Roman - Getty Images

Roman

Q&AWhere do the names for days of the week come from?

Roman Britain: everything you wanted to know.

Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene: why do people want to believe she was a sinner and prostitute?

Engraving of emperor Commodus's death

Cheese, angry gods and shoddy surgeons: the unlikely deaths of Roman emperors.

Illustration of Boudica, victorious over the Romans

What if…Boudica had defeated the Romans?.

Pompeii wall painting depicting an erotic satyr and nymph

In bed with the Romans: a brief history of sex in Ancient Rome

Greg Jenner. (Photo by Frank Monks)

Books interviewFame, fortune and falls from grace: Greg Jenner on the rise of celebrity culture.

The Colosseum in Rome

QuizTest your knowledge of ancient Rome

Once he gained control of the entire Roman Empire, Constantine set about an ambitious programme of reform. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Constantine the Great: the emperor who created Europe

Andrew Ziminski pictured at his workshop in Somerset.

Andrew Ziminski"The stonework at Stonehenge is a Gordian knot of mind-bogglingness".

c1900: Relief depicting Roman officials and praetorians.

Q&ADid Roman men dodge their military service?.

Bottle of 'love potion'

General ancient history

Spanish fly, holy bread and mashed worms: history's weirdest aphrodisiacs and love potions

Politics, Roman style.

Charles I's great weakness was that he made a strict distinction between his role as king, in which he could not compromise, and his personal role, which was entirely pleasant and courteous, says Sean Lang. (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images)

8 of the nicest kings in history

Daisy Dunn.

The destruction of Pompeii.

A young girl in an ancient Roman fresco

Q&AWere girls educated in ancient Rome?.

The engine houses of Botallack mine in Cornwall

A visit to Botallack Mine, Cornwall.

Emperor Nero and the fire in Rome

Q&ADid Emperor Nero really play the fiddle while Rome burned?

One of the earliest and most famous examples of extremism comes from ancient Rome. Starting in 264 BC and continuing for more than a century, Rome engaged in a series of wars with neighbouring Carthage. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A brief history of extremism – from ancient Rome to al Qaeda.

Winchester Cathedral

From King Alfred to Jane Austen: a historical tour of Winchester.

The ancient Greek physician Dioscorides

General ancient history

Happy plants and laughing weeds: how people of the ancient world used – and abused – drugs

Making history funny: is any historical topic off-limits?.

Historian Greg Jenner

Making jokes about Romans.

Dornier 217 bombers of the Luftwaffe bomb London during the Battle of Britain. "The crucial role of the RAF in denying the Germans control of the air in 1940 and therefore persuading Hitler to abandon his invasion plans is so well known that it might seem almost sacrilegious to question it, " says Sean Lang. "But was it solely responsible for saving Britain from invasion? Not quite." (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

9 of the most overrated battles in history (and one underrated one).

An illustration of the battle of Agincourt. By attacking over unsuitable ground, Charles d’Albret “doomed his army”, says Rupert Matthews. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The top 10 military blunders in history.

9 eccentric monarchs through history.

Books interview with AC Grayling: “A great philosophical mind is one that belongs to a childish heart – always curious, always open”.

Charlton Hetson races a chariot in Ben-Hur

Wacky races: 10 weird and wonderful contests through history.

In his native Como, Pliny the Younger's fame is reflected in his statue on the city cathedral's imposing west front, which was built in the 15th century. (Image by AKG Images)

Pliny's Rome: Vesuvius, vice and vestal virgins.

A c1850 bronze statue by Thomas Thornycroft commemorating Boudica and her daughters. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Boudica: scourge of the Roman empire