This report examines the finds from the 17th-century backfill of a well in the churchyard of St. Paul-in-the-Bail. Dug possibly as early as the 1st century, the well lay within the east range of the later forum , and may have been used subsequently as the baptistry of two successive early churches, built some time between the late 4th and 7th centuries. The history and use of the well is briefly outlined, with the focus of the volume on the finds. The assemblage from the 17th-century backf...

This volume contains reports on excavations undertaken in the lower walled city at Lincoln, which lies on sloping ground on the northern scarp of the Witham gap, and its adjacent suburbs between 1972 and 1987, and forms a companion volume to LAS volumes 2 and 3 which cover other parts of the historic city. The earliest features encountered were discovered both near to the line of Ermine Street and towards Broadgate. Remains of timber storage buildings were found, probably associated with t...

The great spectacles of ancient Rome have become proverbial for their cruelty, bloodlust and glory. In the arena, the games were savage and brutal. Gladiators fought each other to the death, wild animals were put to fight each other and criminals were executed by barbaric means. Military victories were marked by the Triumphs when generals paraded through the city, the defeated were sacrificed to the gods and food and wine was offered free of charge on a lavish scale. Meanwhile the citizens...

The Roman hero was Caesar. He was born just one hundred years before the Christian era. His renown does not depend, like that of Alexander, on foreign conquests, nor, like that of Hannibal, on the terrible energy of his aggressions upon foreign foes, but upon his protracted and dreadful contests with, and ultimate triumphs over, his rivals and competitors at home.

Hislop's book examines various Catholic doctrines, holidays, and traditions, such as the veneration of Mary, the celebration of Christmas, and the use of religious symbols. He asserts that these practices were adapted from earlier pagan customs, blending them into Christianity over time. Hislop draws heavily from historical and linguistic sources, though many of his claims are criticized for being speculative or lacking robust evidence.Despite its contentious reception, The Two Babylons ha...

"I devoured Gibbon," wrote Winston Churchill. "I rode triumphantly through it from end to end and enjoyed it all." Gibbon's magnum opus -- which encompasses thirteen hundred years of history, swinging across Europe, North Africa, and Asia -- remains one of the greatest works of history ever written."Gibbon is a kind of bridge that connects the ancient with the modern ages," noted Thomas Carlyle. "And how gorgeously does it swing across the gloomy and tumultuous chasm of these barba...

The world's first known empires took shape in Mesopotamia between the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf, beginning around 2350 BCE. The next 2,500 years witnessed sustained imperial growth, bringing a growing share of humanity under the control of ever-fewer states. Two thousand years ago, just four major powers--the Roman, Parthian, Kushan, and Han empires--ruled perhaps two-thirds of the earth's entire population. Yet despite empires' prominence in the early hi...

The teenage Roman Emperor Heliogabalus (also called Elagabalus, c.203-222 AD) enjoyed one of the shortest, yet most sensational, reigns in Roman history. His bizarre cult of the Sun God with its human sacrifices, his sexual proclivities (including a lust for men with huge genitals) and his often homicidal caprices (such as suffocating dinner guests with an avalanche of rose petals) are now the stuff of legend. DEATH BY ROSES collects four key historical texts on Heliogabalus: Aelius Lamp...

History has not been kind to Mark Antony, but then he was probably his own worst enemy, fatally flawed, too fond of wine and women, extravagant, impetuous, reckless, always in debt, and attached to all the wrong people. There is some truth in this list of Antony's failings, but the propaganda machine of his enemy, Octavian, ensured that these facets of Antony's character were the only ones to survive. There is no mention of the fact that Caesar, who could not afford to promote incompetent ...

My purpose in the following pages has been to analyze, so far as the fragmentary sources permit, the precise influences that urged the Roman republic toward territorial expansion. Imperialism, as we now use the word, is generally assumed to be the national expression of the individual's "will to live." If this were always true, a simple axiom would suffice to explain every story of conquest. I venture to believe, however, that such an axiom is too frequently assumed, particularly in histor...

Revised throughout, the second edition of this successful book takes the most recent research in the field into account and reviews the evidence in order to place Augustus firmly in the context of his own times.History sees Augustus Caesar as the first emperor of Rome, whose system of ordered government provided a firm and stable basis for the expansion and prosperity of the Roman Empire. Hailed as 'restorer of the Republic' and regarded by some as a deity in his own lifetime, Augu...

Conspiracy is a thread that runs throughout the tapestry of Roman history. From the earliest days of the Republic to the waning of the Empire, conspiracies and intrigues created shadow worlds that undermined the openness of Rome's representational government. To expose these dark corners and restore a sense of order and safety, Roman historians frequently wrote about famous conspiracies and about how their secret plots were detected and the perpetrators punished. These accounts reassured r...