Tonight in AD64 the Great Fire of Rome started
July 18, 2015
On the night of the 18th July, AD 64, in the reign of the emperor Nero, the Great Fire of Rome broke out. It raged for six days and seven nights destroying more than half of the city; many citizens were killed and many survivors lost everything.
On this day in AD79 the emperor Vespasian died, aged 69.
June 23, 2015
Vespasian had achieved the position of emperor by virtue of being the last man standing in the short civil war that erupted following Nero’s suicide in June of 68 (the so-called Year of the Four Emperors).
A coin of Pontius Pilate for Easter
April 5, 2015
Everyone has heard of Pontius Pilate: but what do ancient sources outside the Bible tell us about him?
On this day in 37AD the Roman emperor Tiberius died
March 16, 2015
The second emperor of Rome died on this day, to be succeeded by a man ill-suited to rule: Gaius, known as Caligula.
2027 years ago today: Augustus took the title Pontifex Maximus
March 6, 2015
Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, took the title “pontifex maximus” and combined in himself political and religious leadership.
