Can One Believe the Ancient Sources That Describe Messalina?
One of the primary sources that discusses Messalina in the most depth is The Annals, by Tacitus. However, Tacitus?s account of Messalina is questionable in several ways. First, Tacitus seems to have distinct motives for writing about Messalina that call into question the accuracy of his depiction.
Tiberius, Tacfarinas, and the Jews
Despite this relative wealth of sources, their combined evidence does not allow of a clear explanation as to why exactly Tiberius expelled the Jews from Rome in AD 19. Although they preserve broadly similar accounts of the circumstances surrounding this expulsion, they differ among themselves in several points of detail and interpretation.
Julio-Claudian empresses
The social framework in which Romans lived has been reexamined in recent years. One important focus, the study of Roman women and family, has emerged.1 Indeed, social historians argue that the roles generally played by wives and mothers are crucial keys to our understanding their value in Roman society.
The Boudican Revolt: Countdown to defeat
This paper reconsiders the chronology of the Boudican rebellion from its outbreak to when it concluded with the defeat of the Iceni and how the chronology of the rebellion can be used to gauge the more probable location of the final battle.
Can Computerised Terrain Analysis Find Boudica's Last Battlefield?
We have few details of the native response to the Roman invasion of Britain in AD43, but one episode entered folklore: the rebellion of an East Anglian queen. Steve Kaye thinks he knows how to narrow down the search for the elusive site of Boudica’s last stand.
Augustus and the Governors' Wives
Until the last century of the Roman Republic it was an established principle that officials assigned provinces outside of Italy would not be accompanied there by their wives, whose duty was to remain behind to look after their husbands’ interests.
Caligula, Ptolemy of Mauretania, and the danger of long hair
The purpose of this note is to offer a new interpretation of the passage where Suetonius claims that Caligula had king Ptolemy of Mauretania executed simply because the splendour of his cloak (abolla) had attracted popular attention during the games one day.
Tiberiana 4: Tiberius the Wise
This paper examines the extraordinary but scattered evidence for a contemporary perception of Tiberius as the wise and pious old monarch of folklore.
Suetonius and his treatment of the Emperor Domitian's favourable accomplishments
Suetonius’ negative portrayal of emperors was not limited to Domitian. Emperors Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius, Nero and Vitellius also received negative portrayal in accordance with the senatorial influence and damnatio memoriae evident in the literature of the period. This attitude towards these condemned emperors matched the views of the senatorial aristocracy who were the patrons of literary commissions and their authors.