Februarius, the month of purification
February is the month of purification, known to ancient Romans as Februarius. Derived from the Latin verb februare, meaning “to purify,” it was traditionally a time for rituals of cleansing …
The Top Roman Achievements
The Empire Naturally one of the most obvious roman achievements of the Romans was their vast empire, which spread over three continents. It lasted for a long, long time. From …
The Most Impressive Roman Buildings of the Ancient Empire
There are quite a few impressive Roman buildings still standing today. Perhaps more than any other civilization the Romans are famed for their incredible architecture. There appeared almost no limit …
The Evils of the Roman Empire
Rome has a glittering history. Its empire lasted for a thousand years, its great emperors are famous still today. But Rome had a bad side to it. If we could …
Roman Libraries
by Javier Rodriguez The intellectual prestige of the Greek world was consolidated through the Hellenistic libraries, mainly the library of Alexandria and the one of Pergamum. The first became the greatest …
Election To The Offices Of The Magistrates, The Entry To The Senate
by ‘Q. Aurelius Symmachus’ This treatment of the offices of the magistrates as the entry path to the Senate will deal with that period of time, The Republic, when the …
The Standards of Care & the Lex Aquilia Roman Laws
by Andrew Mason In Ancient Rome the only acts recognized as criminal were “exceptional invasions of public security or of the general order of society.” As such, Roman ‘criminal law’ would …
The Roman House
Early Italian houses grouped around the atrium, with a small garden, the so-called hortus, at the back.The classic Roman house, however, was divided into two parts. The first part grouped …
Household Sex
In a Roman household sex was in plentiful supply. Except, so it seems, between the actual married couples. The existence of slaves in the house naturally mean that, particularly the …
Conjugal Love
Love was irrelevant to the success of a marriage in Roman eyes. Marriage was there in order to provide children. Loved was a welcome thing, but by no means necessary. …
The Roman Games
There were two kinds of roman games: ludi scaenici and ludi circenses. If at first the games of the early Roman republic had religious significance, then later the ‘secular’ games …
Roman Dress
Roman clothing owed much to that of ancient Greece, but it had distinct forms of its own. In all the ancient world, first and foremost clothes needed to be simple. …
Obligations of Nobility
The civilization that was Rome had high demands on its people. The Roman citizen may have enjoyed rights and had room to follow his ambitions, but so too did he …