UNRV Ancient Roman Empire History

In addition to our Roman Books List, which includes sections for fiction, non-fiction, movies and games related to the Roman Empire, we’ve decided to add another feature. The Roman Books Glossary is a short but growing library of various books in alphabetic order. There are literally thousands of Roman related titles and over time, we [...]

Caesar in Egypt After Caesar met with Cleopatra and detained her brother, the young King Ptolemy XIII, Ptolemy?s regent Pothinus colluded with the Egyptian general Achillas to expel Caesar. Achillas and 20,000 men marched on Alexandria where Caesar waited with only 4,000 men. Caesar had little choice but to secure what he could and prepare [...]

The Roman Timeline 5th Century AD follows the final decline of the Roman state. From the invasions of the Visigoths, to the Vandals and Huns, with brief moments of respite under Stilicho and Aetius, the 5th century spelled the end of the west. The western empire ended finally in 476 AD when the Germanic Odoacer [...]

…Cleopatra VII was born to King Ptolemy XII Auletes (the flute player) in 69 BC. The third daughter, she would ordinarily have not expected to rise to a prominent role, but intrigue and continuing internal conflict eventually thrust her onto the center stage of world politics. Though the reign of the Ptolemies had continually declined [...]

Three more entries have been added to the Roman Writers section. Strabo Suetonius Tertullian

Battle of Pharsalus After his defeat at Dyrrhachium in July of 48 BC, Caesar moved swiftly into Thessaly, incorporating the towns of the region under his control. His exhausted and poorly supplied army was able to secure new sources of food and essentially become re-energized for the continuing campaign. After Dyrrhachium, Pompey and the Senators [...]

Battle of Dyrrhachium In late 49 BC, Caesar and his 12 legions arrived at Brundisium where he hoped to secure passage to Greece. An old rival, Bibulus, controlled the Ionium Sea with the Republican navy, and Caesar fretted over when and how to make a crossing. By January of 48 BC, Caesar decided there was [...]

The Roman Timeline of the 4th Century AD marks the emergence of the Constantinian Dynasty, the transfer of power to Byzantium and the beginning of Christian domination of Roman religion. As the century comes to a close, internal strife and the continuing presence of Germanic migrations begins to sound the final bell on Roman domination [...]

Caesar in Spain Caesar left Rome for Spain in the spring of 49 BC, to secure the province and to defeat Pompey?s 7 legions that were under the command of Marcus Petreius, Lucius Afranius, and Marcus Varro. Marching around the coast of Narbonensis, however, Caesar was stopped at the city of Massilia, where the well [...]

The territory in modern central Turkey known as Galatia was an oddity in the eastern world. It was originally home of the ancient civilization of the Hittites, but came to be occupied by Gallic Celts in the 3rd century BC, hence Galatia, or ?Gallia of the East.? The Gauls had migrated east and south during [...]

Caesar’s Civil War When Caesar crossed the Rubicon the Senate finally realized that they had made a terrible mistake. The mistake wasn?t in letting the situation get that far, but in that they believed the Roman and Italian people would rally to defend the Republican system. What they failed to understand was that the people [...]

Italia, being the home of the city of Rome itself, was of course the first step towards establishing Rome as a Mediterranean power. Long after the Etruscan Kings had been thrown out of Rome and the Republic was established, the Roman people would inevitable come into conflict with their immediate neighbors. The conquest, and assimilation [...]

Crossing the Rubicon After Caesar spent 51 BC and the better part of 50 BC touring his newly conquered province of Gaul, political chaos was developing back in Rome. The optimates despised Caesar and his conquests and looked for every opportunity to strip him of his command. These conquests not only brought in a great [...]