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Definition
Twelve Tables
The Twelve Tables (aka Law of the Twelve Tables) was a set of laws inscribed on 12 bronze tablets created in ancient Rome in 451 and 450 BCE. They were the beginning of a new approach to laws which were now passed by government and written...
Definition
Britannicus
Britannicus (41-55 CE) was the second child and only son born to the Roman emperor Claudius (r. 41-54 CE) and Valeria Messalina (c. 20-48 CE). Seen as a threat by Claudius' fourth wife, Agrippina the Younger (15-59 CE), and her son, the future...
Definition
Twelve Articles
The Twelve Articles (1525) is a document written between 27 February and 1 March 1525 addressing grievances of the peasants of the Germanic regions of the Holy Roman Empire against the policies of their lords. The work was written to explain...
Interview
Interview: Barry Strauss on Ten Caesars
Dr. Barry Strauss' Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine tells the epic story of the Roman Empire from its rise to its eastern reinvention, from Augustus, who founded the empire, to Constantine, who made it Christian and...
Article
The Life and Thought of Zeno of Citium in Diogenes Laertius
Zeno of Citium (c. 336 – 265 BCE) was the founder of the Stoic School of philosophy in Athens, which taught that the Logos (Universal Reason) was the greatest good in life and living in accordance with reason was the meaning of life...
Definition
The Barracks Emperors
The “Barracks Emperors” is a term coined by later historians referring to the Roman emperors who were chosen and supported by the army during the period known as the Crisis of the Third Century (also known as the Imperial Crisis, 235-284...
Image
The Roman Laws of the Twelve Tables, c. 449 BCE
An infographic illustrating The Laws of the Twelve Tables were a set of ancient Roman laws put together and displayed in public around 450 BCE. These laws formed the core of the Roman legal system and provided a written code of conduct and...
Definition
Gordian Emperors
When Maximinus Thrax was named Roman emperor upon the death of Alexander Severus, the news was not well-received by many in Rome and the Roman Senate considered him an illiterate barbarian. His financial excesses, principally used to fund...
Article
The Triumphal Feast of Vitellius
The emperor Aulus Vitellius (r. 69 CE) had never wanted to be Rome's emperor. Aulus was from a family of court flatterers to the first Caesars, and when his friend Nero (r. 54-68 CE) was dead, and there were no more Caesars to succeed, he...
Video
Life of Emperor Nerva #12 First of the Best Emperors
Emperor Nerva is the first of the 'Five Good Emperor'. However, his reign proved to be fairly lackluster and he only reigned for 15 months and during his short time on the throne, his Praetorian Guards took him hostage and forced him to give...