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This day in AD 357 marked Constantius II’s entry into Rome

But why bother to record such an event?

Beware the Ides of March

The Ides have come…but they are not yet gone. Read about Caesar’s assassination in this blog post.

On this day in 1775, in a packed meeting house in Boston, Massachusetts, Doctor Joseph Warren wore a toga

It was not for Dr Warren’s fashion choices that Bostonians congregated in the Old South Meeting House that day, nor was it the 300 soldiers present and the threat of arrest for attending that drew them there.

On this day in AD503 a group of monks got drunk

Stuart McCunn writes about the consequences of this particular booze-up…

On this day in AD 31 the Praetorian Prefect Sejanus was executed.

Sejanus rose to power and great influence as the prefect of the Praetorians, the imperial bodyguard, under the emperor Tiberius.

On this day in AD 54, the Roman emperor Claudius died at Rome

Tradition holds the Praetorian guard made him emperor when they found him quivering behind a curtain, reasoning that he wouldn’t be too ruthless in power.

On this day in AD 19 Germanicus died at Antioch.

Germanicus never became emperor himself, but his son Caligula, his brother Claudius, and his grandson Nero would all come to occupy the imperial throne.

On this day in AD79 Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum

On the day that an earthquake rocks central Italy, two thousand years ago Vesuvius shattered countless ancient lives.

On this day in AD 117, the Roman emperor Trajan died

Trajan was proverbially so well-liked that in the later empire, new emperors would be enjoined to “be more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan”.

On this day in AD 363 the Roman emperor Jovian ascended the throne

Text by Rob Stone Jovian was born in AD 331 in Singidunum (modern day Belgrade, Serbia). His father, Varronianus, was the commander of the bodyguards (comes domesticorum) of Constantius II. Jovian himself would join this group and prior to his accession he had risen to the same position as his father, commanding the guard for …