In 30 BCE, Egypt fell to Rome. Mark Antony and Cleopatra were defeated, and Alexandria—capital of the Hellenistic world—passed into Roman hands. The Republic was effectively over. One man now stood above all others. That man was Octavian, the future Augustus. Soon after entering Alexandria, Octavian requested to be taken to the Soma (or Sema)—the monumental mausoleum that held the preserved body of Alexander the Great. Ancient historians, including Suetonius, record what happened next. Octavian

In 72 BCE the revolt that began at Capua stopped looking like a prison break and started looking like a civil war. Spartacus had turned a band of escaped gladiators into an army, drawing in farm workers, shepherds, deserters, and fugitives from across Italy. But as the force swelled, so did the arguments about what “justice” should mean. Ancient writers suggest two instincts pulling in opposite directions. Spartacus seems to have favored movement and escape—pushing north toward the Alps, where m

The historical account of the Ancient Sumerians | Ancient Explorers