Time Present and Time Past

Fourteen years into the 21st Century, it seems that some of the most interesting new work in historical fiction is concerned to make sense o...

In the year in which the world said goodbye to the great icon of the struggle for freedom in the modern age, it seems appropriate to turn to...

As promised, here are some of the specific gifts that were offered for Saturnalia, together with the greetings that accompanied them. They a...

There is nothing in any of the four gospels to tell us that Jesus was born in December. Medieval theologians simply considered it likely...

At this time of the year, I generally take a look back at those new books (mostly, but not exclusively, historical fiction) that have impres...

Quintus Petilius Cerialis, one of the most remarkable Roman soldiers of the 1st Century AD, seems to have been born or adopted into a well-c...

As 68 AD neared its end, the Roman Empire stood on the brink of chaos. In June of that year, the Emperor Nero, having been deposed by the Se...