Spartacus would become known as the man who fought back ... But most of all he was a slave who took on the might of Rome to be free. Spartacus: Warriors
313 A.D.: Constantine would sign the Edict of Milan granting tolerance and protection to Christians. A Lamp in the Dark: The Untold History of the Bible, 2009
If Constantine were a true believer, how could he turn and persecute other Christians? ibid.
Many Christians saw in this new system an apostate union between the Church and the Powers of the World. ibid.
Dominic along with Pope Innocent III were the two original founders of Rome’s most dreadful engine – terror and destruction. ibid.
North Britain: about two thousand years ago. The Romans ruled most of Europe but not here. Scattered groups from all over north Britain rose up against the Roman Empire. The Emperor they defied was Septimius Severus. He was an African. To steal Rome’s throne he had waded through blood. The Untold Invasion of Britain, Channel 4 2011
A war that would change Britain for ever. ibid.
Road to Rome, April 193 A.D. – having declared himself Emperor, Severus moved on Rome with utmost haste ... The outsider was now the most powerful man in the world. ibid.
Hadrian’s Wall built almost a century earlier still marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. It snaked across the hills all the way from the North Sea to the Irish Sea splitting the island in two. ibid.
Crippled by age, Severus was carried north. Riding alongside was his son and heir Coracalla. ibid.
Archaeologists are still discovering evidence of his huge army. ibid.
The Emperor was at the head of one of the largest invasion forces the Roman Empire ever mobilised. It needed massive logistical support. ibid.
40,000 Romans marched to the foot of the Scottish highlands. ibid.
York 210 A.D. This is where Severus came to die ... Britain’s African Emperor died at York 211 A.D. ibid.
Rome never marched into Scotland again. ibid.
Reg: And what have they given us in return? ... I grant you the aqueducts and the sanitation ... All right but apart from the sanitation the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system, public health, what have the Romans ever done for us? Monty Python’s Life of Brian 1979 ***** starring Graham Chapman & John Cleese & Terry Gilliam & Eric Idle & Terry Jones & Michael Palin & Kenneth Colley & Neil Innes & Gwen Taylor & Terence barler & Carol Cleveland & Spike Milligan et al, director Terry Jones
What was it like for the people, the ordinary Romans? Mary Beard, Meet the Romans I: All Roads Lead to Rome, BBC 2012
So what did the Roman armies bring back from the empire? ibid.
It does bring slaves but it does bring eventually new Roman citizens. ibid.
Almost everyone in Rome was descended from someone arriving from outside. ibid.
Rome ran on olive oil. ibid.
Two hundred thousand of them received free rations from the state. ibid.
Roman culture was in itself an amalgam. ibid.
There was a people’s palace here – the Colosseum. ibid.
Gladiators represented a violent fantasy of the outside world. ibid.
Ancient Rome was once the centre of a vast empire that stretched from Spain to Syria. Mary Beard, Meet the Romans II: Street Life
The world’s first global city. ibid.
It was a chaotic place, rambling and dirty. ibid.
The figure of the rent collector cum bailiff – it’s called extractor in Latin – was one that terrified the Roman poor. ibid.
In their time these tenements must have been the tallest residential buildings on the planet. ibid.
Rome was a rabbit warren. ibid.
This is a Roman communal toilet ... 144 public latrines in downtown Rome. ibid.
An incredibly mixed place. ibid.
Violence was an ever present danger. ibid.
But also teenage pregnancies, abandoned babies, drunken housewives, runaway slaves, ménage à trois, and a very nasty case of domestic violence … Mary Beard, Meet the Romans III: Behind Closed Doors
Romans’ homes came in just as many shapes and sizes as their relationships. ibid.
At least half the kids wouldn’t have lived till they were ten. ibid.
Schools: only for the well off and only for the boys. ibid.
One third might have been slaves ... Even some slaves had slaves. ibid.
The story of the Roman empire opens with a fairytale … A princess gave birth to twin sons … They went on to found Rome … The centre of an empire stretching from the fringes of the Sahara to the damp moorlands of Northern Britain. From Spain to Israel, the Nile to the Rhine. Mary Beard’s Ultimate Rome, BBC 2016
How did it work? What difference did it make? Why did the empire eventually fall? And how did it come about in the first place? ibid.
Carthage was wiped from the Earth. ibid.
It was thanks to Greece that Rome started to become full of marble columns, elegant statues and objects d’art. ibid.
What shape would that one-man rule take? ibid.
One you’ve got an empire, what do you do with it? And what did it feel like to be part of it? Mary Beard’s Ultimate Rome II
It’s through the leftovers of the Roman world … that we can see how the Roman empire works. ibid.
One of the first examples of globalisation – this is the Roman brand. Through its roads and sea-routes, the Roman brand spread throughout the empire. ibid.
Citizenship – and their ability to turn people not from Rome into fully fledged Romans. Mary Beard’s Ultimate Rome III
An outsider could become Roman if he served twenty-odd years in the Roman army. ibid.
London was a brand-new Roman city. ibid.
They went on being Greek under Rome. ibid.
One of the biggest puzzles about the Roman Empire has always been what caused its decline and fall. Mary Beard’s Ultimate Rome IV
Temples were everywhere, so why did they need so many? … Temples are public reminders of the gods’ support for the Roman state. ibid.
A series of rival powers … were more likely to be restoring the monuments of the Roman past … The cultural hegemony of Rome remained. ibid.
The conversation we can still have with the Romans … Rome still matters. ibid.
In 63 B.C. the Roman general Pompey led his legions into the land of Judea. Empires Special: Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites: The End of Days PBS 2003
The triumph of the Romans produced a crisis of faith amongst the Jews. ibid.
The zealots made a public declaration of war against Rome. ibid.
In 70 A.D. after a siege marked by starvation and terror of crucifixions the Roman army broke through the walls of Jerusalem. Empires Special: Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites II: The Gifts of the Jews
There would also be a monumental challenge from within: a breakaway form of Judaism called Christianity. ibid.
Masada: one rebel group was still holding out against Rome. ibid.
The rebellion began among a band of outlaws living in the countryside. Their leader was called Simon bar Kokhba. ibid.
The Romans now set themselves the goal of wiping the Jews from Judea. ibid.