Livy and the Bacchanalia
Livy begins his account by claiming that the Bacchanalia had come to Rome from Etruria and Campania.9 Classical Bacchic cult was a ritual enactment of the maenads
This is Sparta?
Neither film, however, gives any real screen time, or indeed mention of, the social structure of ancient Sparta.
War in the Amphitheatre
The gladiatorial games are intrinsically linked to our perception of Roman history and culture as they are a microcosm of Roman society.
Scapegoat Rituals in Ancient Greece
The Greek scapegoat rituals have often been discussed. The so-called Cambridge school in particular, with its lively and morbid interest in everything strange and cruel, paid much attention to it.’ Our own time too has become fascinated once again by these enigmatic rituals…
Robbers and Soldiers: Criminality and Roman Army in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses
This paper aims at discussing the relationship between ancient robbers and Roman army in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. As Apuleius’ Metamorphoses has a great deal of information about banditry, deserters and ex-soldiers that can be explored in different ways, I suggest that this ancient author can provide us the possibility to rethink some historiographical approaches used to study the Roman plebs.
Medical theories on the cause of death in crucifixion
It has been used in many parts of the world and in many time periods; but is perhaps best known today as a cruel method of social control and punishment in the Roman Empire around 2000 years ago.
Making late Roman taxpayers pay: imperial government strategies and practice
Means of enforcement constitute only one factor of a model for late Roman tax collection and this concern with enforcement, in turn, cannot be sepa- rated from the peculiar Roman notions of fiscal justice.
Causes of death among the Caesars (27 BC-AD 476)
This article investigates the causes of the deaths of the emperors who ruled the Empire from Rome over a period of 503 years.
After the daggers : politics and persuasion after the assassination of Caesar
In my thesis, I contribute to improving our new way of understanding late Roman republican politics by taking a broader approach that incorporates other types of political interactions in which oratory played a significant role.
Hannibal the cannibal? Polybius on Barcid atrocities
Polybius includes the story of the cannibalistic plan in his excursus (aristeia) on Hannibal to illustrate the cruel nature of one of the Carthaginian general’s companions, a certain Hannibal Monomachos.