A relief over the door of a ruined church in the steppes of northeastern Turkey offers a glimpse into one of the most dramatic episodes in ancient history, in which an ageing emperor led Rome’s last army to victory over a seemingly invincible enemy.

In 301 BCE, four kings – all former generals of Alexander the Great – met at the Battle of Ipsos. After a charge led by three hundred war elephants decided the issue, the prince Pleistarchus, a minor ally of the victors, was given a small corner of what is now southwest Turkey. Though threatened by the machinations of the great kings whose domains surrounded his, Pleistarchus managed to rule for the better part of a decade, transforming the little city of Herakleia into a royal capital ringed...

For well over a century, the Odes of John Keats have been boring high school students, enchanting lovers of poetry, and giving scholars of English literature interesting things to overinterpret. When he died in 1821, however, Keats was virtually unknown – an anonymous member of Rome’s community of travelers and expatriates in the last years of the Grand Tour.

Coke vs. Pepsi. Kramer vs. Kramer. Alien vs. Predator. Everyone loves a rivalry – and so, discussions of art and architecture in Baroque Rome never fail to mention the antagonism between the ebullient Gianlorenzo Bernini and grim Francesco Borromini. This fourteenth episode in our History of Rome follows suit.

Speech stands at the threshold of the compressed lips. Righteous indignation is written in the lines of the set jaw. The presence of God blazes forth from the eyes. As a work of art, Michelangelo’s Moses is nothing short of awe-inspiring. It sits, however, in the cramped central niche of a medium-sized wall tomb, ringed by smaller statues ranging in quality from mediocre to incompetent. This thirteenth episode in our History of Rome discusses the creation of the Moses, and the circumstances...

Wanted: candidate for Pope. Must be a good fundraiser, effective administrator, and shrewd politician. Deep pockets a must. Sanctity negotiable... The medieval papacy lies at the heart of this twelfth episode of our History of Rome, in which we discuss the catastrophic schism that incidentally created the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere.

After Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor in 800, Europe had two notional leaders: the pope and the emperor. In theory, they were the twin pillars of a well-ordered Christian society. In practice, they were usually at each other’s throats. One product of their rivalry was the ninth-century church of Santa Prassede, the subject of this eleventh episode in our history of Rome.

Through some combination of military disasters, barbarian migrations, social change, and dynastic bad luck, the Western Roman Empire collapsed in the fifth century. In this tenth episode of our History of Rome, focused on the church of Santa Sabina, we will consider some of the implications of this crisis.

The many statues and reliefs from older monuments integrated into the Arch of Constantine – the focus of this ninth episode of our History of Rome – advertise the continuity of traditional Roman values into the fourth century. The Arch’s inscription, however, alludes to the religious revolution set in motion by the first Christian emperor.

Every day, ten thousand bathers and over a million gallons of water were funneled through the Baths of Caracalla, the subject of this eighth episode in our History of Rome. The astonishing scale of the Baths indicates the power of two Roman obsessions: imperial propaganda and public bathing.

Roman troops file in neat lines over raging rivers and trackless mountains. They crush barbarian forces in battle after battle, leaving fields of corpses in their wake. Villages burn, captives weep – and the lonely figure of the philosopher-emperor leads his legions to victory. So the spiraling reliefs of the Column of Marcus Aurelius, subject of the seventh episode in our History of Rome, represent the brutal conflict that turned back the first wave of the barbarian invasions.

The sixth building in our History of Rome, the Pantheon, epitomizes the most stable Roman building material and the most restless Roman emperor – concrete and Hadrian, respectively. This episode discusses the peculiarities of both in some detail.

Colosseum PDF Six lions fighting eight tigers! A troupe of performing elephants! Executions, accompanied by a full orchestra! Twelve gladiatorial combats, guaranteed to the death! So might a day of games at the Colosseum, the subject of our fifth episode, … Continued

Ara Pacis PDF Augustus dominates this fourth episode of our History of Rome, which uses the Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of the Augustan Peace) to discuss the first emperor’s reign, reforms, and propaganda. I also threw in a gripping description … Continued

Forum of Caesar PDF In this third episode of our History of Rome, focused on the Forum of Caesar, we discuss (as might be expected) Julius Caesar, the last and greatest of the generals who reshaped the Roman Republic in … Continued

Rostra PDF This second episode of our History of Rome presents the Rostra, the speaking platform in the Roman Forum, as a key to understanding the turbulent world of the Late Republic. It focuses on the career of Cicero, Rome’s … Continued

Hut of Romulus PDF This first episode of my History of Rome in Fifteen Buildings discusses the origins of Rome in relation to the enigmatic and frequently-rebuilt structure known as the Hut of Romulus. Along the way, we’ll encounter a … Continued

Told in Stone Introduction PDF Welcome to Told in Stone, a podcast that explores the histories of some of the world’s most fascinating cities through their buildings and monuments. This introductory episode was designed to accompany the opening page of … Continued