How did Rome’s Republican Government System Contribute to Rome’s Ability to Build and Empire, Conquer Their Enemies and Manage the Conquered Land?

The Greek historian Polybius believed that the key to Rome’s strength was its Republican form of government. In the ancient Greek city states, there were three forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. Each of these were unstable and eventually devolved into their negative forms: Tyranny, oligarchy and mob rule, respectively. The Roman Republic was […]

Notable Women of the Roman Republic: Sempronia the Sister of the Gracchi

In our last blog in our series Notable Women of the Roman Republic we wrote about Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi. Cornelia was the daughter of the great Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus who conquered Carthage at the end of the second Punic war. She was married to Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and had twelve children […]

Book Review: The Sword of Carthage by Vaughn Heppner

                                       The Sword of Carthage     The Sword of Carthage, by Vaughn Heppner, tells a tale of the first Punic war through the eyes of Hamilcar Barca, the father of Hannibal. In writing The Death of Carthage, my novel of the second and third Punic wars, I naturally tried to learn all I could […]

Famous Women of the Roman Republic: Lucretia

                                                      Women of Ancient Rome   This is the first in a series of blogs about women of ancient Rome. All of the societies of the ancient world were male dominated. In no society was a woman routinely allowed to vote, hold public office, plead law cases or lead military forces. (A rare exception […]