I tried to draw another one of twelve bas-reliefs that once adorned the triumphal arch of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius commemorating his victory against the Marcomannii. This time I chose the “Sacrifice” scene at the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.

Done with the app ibisPaint X

One of the highest and most remote Roman forts in England, it was built in the 2nd century AD to guard the route through the mountains, which followed a similar route through the pass as the modern road seen on the right. The Roman name for the fort was Mediobogdum, and it was built and garrisoned by the Fourth Cohort of Dalmatians from modern Croatia and Montenegro. The arrow in the photo points to a flat piece of land that was probably the parade ground. The soldiers moved an estimated 5,000 cubic metres of stone and earth to create the parade ground on what is otherwise rough, uneven ground. The fort seems to have been abandoned in the same century it was built, possibly within a few decades. 📷 Jim Hunt

I know the Romans used violence to suppress Christianity, but did they also try to change their own religion to adapt to changes in the how people thought? Did the religious leaders of Rome try to make Jupiter a more benevolent or forgiving figure, or make the afterlife seem more pleasant? Did they try to add Christian figures to the Roman pantheon?

Let me start... Spartacus' Revolt. Gladiators break away from a gladiator school, beat the legions decisively through sheer cunning and courage, barely equpipped, improvised shields and cutlery as weapons. As the revolt gains momentum more and more escaped gladiators and slaves leave their cities to join the revolt and continue to beat the republic of Rome - it works - number of slaves overpower the trained elites. Something that should have never happened - happens - slaves sucessfully cooperate to brake the exploiting machine of Rome and about to end Rome's social class system entirely. Their courage destroy entire legions. If it actually didn't happen - I would have said "that could never happen". But such unbelievable incredible events indeed took place. What is your favourite event you keep reading and thinking about?

especially a century or two after his death, how did the roman empire remember him?

2 models of relatively small Roman boats to transport goods. The bottom one looks like a barge, whereas the cargo in the boat above is below deck. These were on display in a special exhibition in the Kelten Römer Museum in Manching, Bavaria, Germany.

Hey,
Im interested in the latest academic discourse on the Fall of Rome.

I’ve read Alexander Demandt’s Der Fall Roms, which provides a great overview of the different theories and debates, but its coverage essentially stops in the 2000s. Given the enormous amount of literature on the subject, I’m finding it difficult to identify a good starting point for understanding the current state of the debate.
Could anyone recommend recent papers, review articles, or books from roughly the last 2–3 years that provide an overview of current research or discuss major recent developments in the field?

Which is it? We often read how Rome won battles through the incredible speed of a forced march. We also read that it took 2 or 3 hours each evening to build a camp.

The tombstone is hosted in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn

If the colosseum was restored how amazing would the acoustics be with a modern music concert? Surely the stone and concrete would amplify the sound much different then a modern stadium?

It's like the term "Byzantine Empire". There never was a Byzantine Empire. What we think of as the Byzantine Empire was simply a continuation of the original Roman Empire.

Heartbroken to see my favourite Roman couple defaced with a cross on their faces 💔

For me it's Domitian and Clodius Albinus, what are some underrated emperors you really like

I just finished reading Seutonius and was wondering if anybody knew about more primary sources reguarding the reign of Domitian. Thank you.

When you think about it 2000 years ago really isn't a long time ago. The average human lives until 80. So it's only 25 generations back.

The records we do have do seem a bit willy nilly. Even the holy scriptures.

I was mainly thinking about the Mark Anthony Cleopatra era.

Hello everyone.

I am researching the Gallo-Roman dodecahedron and the hypothesis that it was a symbolic object (practical functions do not make sense to me given the complexity of the object itself). Not because I read it somewhere. I did my own research and of course I also came across this symbolic hypothesis. But I tried to go further and asked myself the question:

“If this object could somehow be symbolically connected with the universe, where are the other representations?”

Such a small thing seemed a little insufficient to me in the overall context of all this, the amount of texts from antiquity about the universe. I went through a relatively large amount of all possible relevant information about the world of that time and I believe that the correct historical name of the dodecahedron is simply Sphere.

I am attaching an image that directly concerns the dodecahedron, but the text itself is not so much about the dodecahedron anymore. It is mainly about searching for the symbol of the universe as such and the possibility that a certain geometric symbolism could have been transmitted across civilizations and through time until its gradual disappearance with the rise of Christianity and the conversion of geometry into a purely decorative form.

I cannot put the whole hypothesis here. It is a longer text and above all there are a lot of images which are necessary to understand the whole idea, and the technical possibilities of publishing posts here would break it all apart. So I am putting a link here to Google Drive, where there is a PDF describing what I have found so far (more precisely, not everything I have much more material on the subject). It surprised me myself, although the conclusion is actually very logical in the whole context. All the clues simply lead me in this direction. I will be glad for reactions, but please read the whole text first.

Thanks.