HISTORY OF ROME

Rome before the republic: from the 8th century BC

The Tiber is a natural barrier across the land route which runs up and down the west coast of central Italy. The first place upstream at which it can be bridged is about 15 miles (24 km) from the coast, where an island in the river is overlooked by several steep…

HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

The empire: 27 BC – AD 14

By a coincidence of history the Roman empire, at its start, has recently achieved a new geographical completeness. The campaigns of Pompey have led to the annexation of Syria in 64 BC and the capture of Jerusalem in 63. With Octavian’s defeat of Cleopatra at Actium in 31 BC, Egypt too becomes…

HISTORY OF THE PORTUGUESE EMPIRE

New European empires: 16th century AD

Since the fall of Rome, there has been no empire based in Europe which extends outside the continent. This situation changes abruptly in the 16th century, when Spain and Portugal become the pioneers in a new era of colonization.

The Iberian peninsula is well poised at the time for this leap into the unknown.

In…

HISTORY OF THE PAPACY

Bishops of Rome: from the 1st century AD

The pope is the bishop of Rome. The name derives from a Greek word pappas, meaning father, and Rome’s bishop is seen as the father figure of the early church because of the link with St Peter. Jesus is believed to have appointed Peter as the rock on which the church will…

HISTORY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN

Collision and cleft: from 50 million years ago

The Mediterranean is formed in the process of continental drift, when Africa crashes against Eurasia. The resulting sea is of a size and a shape almost perfect for the development of civilization. More than 10,000 km of coastline, around a relatively calm sea, with plentiful harbours and numerous islands as staging posts,…

HISTORY OF LATIN LITERATURE

Roman comedy: 3rd – 2nd century BC

In most cultural matters Rome is greatly influenced by Greece, and this is particularly true of theatre. Two Roman writers of comedy, Plautus and Terence, achieve lasting fame in the decades before and after 200 BC – Plautus for a robust form of entertainment close to farce, Terence for a more subtle…

HISTORY OF JULIUS CAESAR

Hail Caesar

Not many private citizens build a career so effectively that their name means ‘emperor’, 2000 years later, in other people’s languages. Yet such is the case with Julius Caesar, the origin of Germany’s Kaiser and Russia’s Tsar.

Early in his life Caesar (c.100 BC – 44 BC) shows ruthless determination. In 75 BC he is captured by pirates, when…

HISTORY OF ITALY

The Mediterranean peninsula

Italy, meaning the entire peninsula south of the Alps, is known as such from about the 1st century BC. Several centuries earlier, when the name first appears, it is used only of the area in the extreme south – the toe of the peninsula.

In the 1st century BC Italy is under the control of a single power,…

HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA

The kingdom of Aksum: from the 5th century BC

The story of the Queen of Sheba links her with Ethiopia in a legend which echoes historical reality. The Ethiopian national epic, Kebra Nagast (‘Glory of Kings’), records the tradition that Solomon and the Queen of Sheba have a son, Menelik, who comes to Ethiopia to found the royal dynasty.

Sheba, now…

HISTORY OF CONSTANTINE

Constantine: AD 306-337

Constantine is probably in his twenties in AD 306 when his father, Constantius, dies at York. For most of the past ten years the young man has been at the court of Diocletian. But he has joined his father’s camp in the previous year, 305, after the promotion of Constantius to the post of Augustus in the…

HISTORY OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE

A new Rome: AD 330

Constantine, now in firm command of the entire Roman empire (the first man for a long while to be in that position), is planning another initiative as significant as his adoption of Christianity. Immediately after the defeat of Licinius he sets about rebuilding Byzantium as a Christian capital city – one in which pagan sacrifice,…