UNRV Ancient Roman Empire History

Septimius Severus? victory over his eastern rival Pescennius Niger opened a new opportunity to cement himself as sole emperor and his family as an imperial dynasty. Despite an earlier arrangement with the governor of Britain Clodius Albinus, to keep him from also making a claim for the throne, Severus initiated a policy to establish connections [...]

A review by Andrew Dalby… Let?s face it, there are problems with this book. Does the title adequately represent its contents? No. Does it cover an easily definable subject? No. Is it totally without merit? Again, no. I can?t review the book as a whole, because there is no whole. So I?ll review the papers [...]

This comprehensive list of Roman laws and constitutional policy details the legal history of the Republic from its founding to its fall. Organized by era and in chronological order, over 200 entries provide the year, type of policy (rogatio, lex, decretum, etc.) and a detailed summary of it’s purpose. Each entry is fully attributed to [...]

As a departure from reviews of historical literature, community member “Ursus” has delved into a classic film of the Hollywood era of epics… A young and ambitious Kirk Douglas apparently did not care to lose the title role of Ben-Hur to Charlton Heston. On the policy that outdoing rivals is the best revenge, Douglas plotted [...]

Continuing in the tradition of past contests, UNRV is excited to announce a new writing contest for August/September. This will be a non-fiction historical essay writing contest. Prizes are gift certificates to Amazon.com or .co.uk (or any other regional extension based on preference of the winner) in the amounts of US$75 for 1st, $50 for [...]

While Septimius Severus was settling affairs in Rome after his successful coup of Didius Julianus? government (AD 193), the governor of Syria was still preparing his own bid for Roman supremacy. The source information on Gaius Pescennius Niger is relatively obscure, be he seems to have been an Italian of equestrian heritage and was born [...]

Another review has been submitted by community member “Ursus”… Architecture is the most visible legacy of any culture, and often survives other elements of the culture that have sunk into oblivion. One could rightfully extol Rome?s contributions to law and government, language and literature, religion and philosophy. Yet all those attributes would require lengthy discourse [...]

Thanks to the efforts of forum member M. Porcius Cato, we have completely revamped and updated the Leading Statesman of the Roman Republic page.

A review presented by community member “Pertinax”… This is not to be confused with the work ?Pompeii? by Harris, though I happen to believe that both books fall into a similar category: an entertaining fictional repopulation of Pompeii that would be excellent bed time reading for a first time visitor to the City. This title [...]

Practically even before a child of Roman parents was conceived, during the period of the Republic his or her name was already prescribed by a rigid system of personal identification. During the Principate, however, naming practices began to change, making this period a particularly interesting one for Roman onomastics. Of the tria nomina, the three-part [...]

Another review has been presented by forum member “Divi Filius” With his first publication, the young Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, Josiah Osgood, does not attempt to challenge the mainstream beliefs on the decline of the republic; nor does he propose any new theories, he makes this clear in his introduction. Instead of focusing on [...]

Review by forum member “Caldrail”. When we talk about ancient warfare, inevitably the discussion drifts toward the arms and equipment of the day. The relative merits of sword and shield can give rise to raging arguements over what might be seen as minor details. Our love of artwork reflects that as many books featuring Greek [...]

The assassination of Commodus, followed by the short reign of Pertinax and the auction of the empire to Didius Julianus, led to civil war and the rise of Septimius Severus. Though the concept of the soldier emperor was not a new development (i.e. Vespasian, Trajan), Severus? life was strictly of the military, both before and [...]