The animation shows what has been called the plinian stage of a volcanic eruption. It is named after Pliny, a Roman soldier who sailed into the port of Stabiae to try to help some of the people fleeing the volcano. During the plinian stage, dust, ashes, cinders, and rocks erupt high into the air. Th...

Marcus Ulpius Trajanus (52 A.D–117 A.D) Marcus Ulpius Trajanus was born on the 18th of September at Italica near Seville, around the year 52 A.D. Also referred to as Trajan, he was surprisingly the first emperor not to come from Italy. Coming from an old Umbrian family that lived in no...

A nation is commonly known as a group of people whose common identity creates a psychological bond and a political community. Their political identity usually comprises such characteristics as a common language, culture, ethnicity, and history. What is it that shapes the nation's political inst...

Life in Ancient Rome Romans of the Classical era built what was perhaps the greatest empire of all time. Roman civilization has served as a model or basis for much of Western culture. Roman engineers pioneered the use of concrete, glass windows, the dome, central heating, and apartm...

J. Donald Hughes, Pan's Travail, (Baltimore, 1994), 277 pp. Oddly enough, there is little biographical information available on J. Donald Hughes. His special interest in the Mediterranean and sacred groves is evidenced by the numerous books and articles he has published on the subject. He is multi...

World HistoryRise and Fall of the Roman EmpireRome went from being a small town in Italy to being the center of a vast empire. This took hundreds of years and many wars. Rome was a lot like the present day United States - their government (for a while) but, most importantly, our attitudeRome: The Be...

RomeThe LandItaly is a peninsula jutting out into the Medditerranean sea west of Greece. Italyhas poor mineral resources and very few useful harbors, however it is wealty in bothfertile land and precipitation. Three - quarters of the peninsula is covered in foothillsand mountains. The alps, a mounti...