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Cicero was a well known politician. He was also a great lawyer, scholar, statesman, and author. Do to his ability to speak, he was called the greatest orator of his time.
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This famous poet was a true user of Epicureanism. When he wrote, "On the Nature of Things," he hoped to reform the moral declines in their society.
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Pompeii was a city that was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius, a volcano, on August 24, AD 79. People died from breathing poison gas, cinders, and ash. In three days, the city was completely buried. In 1748, Archaeologists discovered the city. They also discovered people that were petrified by the ash over time.
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Virgil was called "The Homer of Rome." He was considered Rome's greatest poet. His epic poem, Aeneid, he considered Rome to be an ideal state. In his poem, he believed that Rome's destiny was to rule the entire world.
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After Virgil's death, Horace, a good friend of Virgil's, wrote the poem, "Poet of the Augustan Age." In it he speaks of how great Rome is. However, he also includes the dangers of Roman society.
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Livy was a historian who lived during the Augustan period. In about 142 volumes, he recorded the history of Rome so far. However, his writings are mostly mythological legends. His works showed the virtues in tradition and their belief in patriotism. These ideals, he believed was what made Rome great.
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Tacitus was a historian that covered the history of Rome, in his works Annals, in a more pessimistic view. He covered Rome's history from Augustus' death to the reign of Nero.
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Ovid was a poet that was completely different from Horace and Virgil. He focused solely on myths and love. In his best work, Metamorphoses, he made two hundred myths that coincided with each other. By doing this he created all of them as part of one story. However, Augustus banned his works from three libraries and banned Ovid from the city. This happened do to his lack of control and self restraint.
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During Octavian's reign, the empire stretched from the eastern area where the Persian empire once ruled to Britain and western Europe. This time of peace lasted for two centuries and the empire prospered in trade, communications, and in culture.
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Pontius Pilate was the roman governor of Judea province. After Judas betrayed Jesus, guards took Jesus to be judged by Pilate. Pilate found no evidence of Jesus' conviction but sentence Him to die do to public unrest among the Jews.
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Saul, as he was called before his conversion, was born from the Jewish house of Taurus. He then became a Pharisee and started to persecute Christians. However, while on his way to Damascus, he was blinded by God and then became a Christian. He then spread the gospel all over Rome until his imprisonment and execution in the city of Rome.
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Seneca was the tutor to emperor Nero himself. He was a strong believer in Stoicism. He was also an amazing thinker and writer.
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He was born in the province of Judea when Augustus was in power. At age thirty, he began to teach the gospel of God. Religious leaders began to persecute him until he was sentence to die on the cross.
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The Huns, a nomadic tribe that ravaged the Chinese empire, started to attack Rome as it crossed from Asia to Europe.
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Tiberius was the emperor of Rome at the time of Jesus. When Jesus was taken to Pilate, the Jews said that Jesus was putting himself in a position higher Tiberius as a sense of insubordination.
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Octavian, most commonly known as Augustus, was the great nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar. Unlike Caesar, Augustus gave some powers to the Senate. He fired all corrupted officials and replaced them with better qualified officials. He created a fire station, police, a postal service, and underwent many building projects. He was also known as Rome's first emperor.
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After Jesus' death and resurrection, the Christian community began to be persecuted. Stephen, one of Jesus' disciples, was stoned to death in Jerusalem. Stephen then became the first Christian martyr.
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He was a historian that recorded the uprisings between the Romans and the Jews in AD 66. He even said that it was foolish for the Jews to fight against the might of the Romans.
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Plutarch might've been known as the best writer in the empire. He mostly wrote biographies that compered the Greeks and the Romans. "Parallel Lives of Illustrious Greeks and Romans," a book he wrote, is a good piece of literature and it also has great historic data.
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Nero was the Roman emperor during the start of Christianity. Although he was the culprit that set fire to the city of Rome, he instead blamed the Christians. This in turn started a series of cruel and fatal persecutions of Christianity.
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An expert in medicine, Galen experimented with animals. He studied the heart, lungs, blood, and arteries of the animals. The encyclopedia he wrote became very accepted in the Middle Ages.
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After Augustus' death, poets and writers became more pessimistic than before. Juvenal, one of those poets, wrote satires about the moral and social problems of Rome.
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The rebellion of the Jews came to an end when Titus, while commanding an army, attacked and destroyed Jerusalem. The Jews then wandered throughout the world and were persecuted none stop.
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Titus was the commander of the Roman legion that plundered and destroyed Jerusalem.
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The Colosseum had a height of over 160 feet and covered six acres. The construction began during the time of Emperor Vespasian but ended when his son, Titus, was in power. The stands could hold 50,000 people and they all didn't have to pay an entrance fee. The stadium had trap doors for animals to be put into it. The Romans also flooded the arena to reenact naval battles. This was also the place where Christians were martyred.
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Ptolemy was an alexandrian mathematician and astronomer. He was the man who claimed the sun, moon, and stars all traveled around the earth and that the earth was the center of the universe.
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Marcus Aurelius was another strong believer in Stoicism. He was a scholar, administrator, philosopher, and he was known to be the last of the "good Roman Emperor. His death marked the end of Pax Romana.
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In a church in Smyrna, the bishop Polycarp was arrested and tried for believing in christianity. After much debate, a crown seized Polycarp and burned him at the stake. Polycarp believed that when he died for his faith, Christ would reward him with a "crown of life."
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The last, but the largest, persecution of Christians was under emperor Diocletian. He removed Christians from the army, burned the scriptures, and destroyed churches.
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Constantine was a Roman emperor that converted to Christianity. After defeating his foe, Constantine converted to Christianity. By doing this, Rome started to protect the faith and the church was restored. He also made Sunday a holiday and gave funds to many church's' construction.
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The Edict of Milan stopped a three hundred attempt to destroy the Christian faith.
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Arius made false claims that test the Christ's divinity. His works, Arianism, was branded as heresy by the Council of Nicaea.
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The council was developed was headed by emperor Constantine. This council formed to discuss the issue of Arius.
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As the Huns pillaged, many Germanic Tribes started to settle in Roman territories. The Visigoths settled in the eastern part of the empire. They soon rebelled however and in 378 they defeated the Roman army and killed the emperor.
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Theodosius I was the roman emperor that edicted Christianity as the main religion of Rome and the end of the fourth century. He was also the emperor that divided the empire between his two sons in 395 AD.
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Alaric was the leader of the Visigoths when they pillaged the city of Rome. They then settled in Spain.
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Attila the Hun was a leader of the Huns. He was nicknamed the "Scourge of God."
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Two years after the Huns' failed attempt to attack Rome, A Germanic tribe called the Vandals plundered Rome.
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In AD 476, the Western Roman empire collapsed and a non roman was placed on the throne.
