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:

• Decay of the Roman Empire
• Short List of Events Leading to the Fall of Rome
• Timeline of the Emperors Involved in the Fall of Rome
• Chaos Emperors

_{From Vaticana, Vat. lat. 3868 (2r) PD Courtesy of Wikipedia.}

This portrait may or may not be of the man it is thought to represent.

Hints:

• Fabula Palliata
• Roman Theater
• Layout of the Ancient Greek Theater

Answer.

On This Day in Ancient History - May 13:
Vestal Virgins worked on the mola salsa, the Romans' sacred salted cake. In her online article on mola salsa, author Caroline Tully cites Robin Lorsch Wildfang's book on Vestal Virgins to say that this was one of the days on which the Vestal Virgins gathered unripe spelt to use in the mola salsa. The grain would then Read More...

On This Day in Ancient History - May 11:

In A.D. 330, Constantine the Great inaugurated his new capital city, the former Byzantium, which had started as a Greek colony in the 7th century B.C. Later to be known as Constantinople and later still, Istanbul, at the time when Byzantium became the New Rome, Christianity had only recently been legalized, but Constantine built Christian structures in his new capital city.

Constantinople remained the capital of the Byzantine Empire until 1453 when it became part of the Ottoman Empire. It was strategically located on the European side of the Bosporus, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara.

• Byzantine Era
• Definition of Byzantine
• The Name Constantine
• Archaic Age Greece