Was the Holy Roman Empire, Holy, Roman, or an...

February is upon us. It is a time when we in the United States predict the weather on the basis of a rodent seeing its shadow, and we celebrate American presidents by buying linen and mattresses. We also celebrate romance and sweethearts by honoring a 3rd century Roman bishop who ...  Show more

In 1805, an epic confrontation occurred off the southwest coast of Spain, resulting in one of the greatest naval battles in history. This monumental sea battle saw the British and French fleets facing each other in one of the most important conflicts of the Napoleonic Wars. When ...  Show more

Voltaire famously wrote that the "The Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.” But Dr. Eleanor Janega believes that literally everything about Voltaire’s statement is wrong - in the medieval context.

In this explainer episo ...

Rome has attracted aspiring conquerors and leaders for millennia, not just as a great metropolis, but as an idea. It has long been a symbol of military might and universal power, defined by political and religious authority as well as great feats of engineering that would leav ...

16 January 27 BC is a date sometimes associated with the beginning of the Roman Empire. It was on that day that Octavian received the name Augustus, effectively becoming the first emperor of Rome. Augustus ordered the gates of Janus to be closed, marking an end to the period o ...

The Persian Empire followed in the footsteps of the Assyrians and Babylonians, but it was a much different entity than its predecessors, and its founder - Cyrus the Great - deserves to be mentioned among history's most accomplished conquerors. Professor Matt Waters joins me to ...