UNRV Ancient Roman Empire History

Augustus and the Legions Augustus, like the imperator generals before him, garnered the bulk of his political strength from the Roman armies. Loyalty of the various legions in the Late Republic had always been mainly to their individual generals, as opposed to the Senate, or Rome itself. As Augustus emerged the victor in the final [...]

Imperial Dynasty In keeping with Roman tradition, Augustus utilized the positions of the cursus honorum to favor members of his own family. Through adoption and marriage Augustus sought to establish a pool of potential heirs by placing various family members in positions of authority. In doing this, Augustus helped preserve the dynasty just as it [...]

Pompeii by Robert Harris 79 AD, the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii simply ceased to exist. Mt. Vesuvius unleashed the wrath of the ancient gods, and over a period of 4 days, the blanket of ash preserved the ancient world exactly as it was 2,000 years ago. In Pompeii, Robert Harris recreates that Roman world [...]

The Principate As Augustus established a new governing order he effectively created a position as administrative head of state that had previously been occupied by several men. As princeps or ?first among equals? there was no official title of emperor as we know it today, and this distinction was very important in ancient Rome. Theoretically, [...]

Syria Ancient Syria, one of the relatively few territories whose name has remained virtually unchanged throughout history, also roughly corresponds to the size of the modern country of the same name. The region was initially dominated by the Hittite culture and fell under the influence of various others such as the Amorites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians [...]

Continuing the Roman History section from the Fall of the Republic, Octavian emerges as Augustus in the Early Roman Empire. Augustus? ascendancy as the first Roman Emperor in 27 BC, followed by confirmation of his powers in 23 and 19 BC, marked a clear, irrevocable, yet necessary change in Roman political philosophy. No longer were [...]

Pontifex Maximus List This list highlights the known head priests from the founding of Rome, through to the fall of the west. After the ascension of Augustus, the office became an official title of each successive emperor, until 382 AD, when it passed to the Christian Popes. The Pontifex Maximus, Pope John Paul II today, [...]

Augustus With the final defeat of Antony, and Octavian?s emergence as sole political power of the Roman world, the Roman Republic still teetered on the edge of potential disaster. Despite Octavian?s victory, and initial attempts to appear as a great advocate for the return of Republican rule, the Republican system had failed irreparably….

Popes of Rome A list of the Christian Popes of Ancient Rome from the founding of the ‘Catholic Church’ through the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Death of Antony and Cleopatra After Antony had attempted to forcibly take command of the army in Cyrene from L. Pinarius Scarpus but was refused, he considered suicide as the honorable Roman thing to do. However, perhaps he thought that final victory could still be secured if the forces in Alexandria could be properly compared. [...]

Continuing the list of Consuls into the 2nd Century BC, the familiar names of the imperator generals of the Late Republic begin to emerge…. Consuls of the 2nd Century BC

Battle of Actium The civil war between Antony and Octavian seemed assured of dwarfing even the massive conflict between Caesar and his Republican opponents. Both sides had massive armies at their disposal, and Antony added the support Rome?s eastern client kings, including Cleopatra of Egypt. By mid-summer of 31 BC, Octavian?s war against his rival, [...]

Pamphylia Ancient Pamphylia was situated on the southern coast of modern Turkey, nestled between Lycia, Galatia and Cilicia. This relatively small region, in comparison to territorial borders of its neighbors was sharply contrasted by the Tarsus mountains in the north, limestone foothills in the west and rich fertile plains in the river valleys of the [...]