1. Education

Sewers - A Marvel of Roman Engineering

Cloaca Maxima

The Romans capably put their rivers and streams to work. They built aqueducts and a great sewer system named Cloaca for a goddess identified with Venus.

More on Ancient Rome
Ancient / Classical History Spotlight10

From Truth to Praise to Demonization

Saturday May 19, 2012

Emperor Justinian making an offering. © NYPL Digital Gallery
Procopius was a Byzantine official and historian, author of a history of the wars and a panegyric on Justinian's building projects, but best known for his unofficial, gossipy, secret history of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora. Read more about Procopius.

Related:

Roman Castles Before the Middle Ages

Saturday May 19, 2012

"Bad Homburg - Saalburg Roman Fort Reconstructed"
CC Flickr User roger4336
While castles spring up everywhere in medieval history, they predate the Middle Ages, and even the Roman period. However, the word 'castle' is derived from a word connected with the Roman term for the fortified camps the Roman legions established throughout the Roman Empire.

Read more in: From Legionary Camps to Castles.

Related:

On This Day in Ancient History - A 14-Year-Old Became Emperor

Wednesday May 16, 2012
On this day in ancient Roman History - May 15:
He wouldn't last long on the throne, since he was assassinated at 17/18, but on this day in A.D. 218, the flamboyant Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, whom we call Elagabulus, became emperor of Rome. One of the reasons Elagabalus was so unpopular was that he tried to make his Syrian god the dominant one of the Roman Empire, but there are other, more colorful charges against him. Read more about Elagabalus.

Related:

Guess Who

Wednesday May 16, 2012

CC Flickr User Rictor Norton & David Allen

Hints:

1.) Facing right is Socrates. You are to guess the man facing the left.

2.) Last week's Classics feel good story Columbia University custodian to graduate after 12 years of part-time study (courtesy of the Rogue Classicist) features a man who graduated from Columbia with a degree in Classics and a senior paper on this man.

Answer

Related:

Discuss in my forum

©2012 About.com. All rights reserved.

A part of The New York Times Company.