7 dramatic moments from Roman history that are as good as any movie script

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Roman Empire was and remains one of the most prominent states that have ever existed. Her story is full of countless leaders, brave personalities, crooks and simply greedy rich people, hungry for profit and willing to do whatever they want to satisfy their desires. Your attention - seven original stories of that time, which can easily give odds to the scenario of "Game of Thrones".

1. Cato the Younger

For millennia, the Stoic philosopher and politician Cato the Younger has been a symbol for all who fight for freedom against tyranny. He was a prominent member of the Optimates, a traditionalist Roman political movement that opposed Julius Caesar and his consolidation of power.

Cato was also known for his stubbornness. He was one of those people who refused to give in to their enemies. After Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 46 BC and unconditionally declared war on Rome, Cato supported Caesar's main rival, Pompey. Unfortunately for Cato, Caesar defeated Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus.

Cato and the remnants of Pompey's troops fled to Africa before Caesar finally caught up with them.

Instead of submitting to the power of his longtime enemy, Cato committed suicide.

Plutarch describes this act as follows:.

2. Mark Didius Sever Julian

The Roman Elite Praetorian Guard was originally the protectors of the Roman emperors. But throughout their history, the Praetorians regularly participated in political intrigues that caused a lot of upheaval in Roman politics. And by the second century AD, they basically ruled the empire from behind the throne.

In 193, the Roman emperor Commodus became more and more unpredictable.

The Praetorians took him in and replaced him with a city prefect named Pertinax. Emperor Pertinax's favor with the Praetorians did not last long. They expected to receive payment from him for their atrocities and machinations, but when they realized that waiting for a reward was useless, they stormed the palace and finished with it. His reign lasted only eighty-six days.

This time, the Praetorians wanted to be sure they would receive compensation, so they set up an auction for the throne. A wealthy senator named Marcus Didius Sever Julian offered the highest bid, and the Praetorians accompanied him to the coronation. Because of the way he ascended the throne, Julian was an unpopular emperor, and several generals turned against him. When one of them, Septimius Severus, moved to Rome, almost all of Julian's few supporters left him. The soldier killed Julian after he served only two months.

3. Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Roman history is full of ambitious, power-hungry leaders who are willing to do anything to wield absolute power. But long before the days of Sejanus, Nero, or the Praetorian coups, there was Lucius Cornelius Sulla.

Sulla was a patrician Roman general who won several important victories starting in 107 BC, but he always wanted more. Sulla attacked Rome twice, and in 82 BC took control of the city after the Battle of the Collin Gate. He immediately declared himself an indefinite dictator, which meant an extraordinary power in the Roman Constitution, which was not used for one hundred and twenty years and was to last only six months.

Lucius set about rewriting the Roman Constitution, but his most notorious act was a series of bloody purges, called proscriptions, to end his political rivals. Every day, Sulla published a list of the so-called traitors, offering a bounty on their heads. Even the young Julius Caesar was included in the lists, but he escaped a bloody fate. These purges continued for months, and between a thousand and nine thousand Romans were killed.

By 80 BC. NS. he abandoned the dictatorship, but remained in power as consul. Lucius died a year or two later due to a hemorrhage caused by chronic alcohol use.

4. Gnaeus Pompey Magnus

The Roman general Gnaeus Pompey Magnus, or Pompey, was probably the most prominent general of his generation, having won three triumphs. His skill, popularity, and wealth made him an ideal candidate for the first triumvirate, alongside Julius Caesar and Crassus. Unfortunately for Pompey, the same reasons that made him co-ruler led to his downfall.

The first triumvirate ruled Rome for seven years, from 60 to 53 BC. e., but the ambitions of its three members led to its disintegration. In 53 BC, Julius Caesar's succession of victories in Gaul led to his growing popularity, and the Roman Senate ordered him to abandon his troops and support Pompey instead. Caesar refused, and by 49 BC. NS. he officially raised arms against Pompey and the Senate.

In the ensuing confusion, the outnumbered Caesar dealt a decisive blow to Pompey at the Battle of Dyrrhachia, in present-day Albania. Pompey fled to neighboring Egypt, where he hoped to get refuge from the king Ptolemy XIII. Instead, Ptolemy, fearing that the mighty Caesar might take up arms against Egypt, decided to overthrow Pompey.

5. Mark Licinius Crassus

The third member of the First Triumvirate, Marcus Licinius Crassus, known simply as Crassus, also met a harsh end. Born into a noble family, he became one of the richest men in Rome through a combination of political favor and real estate savvy. This made him a welcome ally for the political ambitions of Julius Caesar in 59 BC.

Although Crassus won several military victories early in his career, he was nowhere near as successful as Caesar or Pompey. He was appointed governor of Syria around 50 BC, but Crassus yearned for even greater military glory. This led him to the capture of the Parthian Empire located in Mesopotamia.

He made a number of strategic mistakes, including leading his soldiers through the desert before they were defeated at the Battle of Carr, thus gaining not the most flattering glory for himself. According to the chronicler Cassius Dion, the Parthians mocked Crassus's greed by pouring molten gold down his throat, symbolizing his unquenchable thirst for wealth.

6. Valerian

Valerian, who ruled from 253 to 260 AD, had the infamous honor of being the only Roman emperor to be captured by the enemy. Valerian led an empire that was becoming too large and unwieldy to rule from Rome alone. He divided the empire into two halves, ruling the East himself and appointing his son Gallienus as emperor of the West.

To the east, Valerian was occupied by the troubled Sassanid empire in Persia, and business almost immediately went south. The Sassanid king Shapur I defeated Valerian at the Battle of Edessa. When Valerian tried to negotiate peace, Shapur captured him instead.

Valerian's life in captivity was not pleasant. According to the Byzantine author Lactantius, Shapur used Valerian as a footstool when mounted on a horse. In the end, Valerian died, and Shapur ordered to rip off his skin, dye it scarlet and hang it in the temple.

7. Emperor Caracalla

As for the story with the Roman emperor Caracalla, death overtook him during a trip … to the toilet. Even by the standards of the Roman emperor, Caracalla was particularly ruthless. In 202 AD, he was forced to marry a woman he hated. Five years later, he killed his father-in-law for treason, and then exiled his wife to the island and also destroyed her. When his father Septimius Sever died in 211, Caracalla inherited the throne along with his brother Geta. The brothers argued constantly, and by the end of the year, Caracalla ordered the execution of Geta in front of their mother. When Caracalla later claimed that it was an act of self-defense, the people of Alexandria put on a play that ridiculed him. In response, he ordered the assassination of several of the leading Alexandrians.

In 217 AD, Caracalla was embroiled in a conflict with the Parthian empire in modern-day Iran when his own praetorian prefect, Macrinus, decided he wanted to get the emperor out of the way. Some sources say Macrinus was motivated by Caracalla's increasingly unpredictable military decisions, while others suggest he heard a prophecy that said he would one day rule the empire. Either way, Macrin enlisted the support of an angry soldier named Justin, who had previously been denied promotion by Caracalla. Justin waited until the emperor was most vulnerable, and when Caracalla dismounted to relieve himself, he pierced him with his sword. Macrinus took the throne and repaid Justin by executing him.

Read also about how Diogenes had fun, thanks to which "Symphony No. 45" appeared and other unusual pranks of prominent personalities, whose antics have become part of history.