Questions tagged [ancient-rome]
Ancient Rome was a civilization centred around the city of Rome, that lasted from the 8th century BC to 476 AD (West); 1453 AD (East).
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What are the approximate percentages of the 3 classes of population in the city of Rome around the time of Octavian?
I wonder what's the best recent scholarly estimate of the percentages of each of the 3 main social classes of population in the city of Rome around the time of Octavian:
Patricians
Plebeians
Slaves
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Are the “Baal” of the Bible and Carthage’s Baal Hammon the same deity, and is there evidence of a continuous cult that practiced child sacrifice?
The Bible mentions the deities Baal-hamon, Molech, and Tophet, as deities to which the ancient peoples of the near east would sacrifice children to. Moreover, Baal-Hammon is also mentioned as a place ...
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What is this Roman coin that I recently got at an online auction?
I need help identifying a Roman coin, its value, and how to safely store it to prevent further corrosion and damage.
I recently acquired this coin with a variety lot of other coins at an online ...
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Where to find examples of zodiacs with 11 signs?
Servius the Grammarian (4-5th. c.) wrote in his commentary to the Georgics
" Egyptians assert that there are 12 signs, the Chaldeans – 11 /
(Aegyptii XII esse adserunt signa, Chaldaei vero XI)&...
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What names did Ancient Greeks give to stars?
Many stars today have Arabic names, but they were all known to Ancient Greeks and Romans like Hipparchus and Ptolemy. I am interested in how the Greeks, specifically, called individual stars in the ...
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Favorinus the famed orator is proclaimed one of the most famous congenital eunuchs to have lived. Was he really a congenital or is it just fiction?
I have a novel coming out about a 6th-century B.C. Ethiopian eunuch, and while researching eunuchs, I ran across a man named Favorinus, a 2nd-century orator famed in Athens and Rome. Wikipedia calls ...
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At what point did Rome truly become an empire? [closed]
According to Wikipedia,
The history of the Roman Empire covers the history of ancient Rome from the traditional end of the Roman Republic in 27 BC until the abdication of Romulus Augustulus in AD 476 ...
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How did the Romans ram the casement walls of Masada when, according to Josephus, they were 18ft high, 12ft wide, and made of stone?
The Roman siege ramp at Masada was 25 degrees which is pretty steep. They were using a ram that they either dragged up the slope, or transported in pieces in place, all the while under fire from the ...
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Why is the former castellum (Roman fort) called Matilo in the present day?
It seems that today nearly everyone calls it Matilo, but I started wondering where the name came from. It seems the oldest historical mention of it is on the Tabula Peutingeriana where it is called ...
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Did ancient Greece or Rome have opposing political factions? [closed]
Did ancient Greece or Rome have opposing political factions? Are they analogous to what we would today would call conservative vs. liberal political parties?
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What active defence and reconnaissance did a Roman camp in hostile territory usually deploy?
Things I doubt anyone would contest:
during the whole European campaign forts were built every evening
those fortifications were codified, no thinking was needed in erecting them
it worked.
Question:...
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Who said there were more idols/gods than people in the ancient world?
Which Greco-Roman writer famously observed that the number of idols or deities in the ancient world surpassed that of its human population? This statement is often attributed to Pliny the Elder, but ...
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When was the first recorded use of viniculum in Roman Numerals?
Viniculum is the bar above the numeral to multiply it by a thousand.
What is the oldest known record of its use in ancient Rome?
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Is there an error in this picture of ancient Rome?
Somewhere on the internet I found this picture, purporting to show what a part of the city of Rome looked like in the time of the Roman Empire. I think I've seen almost the same picture in several ...
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Did the city of Rome have a hospital?
Is there any evidence of physicians working in the equivalent of a modern hospital in 1st century city of Rome?
If yes, are there any ruins of such place?