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Gareth Harney

26 Aug, 9 tweets, 3 min read

1) In today's episode of 'why hasn't this ancient story been made into a movie?'
Julius Alexander was a young Syrian nobleman from Emesa. Despite his aristocratic background, Julius was famed in his hometown as a beast fighter (venator) in the arena. Unfortunately for Julius...

2) ..his exploits in Syria soon gained the attention (and jealousy) of the emperor Commodus, who also fancied himself a venator. He had performed in the Roman Colosseum, even styling himself as 'Hercules Venator' (Hercules the Hunter) - and did not like being overshadowed!..

3) When news reached Rome of a spectacular bout in which Julius on horseback had fought a ferocious lion and eventually killed it with a shot of his spear, Commodus could take no more - Julius had to go. The emperor assembled a team of assassins, as just one would not be enough..

4) An untold number of secret assassins journeyed to Emesa to solve the problem of Julius Alexander. But they had underestimated their target. When Julius learned of the assassins' arrival he flipped the script and turned the hunters into the hunted..

5) Under the cover of night, one by one, Julius killed every assassin that had been sent after him. An enraged Commodus dropped all pretence and declared Julius an outlaw, putting a price on his head in Emesa. When more bounty hunters came for Julius, he killed them too..

6) Despite the onslaught of assassins, Julius was reluctant to leave Emesa as he did not want to desert his male lover in the city. Eventually Julius and his boyfriend made a break for it on horseback, followed closely by more assassins..

7) Sadly Julius' lover was not as skilled a horseman and though he could have escaped alone, Julius refused to leave him. The assassins soon overtook and surrounded the young couple but Julius refused to go out on their terms..

8) Julius killed his lover and then himself, before the assassins could do it. The remarkable fight-back of Julius Alexander seems to have impassioned his home city and inspired a revolt in Emesa that caused Rome a headache for a number of years.

The story of the beast-fighting, assassin-killing, Syrian rebel Julius Alexander is told by Cassius Dio (73.14) and in the Historia Augusta (Commodus 8). ⚔️

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

11 Sep

1) When we think of a famous outlaw with a social conscience, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, a master of disguise outwitting those in power..the name that comes to mind is of course:

Bulla Felix

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Gareth Harney

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Gareth Harney

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

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1) The enormous tomb monument of the procurator of Britannia, Gaius Julius Alpinus Classicianus. As procurator from 61 to 65 AD, Classicianus was responsible for the financial administration of the whole province, you could think of him as the Roman Chancellor of the Exchequer!..

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

26 Aug

1) The brightly painted terracotta sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa, an Etruscan woman who was buried near Chiusi around 150 BC. Inside was found Seianti's skeleton, the most complete Etruscan skeleton in existence. Let's meet Seianti and learn a little about her life..

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

23 Aug

1) The Vindolanda writing tablets offer fascinating glimpses of daily life in a tough frontier fort. One particularly intriguing tablet (no.344) might just be a draft-letter intended for quite the remarkable recipient: none other than the emperor Hadrian himself..

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