This day in AD 357 marked Constantius II’s entry into Rome
April 28, 2017
But why bother to record such an event?
Beware the Ides of March
March 15, 2017
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
March 6, 2017
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
January 10, 2017
Stuart McCunn writes about the consequences of this particular booze-up…
On this day in AD 19 Germanicus died at Antioch.
October 10, 2016
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 AD 363 the Roman emperor Jovian ascended the throne
June 27, 2016
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 …
On this day in AD392 the Roman emperor Valentinian II was found dead in Vienna
May 15, 2016
Text by Juliet O’Brien Valentinian II was born to Valentinian I, the western Roman emperor (r. 364-375), and his second wife Justina in 371. His birth name was Flavius Valentinianus. The elder Valentinian died in late 375 during a campaign in Pannonia against the Quadi. Despite being the younger son (Valentinian I had an elder …
On this day 1778 Joseph Addison’s play Cato: A Tragedy was performed to the American Continental army encamped in Valley Forge
May 4, 2016
Text by Gary Fisher The long winter of 1777 – 1778 which George Washington’s Continental army spent encamped in Valley Forge has entered into American folklore as the lowest point of the revolution with over 2,500 of Washington’s 12,000 soldiers dying of exposure, disease, and starvation, prompting Gouverneur Morris to describe the struggling revolutionaries as …
On this day in AD 303 the so-called “Great Persecution” of Christians within the Roman Empire began
February 24, 2016
If the ancient sources can be believed, the followers of Christ suffered greatly from the end of the second century AD onwards, when prominent ecclesiastical scholars such as Tertullian began to propagate their interpretations of scripture and argue against participation in imperial pagan ceremonies, resulting in some Christians being forced out of certain social, political and military institutions.
On this day in AD284 Diocletian became emperor
November 20, 2015
Before becoming emperor, Diocles (for this seems to have been his birth name) had been a successful leader in the military field.
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