I promised a fuller review of this paper at the beginning of the month when I just pulled out the currency data (See http://historybooksreview.blogspot.com/2010/11/quantitative-easing-roman-way.html). Did Rome fall because it was too complicated? But interesting as that was there is rather more to Professor Tainter’s work that is worth looking at.  His paper was published in

Peter Hennessy is having an exciting year.  Not only has one of  his books been reviewed here on the History Books Review, yesterday he also became a member of the House of Lords. Congratulations your Honour, and hopefully this will give you more time to write more books. See the review of The Secret State

So the senate was now resolved to do battle with the upstart Maximin.  Everyone’s hopes were invested in the Gordians, who they felt represented the best of the trhttp://historybooksreview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/multiethnic-team-using-green-screen-tablet-to-over-MVKF9J9.jpgions of Rome.  Envoys to the rest of Italy had quickly established a high level of support in the heart of the empire.  The problem was Maximin

Empress Theodora in a Byzantine Mosaic This series ran on UK television a couple of years ago.  The photography is truly stunning.  I am going to be reminding myself with this YouTube edition, which by my calculation must sadly be missing some of the footage that was originally screened.  It is probably not going to

When someone finds a Roman coin in a field, they often imagine that they have stumbled across something of great value.  It is after all old, rare and made of a precious metal.  The reality is that only the first of those things is true.  Roman coins can be bought on Ebay for a pound

If you want to follow this series it starts with the reign of the first Roman emperor Augustus.  The previous episode is covers the reign of Alexander Severus the last of the Severan dynasty to rule Rome. Few reigns, even in the brutal world of Rome, had such an ugly start as that of Maximin.