Rome

Syllabus

Policies and Expectations

Study Questions for exams
(available one week before exams)

Margaret's pet peeves

Ancient World Mapping Center

Cross cultural time line

Chronology of Rome

A brief Chronology of Rome

Roma a chronology with links to more information. Includes some maps and battle plans. Some names are Italianized (like Ottaviano for Octavian).

Useful sites for all of Roman History

Illustrated History of the Roman Empire A wonderful site with a lot of information (in spite of its name, it goes back to the founding of the city.) However, it brings with it a lot of pop-up ads.

Lacus Curtius: Into the Roman World An enormous collection of scholarly sites, including primary sources and photographs of many Roman sites.

The ancient Roman World a collection of links from a variety of sources.

Roma 365 a collection of links on various topics

Livius short, well-written and authoritative articles on topics on ancient Rome (also articles on Greece, Persia, Egypt, etc.)

Early Rome

Legends of Rome told very simply, but includes Romulus and Remus, the Capitoline Geese, etc. From the Roma site, so again, some names are Italianized.

The Etruscans a summary of what’s known, images of their art

Time line and some information about the Etruscan language (scroll down for links)

Etruscan art

Law in Ancient Rome from Romulus to the Medieval period. Includes many excerpts of the actual laws. for some periods the focus is on laws about the status of women.

The Roman Republic

The Roman Name (with list of praenomina, and what family/friends/acquaintances would call you)

The Laws of the Twelve Tables from about 450 BC.

The Roman Republican "Constitution"

Polybius's description of Roman Republican Government (note that he thinks it is in some ways democratic)

some (translated) letters of Cicero: Note in particular Cicero's comments about Octavian.

The Catalinarian Conspiracy

UNRV ("United Nations of Roma Victrix") which seems to be a serious though not scholarly organization, has a website with links taking you through Roman Republican History; start at Cataline and follow the link to the conspiracy for a good overview.

A Skidmore course on the Oratory of Cicero offers this "Anatomy of a Conspiracy"

The Skidmore course's "Diary of a Conspiracy"

A more detailed chronology from the on-line encyclopedia About.com, which is based on the Skidmore course's chronology, with many additional details.

Cicero's speeches Against Catalina, from the Perseus site. If it shows up in Latin, click on "English" near the top of the page.

Biography of Julius Caesar

Caesar's Gallic Wars, from the Perseus site

Caesar's Civil Wars, from the MIT Classics Archive

An eye-witness account of Caesar Crossing the Rubicon, 49 BC (Suetonius, based on Caesar's papers)

Imperial Rome

Augustus, the first emperor

Select Testimonia on the Emperor Augustus

Selections from the Acts of the Divine Augustus

The Lex Julia: Marriage Laws

The Rise of Augustus

Augustan legislation

Augustus: Images of Power

De Imperatoribus Romanis includes articles about most of the Roman Emperors and has begun to give short articles (with maps) about Roman battles in the Imperial Period:

Index of Emperors

Index of Battles (and battle maps)

Index of battle descriptions

Eye-witness account of the Burning of Rome 64 AD from Tacitus

Eye-witness account of Nero persecuting Christians 64 AD from Tacitus

Letters of Pliny the Younger

Map of the Roman Empire at its Largest Extent You can get the map in a couple sizes to fit your monitor, or in segments so you can see details.

Late Antiquity

Palace of Diocletian in Yugoslavia

Diocletian the builder

Diocletian (summary of reign)

Edict of Diocletian,(1911 Brittanica Encylcopedia, entry)

chronology of money use (and debasement of currency) in the Roman Empire

Edict on prices (preamble)

Diocletian's attempts to unify the empire

Quick list of the various theories for the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire

Art and Archaeology of Rome: the Physical Remains

Ostia Antica A description, with many photos, of the old harbor of Rome, where the Tiber runs into the Mediterranean. Includes a picture of a surviving latrine -- a 20-holer!

Images and pictures of ancient Rome

Roman Art and Architecture another collection of images, mostly buildings, mosaics, paintings, etc. As usual, click on the small images to get bigger ones.The atrium mosaic in the House of the Mosaic is spectacular.

Erotic Art of Ancient Rome a virtual reality tour of a virtual museum; click on picture frames to view full size images of erotic art. (There's really nothing particularly shocking here.)

OSSHE Historical and Cultural Atlas Resource:

Image Library many very good photographs, gathered under such categories as Urban, Religion, Water (aquaducts, baths, plumbing), etc.

Map Library

Roman mosaics (from Nova) includes a "fly-through of a 14 room villa with mosaic floors and walls"

Roman mosaics in Britain

The Roman Pantheon, built by Vipsanius Agrippa in 27-25 BC. The domed ceiling is a good example of the achievements in Roman architecture and engineering.

The "Palace" of Diocletian at Split

Pompeii Like the Minoan settlement on Santorini, Pompeii was buried and preserved when a volcano erupted in 79 AD.. It's one of our best opportunities to see what daily life was like.

An eyewitness account of the eruption from Pliny the Younger

The destruction of Pompeii

Vesuvius

Ancient Reconstruction of the Pompeii Forum: An Investigation of Seismic and Volcanic Structural Response. Research by Structural Engineers. (very technical)

Pompeii: Houses, Gardens, and Paintings

The Pompeii Forum Project Clicking on one of the red numbers on this map gives you a closeup of the plan; clicking on one of the small camera icons on the close-up will give you (most of the time -- a few weren't working) a view of the forum at the corresponding point.

Pictures from Pompeii and Herculaneum

Photos from Pompeii

History of plumbing in Pompeii and Herculaneum

Herculaneum

Virtual Tours of Roman Sites

A clickable map of the Roman forum

The Caen Scale Model of Rome You can get geographical, historical, thematic, or virtual tours, with photos of the actual remains and reconstructions of the original.

Colonia Ulpia Traiana city plan of a colony founded in the early 2nd century A.D.

Caistor, a Roman town in England. Tour the town by clicking on the footsteps icon AT THE LOWER RIGHT OF EACH PAGE.

"Dead Romans" information about Roman coins, architecture, and artwork from the Early Roman Empire. A page of resources pertaining to Early Imperial Rome. Includes a Virtual walk-through of the Colleseum which is quite good!

3-D Reconstructions of Roman scenes

VROMA a MOO

Roman Military Power

The Roman Army An extensive site with lots of details about different organizations for the legions, various tactics, the cavalry, etc.

The Legio X Gemina Home Page A Dutch group which re-enacts Roman battles. They appear in the recent television series "War and Civilization." There are a number of links here, both to other groups re-enacting Roman battles, and to related web sites.

Catapults in Greek and Roman Antiqiuty

animation of three basic types of catapults

a place to get free plans to build a catapult

a catapult game to download

Armamentarium an in-progress on-line "book" about Roman armor and weapons.

Foundations of Roman Legionary Barracks at Caerleon

Hadrian's Wall in Great Britain

Another source on Hadrian's Wall

Wallnet: education resource for Hadrian's wall includes links to Roman life in N. England in Roman period

The Roman Army in Britain

Trajan’s column Scenes spiraling up the column depict Trajan's campaigns.

Daily Life in Rome

Daily Life in Ancient Rome

Roman Life expectancy

Roman waterworks (fountains, aquaducts, baths)

Children in the Roman world

Roman coins

Some Ancient Roman recipes, converted to modern measurements

Some Roman ball games, with pictures

Some Roman board games, with pictures

the Roman Calendar

"Lady Livia's Alcove" A slightly odd site with terrific graphics and some good information about Roman life.

Roman Arena: Gladiatorial games with links to images of many artifacts connected with the games.

Ancient medicine

Surgery in Rome (pictures of instruments)

Roman Baths

Roman clothes

Roman Technology: an On-Line handbook put together by students and faculty at the University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill. "Technology" includes such things as medicine, food preservation, etc.

Roman Women

Diotima: Women and Gender in the Ancient World a collection of sources

Feminae Romanae: the Women of Ancient Rome

Romanae Antiquae The Lives of Women in Ancient Rome

Contraception and Abortion in the ancient world

Childbirth and Midwifery in the ancient world

Slavery in the Roman Empire: Numbers and Origins (a scholarly article with footnotes)

Roman Religion(s)

Dii Consentes The Religion of Ancient Rome. Great graphics, some basic information, not only about the Twelve Great Gods (heavily influenced by Greek mythology), but also (click on Dii Selectii) the less familiar native Latin gods.

Roman sources on the Jews

The Christian Catacombs of Rome

Pliny and Trajan on the Christians

The Anti-Christian Edicts of Diocletian

The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras by David Ulansey (summary of his book, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World, Oxford University Press 1991)

Mithraism

Visit a Virtual Mithraeum with Quicktime audio-visual tour; the site includes the myth of Mithras