You know how strong a marriage is when it has to cope with a problem. Justinian and Theodora had a crisis early on in their reign.  But they were a tough and resourceful couple.  She was from the streets. He was a wily peasant who knew that he had landed on the throne by luck

Looking at what I said on Twitter prior to the election I could probably claim to have predicted the result.  But I wouldn’t be telling the truth.  I accurately foresaw that the Tories would get more votes than the polls were predicting.  This wasn’t actually too difficult.  In almost every election I have followed since

Globalisation is not a new thing.  The Roman and Chinese economies were linked by the trade between them, and this trade was significant enough to have an effect on their economies.  Although they weren’t in a direct dialogue with one another, they were aware of each other’s existence and the policies they followed made a

The Byzantine Empire survived the turmoil that had wrecked the western Roman Empire despite having some pretty unimpressive leadership.  Leo was the first emperor to use Greek for his legislation, but had little notable impact on the big picture.  His successor was Zeno who was newly in post when the western Empire was ended.  He

The empire in the West was over.  Italy was now a barbarian kingdom run by Odoacer, an Ostrogothic chieftain.  But we’ll get back to him – first lets look at the early career of a  young upwardly mobile barbarian called Theoderic.  He had been born into the royal family of the Ostrogoths shortly after the

  The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is permeated from beginning to end with the atmosphere of the Enlightenment.  But at the end of the third volume, he comes out and says directly what he believes in. Gibbon wonders whether some unknown threat could arise that would once again destroy the civilisation of