Stephen Kershaw — A Brief History of the Roman Empire

41 published claims from this book.

• A freedmans son could rise to become Roman emperor
• Academic interpretations of Rome’s fall reflect current social values.
• Allowing the Goths in was a tactical blunder for Valens.
• Augustus framed his supremacy as informal authority rather than constitutional power
• Auxiliary cavalry rather than legionary infantry garrisoned Hadrian’s Wall
• By the second century all non-Italian Roman military veterans received imperial citizenship.
• Caligula’s command to gather seashells likely reflected confusion over siege engine terminology.
• Caracalla extended Roman citizenship to nearly all free imperial inhabitants
• Client kingdoms allowed Rome to secure volatile frontiers without maintaining garrisons.
• Constantine established Constantinople as a new power center.
• Constantine linked the Christian God with the sun.
• Constantine’s conversion relates to guilt over family murders.
• Distant population shifts force border tribes to demand entry into Roman territory
• Hadrian’s Wall regulates trade and movement rather than repelling massive military invasions
• Hereditary serfs replaced tenant farmers in the Empire.
• Inscriptional evidence shows Pontius Pilate held the title praefectus rather than procurator
• Many commentators made direct comparisons between contemporary Western society and the fall of ancient Greece and ancient Rome. In her book Because They Hate, Brigitte Gabriel wrote, ‘What brought…
• Only fifteen non-nobles attained the Roman consulship over three centuries
• Pompey’s eastern provincial settlement increased Roman regional revenue by seventy percent
• Provincial subjects adapted traditional divine cults to worship distant ruling humans
• Roman concepts of manhood depend on sexual role rather than partner gender
• Roman emperors dated their reigns from acquiring tribunician power
• Roman imperial succession shifted from dynastic inheritance to explicit selection
• Roman Populares pursued personal ambition rather than democratic principles
• Roman rulers could extend the city’s boundary only after expanding imperial territory
• Rome redirected traditional Jewish temple taxes to fund the temple of Jupiter
• Septimius Severus advised his heirs to enrich the army and ignore all others
• The concept of Rome’s fall remains a relevant cautionary tale today.
• The fall of Romulus Augustulus marked the end of Western Roman rule.
• The governor of Egypt was the only Equestrian permitted to command legions
• The name Caesar transitioned from a Roman family name into a universal monarchical title
• The Praetorian Guard auctioned the Roman imperial throne to the highest bidder
• The Praetorian Guard’s self-interest prevented republic restoration after Caligula’s murder.
• The Roman army acts as a primary vehicle for imperial cultural integration
• The Roman public rejected restoring senatorial rule following Caligula’s assassination
• The Roman Senate voted overwhelmingly for Caesar and Pompey to disarm simultaneously
• Universal Roman citizenship was enacted after citizenship lost its key privileges
• Valens’s persecution targeted both pagans and Christian bishops.
• Valentinian I struggled to maintain control over his empire.
• Vespasian inherited an imperial deficit equal to five years of tax revenue
• Western civilization continues to be influenced by the Roman Empire.