Free Republic

...By the age of 17, Pompey was an active participant in his father's campaigns, and was busily building a foundation for his own military career.Pompey rose to prominence serving Sulla in the first major Roman civil war, defeating the forces of Marius in Africa. For this he earned, or was mocked with, the title Magnus (the Great)....he coerced a command in Spain against the rebel Sertorius, simply through the fear of his legions... Pompey returned to Rome in triumph.Upon returning from Spain, Pompey helped mop up the war with the gladiator general Spartacus, claiming much of the credit in the...

The writings of the historian Plutarch form a significant portion of our information concerning the rise of the Roman Republic, and its eventual end. In one of those texts, Plutarch's "Lives", he recounts something rather strange--the appearance in the sky of a bright flash of light and, apparently, a cylindrical object whose color is "like molten silver". What exactly was he describing? Was it a UFO, as some people (apparently including at least professional scholars) believe? Or something else?Did Ancient Romans See a UFO? I A strange account from Plutarch | 5:57The Historian's Craft | 74.2K subscribers | 31K views...

Baiae is an archaeological park consisting of a partially sunken town from the Roman period, located on the shore of the Gulf of Naples in the present-day comune of Bacoli in Italy.Baiae developed into a popular Roman resort which was visited frequently by many notable Roman figures, such as Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus..., Julius Caesar, Gaius Marius, Lucius Licinius Lucullus, Hadrian, and Septimius Severus.The town would never attain a municipal status, but instead gained a reputation for a hedonistic lifestyle. This is supported by an account by Sextus Propertius, a poet of the Augustan age during the 1st century BC, who...