rome

Casting a skeptical eye to history, what evidence exists that Caesar actually built bridges across the Rhine? The claims are quite extraordinary: That Caesar's army built a bridge across the Rhine in just 10 days using nothing more than local timber (which had to be cut down first). Oh, BTW, he...

I keep seeing Athens credited with basically inventing democracy and all that is good and western, and lately I've begun to wonder if that's deserved. At a surperficial view, it is: Athens went democracy around the middle of the 6'th century BCE, while for example Rome went republic by the end...

Back in the days of High School/University history class, we were taught that Hannibal was a "great military commander/strategist". And I do know that he is seen with great regard by many historians. However, I recently saw an episode of a TV series called "Ancients Behaving Badly" (its on the...

I've seen some right-wing bloggers claim that the real cause for the fall of Rome was that they did not prosecute their illegal aliens. Some of these folks cite Peter Heather's "The Fall of Rome: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians" as supporting their view. Does anyone know if this book...