Roman history: The top 10 sites
There
are thousands of websites on Roman history and culture, but many of these
are scarcely worth a look. We have trawled the internet and come up with
what we think are the 10 best. These contain a huge amount of information,
but if that's not enough for you, each one includes links that will take
you even further into the subject.
The Roman Empire
http://library.thinkquest.org/
12654/roman.html
Simple site that gives a very good overview of the history of the
Roman empire. As well as straight history, there is a timeline. A good
introduction to the subject.
De
Imperatoribus Romanis: An online encyclopedia of Roman emperors
www.roman-emperors.org
This contains an index of all the emperors who ruled during the empire's
1,500 years, plus biographical essays on individual emperors and family
trees of important imperial dynasties. In addition, there is an index
of significant battles in the empire's history, including descriptions
and maps, and maps of the empire at different times. These are supplemented
by an ancient and medieval atlas, a link to a virtual catalogue of Roman
coins, and links to other related sites. The contents have been prepared
by scholars but are meant to be accessible to non-specialists as well.
Lacus Curtius: Into the Roman world
www.ukans.edu/history/index/europe/
ancient_rome/E/Roman/home.html
A major site on Roman antiquity – over 1,300 pages, 518 photos,
378 drawings, 21 plans, 51 maps – compiled by an astute enthusiast.
Includes: a photo-gazetteer of Roman and Etruscan cities and monuments;
instructions on how to teach yourself to read Latin inscriptions; complete
Latin texts; extracts from (and some complete texts of) various 19th-century
histories of Rome. It also has the RomanSites archives, a catalogue of
over 2,000 websites on Roman antiquity.
Illustrated History of the Roman Empire
www.roman-empire.net
This anonymous site promotes itself as the 'leading web-resource on
Rome' and it certainly contains a great deal of material. There are histories
of the various Roman eras, biographies of the emperors, interactive maps,
timelines of emperors and Roman battles, a list of Roman place names and
articles on religion, society and the army.
Encyclopaedia
Romana
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/
~grout/
encyclopaedia_
romana/index.html
This scholarly site may be a bit difficult to penetrate, but once it
has been, a wealth of information can be found. Among its contents are
essays on Roman architecture, history and culture and on the Roman province
of Britannia.
Who Was Who in Roman Times
www.romansonline.com/Index.htm?M=Index.asp
A database containing approximately 7,000 individuals together with
some information about them, and more than 18,000 links from most of these
persons to internet documents. The people included are also categorised
– for instance, consuls, murderers, religion – and there are
background texts on various topics.
Feminae Romanae: The women of ancient Rome
http://dominae.fws1.com/
From the empress to her freedwoman, the good wife to the prostitute,
the midwife to the scholar, this extremely well-designed site presents
an
introduction to the history of the women of ancient Rome.
Ancient Roman Technology
www.unc.edu/courses/rometech/public/
frames/art_set.html
Extensive website based at the University of North Carolina. Covers
all aspects of Roman technology: food; clothing; arts and crafts; mines
and iron; quarries and stoneworking; transport; war; health and medicine.
This is a work in progress and new information is frequently added.
Forum Romanum
www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/6946/rome.html
Large site created by an American university student. It isn't the
latest scholarly word on Roman history, but it does have lots of photographs
(including a virtual tour of the ancient ruins of present-day Rome), quizzes,
intriguing sideways looks at the period ('The Transvestites of Rome')
and other unusual features.
Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome
www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook09.html
Part of the series of well-regarded 'sourcebook' websites, this contains
a vast number of links to public domain and copy-permitted historical
texts. The links are heavily indexed for ease of use.
