history of rome
entries
the greatest lie of the roman empire
rome did not tell its own story as a daughter of italy, but of troy. how the most powerful empire of antiquity anchored its legitimacy in the myth of prince aeneas, and how augustus and virgil's aeneid turned that genealogy into state propaganda.
the great lie of the she-wolf of rome
the myth of romulus, remus and the capitoline she-wolf may conceal a far more earthly origin. the double meaning of the word lupa in latin, and the fratricide that, according to tradition, stained the foundation of rome in 753 bce.
the seizure of the sabines
to stave off rome's extinction, romulus engineered a mass deception against the neighbouring tribes. the rape of the sabines as a founding myth of the forced assimilation of peoples, and of how two enemy communities ended up fused into one.
the first assassination of rome
the mysterious disappearance of romulus and the rumour of a state crime orchestrated by the senate. how rome solved its first power vacuum by electing a foreigner, numa pompilius, who founded the religion of the state without drawing the sword.
the duel that changed rome
rome and alba longa staked the future of their cities on a duel to the death of three against three. the legend of the horatii and the curiatii and the mythic origin of the provocatio, the citizen's right to appeal to the people.
the first monopoly of rome
before conquering the world with legions, tradition has it that rome learned to grow rich by controlling salt. king ancus marcius, the foundation of ostia and the white gold of antiquity that turned a band of shepherds into a commercial power.
the millionaire who bought rome
the arrival of the etruscans on the throne. tarquinius priscus, an immensely wealthy immigrant, uses his fortune and rome's first electoral speech to seize the crown, and transforms the city with the circus maximus and the cloaca maxima.
the slave who became king
the life and brutal fall of servius tullius. how a man born to a slave woman reached the throne by deception, invented the census to reorder rome by wealth instead of by blood, and ended up murdered by his own daughter.
the only untouchable women
the vestal virgins were rome's great legal exception. emancipated women, with the power to pardon a condemned man simply by crossing his path, yet subject to an atrocious punishment if they broke their vows: death without the shedding of blood.
the corruption of the roman calendar
why october is the tenth month if its name means the eighth. how superstition about numbers and the corruption of the roman pontiffs came to break, literally, the measure of time in antiquity.
the crime that destroyed the kings
the roman monarchy did not fall through a war or an economic crisis, but through prince sextus tarquinius's assault on the noblewoman lucretia. the crime that unleashed the fury of the aristocracy and founded the roman republic in 509 bce.