Roman

Roman mosaic of a dog, bearing the legend 'Cave Canem' underneath, from Pompeii, from Naples National Museum's collection, 1st century. (Photo by CM Dixon/Print Collector/Getty Images)

6 things you (probably) didn’t know about animals in ancient Rome

A portrait of the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (c1340-1400), who modern literary scholars credit for turning Valentine into the patron of love. Chaucer was a major influencer in his day – after him, everyone began calling their beloved “Valentine” and writing love poems on 14 February, says Lisa Bitel. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A brief history of Valentine’s Day – from the patron saint of epilepsy to Chaucer’s love tales

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A brief history of Valentine’s Day cards

York Minster's south transept rose window features 16th-century Tudor Roses white on red (left) and Lancastrian Roses, red. The Tudor Rose became known as “the flower of England” and is today England's national flower. (Angelo Hornak/Alamy Stock Photo)

A brief history of the English rose

Agrippina the Younger. (Photo by Alamy)

A Roman woman of great power

A memorial tomb to King Æthelstan, the first Saxon king of all England, in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire. (Photo by Geography Photos/UIG via Getty Images)

A brief history of England

Heck cows, the result of Nazi breeding experiments. Seven Heck cows had to be put down in January 2015 after they tried, on multiple occasions, to attack Devon farmer Derek Gow. (Photo by Jim Wileman/Alamy Stock Photo)

Nazi super-cows and defamed Gods: 7 strange and forgotten moments in history

Max Adams. (Photo by Kona Macphee/Royal Literary Fund)

Remarkable women through history

c60 AD, Queen Boudica of the Iceni holding a spear. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

8 things you may not know about British history

Foundations of a bath house at the Roman fort on Bar Hill in central Scotland. (Photo by Alamy)

History explorer Roman Britain’s final frontier

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Illustration showing Roman Saturnalia banquet. (Photo by Alamy)

How did the Romans celebrate ‘Christmas’?

(Photo by Edward Gooch/Edward Gooch/Getty Images)

16 things that happened in December through history

A Gallo-Roman image shows wine being transported. According to Barry Cunliffe, there was a long period when the Romans traded extensively with the Celts of Gaul, tribes with whom the Romans co-existed in relative peace. (Photo by BeBa/Iberfoto/Mary Evans)

The Library The Celts: were they friends or foes of the Romans?

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Wall painting from The House of the Faun, built during the 2nd century BC in the Roman city of Pompeii, depicting an erotic satyr and nymph. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

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