Roman Empire News
12 Byzantine Rulers: Part 14 - Alexius
When the 24 year old Alexius Comnenus came to the throne, the glories of the Empire seemed long gone. Its "invincible" army had been smashed at the battle of Manzikert, the frontiers were collapsing, and enemies on every side threatened to overwhelm what was left. It would take an extraordinary ruler to salvage something from the wreckage much less restore Byzantine prestige. Join Lars Brownworth as he takes a look at Alexius Comnenus, the man who did just that, even as the First Crusade erupted around him.
The Madness of Caligula
| The Roman historian Suetonius has this insightful comment about the character of the Emperor Caligula: To this crazy constitution of his mind may, I think, very justly be ascribed two faults whih a had, of a nature naturally repugnant one to the other, namely, an excessive confidence and an almost abject timidity. For he, who affected so much to dispise the gods, was ready t shut his eyes and wrap up his head in his cloak at the slightest storm of thunder and lightning; and if it was violent he got up and hid himself under his bed. |
The Satyricon - Petronius
One usually begins these writings on Roman literary works with an introduction to the author of the said work. In the case of The Satyricon, however, matters become complicated. Scholars have only a single name connected with the work: Petronius. While they cannot say with certainty who this Petronius is, ...
The Erotic Poems by Ovid
Love be not proud. Let love be cynical, irreverent and bawdy! Ovid is the perfect cure for maudlin saps pining for unrequited romances. The good man from Sulmo is perhaps the most infamous Roman poet, and deservedly so. Not content with being a creature of the Augustan propaganda machine and ...
12 Byzantine Rulers: Part 11 - Irene
When the weak, ineffectual emperor Leo IV died in 780, he left the empire divided and in the hands of an orphan from Athens; the beautiful and grasping Empress Irene. 17 years later she was crowned as sole ruler after murdering her own son to take his place. It was hardly an auspicious start, beset by enemies on every border, the empire was now facing its most serious internal threat; the terrible iconoclastic controversy. Successive emperors had neglected the frontiers to concentrate on the war against icons, and in the process had not only weakened the state, but had destroyed some of the finest works of art the Byzantine world ever produced. Even worse, an emperor had at last returned to the long vacant throne of the West, to challenge Byzantium's claim of universal temporal domination. If ever the empire had needed strong leadership, it was now. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at the reign of Irene; the only woman to rule the empire, not as Queen or Regent, but as a King.
