https://www.patreon.com/rome_is_the_light, https://www.romeisthelight.com/shop

Rome Is The Light, Dublin (2026)

07/10/2026

🙂👇𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐨𝐬 𝐈 𝐊𝐨𝐦𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐬 (𝟏𝟎𝟖𝟑 𝐀.𝐃.) 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏 𝐨𝐟 𝟐:

The start date for the Siege of Larissa is disputed, with Anna Comnena stating ‘He (Behemond) then moved on to Larissa, arriving in full force on St. George the Martyr’s Day’.

However, it is most likely that the source was incorrect, and that they had meant November 3rd 1082 A.D. The city of Larissa remains unknown to us with regard to its medieval fortifications. However, the defence of the city was entrusted to the experienced officer Leo Cephalas, who managed to hold off the Normans for six months before he sought help from Alexios I Komnenos.

The emperor had tried to spread discontent among the senior officials of Bohemond I (leader of the Norman Forces), and while we do not know about the details of the conspiracy, it is said that three senior figures close to Bohemond were accused of plotting to desert to Alexios.
The Roman Emperor Alexios requested a mercenary force from Suleiman I during the winter of 1082, and this request was fulfilled, with the emperor receiving a force of 7,000 men. The force of 7,000 was led by the commander Camyres.

Emperor Alexios left Constantinople in March 1083, and he had planned to avoid direct contact with the Norman troops for now, and so his tactics led him through the southern approaches of the city of Larissa and headed west towards Trikala.

Alexious was aware of the potentially low morale and experience of his troops, thereby choosing to avoid a fourth battle with the Normans. Instead, Alexios opted to engage the Normans through a series of ambushes instead. In doing this, he was inclined to follow the steps as dictated by two earlier military works. With one being the De Re Militari, and how it directed what should be done ahead of any encounter with an enemy force.

In part two we will see a special plan be led by Nikephoros Melissenos and Basil Kourtikios.

06/10/2026

😀👇𝐌𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐚𝐱:

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐮𝐬?.✍📗

The Pannonian Soldiers had declared Maximinus Thrax as Roman Emperor, a man better suited to the issues of the army than their previous emperor, Severus Alexander. However, he was a man not liked by the Senate, and seen as a barbarian, and not even a true Roman.

Nonetheless, Maximinus got to work and planned on controlling the troublesome barbarians who were causing trouble for the empire. However, things in the empire are not always straight forward, and for the new emperor, there was pockets of discontent among some from within. Some officers had sought to remove Maximinus and declare Magnus the new emperor but this failed.

However, what his reign has shown, that could be a surprise to some, is that work at the location of his famous victory at the Battle of the Harzhorn Hill, the giant emperor advanced further into Germania than many believed. Prior to this, he had an impressive victory against the Alemanni in 235 A.D., which allowed him to get the name of Dacius Maximus, Sarmaticus Maximus and the salutation of Imperator III. There is good reasons for him also having earned the salutations of Imperator IV, V and VI too.

These achievements meant that he achieved outstanding military successes against the Dacians and Sarmatians.

Maximinus had planned to continue his campaigns until all of the territory up to the Baltic Sea was in Roman Hands.

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐨𝐫 𝐕𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧?✍📗
Despite attempts to discredit him, it is believed that Maximinus was an able and diligent officer famed for his bravery. He was a competent and imaginative leader who worked tirelessly for the interests of the Roman Empire. He was a leader who had no issues leading from the front, and his bravery rallied his men around him.

04/10/2026

😀👇𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐕𝐢𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐯𝐢𝐮𝐬:

‘’I shall first treat of bricks, and the earth of which they ought to be made. Gravelly, pebbly, and sandy clay are unfit for that purpose; for if made of either of these sorts of earth, they are not only too ponderous, but walls built of them, when exposed to the rain, moulder away, and are soon decomposed, and the straw, also, with which they are mixed, will not sufficiently bind the earth together, because of its rough quality. They should be made of earth of a red or white chalky, or a strong sandy nature. These sorts of earth are ductile and cohesive, and not being heavy, bricks made of them are more easily handled in carrying up the work.

The proper seasons for brick-making are the spring and autumn, because they then dry more equably. Those made in the summer solstice are defective, because the heat of the sun soon imparts to their external surfaces an appearance of sufficient dryness, whilst the internal parts of them are in a very different state; hence, when thoroughly dry, they shrink and break those parts which were dry in the first instance; and thus broken, their strength is gone.

Those are best that have been made at least two years; for in a period less than that they will not dry thoroughly. When plastering is laid and set hard on bricks which are not perfectly dry, the bricks, which will naturally shrink, and consequently occupy a less space than the plastering, will thus leave the latter to stand of itself. From its being extremely thin, and not capable of supporting itself, it soon breaks into pieces; and in its failure sometimes involves even that of the wall.

It is not, therefore, without reason that the inhabitants of Utica allow no bricks to be used in their buildings which are not at least five years old, and also approved by a magistrate.

03/10/2026

😀👇𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐭-𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 ‘𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧’:

When it came to the chariot racing, they were preceded by a sacred procession that paraded through the loud, bustling city streets and it was terminated in the Circus Maximus. This is where it circled the track, that is according to Ovid:

‘But now the procession is approaching; give good omens both in words and feelings. The time is come to applaud; the procession approaches, glistening with gold.’ Ovid Amores 3.531. 📗✍

‘When the next Dawn shall have looked on victorious Rome, and the stars shall have been put to flight and given place to the sun, the Circus will be thronged with a procession and an array of the gods, and the horses, fleet as the wind, will contend for the first palm.’ Ovid Fasti 4.389. 📗✍

The ‘Pompa’, or procession, now opens the performance. In this all those who were about to take part in the upcoming race would be exhibited here. The statues of the Gods were borne on wooden platforms on the shoulders of men, or on wheels, in accordance to their weight. The procession went from the Capitol, through the Forum, before finishing in the Circus Maximus.

Young nobles, chariot drivers, athletes, dancers, musicians, incense burners, temple attendants, etc., closely followed the Gods in the procession. It was not long before the crowd would then shift their gaze to the Carceres, as in the 12 starting gates, before the sponsor of the game (editor spectaculorum) standing above the starting gates would drop a white handkerchief (mappa) to signal the start of the races.

The people watching could keep track of the race by keeping an eye on the seven dolphins that were installed to count the laps. The crowd were dazzled by the sprinkling of selenite, a transparent form of gypsum all over the arena floor so that it would sparkle in the sun.

www.romeisthelight.com/shop📌

02/10/2026

🙂👇𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞:

It can be said the Eastern Roman Empire carried on many aspects of the Western Roman Empire. Albeit, as the centuries went by, the forms of entertainment did start to adapt to an everchanging landscape. We know by the 6th-century A.D. gladiatorial combat and beast hunts that were hallmarks of the Western Roman Empire had become overshadowed by the new forms of entertainment. It was by the reign of Emperor Anastasius (491-518 A.D.) that pantomimes of the theatre and chariot races in the hippodrome had become the key attractions.

However, the theatre was said to have taken on a more lewd appearance and less intellectual compared to its earlier appearances. We have surviving accounts that give us an insight into these performances and we get an idea of how some people viewed them. Most notably, we have the numerous attacks made against Empress Theodora for her, alleged, appearances and performances in these shows. The work of Procopius, the Secret History, leaves very little to the imagination as he goes into great detail about her performances.

The theatre and pantomime had become so popular that it was considered a strong punishment to ban the shows. This was carried out by Emperor Justin I when he banned them in 522 A.D.

The popularity of these shows too led to disagreements from forming within, as demonstrated through a riot having broken out in 501 in Constantinople. A further riot broke out in 529 at Antioch leading to a ban of theatrical shows in the city. If we add this to the known riots having broken out during races in the hippodrome, it pushes us toward the view that spectacle and rioting often became linked in the ancient world. As mentioned by a modern author, the opportunity to get out and see a spectacle, whether it was at the theatre or the hippodrome, if often gave people a chance to escape their everyday lives and stresses.

01/10/2026

🙂👇𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐲 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝?:

According to the Roman Writer Vegetius, victory in war for the Romans was not absolutely dependent on numbers, or mere courage. The Romans owed its great conquests to its great arms/equipment, and its complete observance of discipline in their military camps, and a ‘…unwearied cultivation of the other Arts of War’.✍️📗

The idea is that you can have huge amounts of men across the Roman Army but it is of no use without the equipment and discipline of their troops.

‘ Without these, what would the inconsiderable numbers the Roman Armies consisted of, have availed against the multitudes of the Gauls?’✍️📗

Despite other places, according to Vegetius, having advantages over the Romans, for example, ‘The Spaniards surpassed us not only in numbers, but in strength of body’.✍️📗

The Romans were the people who thoroughly understood the importance of hardening their troops through continual practise, and of training them in the Field of Mars to every evolution that might happen in the line and in action.

‘Nor were they less strict in punishing idleness and sloth. The courage of a soldier is heightened by his knowledge of his profession, and he wants but an opportunity to execute what he is convinced he has been perfectly taught’.✍️📗

Men trained in the Roman way might be fewer in number but their training left them superior to their enemies.

‘A handful of men, inured to war, proceed, as it were, to certain victory, while on the contrary, numerous armies of raw and undisciplined troops are but multitudes of men dragged to slaughter’.✍️📗

30/09/2026

😀👇𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐬:

The arch in the Forum Boarium is the only surviving quadrifron arch in Rome. The arch has four facades and despite its name there is some suggestions that it was not dedicated to the Roman god Janus, and any connections to religion has been, for now, ruled out, rather its name derived from ianua. It is strongly believed that there is no authority for why people call it as we do, as we do not know what the Romans called it during antiquity.

The structure is covered with marble slabs taken from a range of earlier buildings within Rome, and thereby it has assisted archaeologists date the arch to the second half of the 4th-century. It was perhaps dedicated as an honorary or triumphal arch to either Constantine the Great or his son, Constantius II. However, this is a rather disputed issue but from what I have read it seems to date to after Constantine. The inscriptions concerning Constantius II were lost when a car bomb went off in 1993, an event which left the portico of the church of San Giorgio destroyed. The car bomb was set off in retaliation by the Mafia against the Italian Government.

During the middle ages it was transformed into a fortress by the Frangipane family, and it remained intact up until 1830 when the attic and top were torn down because they were erroneously believed to not belong to the original structure. Fragments of the dedicatory inscription are still preserved inside the nearby church of San Giorgio al Velabro.

It is said that in 1601, an abyss suddenly opened up underneath the arch, causing the disappearance of a woman, swallowed by the earth as she was walking with her daughter. It is suggested for this reason, the Romans, especially in less than recent times, did not willingly pass beneath the arch.

The arch, closed since 1993 opened up again in November 2021.

29/09/2026

😀👇𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬:

Galen was appointed to Pergamum in 157 A.D. as the physician to the gladiatorial school and we are told that he did not care for the food of the gladiators because it made the gladiators too ‘muscular’. Much of the discussion revolved around negative reviews of this physique and much of it was connected to physiognomic themed discussions that sought to denigrate this body shape, largely thought to have come from older senatorial men who for whatever reason were unable to achieve this. The high-fiber barley porridge meal was not the only item that the gladiators would have eaten but it does help prove, to a certain extent, that those in charge of the gladiators were aware of the correlation between a good diet and the physical activity required of the gladiators.

A much bigger topic to discuss another time was the treatment of gladiators, but for now I will say the idea of gladiators having been needlessly killed was not the complete picture.

‘At any rate, the place has been found to be so healthful that the rulers have given orders to feed and train the gladiators there.’ Strabo Geography 5.1.7 📗✍

The food we are told that was given at the gladiatorial schools was ‘sagina’ and might have been considered unappetising. Juvenal informs us that the standard diet was called miscellanea. During the early days and perhaps beyond, the gladiators had a nickname of ‘barley men’ and that undoubtedly comes from the large barley input. The physical activity required large quantities of food and we are told the rations were bigger than those given to the Roman soldiers.

‘Barley is the most ancient of foods, as appears on the advice of Menander in the Athenian rite, and by the surname of the gladiators, who were called barleys.’ Pliny Natural Histories 18.72 📗✍

27/09/2026

😀👇𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟐 𝐨𝐟 𝟐:

Modern suggestions have said that the rededication to Constantine has scant evidence and it has been suggested the temple had a prominent new inscription honouring Constantine installed. This was done alongside the issuing of several coins honouring the goddess Roma, as well as his choice to place an image of the deity for the central keystone on the northern façade of the arch. To go into the other structures under Constantine would take too much space for this series but it has been said that the basic message of Constantinian legitimacy and authority was obvious to all, no matter how you approached the Colosseum Valley you were reminded of the urban benefactions, his ancestral ties and most importantly for Constantine, his connection to the Flavians.

We are told that in 625 A.D. that Pope Honorius had received special dispensation from Heraclius to strip the gilded bronze roof tiles in order to allow repairs to be carried out on the old basilica of St. Peter’s. The temple, like many other of the buildings withing Rome was routinely pillaged, with one of the worst examples arguably having occurred during the visit to Rome by Constans II in 663 A.D. During the 12 day visit to Rome, the Eastern Emperor oversaw the removal of every artistic ornament and sculpture that could easily be carried away, from public places and monuments. We do not know the exact list of what was removed but Anastasius tells us that all of the objects were shipped to Constantinople.

An earthquake in 847 A.D. led to further ruination of the temple, inclusive of a church that was built among the ruins which would later be rebuilt as Santa Maria Nova by Pope Leo IV.

25/09/2026

🙂👇𝐒𝐢𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝟕𝟏𝟖 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏:

During the decades prior to the siege it seemed like Islam had been taking further steps in its attempt to shatter the old worlds. Furthermore, it had removed the wealthiest provinces from the Roman Empire when the controlled Syria, Egypt, and North Africa.

The Arabs had now set their eyes on ‘The Red Apple’ of Constantinople. The Caliph, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik was destermined to succeed where his predecessors had failed. For this ambitious plan he committed the full resources of his vast empire to the mission, and also raising one of the largest expeditionary forces of the period.

It is hard to believe the numbers that we are often given by the ancient writers but it is thought that the army was around 120,000, and placed under the command of the Caliph’s brother, Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik. Alongside the army there was around 1,800 vessels.

During this time the Roman Empire was not in great shape, and it had suffered from a series of coups and counter-coups for around twenty years. Furthermore, a near constant revolving door of emperors vying for control had left the empire in a weak, disorientated and vulnerable position.

However, as the siege approached it had appeared that the empire was susceptible and that there was little the Romans could do to prevent it. However, as was often the case, in times of trouble, the empire produced a man of great strength and skill. In this case it was Leo III the Isaurian who came to direct the ship against Islam.

Like the early emperors of the west, Leo was not a rich aristocrat but a tough, battle-hardened soldier who had risen through the ranks on merit and not based on what connections that he had.

Leo was acclaimed emperor in March of 717 A.D. just as the invasion had begun and the shield of Europe needed to be protected.

Rome Is The Light

07/10/2026

06/10/2026

04/10/2026

03/10/2026

02/10/2026

01/10/2026

30/09/2026

29/09/2026

27/09/2026

25/09/2026

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Listing takedown request