by Richard Barager | Oct 13, 2026 | The Early Roman Republic
The forlorn painting above by Jean-Frédéric Schall depicts the fate of a Vestal Virgin found guilty of breaking her chastity vow—live burial in an underground chamber, with a small amount of food and water. The chastity of the priestesses of Vesta was thought to...
by Richard Barager | Sep 29, 2026 | The Early Roman Republic
The legend of Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, as related by Livy in the History of Early Rome, takes place between 493 and 488 BC. Shakespeare’s Coriolanus and a film adaptation of it starring Ralph Fiennes are but two of many treatments of the tale, ranging from early...
by Richard Barager | Sep 14, 2026 | The Early Roman Republic
Patrician control of land to the exclusion of plebeians lay at the core of social strife between the orders of Rome. The story of Spurius Cassius Viscellinus is a stark reminder of how furiously the ruling class fought to retain its grip on the land. Cassius...
by Richard Barager | Sep 2, 2026 | The Early Roman Republic
Parable of the Belly By 494 BC, debt slavery in Rome had become as tyrannical as the king that had been overthrown just fifteen years before, at the founding of the Roman Republic. Nexum, or debt bondage, reached crisis levels for plebeian soldiers fighting in...
by Richard Barager | Aug 21, 2026 | The Early Roman Republic
Of Roman Bondage The year after the Battle of Lake Regillus put an end to Tarquin the Proud’s bid to reclaim his crown, many Romans discovered that they had traded the shackles of monarchy for the chains of debt. Veterans who fought for Rome’s freedom from kings...
by Richard Barager | Aug 6, 2026 | The Early Roman Republic
Twin Brothers of Helen of Troy The Battle of Lake Regillus in 496 BC was the culmination of a struggle between the fledgling Roman Republic and the deposed Roman monarchy of Tarquinius Superbus—Tarquin the Proud. The conflict also ended the First Latin War, pitting...
