
Charles's user avatar
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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 ...
Tim's user avatar
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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 ...
user1387866's user avatar
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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) ...
Krišjānis Liepiņš's user avatar
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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 ...
Krišjānis Liepiņš's user avatar
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1 answer
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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 ...
Elederete's user avatar
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1 answer
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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 ...
Matt Watson's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
260 views

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?
Kyle Johansen's user avatar
3 votes
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165 views

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 ...
Vito's user avatar
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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?
Maximus1987's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
3k views

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 ...
Jos's user avatar
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1 answer
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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 ...
Ludi's user avatar
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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 ...
user1642529's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
889 views

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 ...
Daniel Darabos's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
312 views

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 ...
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5 votes
1 answer
709 views

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 ...
Curiosity's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
239 views

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 ...
Eldritch Sandwich's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
820 views

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 &...
Ruby's user avatar
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16 votes
3 answers
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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&...
Claudia's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
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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 ...
Andrea's user avatar
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2 votes
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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 ...
Michael's user avatar
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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 ...
mclands's user avatar
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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 ...
Glenn's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
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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 ...
Hamdiken's user avatar
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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 ...
James's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
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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 ...
Kyle Johansen's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

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 ...
MaxPryhodko's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
428 views

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 ...
Tim Campion's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
298 views

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 ...
obfuscated's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
770 views

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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