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.

Rome, 63 BC.

The Roman Republic is in a state of unrest and turmoil. Into the chaos steps a patrician with nothing to lose, and a "new man" with everything to gain.

This is the story of the Catiline, Cicero, and a conspiracy that nearly toppled Rome. 🏛️🧵 Catiline was born noble but fell into scandal.

Corrupt, reckless, drowning in debt, he sought power as the solution to his ruin.

Twice he ran for consul. Twice he failed. By 63 BC, desperation drove him to plot revolution.

In the 4th century, Christianity was rising fast in the Roman Empire.

But one emperor tried to turn back the tide and restore the old gods. His name was Julian.

History remembers him as Julian the Apostate.

This is the story of Rome's last pagan Emperor 🏛️🧵 Julian wasn’t born a rebel. He was raised Christian, the last surviving nephew of Constantine the Great.
But family politics were bloody. Most of his relatives were slaughtered in dynastic purges.

Julian survived and turned inward to books, philosophy, and secret faith.

Rome’s greatest epic was almost lost forever.

Virgil wanted The Aeneid destroyed. Augustus refused.

Here’s the story of the poet, the emperor, and the poem that became Rome’s eternal myth. 🏛️🧵 Who was Virgil?

Born in 70 BC in Cisalpine Gaul, Publius Vergilius Maro was quiet, scholarly, and deeply thoughtful.

He lived through Rome’s bloody civil wars, and longed for peace.

“He was a consul of Rome.”

In 48 BC, Caesar had just won the civil war. His enemy Pompey fled to Egypt.

When Caesar arrived, the Egyptians gave him a gift: Pompey’s severed head.

But instead of joy, Caesar wept. Why?

This is the story of Rome’s most infamous "gift." 🧵 Let’s rewind.

Pompey Magnus “the Great” was one of Rome’s most celebrated generals.

He won triumphs, cleared the seas of pirates, and expanded Rome’s empire.

He wasn’t just Caesar’s rival.

He was his former ally, and his son-in-law.

49 BC.

Julius Caesar stood on the banks of a small river in northern Italy.

The Rubicon.

To cross it meant civil war. To stay meant surrender.

What followed would change Rome forever. 🧵 How did it come to this?

For years, Caesar had risen through the ranks: brilliant general, ruthless politician, master manipulator.

He conquered Gaul, won riches, and secured loyalty from his legions.

But back in Rome, the Senate grew fearful.

Cicero was one of ancient Rome's most complex figures.

At the height of his power, he was hailed as Pater Patriae: Father of the Fatherland. Yet he died with his hands nailed to the Forum.

Let’s dive into the rise and fall of Marcus Tullius Cicero 🏛️🧵 Who was Cicero?

A Roman statesman, philosopher, orator, and writer. Cicero was a Renaissance man before the Renaissance.

Besides Julius Caesar, he may be the most famous Roman of them all. And unlike Caesar, he started with no noble blood.

In the late Roman Republic, two brothers bravely dared to challenge the power of Rome’s elite.

They stood for the poor. For justice. For the Republic.

They paid for it with their lives.

This is the story of the Gracchi. 🏛️🧵 Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus were born into privilege, but raised with a conscience.

Their mother, Cornelia Africana, was the daughter of Scipio Africanus, the hero who defeated Hannibal.

Cornelia raised them to be more than just noble.

September 4, 476 AD

The boy-emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed.

The Roman Empire, the greatest the world had known, was dead in the West.

This day marked the end of antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages.

Here’s how it happened... 🧵 The Cracks in the Empire

For centuries, Rome ruled from Britannia to Egypt.

But by the 5th century, the Western Empire was a shadow of itself; plagued by civil wars, corruption, famine, and foreign invasions.

Barbarian tribes surged across the crumbling borders.

September 2, 31 BC.

The fate of the Roman world hangs in the balance. A climactic naval battle is about to unfold between Octavian and the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

This is the story of the Battle of Actium.

And how it brought an end to the Roman Republic. 🏛️🧵 After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, a fragile alliance formed between Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus:

The Second Triumvirate.

They carved the Republic into three pieces.

But power cannot be shared forever.

Rome’s most popular sport wasn’t gladiators.

It was chariot racing.

The Circus Maximus drew hundreds of thousands of screaming fans, obsessed over the rival factions: Blues, Greens, Reds, Whites. They weren’t just sports teams.

They were a way of life. 🏛️🧵 The factions began as practical.

Teams supplied horses, trained drivers, and managed logistics for the races.

But they grew into something much bigger: political machines, social clubs, even street gangs.

By the time the Empire formed, allegiance to a faction was identity.

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa: Rome’s greatest #2.

Without Agrippa, Octavian would never have become Augustus.

He was a general, statesman, builder, and engineer; Rome's Renaissance Man.

Let’s give Agrippa the attention and appreciation he deserves. 🏛️🧵 Agrippa and Octavian were friends from a young age.

When Julius Caesar adopted Octavian as his heir, Agrippa became his right-hand man.

Where Octavian lacked military genius, Agrippa supplied it in abundance.

On this day in AD 14, Rome’s first emperor, Augustus, died.

Was it natural causes? Or poison at the hands of his wife, Livia? The death of Augustus is one of Rome’s great unsolved mysteries.

Let’s unravel the mystery of Augustus’s final act. 🧵 Augustus had ruled Rome for over 40 years.

He ended the chaos of civil wars, reigned with near-absolute power, and carefully shaped an image as Princeps—“First Citizen,” not king.

But behind the curtain, he was every bit a monarch.

Roman Emperor of the Week: Otho

Rome's 7th Emperor.

In the chaos of the Year of the Four Emperors, his reign lasted just three months before he took his own life.

This is the brief, dramatic reign of Otho, the emperor who chose death over civil war. Name: Marcus Salvius Otho Caesar Augustus
Lifespan: AD 32 – AD 69
Reign: January – April AD 69
Came to power: Backed by the Praetorian Guard after Galba snubbed him as heir.

In the mists of early Roman history, a mysterious old woman appeared before Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome.

She carried nine scrolls, and offered to sell them to the proud King for a great price.

What Tarquinius did next shaped the future of Rome. 🧵 Tarquinius laughed in her face. The price she demanded was absurd.

Without a word, the sybil burned three of the scrolls before his eyes. She then offered him the remaining six scrolls -- for the same price.

Roman emperors weren’t just powerful.

They were downright weird.

Here are 10 of Rome’s strangest, most bizarre, and utterly absurd emperors. 🧵 Caligula — The Sea Conqueror

Declared war on Neptune, god of the sea.

Ordered his soldiers to attack the waves and collect seashells as “spoils of war.”

A new low in military strategy.

Rome wasn’t just built on legions, wars, and conquests. It was built on the words of its most prominent icons.

And long after Rome fell, those words live on.

Here are the greatest quotes from Roman history and the moments that made them immortal. 🏛️🧵 “Alea iacta est.” – Julius Caesar

“The die is cast.”

49 BC. Caesar crosses the Rubicon, defying the Senate and plunging Rome into civil war.

No turning back.

Roman Emperor of the Week: Galba

The 6th Emperor of Rome.

Galba seized the throne after Nero’s death.

Within seven months, he was murdered by the very guards who put him in power.

Here’s the short, bloody reign of Galba, the first emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors. Name: Servius Sulpicius Galba Caesar Augustus
Lifespan: 3 BC – AD 69
Reign: June AD 68 – January AD 69
Came to power: Governor of Hispania Tarraconensis who rebelled against Nero and was proclaimed emperor by the Senate.

For years, one man ended every single speech in the Roman Senate with the same words:

Carthage must be destroyed!

This is the story of Cato the Elder.

The man who wouldn’t rest until Rome’s greatest rival was reduced to ash and rubble. 🧵 Marcus Porcius Cato (234–149 BC), better known as Cato the Elder, was a Roman statesman, orator, and moralist.

He was tough, frugal, and obsessed with preserving Rome’s old-school values.

For nearly 500 years, Rome was a Republic.

Then, in 27 BC, it all came crashing down.

How did a centuries-old system, built to prevent one-man rule, end with Augustus crowned Emperor?

Let’s break down the Fall of the Roman Republic.

A Roman History 🧵 Rome began as a monarchy, ruled by kings.

But in 509 BC, Romans had enough. They overthrew their last king and founded the Republic.

The goal was clear:

No one man should ever rule Rome again.

The Late Roman Republic had the highest concentration of fascinating people in human history.

Between Caesar crossing the Rubicon and Octavian rising as Augustus; Rome was home to history's biggest icons.

Let’s meet the larger-than-life characters of the Late Republic. 🏛️🧵 We will focus on the explosive period between:

⚔️Caesar crossing the Rubicon (49 BC)

🛡️And the Battle of Actium (31 BC)

This 18-year stretch was literally a "who's who" of intriguing characters. History books are filled with their names. Their stories are the stuff of legend.