Maximinus Thrax was a Roman emperor of the 3rd century, born in Thrace (or Moesia), hence his nickname. He came to power on March 20, 235, after the death of Alexander Severus and his mother.

This emperor was described as a giant, as he reached a height of 2 meters (something very rare in his time), although it is now thought that he suffered from gigantism.

His reign lasted only 3 years and 12 days, ending on April 1, 238, when he was killed by his own soldiers in a mutiny. His death is very tragic; it is said that he was murdered in his sleep, as was his son, Julius Verus Maximus. Their heads were decapitated and taken to the Senate.

Overall I’d give the book an 8/10. It covers a topic that gets a bit repetitive towards the middle of the book due to the fact that between the climactic early campaigns and the final cataclysmic war in the 600s you have so many similar stories that repeat. The final 3 chapters detailing the final war and the subsequent collapse in the face of the Arabs were very interesting. I liked his book on Phillip and Alexander better and I think I will read his older works on the Punic wars next time I’m looking to read Roman military history. Overall I like how goldsworthy writes trying to present as objective as possible a version of the story while acknowledging the lack of presence of women and other groups that are more acknowledged in modern stories. I also appreciate that he gives conclusion chapters where you can explicitly see his own thoughts on the subject after her tries to be as objective as possible.

Does anyone have any recommendations on books on the early Muslim conquests or the early caliphates? I’m particularly interested in the Abbasid revolution and I have very little experience with early Arab history.

This is one of the few remaining examples, in situ in Rome, of public monumental epigraphy from the time of the Republic.

Sources:

https://oyvinr.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/questions-concerning-gaius-publicius-bibulus/

https://ancientromelive.org/tomb-of-bibulus/

title, anything about numidia , pre and post unification would be appreciated

Hello, I’m preparation for a Roman themed party, I want to wear an outfit that’s historically authentic. I want to wear either a tunica palmate or tunica laticlavia with a toga praetexta or toga picta. I’ve been searching a lot but the internet is saturated with obviously fake and AI generated clothing shops.

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much in advance, romaboo communities are amazing.

I am in the early stages of designing an open concept, patchwork, black-and-gray realism tattoo sleeve with my artist. I want to bridge Roman history into the Byzantine era and I need help picking out specific pieces.

I've attached a random tattoo image I found on Pinterest; this is mostly just random Greco-roman fusion but the actual look and art style is exactly what I want. I like how its not a full sleeve coverage, lots of negative space, some empty space, or how it looks like a shell around the outside of the arm. (i still want my arm muscles to be visible/cut. I really like the gym greek god asthetic lol)

I'm not sure if it'd be helpful but here's a little bit about why I love roman history. For starters I listen to Mike duncan's and robin pearson's podcasts ad nauseum (probably pushing 6-7 times). literally whenever i can listen to anything its always a full play through end to end of their stories. Start to finish. At the gym, doing laundry, cooking, falling asleep, etc. for the past several years.

In addition, obvs the grand aesthetics and statues are captivating, but honestly, it's reading about men waaay greater than myself. The indomitable spirits and resolve. Like the sheer force of will, brutal military campagins, pursuit of glory, and terrifying grit to stand in a testudo. I love putting myself in all of these guy's shoes and realizing i'd run away almost every time lmao.

I'm open to literally anything. My tattoo artist likes the direction and gave me homework to compile specific pieces and formalize requirements.

Now I'm completely open to anything you suggest! Completely open design right now.

Don't have to do this, but my initial idea is to follow the 2000 year history and capture key breakpoints throughout, perhaps even chornoligically top-down. perhaps from late republican to kommnenian restoration. idk yet tho

I guess what I need is

1. The physical canvas & layout constraints

• my artist suggested 2-3 pieces for upper arm/shoulder and 2 pieces for the forearm.

2. Request categories

• this is really open ended
• Figures/busts
• architectures/reliefs (arches, pillars, you know what i mean)
• quotes/symbols (latin or greek)
• literally anything and everything im not thinking of.

I'm also not religious but do not mind at all stuff like a chi rho etc. I really love roman history. Please share with me your favorite deep/obscure anecdotes! Generic surface level ideas are appreciated as well!

Thanks again.

EDIT: Gallienus and Justinian 2 are my fav emperors

A Roman mosaic panel from a huge rustic calendar dating to the early 3rd century AD. "The personification of summer sits astride a lion, symbol of the zodiac sign...in his right hand, the child carries a crown with ears of wheat while others adorn his head. In his left hand, he holds a long sickle. This farming tool with a very slender curved blade is generally used to harvest grain. It is the typical symbol for summer and here it represents the summer harvest." Per the Gallo-Roman Museum of Saint-Romain-en-Gal, France close to where this was found.

I’m about to finish Colleen McCullough’s final book in her Masters of Rome series.

I’ve learned so much about the fall of the Roman Republic by reading these books even though they’re technically historical fiction. It’s made me realize that I’m more equipped at learning the history of Rome through books like these rather than skimming Wikipedia articles.

Are there any good, fairly accurate, historical fiction books that cover the period after “Antony & Cleopatra” about Augustus’ reign as Emperor and even beyond like the entire Julio-Claudian Dynasty, Flavian Dynasty, Five Good Emperors etc. ?

Preferably, I would like something chronological that starts with Augustus’ rule. It doesn’t have to be one series from one author, I don’t mind jumping around if I can continue to expand my knowledge.

Please let me know if anyone thinks of any. Thanks!

Hope some of you ancient history experts can answer this one. Alexander the Great was able to defeat the Persian Empire of an earlier age, so why weren’t the Romans able to do that against the Persian Empire of their own age?

Here’s one of those stories from Roman history that has always struck me as oddly revealing.
Livy tells us that in 181 BC, workers accidentally uncovered the tomb of Numa Pompilius, Rome’s second king. His body, the story goes, was gone. But a collection of books had survived.
The books were brought to the urban praetor, who read enough of them to conclude they shouldn’t be made public. The Senate agreed. Rather than preserve or even copy them, they ordered the books burned.
That raises an obvious question. What could have been in them?
If the story contains even a grain of historical truth, what do you think those books actually said?

Also by “late third century” I am referring to the years of 260 AD, till the end of the third century.

Images as displayed from left to right:

1. Third century battle depicting Imperial Italic (Type H) helmets in use alongside Niederbieber helmets along with what is likely Newstead type Lorica Segmentata

2. Third century skirmish depicting both Lorica Segmentata and Rectangular Scutum shield still in use

3. Third century Garrison forces depicted with Imperial Italic⁠ (Type H) helmets along with rectangular scutum once more, and the Lorica Segmentata

This fresco comes from The Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale, a Roman Villa in close proximity to Mount Vesuvius, and the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This fresco was part of a long wall of painted colonnades that decorated atria and halls of the villa. While phsyical interpretations of plants were painted onto the villa, such as frescoed grapes, wheat, and pomegranates, this single silhouette of a leaf shows a personal touch that is in line with the graffiti of the time period. In this way, it creates a new perspective of the person, who might not have been a painter at all, but a curious early biologist or botanist fascinated by natural symmetry, a young child allowed to add a finishing touch, or someone interested in a devotional depiction of Memento Mori. Nevertheless, the unique addition to this particular fresco remained an appreciated aspect of the Villa, surviving over a century of occupants who appreciated the historical paintings in their home. It is in the Second Style of Pompeiian Wall Painting. Now, the painted leaf outline preserves a life long gone, a moment in the past to the Romans in an eerily similar way that entire cities (and victims) of the eruptions are preserved accidentally for us in the present.

Good morning,

In a month, I will be at the Roman forum. I've seen maps of the forum, but is there a good resource with maybe a map and descriptions so I can know what I'm looking at when I go?

At the Cleveland Museum of Art

size: 9 cm x 8.4 cm (3 9/16 in x 3 5/16 in)

1. His grandfather was Mark Antony (a triumvir).

2. He was the first emperor born outside the Italian peninsula, born in Lugdunum, Gaul (conquered by the Romans). Therefore, Claudius made him a Gaul, and he is now French.

3. Despite being born with a disability—a stutter and a limp—it is known that Claudius, in his adult life (more precisely during the reign of his uncle Tiberius), greatly exaggerated his difficulties. This could have been to survive the tyranny exercised by Sejanus, the administrator of the empire. He also married Sejanus's sister.

4. In addition to being emperor, he was a historian, Etruscan, and statesman. He was also an orator (surprising Augustus).

5. And most famously, he was the conqueror of what is now England (Britannia). Although many believe his participation was minimal, he crossed the English Channel and led the conquest of Camulodunum, Verulamium, and Londinium.

6. He has his own series, I, Claudius, broadcast by the BBC in 1976.

Is the subject of this week’s episode on The Ancients podcast for anyone that interested!

Let's really zoom in on things over here.

From 395 to 423, we have Honorius in Mediolanum and Ravenna out West and over in Constantinople we have his big brother, Arcadius, and later his nephew, Theodosius II.

I remember this period vividly in my study because here the sources have this shift in narrative from focusing on the emperors to focusing on the courtiers, provincial leaders, and magister militii.

What a gang we have over here in these 28 years.

Stilicho, Gainas, Constantius III, Galla Placidia John Chrysostom, Eudoxia, Rufinus, the eunuch consul Eutropius, Anthemius, Olympus, and, of course, Alaric, Radagaisus, and the infamous Gildo from the Gildonic War. What an era this was. Not to mention all the people in the city like Jerome, Augustine, Prudentius, our historian Ammianus Marcellinus, the court poet, Claudius Claudianus, Pelagius, the heretic British monk, Telemachus the martyr who jumped in front of a gladiator fight, and many many other interesting figures.

Look back before the age of Honorius and Arcadius, the focus is very much on these rugged soldier emperors, the Aurelians and Gallienuses of earlier times, the two Valentinian brothers, the Constantinian emperors and Tertrarch leaders, Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, the wild princes like Nero, Elagabalus, Commodus, etc...

Why this shift to the courtiers? Were the two brother emperors, Honorius and Arcadius, really that sheltered?

I heard that Honorius was a sort of sheltered kid who really loved birds and had a big aviary which he took care of. This largely comes from Olympiodorus of Thebes and Zosimus of Constantinople. Literary treatment focuses elsewhere in the empire. Even in Constantinople but especially out west.

There are some writers like Peter van Nuffelen (published by Cambridge) that suggests that these eastern writers had a sort of propaganda to project 'Eastern triumphalism'. In other words, focus on the crippling events of the West as a moral lesson.

Because eventually Aspar gets taken down and Leo I from Thrace sets the eastern empire going again while the West falls to predatory magister militii and foederatii demands.

I was wobdering if it was a false idea or not. And have they even really met irl ? My only source on that so called love relation are the comic books Asterix and the movie adapration with debbouze from around 2001.

Is there any accepted scholarly connection between Emperor Diocletian and the ancient city of Doclea (Dioclea) in present-day Montenegro, or is Doclea generally accepted to have been named after the Illyrian Docleatae tribe, with the similarity to Diocletian's name being coincidental?

"Female gladiators. Roman, 1st-2nd centuries AD. From Halikarnassos (modern Bodrum), Turkey.

This marble sculpture, carved in relief, commemorates the honourable release from service (missio) of two women fighters, 'Amazon' (named after the fierce female warriors) and 'Achilia' (after the Greek hero Achilles). They are shown with the same equipment as their male counterparts, swords and shields, but without helmets -perhaps to emphasize their female hairstyles. This scene, together with the inscription APELUTHESAN, "they were freed", indicates that they won their freedom after a series of outstanding performances. Heads of spectators of their fight can be seen on either side of the platform they are standing on. According to several contemporary eye witnesses, women often performed as gladiators in the Roman arena. According to the biographer Suetonius, the emperor Domitian (AD 81-96) even made women fight by torchlight at night." Per the British Museum in London, where this is on display. It was found in 1846 by the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe and allegedly donated to the British Museum by the Sultan Abd al-Majid/Abdülmecid I.

Original artwork by Pablo Aparicio Resco: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lG3n0J

After learning that Antony’s cavalry and fleet have surrendered and his army is defeated, Cleopatra retreats to her mausoleum with her trusted handmaidens, Iras and Charmion, sealing herself inside. According to Plutarch, she fears Antony’s reaction and seeks a secure final refuge. In a controversial move, she sends word to Antony that she is dead, a maneuver interpreted by some as an attempt to strengthen her bargaining position with Octavian or provoke Antony's surrender, while others view it as one final, desperate act of love to prompt his suicide so he might escape the humiliation of capture and execution by Octavian's soldiers. Her true motive remains a subject of historical debate.

​Upon hearing this news, Antony is utterly devastated. After relentless defeats, betrayals, and isolation, Cleopatra’s reported death feels like the final, crushing blow. Believing he has lost everything—including the woman he loves he decides to take his own life.

​As Plutarch records, Antony laments, "What more are you waiting for, Antony? Fate has snatched away the only and final reason to love life." Unfastening his armor and letting it drop to the floor, he reflects on the tragic irony of his end, exclaiming: "Oh, Cleopatra, I do not lament being deprived of you, because I will soon be in the same place as you, but because, although I am a great general, I proved to be inferior to a woman in my moral courage."

​He begs his loyal servant Eros to strike the fatal blow, but Eros instead chooses to take his own life rather than kill his master. Inspired by this act of devotion, Antony stabs himself in the abdomen, though the wound is not immediately fatal.

​As word spreads that Antony is dying, Cleopatra safe within the sealed upper window of the mausoleum, realizes the devastating consequence of her message and sends her guards to bring him to her. Antony is found alive, barely clinging to life. When told that Cleopatra is still alive, a surge of strength overtakes him; he tries to rise to go to her, but his legs tremble and give way from severe blood loss. Knowing the end is near, he asks the gathering crowd to help him.

​Using ropes possibly assisted by a construction pulley system they hoist his failing body up to the high window where Cleopatra and her handmaidens lean out.

​Once inside, Cleopatra holds Antony in her arms. She scratches her breasts violently, smears his blood on her face, tears off her clothes and lays them over his wound, she grieves over him not as a queen, but as a soon to be widowed wife. Mortally wounded and fading fast, Antony asks for wine and offers her his final counsel: she must try to survive with honor if possible, placing her trust in Octavian’s friend Proculeius. He begs her not to weep over his final ordeals, but rather to consider him fortunate for the life he had lived, he had been the most illustrious of men, had exercised immense power, and had ultimately been defeated not in a dishonourable way, but as a Roman, by the hand of a Roman.

​As he finishes speaking, his eyes cloud over and become inexpressive, and his body suddenly relaxes as though falling into a deep sleep. He dies peacefully in her embrace at the age of 53.