Post

@mpigliucci

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @mcgillmd921

Michael McGill 🏛

@mcgillmd921

Nov 6

For centuries, Rome ruled the world — except in the East.

Across the Euphrates stood Parthia, the empire Rome could never tame. From Crassus to Julian, they all tried, and all failed.

This is the story of Rome’s greatest rival. ⚔️🧵

The Parthians were heirs of Persia. They were horsemen, archers, and masters of feigned retreat.

Where Rome fought in tight formations, Parthia fought with speed and deception.

They were the mirror opposite of Roman warfare, and the perfect foil.

The rivalry began in 53 BC, when Crassus, Rome’s richest man, sought glory to match his fortune.

He marched east with seven legions into the Mesopotamian sands.

At Carrhae, Parthia shattered him.

Read 14 tweets

Michael McGill 🏛

@mcgillmd921

Nov 4

In 60 BC, three men made a private deal to control the Roman Republic itself: Caesar the politician, Pompey the general, and Crassus the banker.

Together they ruled Rome without titles and decided its future in secret.

This is the story of the First Triumvirate. 🏛️🧵

The year was 60 BC.

The Roman Republic was fractured by rivalries, corruption, and ego. Elections were chaos, the Senate paralyzed.

Personal ambition had replaced national honor.

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus — Pompey the Great — had conquered the East and expanded Rome’s empire farther than any man before him.

But when he returned, the Senate refused to ratify his settlements or grant land to his veterans.

He was furious, and looking for allies.

Read 12 tweets

Michael McGill 🏛

@mcgillmd921

Oct 28

Julius Caesar conquered by the sword and ruled by mercy.

He spared defeated enemies and forgave traitors. Rome called it clementia, the noblest trait of a victor.

This is the story of how Caesar's clemency cost him his life — and how his heir refused to make the same mistake🧵

Clementia made Caesar look untouchable.

Only a man absolutely secure in power can afford to forgive.

Clemency became part of his myth as a merciful conqueror.

But mercy preserves the living, and the living still pose a threat.

The men Caesar showed clemency towards were the same men who filled the Senate on the Ides of March.

Men who should have been indebted to him became his assassins.

Read 10 tweets

Michael McGill 🏛

@mcgillmd921

Oct 27

For nearly 1,000 years Rome worshipped the old gods.

Then, on this day in 312 AD, Constantine witnessed a vision in the night sky that changed the course of world history.

Here is the story of the battle that turned pagan Rome into Christian Rome. ✝️🏛️🧵

In 312 AD, the empire was cracking apart under rival emperors and civil war.

In the West, two men remained: Constantine and Maxentius.

Only one would rule.

The decisive clash would happen just outside Rome — at the Milvian Bridge over the Tiber.

A narrow choke point that would decide the fate of the West.

Read 11 tweets

Michael McGill 🏛

@mcgillmd921

Oct 18

Before Caesar crossed the Rubicon, before the Republic gasped its last breath, two men showed Rome what civil war would look like:

Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla.

Friends. Colleagues. Then bitter enemies who turned Rome’s streets into a bloody battlefield. ⚔️🏛️🧵

Marius was the outsider. A “new man” from no noble line who rose by sheer talent and refusal to lose.

He reformed the army, letting the poor enlist for pay.

He created soldiers whose loyalty was to a general, not the state.

Sulla was the opposite: old blood, old pride, old Rome in human form.

Cold. Disciplined. Patient.

If Marius was force of will, Sulla was force of calculation.

Read 11 tweets

Michael McGill 🏛

@mcgillmd921

Oct 12

In 1863, deep in the countryside north of Rome, workers unearthed a marble statue in the villa of Livia, wife of the first emperor.

It would become the defining image of Roman power:

The Augustus of Prima Porta 🏛️🧵

Named after the place it was found — Prima Porta, “First Gate” on the Via Flaminia — the statue stood guard over the emperor’s household.

It shows Augustus not as a weary ruler, but as a godlike commander, frozen forever in triumph.

Today, you’ll find him in the Vatican Museums, towering in the Braccio Nuovo gallery.

But what you see in marble is a copy. The original bronze was likely cast around 20 BCE, celebrating Rome’s diplomatic victory over Parthia.

Read 15 tweets

Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

Michael McGill 🏛

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @mcgillmd921

Michael McGill 🏛

Michael McGill 🏛

Michael McGill 🏛

Michael McGill 🏛

Michael McGill 🏛

Michael McGill 🏛

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Send Email!