Download or read book Evil Roman Emperors written by Phillip Barlag and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nero fiddled while Rome burned. As catchy as that aphorism is, it’s sadly untrue, even if it has a nice ring to it. The one thing Nero is well-known for is the one thing he actually didn’t do. But fear not, the truth of his life, his rule and what he did with unrestrained power, is plenty weird, salacious and horrifying. And he is not alone. Roman history, from the very foundation of the city, is replete with people and stories that shock our modern sensibilities. Evil Roman Emperors puts the worst of Rome’s rulers in one place and offers a review of their lives and a historical context for what made them into what they became. It concludes by ranking them, counting down to the worst ruler in Rome’s long history. Lucius Tarquinius Suburbus called peace conferences with warring states, only to slaughter foreign leaders; Commodus sold offices of the empire to the highest bidder; Caligula demanded to be worshipped as a god, and marched troops all the way to the ocean simply to collect seashells as “proof” of their conquest; even the Roman Senate itself was made up of oppressors, exploiters, and murderers of all stripes. Author Phillip Barlag profiles a host of evil Roman rulers across the history of their empire, along with the faceless governing bodies that condoned and even carried out heinous acts. Roman history, deviant or otherwise, is a subject of endless fascination. What’s never been done before is to look at the worst of the worst at the same time, comparing them side by side, and ranking them against one another. Until now.
Download or read book Agrippina written by Emma Southon and published by Unbound Publishing. This book was released on 2018-08-08 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They said she was a tyrant, a murderer and the most wicked woman in history. She kicked her way into the male spaces of politics and demanded to be recognised as an equal and a leader. For her audacity, she was murdered by her son and reviled by history. She was the sister, niece, wife and mother of emperors. She was an empress in her own right. And she was a nuanced, fearless trailblazer in the Roman world. The story of Agrippina – the first empress of Rome – is the story of an empire at its bloody, extravagant, chaotic, ruthless height.
Download or read book Rome Is Burning written by Anthony A. Barrett and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-02-22 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Nero became Emperor in A.D 54. On the evening of July 18, 64 A. D., it seems that a lamp was left unextinguished in a stall still heaped with piles of combustible material. Whether this was accidental or deliberate we cannot now determine, and normally it would not have led to anything that would have attracted even local attention. But there was a gusty wind that night, and the flickering flame was fanned onto the flammable wares. The ensuing fire quickly spread. Before the onlookers could absorb what was happening one of the most catastrophic disasters ever to be endured by Rome was already underway. It was a disaster that brought death and misery to thousands. In Nero and the Great Fire of Rome, Anthony Barrett draws on new textual interpretations and the latest archaeological evidence, to tell the story of this pivotal moment in Rome's history and its lasting significance. Barrett argues that the Great Fire, which destroyed much of the city, changed the course of Roman History. The fire led to the collapse of Nero's regime, and his disorderly exit brought an end to Rome's first imperial dynasty, transforming from thereto, the way that emperors were selected. It also led to the first systematic persecution of the Christians, who were blamed for the blaze. Barrett provides the first comprehensive study of this dramatic event, which remains a fascination of the public imagination, and continues to be a persistent theme in the art and literature of popular culture today"--
Download or read book The Emperor Nero written by Anthony A. Barrett and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nero's reign (AD 54–68) witnessed some of the most memorable events in Roman history, such as the rebellion of Boudica and the first persecution of the Christians—not to mention Nero's murder of his mother, his tyranny and extravagance, and his suicide, which plunged the empire into civil war. The Emperor Nero gathers into a single collection the major sources for Nero's life and rule, providing students of Nero and ancient Rome with the most authoritative and accessible reader there is. The Emperor Nero features clear, contemporary translations of key literary sources along with translations and explanations of representative inscriptions and coins issued under Nero. The informative introduction situates the emperor's reign within the history of the Roman Empire, and the book's concise headnotes to chapters place the source material in historical and biographical context. Passages are accompanied by detailed notes and are organized around events, such as the Great Fire of Rome, or by topic, such as Nero's relationships with his wives. Complex events like the war with Parthia—split up among several chapters in Tacitus's Annals—are brought together in continuous narratives, making this the most comprehensible and user-friendly sourcebook on Nero available. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.
Download or read book History of the Empire From the Death of Marcus written by Herodian and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2020-12-08 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus by Herodian is about Roman history after the rule of Marcus Aurelius in which there were battles over the frontier and the coexistence of a wide variety of cultures. Herodian writes that the events described in his history occurred during his lifetime. Photius (Codex 99) gives an outline of the contents of this work and passes a flattering encomium on the style of Herodian, which he describes as clear, vigorous, agreeable, and preserving a happy medium between an utter disregard of art and elegance and a profuse employment of the artifices and prettinesses which were known under the name of Atticism.
Download or read book Dynasty written by Tom Holland and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2015-10-20 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Author and historian Tom Holland returns to his roots in Roman history and the audience he cultivated with Rubicon—his masterful, witty, brilliantly researched popular history of the fall of the Roman republic—with Dynasty, a luridly fascinating history of the reign of the first five Roman emperors. Dynasty continues Rubicon's story, opening where that book ended: with the murder of Julius Caesar. This is the period of the first and perhaps greatest Roman Emperors and it's a colorful story of rule and ruination, running from the rise of Augustus through to the death of Nero. Holland's expansive history also has distinct shades of I Claudius, with five wonderfully vivid (and in three cases, thoroughly depraved) Emperors—Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero—featured, along with numerous fascinating secondary characters. Intrigue, murder, naked ambition and treachery, greed, gluttony, lust, incest, pageantry, decadence—the tale of these five Caesars continues to cast a mesmerizing spell across the millennia.
Download or read book Caligula Nero written by Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-02-13 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of famous art depicting Caligula, Nero and important people, places, and events. *Discusses the facts and legends surrounding Caligula's madness and the excesses of his turbulent reign. *Describes ancient accounts of Nero's reign, including the murder of his mother, the Great Fire of Rome, and his suicide. *Includes a bibliography for further reading. *Includes Suetonius's accounts of the lives of Caligula and Nero Given how bad some of Rome's emperors were, it's a testament to just how insane and reviled Caligula was that he is still remembered nearly 2,000 years later as the epitome of everything that could be wrong with a tyrant. The Romans had high hopes for him after he succeeded Tiberius in 37 A.D., and by all accounts he was a noble and just ruler during his first few months in power. But after that, he suffered some sort of mysterious illness that apparently rendered him insane. Indeed, the list of Caligula's strange actions is long. Among other things, Caligula began appearing in public dressed as gods and goddesses, and his incest, sexual perversion, and thirst for blood were legendary at the time, difficult accomplishments considering Roman society was fairly accustomed to and tolerant of such things. In fact, the Romans were so taken aback by some of Caligula's behavior that historians catalogued some of his strangest antics. Suetonius wrote that as Caligula's relationship with the Senate deteriorated, he ordered that Incitatus be made a member of the Roman Senate and a Consul. Incitatus, Latin for "swift," was Caligula's favorite horse. But far from simply being a way to stick it to the Senate, Caligula invited guests to dine with Incitatus and had the horse's stables made of marble, suggesting Caligula was simply mentally unstable himself. In 41 A.D., the Praetorian Guard turned on Caligula and assassinated him. Caligula's reign was so traumatic to the Romans that they even considered restoring the Republic, but military officials ultimately installed Claudius, the only male left in the Julian family line, as emperor. Claudius's short reign was followed by Caligula's nephew Nero, a man whose excesses sometimes made Caligula seem tame. Nero ranks among the very worst of the Caesars, alongside the likes of mad Caligula, slothful Commodus, and paranoid Domitian, a figure so hated that, in many ancient Christian traditions, he is literally considered the Antichrist. According to a notable Biblical scholar, the coming of the Beast and the number 666 in the Book of Revelation are references to Nero. He was the man who famously "fiddled while Rome burned," an inveterate lecher, a murderous tyrant who showed little compunction in murdering his mother and who liked to use Christian martyrs as a source of illumination at night by burning them alive. His economic policies, according to many historians, virtually bankrupted Rome. Even his appearance, apparently, was unattractive. His busts show him to be fleshy-faced, with a weak chin that he attempted to disguise with a distinctly unprepossessing beard, and according to Suetionius he was also spotty, stinking, pot-bellied and thin-legged - not a pretty picture. The best known accounts of Nero come from biographers like Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetionius and Josephus, but there are also indications that, to some extent, reports of Nero's cruelty were exaggerated. Nero was popular with the common people and much of the army, and during his reign the Empire enjoyed a period of remarkable peace and stability. Many historians, including some of his ancient biographers - such as Josephus - suggest that there existed a strong bias against Nero. Caligula & Nero profile the lives, crimes, and excesses of the two notorious emperors. Along with pictures and ancient accounts, you will learn about Rome's most famously bad emperors like never before.
Download or read book Caligula and Nero Rome s Worst Emperors written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2013-09-05 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of famous art depicting Caligula, Nero and important people, places, and events. *Discusses the facts and legends surrounding Caligula's madness and the excesses of his turbulent reign. *Describes ancient accounts of Nero's reign, including the murder of his mother, the Great Fire of Rome, and his suicide. *Includes a bibliography for further reading. *Includes Suetonius's accounts of the lives of Caligula and Nero Given how bad some of Rome's emperors were, it's a testament to just how insane and reviled Caligula was that he is still remembered nearly 2,000 years later as the epitome of everything that could be wrong with a tyrant. The Romans had high hopes for him after he succeeded Tiberius in 37 A.D., and by all accounts he was a noble and just ruler during his first few months in power. But after that, he suffered some sort of mysterious illness that apparently rendered him insane. Indeed, the list of Caligula's strange actions is long. Among other things, Caligula began appearing in public dressed as gods and goddesses, and his incest, sexual perversion, and thirst for blood were legendary at the time, difficult accomplishments considering Roman society was fairly accustomed to and tolerant of such things. In fact, the Romans were so taken aback by some of Caligula's behavior that historians catalogued some of his strangest antics. Suetonius wrote that as Caligula's relationship with the Senate deteriorated, he ordered that Incitatus be made a member of the Roman Senate and a Consul. Incitatus, Latin for "swift," was Caligula's favorite horse. But far from simply being a way to stick it to the Senate, Caligula invited guests to dine with Incitatus and had the horse's stables made of marble, suggesting Caligula was simply mentally unstable himself. In 41 A.D., the Praetorian Guard turned on Caligula and assassinated him. Caligula's reign was so traumatic to the Romans that they even considered restoring the Republic, but military officials ultimately installed Claudius, the only male left in the Julian family line, as emperor. Claudius's short reign was followed by Caligula's nephew Nero, a man whose excesses sometimes made Caligula seem tame. Nero ranks among the very worst of the Caesars, alongside the likes of mad Caligula, slothful Commodus, and paranoid Domitian, a figure so hated that, in many ancient Christian traditions, he is literally considered the Antichrist. According to a notable Biblical scholar, the coming of the Beast and the number 666 in the Book of Revelation are references to Nero. He was the man who famously "fiddled while Rome burned", an inveterate lecher, a murderous tyrant who showed little compunction in murdering his mother and who liked to use Christian martyrs as a source of illumination at night by burning them alive. His economic policies, according to many historians, virtually bankrupted Rome. Even his appearance, apparently, was unattractive. His busts show him to be fleshy-faced, with a weak chin that he attempted to disguise with a distinctly unprepossessing beard, and according to Suetionius he was also spotty, stinking, pot-bellied and thin-legged - not a pretty picture. The best known accounts of Nero come from biographers like Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetionius and Josephus, but there are also indications that, to some extent, reports of Nero's cruelty were exaggerated. Nero was popular with the common people and much of the army, and during his reign the Empire enjoyed a period of remarkable peace and stability. Many historians, including some of his ancient biographers - such as Josephus - suggest that there existed a strong bias against Nero. Caligula & Nero profile the lives, crimes, and excesses of the two notorious emperors. Along with pictures and ancient accounts, you will learn about Rome's most famously bad emperors like never before.
Download or read book Caligula written by Anthony A. Barrett and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1989-01-01 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Was the Roman emperor Caligula really the depraved despot of popular legend? In this book -- the first major reassessment of Caligula's life and career in over fifty. years -- Anthony A. Barrett draws on archaeological, numismatic, and literary evidence to evaluate this infamous figure in the context of the system that gave him absolute power.Authoritative ... highly readable. -- Bernard Knox, Atlantic MonthlyAn excellent study of the brief reign of Caligula....Barrett is a highly competent historian and clear writer, and the intrinsic interest of his subject is so great that the tougher kind of reader, as well as the scholar, will study this book with pleasure as well as with instruction. -- Hugh Lloyd-Jones, New York Review of BooksBarrett's Caligula fills a long-standing void in providing a balanced, thoroughly documented, and persuasive assessment of Caligula's life and career. This eminently readable book's value is further enhanced by the illustrations and by an appendix discussing Caligula's statuary and coinage. It will prove a welcome addition to the library of anyone with interests in Roman history and culture. -- Joseph J. Hughes, Classical WorldI do not think that any scholar interested in the Julio-Claudian period or any classics or ancient history library could be without this book. Very well written, it should also be popular with the general public. -- Colin M. Wells
Download or read book CALIGULA DIVINE CARNAGE written by Stephen Barber and published by SCB Distributors. This book was released on 2015-01-21 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Caligula: most notorious of the Roman Emperors, who seduced his own sister, installed a horse in the Roman Senate, turned his palace into a brothel, married a prostitute, tortured and killed hundreds of innocent citizens on a whim, and committed countless other acts of madness, cruelty and deviancy. Award-winning writer Stephen Barber documents in full the atrocities of Caligula, and also the other mad Emperors, notably the deranged Commodus. Also included is a bloody history of Gladiators and the Roman Arena, the depraved circus where Christians, freaks and criminals were butchered by the thousand. DIVINE CARNAGE is a shocking catalogue of incest, transvestism, torture, slaughter and perversity brought to life by Barber’s superb authorial skill, making it an essential and eloquent document of murderous decadence. This special ebook edition also includes the bonus of Suetonius’ “Life Of Nero”, highlighting the outrages of yet another sadistic Emperor, whose greatest pleasure lay in the crucifixion and burning of Christian martyrs.
Download or read book The Confessions of Young Nero written by Margaret George and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestselling and legendary author of Helen of Troy and Elizabeth I now turns her gaze on Emperor Nero, one of the most notorious and misunderstood figures in history. Built on the backs of those who fell before it, Julius Caesar’s imperial dynasty is only as strong as the next person who seeks to control it. In the Roman Empire no one is safe from the sting of betrayal: man, woman—or child. As a boy, Nero’s royal heritage becomes a threat to his very life, first when the mad emperor Caligula tries to drown him, then when his great aunt attempts to secure her own son’s inheritance. Faced with shocking acts of treachery, young Nero is dealt a harsh lesson: it is better to be cruel than dead. While Nero idealizes the artistic and athletic principles of Greece, his very survival rests on his ability to navigate the sea of vipers that is Rome. The most lethal of all is his own mother, a cold-blooded woman whose singular goal is to control the empire. With cunning and poison, the obstacles fall one by one. But as Agrippina’s machinations earn her son a title he is both tempted and terrified to assume, Nero’s determination to escape her thrall will shape him into the man he was fated to become—an Emperor who became legendary. With impeccable research and captivating prose, The Confessions of Young Nero is the story of a boy’s ruthless ascension to the throne. Detailing his journey from innocent youth to infamous ruler, it is an epic tale of the lengths to which man will go in the ultimate quest for power and survival.
Download or read book Caligula written by Anthony A. Barrett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-03-05 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Roman Empire has always exercised a considerable fascination. Among its numerous colourful personalities, no emperor, with the possible exception of Nero, has attracted more popular attention than Caligula, who has a reputation, whether deserved or not, as the quintessential mad and dangerous ruler. The first edition of this book established itself as the standard study of Caligula. It remains the only full length and detailed scholarly analysis in English of this emperor’s reign, and has been translated into a number of languages. But the study of Classical antiquity is not a static phenomenon, and scholars are engaged in a persistent quest to upgrade our knowledge and thinking about the ancient past. In the thirty years since publication of the original Caligula there have been considerable scholarly advances in what we know about this emperor specifically, and also about the general period in which he functioned, while newly discovered inscriptions and major archaeological projects have necessitated a rethinking of many of our earlier conclusions about early imperial history. This new edition constitutes a major revision and, in places, a major rewriting, of the original text. Maintaining the reader-friendly structure and organisation of its predecessor, it embodies the latest discoveries and the latest thinking, seeking to make more lucid and comprehensible those aspects of the reign that are particularly daunting to the non-specialist. Like the original, this revised Caligula is intended to satisfy the requirements of the scholarly community while appealing to a broad and general readership.
Download or read book The Emperor Caligula in the Ancient Sources written by Anthony A. Barrett and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-03-28 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There can be few historical figures who have made such a powerful impact on the popular imagination as the Roman emperor Caligula (died AD 41). Yet an accurate reconstruction of his life and reign largely eludes us. This is paradoxical. The source material is plentiful, even lavish, by the standards of antiquity. The problem lies not so much in the quantity of evidence available, but in its quality. For our information we are obliged to draw on ancient accounts that can be colourful and wonderfully entertaining but have a flexible notion of historical truth and often seem to border on fiction. The consequence is that there is hardly a detail that the modern historian can present without deep reservations about its reliability. A biography of Caligula, in the regular modern sense of the word, is an insurmountable task, and can be at best be a summary personal interpretation by an individual historian of a mass of incoherent and often inconsistent material. Where does this leave the serious general reader? This book approaches Caligula from a quite different angle, by presenting the reader with the raw material of the ancient sources. It provides over 300 translated passages of texts, taken mainly from ancient writers, but also from coins and inscriptions. The translations are accompanied by extensive introductions and notes. These are tailored to the non-specialist, and intended to help such readers navigate material that is often contradictory, sometimes downright incredible, and helps to place events and institutions in their historical contexts. The colourful and exotic incidents are still here, but are presented in a context that will help the reader gain a more sophisticated understanding of how scholars try to reconstruct events of the past. This approach allows the reader to tackle head-on the stark reality that what we read in our sources is not necessarily the truth.
Download or read book The Death of Caligula written by Flavius Josephus and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emperor Gaius 'Caligula' was assassinated in January AD 41. It seemed that the dynasty of the Caesars was over, and republican rule restored; but a military coup by the Praetorian Guard set up Gaius' uncle Claudius as emperor. A detailed contemporary account of the plot and its aftermath was incorporated by the historian Josephus into his Antiquities of the Jews, as an example of the providence of God. This is a translation of that unjustly neglected narrative, one of the most important texts in Roman imperial history, with an introduction and historical commentary to bring out its full significance.
Download or read book Caligula written by Aloys Winterling and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edition statement inferred from Epilogue.
Download or read book Nero written by J. F. Drinkwater and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-03 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nero was negligent, not tyrannical. This allowed others to rule, remarkably well, in his name until his negligence became insupportable.
Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Nero written by Shadi Bartsch and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-11-09 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lively and accessible guide to the rich literary, philosophical and artistic achievements of the notorious age of Nero.
