Roman Empire Archives - Page 13 of 13 - Tales of Times Forgotten

Misconceptions about the Library of Alexandria

The Great Library of Alexandria is by far the most famous library that existed in the ancient world. At its height in the third century BC, it attracted renowned scholars from all over the Hellenistic world. It is likely that it held more scrolls than any other library in the Mediterranean at the time. Many people today see this library as a symbol of everything the ancient world accomplished.

As a result of the Great Library’s fame, however, it has become heavily mythologized. Many of the things that many people today believe about the library are simply not true. For instance, contrary to what you may have read on the internet, the Library of Alexandria was not the first library ever built, its famous destruction is not the primary reason why so many texts from ancient times have been lost, and it was certainly not deliberately destroyed by religious obscurantists of any kind.

Who Was the Last Roman Emperor? A Harder Question than You Might Think.

Many different people throughout history have been described as “the last Roman emperor.” You may then be left wondering, “Who really was the last Roman emperor?” Unfortunately, a direct and concise answer to this question is impossible, because the answer depends entirely on who you think counts as a “Roman emperor.” The fact is that there are all kinds of different people who could potentially be considered the “last emperor of the Roman Empire,” many of whom were not even Roman.

Debunking the So-Called “Dark Ages”

There is no period in all of human history that gets quite so much bad press as the Middle Ages. Popularly known as the “Dark Ages,” most people imagine that this was the worst possible time to be alive—a thousand years of poverty, backwardness, stagnation, superstition, and obscurantism.

It is popularly believed that, during this era, obscurantist Christians deliberately rounded up classical texts to destroy them, people burned witches, no one ever bathed, everyone thought the world was flat, people were constantly slaughtering and torturing each other for no reason, all people were fanatically orthodox Catholics, scientific and technological advancement was virtually nonexistent, doctors knew less about medicine than doctors in all other eras, and everyone was always miserable.

There is very little truth to any of these notions, however. The real Middle Ages are very different from the barbarous caricature that most people are familiar with. Although some historians do use the term “Dark Ages,” they use this term to refer to a specific period in medieval western European history lasting a little over three hundred years from the collapse of the western Roman Empire in the fifth century AD until the rise of the Carolinian Empire in the late eighth century AD.

In this article, I will debunk some of the most popular misconceptions about the Middle Ages. Then, at the end, I will explain why I, like many historians, believe that the term “Dark Ages” should be retired altogether.

Could You Have Survived in the Ancient World?

At some point, many people have wondered, “Could I have survived to a ripe old age if I had been born 2,000 years ago?” If you have ever wondered this, you are in luck, because right now is your chance to find out! In this article, we are going to be exploring some of the most common things that killed people in antiquity at different stages of their lives. We are also going to talk about how, believe it or not, some people in ancient times actually managed to survive to quite impressively old ages, even by twenty-first century standards.

Did the Ancient Greeks Ever Climb Mount Olympos?

If you know anything at all about Greek mythology, you are probably aware that the ancient Greeks believed that the most important deities in their pantheon, known as the δωδεκάθεον (dōdekátheon), which means the “Twelve Gods” in Ancient Greek, lived atop Mount Olympos, which is a real mountain in the region of Thessalia in northern Greece.

This has led many people to wonder why the ancient Greeks never climbed Mount Olympos and saw that there were no gods up there. The assumption that they never did this has led many people to assume that the ancient Greeks as a whole must have been deeply superstitious and uninquisitive.

The surprising truth, though, is that the ancient Greeks did climb Mount Olympos and it doesn’t seem to have destroyed their religion. In fact, by late antiquity, regular trips up the mountain seem to have become incorporated into the religion itself.

Greek Deities Mentioned in the New Testament

Many people are familiar with the Greek and Roman deities from reading about classical mythology as children. One thing many people are not aware of, however, is that there are actually quite a few direct references to a number of different Greek deities in the Book of Acts in the New Testament, which describes the apostles visiting Greek cities and encountering opposition from supporters of traditional Greek religion. The deities mentioned in the Book of Acts by name are Zeus, Hermes, Artemis, and the Dioskouroi.

Misconceptions about Roman Gladiators

It is certainly no secret that the film and television industry absolutely loves gladiators. In fact, the film Gladiator from 2000, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crow, has been widely credited with rekindling popular interest in the classical world in the twenty-first century. Unfortunately, almost everything Hollywood thinks it knows about gladiatorial combat is actually wrong.

Who Was Hypatia of Alexandria Really?

Alongside the venerable ranks of Cleopatra, Boudicca, and Olympias, the philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria (lived c. 350 x c. 375 – 415 AD) is one of the single most famous historical women of classical antiquity. Unfortunately, there is a tremendous amount of misinformation about her out there and, if you have read about her previously, there is a very high probability that the vast majority of what you have read about her is fiction. Join as we discover the real Hypatia of history, as well as how the myths surrounding her have accrued over the years.

No, Vomitoria Were Not Places for Vomiting

There is a popular story that has been circulating for a long time that claims that people in ancient Rome would routinely gorge themselves on food and then go to places called vomitoria, where they would deliberately vomit up everything they had eaten so they could gorge themselves some more. This fanciful tale has been referenced in popular culture, repeated on the internet, and even taught in schools. Unfortunately, it is completely false. We have no evidence that gorging and vomiting was ever a common practice in ancient Rome, vomitoria were not really places for vomiting, and the word vomitoria itself is not even attested in Roman sources until very late.