Valentinian I: The last of the triumphant Roman emperors in the west.
Valentinian is sometimes described as a brooding and violent man. Ammianus Marcellinus, in particular, does not mince his words describingContinue Reading
Tag: Roman Emperors
A short history of Byzantium: No. 23 Do not forsake us Emperor Jovian: The shameful peace of the year 363 AD.
We first fleetingly hear of Jovian, in Ammianus Marcellinus narrative in the year 361AD just after Constantius’ death. He wasContinue Reading
A short history of Byzantium: No. 22 The Last Pagan Emperor
Julian is such an interesting character that it is impossible to ignore him, even though some tend to treat himContinue Reading
A short history of Byzantium: No. 20 The Rise of Julian: Caesar in Gaul.
When Julian first took command of his Gallic armies at the end of 355, he was almost twenty-four years ofContinue Reading
A short history of Byzantium: No. 19 Julian the Apostate.
By the end of Constantine’s reign, there were an estimated twenty-four million Christians living in the Roman Empire. These numbersContinue Reading
A short history of Byzantium: No. 18 Constantius II, the Byzantine autocrat (Part 2)
The real danger to the Roman empire often came, not from its citizens, nor the Christians, as some would likeContinue Reading
A short history of Byzantium: No. 17 Constantius II, the Byzantine autocrat (Part 1).
Constantius is arguably the most interesting of the three sons of Constantine I. He lived long enough, unlikely his brothersContinue Reading
Marcus Aurelius: Emperor, General & Philosopher.
In his ‘Meditations’, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus simply wrote or described himself as ‘a male, mature in years, a statesman, aContinue Reading
Rearview Mirror 