The AD 400s and the fall of Rome

The Roman Empire in 395 at the death of Theodosius (Map: Geuiwogbil at the English Wikipedia)

In 1984, a German academic, Alexander Demandt, published a book, Der Fall Roms, and he listed 210 reasons for the fall of Rome in the West.

Barbarians inside and outside the empire, Christianity, […]

Policing – A complicated subject for writers

Bas-relief of Ancient Rome vigiles by Carlo Sorgi (1941) at the Italian National Firefighters Training School

When I wrote a post about Ancient Roman law enforcement, I discovered how complicated the system was. Vigiles were principally firefighters but carried out policing duties as well and cohortes urbanae were heavy duty riot police. They’d […]

Roman emperors – The good, the bad and ugly

Coins of Roman emperors

Hadrian is bearded – powerful in the spirit of the Greek god Hercules. Constantine the Great is clean shaven – a strong military leader. Vespasian is just Vespasian, Septimius Severus styles himself on his favourite god Serapis. (Author photo at the Yorkshire Museum)

At a rough count there were around a hundred Roman […]