Roman History

Return to Lake Trasimène. A Failure of Intelligence

by Daniel Russ on January 25, 2020

It’s odd talking about a battle I wrote about ten years ago. But this is not my first visit to Lake Trasimène. This is: ( https://civilianmilitaryintelligencegroup.com/1807/the-battle-of-lake-trasimene) The new insight is that Faminius did not know what he was facing. Flaminius was also completely outclassed by this trickster. After having humiliated the Romans at the Trebia […]

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Trebia. 218 BC

by Daniel Russ on January 20, 2020

  Trebia was the first major set piece battle between the Carthaginians and the Romans during the second Punic war. This was all out war by a competent and powerful foreign army inside Rome that the Romans couldn’t extract from their country for there years The Carthaginians had 38000 men and the Romans under Scipio […]

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Ticinus

January 14, 2020
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  Publius Cornelius Scipio   In the fiorst battle of the Second Punic War, we see something rarely this nuanced. But we see cleverness.   After crossing the Alps, Hannibal finally arrived in northern Italy with 12,000 African infantry, 8,000 Iberian infantry, and 4,000 cavalry.   Polybius is sure of these numbers because, he reports, […]

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Cornered and Scared, Roman Soldiers are Comforted by a Leader.

April 12, 2019
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In 61 AD, a new precept took the place of Prasutagus in Brittania. Prasutagus had a good working relationship with the Iceni people in Brittania. When he died, and the Romans installed Suetonious as the new precept, he failed at establishing a relationshiop with the Iceni. He brutalized Boudica, the windowed Queen. So she led […]

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Collapse. From the BBC

April 8, 2019
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The Roman Empire, for example, was the victim of many ills including overexpansion, climatic change, environmental degradation and poor leadership. But it was also brought to its knees when Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410 and the Vandals in 455. Collapse is often quick and greatness provides no immunity. The Roman Empire covered […]

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Tacitus. Histories

January 21, 2019

Here is an excerpt from Book I. This is fascinating.   Fortune was already, in an opposite quarter of the world, founding and making ready for a new dynasty, which from its varying destinies brought to the state joy or misery, to the emperors themselves success or doom.1 Titus Vespasianus had been dispatched by his […]

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Rome’s Imperial Power Was Expressed In Its Architecture.

April 17, 2018
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    The Appian Way, Via Appia, is a wonder to the world. Itself it stretches just short of 40 miles. But it was the road that began the first official universal transportation system in antiquity.   It connected Britain to Mesopotamia, from the Danube to Gibraltar and from the Alps to northern Africa. It was […]

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The Goths Fought For Rome. What They Were Really Fighting For Was A Homeland.

August 23, 2016
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Alaric I. King Of The Goths. It was during 285 AD when Diocletian decided that the best way to manage the massive Roman Empire was to divide it in half, Eastern and Western Empires. Rome surrounded the Mediterranean Sea, including the Iberian Peninsula, north to Brittania, the Northern European provinces in today’s France, Italy, Germany, […]

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Yes, Even The Germanic Tribes At The Edges Of Rome Had Special Forces.

February 8, 2016

  It seems that every society had a cadre of special forces soldiers. Of course they were all cloaked in the mystical fanaticism of some ideology or other. So the Harii were a special society of Germanic fighters who populated the mountains north of the Roman empire now in modern day Hanover.   The Roman […]

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The Sicarii, Jewish Revolutionaries Formed To Push Rome Out Of Israel.

February 4, 2016

  The Sicarii were an underground society of Jewish terrorists who bred fear and dissension among the Roman occupiers and their sympathizers in the first century. They were assassins who struck without warning against Roman sentries, soldiers, precepts or supporters in the crowds of locals in occupied Jerusalem. Their attacks were characterized by the sudden […]

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Caligula, Claudius and Nero

September 10, 2015

    The last three emperors on the Julian-Claudian Dynasty are known for the louche behind the scenes behaviors and the tawdry nefarious machinations that took place at the highest levels of the administration. Through a prism darkly lit by their more extreme behavior these three have been called the worst emperors in the Roman […]

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Great Maps Of Ancient Rome From Vox Media. Click To Enlarge.

March 1, 2015

The Rise of Christian Rome, 300 AD to 800 AD . The Third  Century AD Was A Bad Time To BE A Roman Emperor. Between 235 and 285, Rome had over 20 emperors, each of whom came to an inglorious demise. Some were offed by their own Centurions. Some died at the wrong end of […]

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Developer Yuri Victor Developed Maps That Encapsulate The History Of The Roman Empire.

February 25, 2015

  This is Rome around the time of Trajan in 117 AD. This was Rome at its largest, and you can see from the  overlay that to the Northwest was Britannia and to the East was Egypt, Constantinople and the Levant. It is important to remember that it took about a month to go from […]

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Is This The Origin Of Christmas? Ancient Rome?

January 27, 2015

Word for word from a Facebook post: Juan Miguel Garcia II. How Did Christmas Come to Be Celebrated on December 25?Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished […]

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Vindolanda, The Green Zone Of Ancient Rome.

December 16, 2014

Vindolanda   A castrum was a Roman auxiliary garrison. Vindolanda was such a fortification south of Hadrian’s Wall in northern England near the current day town of Bardon Mill. Since the 16th Century, Britains have been aware of the ruins of this place. However in the early 19th century an altar was discovered there and […]

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Luxurious Roman Way-Station Uncovered In Bulgaria.

June 28, 2014
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Heated Pool     .What looks to be a something akin to a Roman Marching Camp has been located in Bulgaria in Southern Europe.  Called the Sistra Complex, it appears to have been designed to house traveling dignitaries, and as such, it features a large heated pool, hypocaust heated quarters where not only is the […]

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Roman Graffiti Translated. Little Has Changed In Regards to Humanity

June 26, 2014
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  Found this compendium of Roman graffiti from Prof. Prof. Brian Harvey.    At a Bar/Brothel of Innulus and Papilio: “Weep, you girls.  My penis has given you up.  Now it penetrates men’s behinds.  Goodbye, wondrous femininity! At the Tavern of Verecundus)  Restitutus says: “Restituta, take off your tunic, please, and show us your hairy privates”. […]

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The Slums Of Rome, Jesus and Occupy Wall Street.

May 20, 2014

  Jesus and the Money Changers – El Greco   Around the time of Claudius, Roman historian Seutonius described his life in Rome.   “Now consider the dangers of the night in Rome. The tiles fall off of the roofs, and crack you in the head. Drunks spoil for a fight. Suddenly you are confronted […]

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Did Shapur Really Have Emperor Valerian Taxidermied?

May 13, 2014

   Roman Emperor Valerian Used As A Footstool For The Persian King.   Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius was a Christian historian and writer who served Constantine I. Lactanius was also virulently anti-Persian. He was so anti-Perisan that some historians believe his description of the death of the Emperor Valerian at the hands of the Persian […]

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Homesick Roman.

April 28, 2014

    An 1800 year old letter home from a Roman recruit to his parents in Egypt, then a Roman province has been found in Egypt. It is written by an Egyptian man, serving as a Roman legionnaire with the Second Legion Adiutrix in Modern Day Hungary.  His name is Polion and he is from […]

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