Short and sweet.... so completely unlike Domitian!

One of the best websites about Domitian which "will dispel many long held rumors and discuss Domitian's character and his achievements during his reign". Spread over several pages and sub-divided under clear headings, making the site easy to navigate and read.

English translation of "The Lives of the Caesars" (published by Loeb in 1914) by Suetonius (69-c.140 AD), one of our most important and impartial ancient sources of information about Domitian.

A gold "aureus" coin depicting a wreathed Emperor Domitian.

Great webpage illustrating the many different types of coins that were issued under Domitian. Minerva, his patron goddess, appears frequently on the reverses of his coins.

18-year-old Domitian, in the centre, welcomes his father, Vespasian, into Rome as the new emperor in September AD 70.
Detail of the so-called Cancelleria reliefs, probably commissioned during Domitian's reign (81-96 AD) for an honorific monument that was never completed. Upon Domitian's death in 96 AD and his memory being damned by the Senate, the sculptures were nevertheless kept, with at least one of the depictions of Domitian (not this one but see link below) being recut into the likeness of Nerva, the emperor who succeeded him. However, perhaps due to the elderly Nerva's death just 16 months later in 98 AD the project and its sculptures were abandoned. Dumped in an old Roman cemetery which was later built over by the Cancelleria Palace in Rome in the 1490's, the reliefs were rediscovered in 1937. Now in the Vatican Museum, Rome.
As depicted on p.96 of CLC Bk.V.

The second Cancelleria relief - see link above for background - represents an event of 92 AD, Domitian's profectio (departure from Rome) to wage war against the Samatians. Roma, behind Domitian, shoves him out of the city whilst Mars and Minerva guide the way.
Notice "Domitian's" head... it is relatively small because it has been recut into the likeness of the elderly Emperor Nerva after Domitian's assassination in 96 AD.

Domitian's portraits are realistic: he has a hooked nose and protruding upper lip; in the Naples' Archaeological Museum.

Colossal head depicting a slightly chubbier face.

From Temple of Domitian, Ephesus; now in Ephesus Museum, Turkey.

Colossal head depicting a slightly chubbier face.

From Temple of Domitian, Ephesus; now in Ephesus Museum, Turkey.

As shown on p.50 of CLC Unit 4.

Full-length and in military garb; in the Vatican Museum, Rome.

Fascinating article about Domitian's inner circle of advisors.

List of Emperors with some explanations of the more significant rulers. Produced by the BBC, it's aimed at younger readers, but it's still a handy reference for all.

Wikipedia's version - one of the best online - is a neat, illustrated list with hyperlinks to explore further.

Great website giving the important information on the lives and events in the reigns of each emperor from Augustus to Domitian.

Family-tree of the Julio-Claudian emperors - Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius and Nero - showing their descent from Julius Caesar and a certain chap called Tiberius Claudius Nero who was the first husband of Livia, the third wife of Augustus (who was the great-nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar). Phew!! It's a tangled web!

Emperor Timeline - more detailed again, supplemented with imperial images from Roman coins. Initial summaries of each emperor link to detailed, sometimes humorous and irreverent accounts and quotations of "those wacky emperors".

And finally, the Emperor of Emperor Timelines! It's encyclopaedic in historical fact and its analysis of each of the Roman Emperors, so is more suited to older students.

This marble statue of Augustus, the first Emperor, is the most famous sculpture of any Roman emperor. It is known as the 'Prima Porta' statue since it was discovered in 1863 at his wife Livia's villa at Prima Porta, 9 miles from Rome. It celebrates the winning back in 20 BC, under Augustus, of the Roman military standards humiliatingly captured by the Parthians 33 years earlier at Carrhae. Augustus is shown as a young man in military uniform. At his feet, a dolphin (signifying Augustus' naval victory at Actium in 31 BC) is ridden by Cupid, alluding to Venus (Cupid's mother), whom Augustus' family claimed as their ancestor.

Here's another famous statue of Augustus (now in the National Museum at the Palazzo Massimo, Rome), this time showing him as a priest.

A website that brings together sculptures of many of the Emperors, with links to other relevant monuments and biographical information.

How would you act if you were the Emperor of Rome for a day? Try your hand with this "situation" game from PBS. You'll be confronted with various incidents and then presented with choices. How you act will determine whether, as emperor, you're finished, merely tarnished, successful or even deified!

One of the most detailed accounts of Roman law on the web; also looks at the different magistracies and the role of the Senate and the Assemblies.

The Curia was the Senate House which acted as a debating chamber and law-court. Here's a brief introductory description of the building.

How it looks today - it's the recatangular red-brick building on the right. It's remarkably well-preserved since it was converted into a church in AD 630, although the marble-cladding on the exterior has disappeared.
Side view.

Panorama of the Roman Forum... you can spot the Senate House on the far left.

Interior showing the original marble floor of the 300's AD, the wide steps either side on which chairs were placed, and the podium at the end where the consuls - or the Emperor if present - would have sat.

The original doors of Emperor Diocletian's rebuilding of c.300 AD are still extant but today part of the Church of St John Lateran in Rome, having been moved there in the 1600's.

The exterior of the Senate House c.300 AD.

Exterior from the back...

Interior looking towards the podium.

Alternative interior looking towards the podium.

2nd alternative interior view filled with senators - by Peter Connolly and used on Stage 40 title-page.

Interior looking towards the main doors.

Cutaway drawing of the Senate in action...

An exterior view of the Curia (probably) on a silver denarius of Augustus.

Detailed article on the history and archaeology of the Senate House.

The so called "Judgement of Solomon" wall-painting from the House of the Physician in Pompeii, showing the judge and his two advisors sitting on the raised podium known as the tribunal.

"Cicero denouncing Catiline", a scene from a famous Roman trial that took place in the Curia in 63 BC in which a Roman politician, Catiline, was accused by the consul Cicero of trying to overthrow the Roman Republic. This fresco, in the modern Italian Senate House in Rome, was painted in the 1880's by Cesare Maccari.

This Roman silver denarius shows the judge's seat, the tablets used by the jurors (A = absolvo, I absolve; C = condemno, I condemn) and the urn into which they were cast.

As shown on p.97 of CLC Bk. V.

This Roman silver denarius shows the judge's seat, the tablets used by the jurors (A = absolvo, I absolve; C = condemno, I condemn) and the urn into which they were cast.

As shown on p.120 of CLC Unit 4.

Good introductory description, with photos, of this important law-court in the Roman Forum.

Great photo of the remains of the basilica seen slightly from above. Here's a photo from ground-level looking along the basilica's steps.

Fantastic movie flying around and into the reconstructed basilica where you'll see the law-court platforms (tribunals) set up and ready for action.

Exterior view.

Interior view of an empty central nave.

Interior 2 with wooden platforms - tribunals - set-up on which the law courts sat and adjudicated; view from above. These temporary tribunals were removed for important cases that would have required the use of the whole space.

Remains of a board-game scratched on the steps of the basilica.

Wikipedia entry about this largest, non-religious, building in ancient Rome, built 306-312 AD, including plan.
Sole remaining column from the building now erected as a monument in Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

Reconstruction of this huge basilica.

Interior.

Another interior view.

3-D cutaway drawing.

In the western-end apse was a colossal statue of the Emperor Constantine, seated on his throne, of which a few huge pieces survive: head; feet;
hand;
collection.

Introduction to Roman money (in Britain and thus during the empire) from Roman historian Guy de la Bedoyere.

Great site highlighting ancient coins featuring the Roman deities.

Lovely illustrated list of Personifications (e.g. Abundance, Peace, Liberty etc) the Romans liked to put on the reverse of many of their coins.

A guide to indentifying Roman coins from the British Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Images and descriptions of hundreds of coins from roman Republic to Empire.

Fresco still in the Villa of Poppaea at Oplontis near Pompeii.

Child pulled in a chariot drawn by a goat; from the sarcophagus of M. Cornelius Statius; in the Louvre, Paris.