A well-known legend of early Rome describes Horatius Cocles almost single-handedly defending a bridge against Etruscan aggressors.

The learned people of Renaissance Europe looked to the Classics for inspiration. They cited ancient authors in day-to-day correspondence and in their own treatises.

According to the Roman historian Titus Livius, some earlier historians claimed that the Roman fleet participated in the Battle of Fidenae in 426 BC. How can we figure out if this really happened?

Responsibility for solving food crises often falls to a community’s leaders. Early Rome was no different, and in the first centuries of the Republic suffered from, and solved, the problem of food scarcity.

When the Romans decided to invade Africa in 256 BC to bring an end to their war with Carthage, they supposedly encountered more than just Punic elephants and a cunning Spartan condottiero.

Scholarship has tended to downplay the promiscuity of Etruscan women as described by Greek sources. But with evolving modern sexual sensibilities, perhaps a different approach is required.

A reference to the Salii as “jumping priests of Mars” leads me to wonder: who were these Roman priests and why did they jump?

There’s been lots of talk lately about immigration. Here’s a look at the topic from the point of view of early Rome.