Questions tagged [roman-empire]
The Roman Empire was a vast empire, centred around the city of Rome, that lasted from 27 BC to 476 AD (West); 1453 AD (East).
321
questions
1
vote
0answers
68 views
Are there historical texts recording acts of ransom / heists on the rich in Roman Empire?
I know that large scale slave revolts in Roman Empire were relatively rare.
On smaller scales though, in modern times we have house invasions / kidnapping and car theft.
In Rome with gap being so wide ...
2
votes
1answer
232 views
How important was the war against Vercingetorix to the Romans?
I have recently been watching Netflix documentary on Rome and Julius Caesar and of course his most famous battle in Gaul.
My question is how big of an issue was Vercingetorix rebellion for the Romans?
...
11
votes
1answer
2k views
Seeking floor plan of a classical Roman building with 20 to 30 rooms
An offshoot of this question.
I am developing a software product. Very briefly, given a floor plan,
it lets the user edit it, and add information to each "room".
Think of a shopping mall, ...
0
votes
0answers
85 views
Were the Jews allowed to move back to Rome right after the death of the Emperor Claudius?
The Emperor Claudius deported all the Jews from Rome at some time before 49AD. As far as I know, this fact is reported to us by Suetonius and Paulus Orosius.
Even the Bible tells us about it:
And ...
0
votes
0answers
69 views
What is the difference between the rank of comes and the job of comes?
I am here to referring to comes in its governmental context, not as a word meaning companion.
I have seen the word comes used both as a rank and as a job. For example, Wikipedia mentions that "...
1
vote
1answer
167 views
Did Julius Caesar ban low-birth people wearing pearls?
I encountered this
"in I century B.C., during the Julius Caesar consulship, it was promulgated a law that prohibited the theirs [sic] use by the lower classes" RomeAndArt
statement several ...
3
votes
0answers
125 views
Why no Holy Roman Emperor ever accepted a name, coinciding with a name of a Roman Emperor? [closed]
For instance, no Holy Roman Emperor was named Constantine, or Alexander etc. On the other hand, many Byzantine emperors had names of previous Roman emperors (Constantine, Theodosios, Tiberios, ...
10
votes
2answers
2k views
What does CONOB mean on ancient Roman coins?
I have stumbled across many depictions of Roman coins with the abbreviation CONOB on it, such as this one.
What does it stand for?
5
votes
1answer
369 views
Are there archaeological sites of Drusus‘ campaign 9 BC?
The Roman commander Nero Claudius Drusus reached the river Elbe in 9 BC.
Are there any archaeological sites or finds of this Roman campaign deep into Germania?
2
votes
0answers
161 views
Do we know how much the Aurelian Wall would have cost to build?
I've been reading about the Aurelian Wall and it's very fascinating, though I wonder how much, in denarii, sestercii, or other, it would have cost the Romans. Is there any way we could possibly ...
0
votes
1answer
310 views
What date format was used at Pompeii around the Mt Vesuvius eruption
I saw a recent television commercial with a modern person at the Mt Vesuvius eruption asking a Pompeii resident the year. The resident answers with 79 AD. But I thought the zero point for the BC/AD ...
15
votes
1answer
3k views
How much did Didius Julianus pay to become emperor of Rome?
According to Wikipedia, Didius Julianus was proclaimed Roman Emperor in AD 193 by the Praetorian Guard after offering them 25,000 sesterces per soldier (outbidding Sulpicianus's offer of 20,000 ...
3
votes
0answers
133 views
What ancient sources discuss the importance of the Sacred fire of Vesta and why it needed to stay alight?
Dionysius of Halicarnassus in Roman Antiquites touches on, in brief, that the entiguishing of the flame was an omen for the destruction of the city.
There are many indications, it seems, when a ...
8
votes
3answers
891 views
Where in the sources does it say that Syagrius claimed to be “merely governing a Roman province”?
I have read on Wikipedia:Soissons and elsewhere that Syagrius, the last ruler of the Kingdom of Soissons, always claimed to be merely the ruler of a Roman province rather than the king of an ...
16
votes
1answer
945 views
Why did Pausanias travel to Greece?
Pausanias wrote his Description of Greece in the first century AD, which remains a priceless resource for classicists and archaeologists to this day.
I've made a quick perusal of the text itself, as ...
3
votes
0answers
129 views
What social response could be expected in the Roman world after a temple collapsed?
I've been reading Ritual Landscapes of South-East Britain (2008, David Rudling). In a chapter on the Wanborough, Surrey Temple complex the author discusses how one temple was built in the late first ...
-3
votes
1answer
285 views
Did the Roman government attempt to hide the collapse of the empire? [closed]
Did the late Roman government lie about the borders of their empire? Has this ever been argued by Roman historians?
This question is different from this one.
Michael Kulikowski refers to the Notitia ...
3
votes
0answers
185 views
Was “Via Regia” the original name of the “Via Nova Traiana”?
This is a quote from Wikipedia:
The Via Traiana Nova or Via Nova Traiana (Latin for 'Trajan's New
Road'), previously known as the Via Regia or King's Highway, was an
ancient Roman road built by ...
8
votes
1answer
247 views
Did Post-Marian Republic or Imperial Legion cohorts have specific skill levels?
Here and here and numerous other places I've looked online state that Roman Legions divided their infantry into cohorts based on skill, and that all legions had their cohorts identically manned. The ...
6
votes
1answer
205 views
What kind of suspension did Roman carrucae have?
The German Wikipedia on post coaches states that the Roman carrucae (there described as a Reisewagen, something like travelling vehicle) already had suspension and a passenger cabin. I tried to find ...
3
votes
3answers
377 views
Why are church reformist centers all outside the boundary of the original Roman Empire?
Is it a coincidence that the church reformist centers are virtually all outside the original Roman Empire border, the Roman Limes?
It seems reasonable these areas - at least from the beginning in ...
18
votes
1answer
309 views
What was the importance of the patrician class in the Roman Empire?
This is a question that has puzzled me in my research of the history of the Roman Empire.
During the Roman Republic the Patrician class was obviously of paramount importance, & history of the ...
4
votes
1answer
256 views
Is Josephus' account for the length of the Jewish War generally accepted as correct?
In Josephus' famous work on the subject, the First Jewish-Roman War is depicted as lasting a full number of years,1 inasmuch as it is presented as starting in the month of Artemisius (II Wars 14:4), ...
0
votes
1answer
145 views
How did the pincer movement at the Battle of Cannae work? [closed]
In an effort to understand both the Battle of Cannae and its early use of double envelopment (Pincer movement) in 216 BC, I came across the following diagram:
The diagram doesn't seem particularly ...
13
votes
1answer
393 views
What were the political and military constraints on Vercingetorix at Alesia?
I don't fully understand why Vercingetorix accepted a siege at Alesia (a fortified area), where he would be short of food instead of pursuing one or more of the alternatives below. The reason I'm ...
2
votes
2answers
535 views
Why did Rome adopt Greek culture?
Initially, I understand the Macedonians had a Greek culture (Art, Religion, etc) because they were Greek. But then the Romans dominated the Macedonian Empire and adopted their culture too, and that ...
4
votes
0answers
70 views
Can the Notitia Dignitatum help identify colors for Late Republic/Early Imperial Roman Shields?
Traditionally Hollywood has showed us red shields for the Legions, but of course Hollywood only pays historical fact-checkers to say they have one, not to do what the fact-checkers say! The actual ...
5
votes
1answer
212 views
How were cities administered in the early Byzantine Empire?
First of all, I would just like to note that I am not looking for an answer concerning Constantinople, but rather how other cities were governed (e.g. Thessaloniki, Adrianapole, Nicaea, Smyrna, ...
24
votes
1answer
2k views
How many times did the the sacred fire of Vesta die?
The sacred fire of Vesta was a sacred eternal flame in Ancient Rome, tended to by the Vestal Virgins. Except once a year for the kalendae (first day of March), extinguishing the sacred fire resulted ...
28
votes
1answer
8k views
Why did Roman women have no praenomen?
In a recent question it was noted, as is well known, that Roman girls were not given praenomen, but took the feminine form of their father's gens - eg Valeria, Cornelia. I have even read the assertion ...
0
votes
3answers
668 views
Why is Jesus' crucifixion dated to AD 30–33? [closed]
I've read pretty much everywhere that the consensus is that Jesus died between AD 30–33, but I can't seem to find where this conclusion comes from.
Are there some historical sources or pieces of ...
6
votes
1answer
300 views
How was the Pandidakterion organised?
How was the Pandidakterion organised?
Wikipedia:Pandidakterion states that the Pandidakterion lacked 'corporative structure'. I do not understant exactly what the corporative structure is and how was ...
2
votes
2answers
362 views
Did they use nicknames in ancient Rome?
Praenomens in ancient Rome seemed to have been rather limited, especially by the time of the empire. There must've been cases where close friends or cousins and the like would've had the same ...
28
votes
6answers
8k views
Why is the late Russian Empire associated with Byzantium while having little in common with it?
I have started reading the book A people's tragedy by Orlando Figes about the Russian revolution. I am no historian, however having read a few pages I have a few questions about the repeated ...
2
votes
1answer
3k views
What was the value of a thousand talents in Roman Palestine about AD 33?
My question is simple, "what was the value of a thousand talents in Roman Palestine about AD 33?"
It is my impression that a thousand talents would have been a vast amount of wealth for that ...
0
votes
1answer
122 views
What politics were implemented to accomplish the Christian tradition and try to keep what is written in the Holy Bible? [closed]
Once the Roman Emperor; Constantine the Great; made that Christianity began the transition as the dominant religion of the Roman Empire:
What politics were implemented to accomplish the Christian ...
2
votes
2answers
328 views
Why did Romans use the sesterce in written monetary records when the coin itself was so rarely used?
In the vast majority of cases, Roman writers and government officials recorded amounts of money (money donated, value of items bought/sold, amount given in wills, etc.) in sesterces. Given that the ...
10
votes
2answers
393 views
What is the ruined tower in the background of this 1649 drawing of the Igeler Säule by Joan Blaeu?
The Igeler Säule is a Roman sandstone column dating back to 200-215 CE (h/t to @justCal) and together with the Drususstein (made in honour of Nero Claudius Drusus) according to Wikipedia
the only ...
-4
votes
1answer
187 views
Why didn't the Byzantines develop anti-cavalary tactics?
I noticed that Rome has always fought against equestrian nations and they weren't always successful. Gauls, Parthians, Huns and Turks had many battles with the Romans. I heard that the Romans before ...
4
votes
1answer
451 views
Which early Imperial Roman writer said this about grains?
I definitively although vaguely recall a quote by a (first century AD?) Roman that asserts more or less that civilised Romans use wheat in baking, whereas Germans/Celts (I forget which) would use rye (...
18
votes
2answers
4k views
How long would it take to build 30 miles of Roman road?
Say there's a route of 30 miles length in need of a road. Assume ready availability of stone and lime and possibly other materials. Some gentle slopes, no particularly adverse terrain or flora/fauna.
...
9
votes
1answer
324 views
What would a Roman education include in the years 77 - 85?
In the year 77 Gnaeus Julius Agricola under Vespasian was made consul and governor of Britannia, among a series of military campaigns into north and west Britain he also pushed for various civil and ...
22
votes
2answers
6k views
Did the Byzantines ever attempt to move their capital to Rome?
Why was Constantinople (almost) always the capital of the Byzantines?
I understand they did not have Rome under their control until the AD500's, but is there any specific reason why the Byzantines ...
3
votes
2answers
659 views
Did Romans keep tax records of individuals in Palestine around Jesus' lifetime?
This question in Christianity.SE asks how would Jesus write his name in civil records. This answer denies (based on the lack of positive evidence) that Jesus ever wrote his name in a civil record. ...
5
votes
1answer
317 views
What does this quote from the Roman imperial poet Rutilius mean?
Reading about the little Italian isle of Capraia, I've seen a quote attributed to
Claudio Rutilio Namaziano, from his De Reditu, that in Latin goes:
"Processu pelagi iam se Capraria tollit;
squalet ...
43
votes
2answers
7k views
When did the Roman Empire fall according to contemporaries?
The Roman Empire divided itself into two parts, the Eastern Roman Empire headquartered in Constantinople and the Western Roman Empire headquartered in Rome. The city of Rome itself fell in the year ...
-2
votes
1answer
140 views
How was the manorial system a consequence of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire?
last week I had this question in my test and I had trouble with it, I searched on the internet about this but not any website has a useful explanation. My question was:
How was the manorial system ...
8
votes
2answers
320 views
At what date did the Ostrogoths formally stop ruling as Roman tributaries?
During the decline of the Western Roman Empire, various Germanic tribes that had been settled as 'foederati' or federates effectively took over swathes of Roman territory, being settled in these ...
32
votes
3answers
3k views
Did ancient Romans anticipate the fall of Rome?
Background: The Fall of Rome
The Roman Empire collapsed as a political entity in several stages during the 5th, 6th, and 7th century CE. Specifically, these are:
the crossing of the Rhine by the ...
3
votes
1answer
908 views
What do these terms in Caesar's Gallic Wars mean?
In his Comentarii de bello Gallico, Caesar writes this on first page:
The Belgae rises from the extreme frontier of Gaul, extend to the lower part of the river Rhine; and look toward the north ...
