Roman Empire
Another reason Rome fell
When the Antonine Plague hit in 165, says historian Colin Elliott, the Roman Empire was already well on its way to failure.
How the Jerusalem temple fell
Josephus was tight with the emperor. Guy MacLean Rogers trusts his account anyway.
by Tony Jones
What if Christianity never existed?
Walter Scheidel’s tour de force of world history is based almost entirely on counterfactuals.
by Tony Jones
When Rome succumbed to the elements
What brought down the Roman Empire? Kyle Harper says it was plague and cold climate.
by Tony Jones
What have the Romans ever done for us?
The aqueduct. The roads. An enforced peace to allow a young faith to spread.
by Tony Jones
Unremembered
In the midst of a procession of well-known stories is an image marking what's been forgotten. That's most of history, isn't it?
The Greatest Empire, by Emily Wilson
Emily Wilson offers a carefully balanced narrative of Seneca's life that is derived, as it must be, from partial and often contradictory sources.
reviewed by George Dennis O’Brien
Coming Out Christian in the Roman World, by Douglas Boin
The "Fall of Rome...is not a historical event; it's more akin to a theological idea." So proclaims Douglas Boin, sacking the understanding of early Christian identity that has prevailed since at least the second century.
reviewed by Greg Carey