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Resources referencing the Romans

The least painful way to learn Roman history is The History of Rome podcast.

Link = The History of Rome (podcast) – Wikipedia

Mike Duncan explains the history of Rome from its founding (753BC) to the collapse of the Western Empire in 476.

There are three main periods of Roman history

Early Period or Pre-Republic 753-509BC – myth and Kings

Republic 509-27BC – Rome starts to establish itself as a major power in the Mediterranean

Empire 27BC – 476AD – I’ve listed all the emperors Here .

Before I started down this path of discovery I had no idea what the fall of the Western Empire meant.

I understood the concept of an empire falling, but what was the Western Empire?

The Western Empire was Rome. The name implies another Empire, and there is also an Eastern empire.

In 324 Constantine decided to move the capital to Byzantium. Byzantium was a Greek city under Roman control. It was selected since it juts out into the sea which made it much more defensible than Rome.

Rome was under constant threat from various barbarian tribes. The Eastern Roman empire is now referred to as the Byzantine empire by historians to prevent confusion with the original Western Empire. The Byzantine Empire lasted almost 1000 years until the Ottoman Turks finally beat them in 1453.

The history of the Romans continues in The History of Byzantium. Link = The History of Byzantium | A podcast telling the story of the Roman Empire from 476 AD to 1453

The craziest story from the podcast was the Greek navy was checking out all the little islands checking for enemies after the war. They ran across some people who said they were Roman. It seems crazy to us on the outside but apparently the Byzantines considered themselves Roman and kept calling themselves and their subjects Roman. Apparently it was not uncommon in the 18^th and 19^th centuries for people in Greece to call themselves Roman. Its fun history like this that intrigues me. Its also another example of the Romans impacting us (in this case the Greeks) today.

One of the world’s leading authorities on Roman history is Mary Beard. The one book of hers that I started was pretty hard slogging. However she has an excellent show on Prime called Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit .

List of Roman Emperors

The Julio-Claudian Dynasty (27 BC – 68 AD) Julius Caesar, who lends his name to Julio, was on his way to becoming an emperor but was killed.

Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD) Established what a Roman emperor should be.

Tiberius (14 AD – 37 AD)

Caligula (37 AD – 41 AD) is a nickname that means “little boots”. His real name is Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. He is considered the worst emperor ever and was diagnosed as mad. He wore women’s clothes around the palace; he claimed he was going to make his horse consul.

Claudius (41 AD – 54 AD) became an unlikely emperor after Caligula was killed. The old I Claudius on PBS was a great show 35 years ago.

Nero (54 AD – 68 AD

The Year of the Four Emperors (68 – 69 AD)

Galba (68 AD – 69 AD)

Otho (68 – 69 AD)

Vitellius (69 AD)

The Flavian Dynasty (69 AD – 96 AD)

Vespasian (69 AD – 79 AD) commissioned the Colosseum around A.D. 70-72

Titus (79 AD – 81 AD)

Domitian (81 AD – 96 AD)

The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty (96 AD – 192 AD)

Nerva (96 AD – 98 AD)

Trajan (98 AD – 117 AD)

Hadrian (117 AD – 138 AD) best known for his wall in Britan, was a Spaniard.

Antoninus Pius (138 AD – 161 AD)

Marcus Aurelius (161 AD – 180 AD) & Lucius Verus (161 AD – 169 AD)

Commodus (180 AD – 192 AD)

The Year of the Five Emperors (193 AD – 194 AD)

Pertinax (193 AD)

Didius Julianus (193 AD)

Pescennius Niger (193 AD – 194 AD)

Clodius Albinus (193 AD – 197 AD)

The Severan Dynasty (193 AD – 235 AD)

Septimius Severus (193 AD – 211 AD)

Caracalla (211 AD – 217 AD)

Geta (211 AD)

Macrinus (217 AD – 218 AD)

Diaumenian (218 AD)

Elagabalus (218 AD – 222 AD)

Severus Alexander (222 AD – 235 AD)

The Crisis of the Third Century (235 AD – 284 AD)

Maximinus Thrax (235 AD – 238 AD) known as the only Barbarian emperor

Gordian I (238 AD)

Gordian II (238 AD)

Pupienus (238 AD)

Balbinus (238 AD)

Gordian III (238 AD – 244 AD)

Phillip I (244 AD – 249 AD)

Phillip II (247 AD – 249 AD)

Decius (249 AD – 251 AD)

Herrenius Etruscus (251 AD)

Trebonianus Gallus (251 AD – 253 AD)

Hostilian (251 AD)

Volusianus (251 – 253 AD)

Aemilianus (253 AD)

Sibannacus (253 AD)

Valerian (253 AD – 260 AD)

Gallienus (253 AD – 268 AD)

Saloninus (260 AD)

Claudius Gothicus (268 AD – 270 AD)

Quintillus (270 AD)

Aurelian (270 AD – 275 AD)

Tacitus (275 AD – 276 AD)

Florianus (276 AD)

Probus (276 AD – 282 AD)

Carus (282 AD – 283 AD)

Carinus (283 AD – 285 AD)

Numerian (283 AD – 284 AD)

The Tetrarchy (284 AD – 324 AD) – governing of the Empire was split into East and West with a Senior emperor and a Junior emperor in each. This was done because the Empire was large and cumbersome.

Diocletian (284 AD – 305 AD) reformed the governing structure into a Tetrarchy. The only emperor to voluntarily retired, as opposed to ones who were encouraged at sword point. His retirement home is in Spilt Croatia.

Maximian (286 AD – 305 AD)

Galerius (305 AD – 311 AD)

Constantius I (305 AD – 306 AD)

Severus II (306 AD – 307 AD)

Maxentius (306 AD – 312 AD)

Licinius ( 308 AD – 324 AD)

Maximinus II (310 AD – 313 AD)

Valerius Valens (316 AD – 317 AD)

Martinian (324 AD)

The Constantinian Dynasty (306 AD – 364 AD)

Constantine I (306 AD – 337 AD) adopted Christianity as the state religion. He moved the capital to Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople, modern day Istanbul.

Constantine II (337 AD – 340 AD)

Constans I (337 AD – 350 AD)

Constantius II (337 AD – 361 AD)

Magnentius (350 AD – 353 AD)

Nepotianus (350 AD)

Vetranio (350 AD)

Julian (361 AD – 363 AD)

Jovian (363 AD – 364 AD)

The Valentinian Dynasty (364 AD – 394 AD)

Valentinian I (364 AD – 375 AD)

Valens (364 AD – 378 AD)

Procopius (365 AD – 366 AD)

Gratian (375 AD – 383 AD)

Magnus Maximus (383 AD – 388 AD)

Valentinian II (388 AD – 392 AD)

Eugenius (392 AD – 394 AD)

The Theodosian Dynasty (379 AD – 457 AD)

Theodosius I (379 AD – 395 AD)

Arcadius (395 AD – 408 AD)

Honorius (395 AD – 423 AD)

Constantine III (407 AD – 411 AD)

Theodosius II (408 AD – 450 AD) The double Theodosian Walls of Constantinople were built under his reign

Priscus Attalus (409 AD – 410 AD)

Constantius III (421 AD)

Johannes (423 AD – 425 AD)

Valentinian III (425 AD – 455 AD)

Marcian (450 AD – 457 AD)

Leo I and the Last Emperors in the West (455 AD – 476 AD)

Leo I (457 AD – 474 AD)

Petronius Maximus (455 AD)

Avitus (455 AD – 456 AD)

Majorian (457 AD – 461 AD)

Libius Severus (461 AD – 465 AD)

Anthemius (467 AD – 472 AD)

Olybrius (472 AD)

Glycerius (473 AD – 474 AD)

Julius Nepos (474 AD – 475 AD)

Romulus Augustus (475 AD – 476 AD) the last Western Roman emperor

1.Southern Rhone

As I mentioned in the introduction this first empty-nester trip to the Southern Rhone planted the seeds of interest in the Romans. At the time my knowledge of the Romans was primarily based on pop culture like the movie Gladiator. I knew that France was called Gaul and Julius Caesar had conquered Gaul. What I didn’t realize was the degree of colonization/occupation of Gaul. I now understand that the Roman model of conquest was to keep taking over lands and people, tax them, even enroll them into your armies (Russel Crowe’s gladiator was a general from Spain). As a result there is a treasure trove of sites scattered throughout the Mediterranean and France is one of them.

Probably the most famous Roman site in the area is the most famous Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard. It was built during the first century CE. It was once the 50-kilometre-long water source for the ancient Roman colony of Nemausus. The engineering prowess to build these structures just amazes me. Look at those arches. The most impressive part of these aqueducts is the water has to flow, which means that for 50 kilometers the structure had to slope very gently downhill from the source to the city of Nemausus.

Orange, just north of Avignon, is the location of two Unesco sites. This is where we saw our first Roman theater. It was in great shape. A theater is a half a circle with the stage in the middle of the flat part. Romans used theatres to present plays. This one was built in 35 BCE.

One of my favorite towns is Arles. Its not too big and is easily walkable with great sites and charm. Arles has its own Amphitheater, just a baby compared to the Coliseum in Rome, but still cute. Since this is the first blog about amphitheaters, I thought I would explain what they are. An amphitheatre is a circle, so two theaters stuck together but with no stage in the middle. Amphi means “around” in Greek. The Romans used amphitheaters for gladiator fights and other entertainment for its citizens. The exterior structure is in good shape but the interior seating was plundered to build churches. Objects from the arena and the surrounding area are in the excellent Musee Departemental Arles Antique museum. This is where we saw our first mosaic and fell in love with them. The artistry and craftsmanship are stunning.

Arles Amphitheater seating
Arles Amphitheater stage
Arles Amphitheater
Mosiac in museum
Mosiac in museum

Nimes has a larger amphitheater but we couldn’t tour it because Adele decided to sing that day. You see this everywhere in Europe, where they hold concerts in Roman amphitheatres and theatres. The Maison Carrée is one of the best preserved Roman temple façades to be found in the territory of the former Roman Empire. There are a couple of other sites in town as well. I think this is probably a good place to see some excellent sites as long as you can get into the arena.

Glanum is the ruins of a Roman town near Saint-Rémy de Provence. You can visit the sanatorium where Van Gogh was recuperating from an ear ache at the same time. What makes Glanum stand out isn’t the big amphitheaters, it is its simplicity. At the top were the temples and baths, then the water flowed down the street under paving stones which the citizens could direct into their house, the sewer ran under the street as well. Ancient plumbing at its best. You can see the layout of the houses. If you squint real hard or drink a bottle of Chateau Neuf de Pape you can almost see people strolling down the street in their togas.

Glanum main street
Glanum main street
Glanum overview
Glanum
Glanum
Glanum- part of a bath
Glanum ruins
Aqueduct

Wow I guess we saw more Roman sites on this trip than I remembered. It definitely made an impression and piqued our interest. In fact upon reflection, I now realize this trip planted the Roman seeds into my brain. This is where Brenda developed her fascination with mosaics.

2. Rome & Pompei – Roman Blog

After a few trips to non-Roman areas we went to the source, Rome. The Colosseum is truly jaw dropping. The size is imposing. The construction fascinating with all the roman arches. The Colosseum was commissioned by the emperor Vespasian in 70AD. Supposedly they held naval battles in the Colosseum; Ridley Scott’s addition of sharks was Hollywood, but the battle in Gladiator II was probably reasonably accurate . It had a basement, so I cannot figure out how they sealed the floor of the Colosseum so the water didn’t run into the basement. The Roman engineering skills cease to amaze me. We had booked a tour that was supposed to include the cellar of the Colosseum as the Forum – but it never happened. I’m still not sure how they screwed that up so bad.

As impressive as the Colosseum is, Pompei is the pinnacle of Roman sites since you get to see what life was like for Roman people. Pompei is only a couple of short train rides from Rome. You all know that Pompei was covered in volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius. Hot ash will kill you but it you can dig it out as opposed to lava which is molten rock. That is the reason why the city is so well preserved. Some of the neat sites are the baths, the fast food joints, the bakeries, the brothel, the theater, and the house with the mosaic in front that says “beware of dog” in Latin. Even the simplest of things like their roads in town are ingenious. The sidewalk is elevated, so to cross the street they provide stepping stones. Thus the sunken roadway can be flooded to clean the streets, and the stepping stones keep the pedestrians dry. Plan on spending a full day here.

3. Spain – RB

Roman sites were not on our radar for this trip as it was a wine touring. However that’s the great part of traveling around the Mediterranean, you just trip over these sites. Our first site was Tarragona, just South of Barcelona along the coast. It’s a nice little amphitheater with a dramatic view of the sea. The Roman town was called Tarraco and was a major administrative and mercantile city in Roman Spain. Unfortunately I wasn’t deep into my Roman hobby at the time and didn’t see the aqueduct, forums, cemetery and museum. If you are in Barcelona, its an easy day trip; just do your homework before you go.

The second site was the aqueduct in Segovia. What is special about this structure is it is in the middle of the city. It is in remarkably good shape for being 2000 years old. The aqueduct was built in the first century AD and was 17km long. The Roman name of the town was Segovia – that’s a first, I’ve seen names that look similar but never the same.

4. Southern Adriadic – RB

After sailing out of Trogir with my son Tyler, Brenda decided she wanted a holiday too. So we decided on a cruise of the southern Adriadic. Even though I flew into the Split airport I never saw the town of Split when sailing. We were actually more into Game of Thrones and did 2 tours on that subject. The Roman sites just happened to be where we were so we gladly saw them.

Split is unique in that most Roman ruins are viewed from behind a rope or on an elevated walkway. In Split you walk through the remains of Diocletian’s palace. You can sit on a marble step sipping a latte and check out the basalt lions from Egypt. Next time I’m going to bring a toga to really feel like I’m visiting a Roman emperor. At the time I didn’t have a clue who Diocletian was, but it didn’t detract from the awe.

Our second Roman ruins stop was the Butrint National Archaeological Park in Albania. All I knew of Albania was that Dua Lipa has Albanian heritage. The Romans controlled the Balkans for centuries and thus cities and towns were established. It appears that Butrint was the Roman town of Buthrotum. This site could not be more different than Split. Butrint was in the middle of nowhere, so just our little bus tour had the run of the place.

5. Verona

This was a wine trip to the nearby Valpolicella wine area. We had to see Verona because its beautiful and we are tourists so needed to see Juliet’s balcony.

However as usual one just trips over Roman sites. Verona just happened to have a little amphitheater. Unfortunately we didn’t get to tour the inside because of Adele. Europeans use these Roman and Greek amphitheaters to stage all types of productions from concerts to plays and even MMA.

The Arena had a capacity of 30,000 (pretty good size considering the coliseum held 50,000). It was built in 30AD. Verona was on a major road system and was known as Verona in Roman times.

6. Sicily-RB

Sicily being part of Italy, you might think this island is covered with Roman archeological sites. You would be wrong, its covered in Greek sites. However the one Roman site on the island is spectacular. The Romans were very open about who a Roman is, absorbing peoples into their society readily. And when it came to the Greeks they respected their culture immensely. Many Roman scholars spoke Greek and studied their philosophy and art. So when the Romans got around to kicking out the Greeks and the Carthaginians they simply absorbed the Greek cities into their Empire. What’s this you say about Carthaginians. This practice of Roman expansion would inevitably cause friction with their neighbours around the Mediterranean. One such neighbour was Carthage, just across the Mediterranean in modern day Tunusia. I’m sure you know the story of Hanibal and his elephants crossing the Alps. Well that story starts in Sicily and the battles there is what causes the wider war with Carthage.

The Carthaginians were in the west part of the island and the Greeks were in the east. There are very few archeological sites in the west, I guess the Carthaginians weren’t builders. All the best Greek sites are in the middle to the east part of the island. I highly recommend Syracuse, Agrigento and the theater in Taormina.

The Roman site is called Villa Romana del Casale. Its not a major public work like an amphitheatre. It was a private villa of a rich nobleman. The main attraction is the amazing mosaic floors. The main hallway had scenes of men loading exotic animals on ships. This is why it is believed the owner imported animals from Africa for the games held in amphitheaters around the empire. The other neat area was the baths and the gymnasium. Did you know the Romans invented the bikini? The gym has mosaics of bikini clad women playing sports.

Mosiacs

7. Northern Adriadic-RB

We started our Roman Adriatic adventure in Split, Croatia. Although we had seen Diocletian’s palace before it was good to see it again now that I had a deeper understanding of Rome. It still blows my mind that you are walking where a Roman emperor trod in sandals.

Diocletian was one of the great Roman emperors. He stabilized the regime when it had grown too big and cumbersome. He is the only emperor to retire. That is saying something since most died by treachery or battle. Just a few minutes out of Split are the ruins of Salona, the birthplace of Diocletian and Roman town. Its not the most impressive ruins but still interesting.

On our way north we spent a night and a day in Pula. It has a large amphitheater and a few sites scattered around town. The outer façade of the arena is in great shape along with some well-preserved towers. It was built around the time of Christ and is the sixth largest Roman amphitheatre. The town was on the via Flavia which connected it to Rome via Aquileia.

The Roman highlight of the trip was the very important city of Aquileia. Aquileia sits at the top of the Adriatic. Due to its location, the main road from Rome to their Eastern provinces passed through this town. Being close to the Italian alps, they would also get some barbarians coming across and were responsible for protecting this area. Our first site was the port. Aquileia is connected to the Adriatic by a small river. Our guide Elbrich relayed the details of an attempted siege of the city. The residents had to quickly reinforce the port area. Their hard work paid off and the siege stalled and the barbarian emperor, Maximinus Thrax, was killed by his own troops.

However the main reason Aquileia hit our radar was the mosaics. Yes we can’t get enough of the artistry and craftsmanship of the Roman mosaic artisans. Something that I hadn’t really thought about until the History of Rome podcast was Christianity. The popular picture of Christians in Rome is dangling from the jaws of a lion. However a guy by the name of Constantine changed all that. The emperor before him was putting Christians to death i.e. Diocletian. Its amazing how one man can change the world. Without Constantine and the Cristian Roman state its possible much of the world could be Muslim today. The reason for all the explanation of Constantine is that he made Christianity the official state religion of the Romans in 313AD. Yes the Romans built churches and installed spectacular mosaic floors in them. The residents of Aquileia wasted no time and built the church in the early 300AD. It’s the largest mosaic I’ve ever seen. It depicts the story of Jonah and the whale. I especially liked the octopus.

Unfortunately for the Romans their success and fortune was eyed jealousy by a variety of barbarian peoples. One such group of people was the Hun. Attila was a fierce leader of these people from central Asia (modern day Kazakhstan). One thing that set Attila apart from other barbarian foes was his mastery of siege warfare. This requires siege equipment like catapults, towers, battering rams, etc. This scared the crap out of the Romans. They didn’t know what they were going to do when Attila approached Rome in 452AD. Instead of sending out an army to meet him, Pope Leo strolled out the front gates and had a chat with Attila. No one knows what Leo said but it got him sainted. I mention this because this is the same year that Attila sacked Aquileia. He knocked down buildings and burnt the church. For some reason the patriarch of Aquileia had decided he didn’t like the original mosaic floor and installed another floor above the original. Lucky for us the new floor burnt and the original was undamaged and survives in all its glory.

Here are some links with more information on this world class site.

Aquileia – spectacular Roman mosaics

https://www.fondazioneaquileia.it/en/must-see

Roman Blog

In about 2022 I decided to learn more about Roman history after seeing all these places around the Mediterranean. Due to some medical issues I don’t read much anymore but I do listen to audiobooks and podcasts. When I went looking for something to listen to I found The History of Rome podcast and it got great reviews. I have listened to all 190 episodes, and it was a revelation. I knew we still feel the impact of the Romans today, but I had no idea how wide-spread it is.

The link to this map is a great resource when learning about the Romans and for determining if there’s a site near where you are vacationing. Roman Empire 125 general map (Red roads) – Roman roads – Wikipedia It’s a map of the roman roads and their cities. On our Adriatic trip I knew about Aquileia from the podcast so I looked at the map and confirmed it was in the area we were going to be in. It turned out to be amazing and very different than what I thought was Roman.