Category: Rome

Roman history is packed with important figures. The men usually get all the glory. But the women? Just as interesting, and often for very different reasons. Some operated behind the

Otho looked like exactly the wrong man to save Rome from chaos. He was a pampered court dandy, Nero’s drinking buddy, and a man who seized the throne through murder.

Falling rose petals. Extravagant banquets. An oversexed teenage emperor who was determined to shock Rome at every turn. Almost overnight, Elagabalus upended religious convention. Temples were stripped of sacred relics.

“I am a god incarnate” said young Nero. Did that mean he thought he could do anything? Even commit murder? Nero came to the throne at 16. He was an

Few Roman women were damned as thoroughly as Messalina. Her very name became an insult. Messalina, guillotine … almost the same thing. She was one of the most notorious empresses

“Claw, claw, Claudius.” That mocking refrain from I, Claudius captures the way Claudius was seen for most of his life: awkward, stammering, physically impaired, and easy to dismiss. His own

The Praetorian guards began as the emperor’s protectors and ended up as one of Ancient Rome’s most persistent political problems. I’ve called them chaos gremlins before. That may be too

I first met Sejanus in I, Claudius, where he’s every inch the scheming villain. The historical Sejanus is murkier, but he hardly comes off better. Tiberius trusted Sejanus enough to