After seventeen years, the Second Punic War was finally brought to an end with the decisive victory of the Roman general and consul Scipio Africanus over Hannibal at the Battle of Zama.
Gibbon’s six volume history traces the collapse of the Roman Empire from the rule of the Five Good Emperors until the end of Byzantium.
Ancient sources state that the Emperor Claudius as poisoned, although who administered the poison – and on whose orders – continues to be fiercely debated by scholars.
Beginning at around 1pm on 24 August, Mount Vesuvius sent gas, volcanic ash, and pumice into the stratosphere for up to 20 hours. This was followed by a pyroclastic flow that carried gas and molten rock down from the volcano and which then buried the previously fallen ash.
Hannibal’s army inflicted a devastating defeat on the numerically superior Roman army at the Battle of Cannae.
Nero, the last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, committed suicide.
The future Roman Emperor Titus began the Siege of Jerusalem, during which the Second Temple was burned and destroyed.
Casca was the first to strike and caused a stab wound to Caesar’s neck. He suffered a total of 23 stab wounds in the attack.
Three Praetorian Guards cornered Caligula in a cryptoporticus beneath his palace on the Palatine Hill and stabbed him to death.
The title Augustus is understood to translate as ‘the illustrious one’ and, although the title did not grant Octavian him political authority, many historians see this as the point at which his rule as first Roman Emperor began.
28th June 2015
11th November 2022
11th November 2022
1st September 2018
