James Coverley
@jamescoverley.com
Roman historian | Weekly deep dives + videos | Subscribe for emperors, scandals & unhinged history 👇
Substack - https://jamescoverley.substack.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@potentiallyinterestingroman
Substack - https://jamescoverley.substack.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@potentiallyinterestingroman
Pinned
James Coverley
@jamescoverley.com
· Jul 10
The Twelve Caesars
Amazon.com: The Twelve Caesars eBook : Suetonius, Gaius, Coverley, James: Kindle Store
www.amazon.com
It’s done!
My new translation of Suetonius’ The Twelve Caesars is now available on Kindle!
A scandalous classic, reborn for the 21st century, with a modern voice, intro, glossary, and fully linked endnotes.
If you've followed the journey, thank you.
www.amazon.com/dp/B0FH5YQB3H
My new translation of Suetonius’ The Twelve Caesars is now available on Kindle!
A scandalous classic, reborn for the 21st century, with a modern voice, intro, glossary, and fully linked endnotes.
If you've followed the journey, thank you.
www.amazon.com/dp/B0FH5YQB3H
#archaeology #history #Italia
Whilst this magnificent building is part of our shared human heritage, it is not a museum piece and so should be adapted to accommodate the needs of the community that uses it.
www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/n...
Whilst this magnificent building is part of our shared human heritage, it is not a museum piece and so should be adapted to accommodate the needs of the community that uses it.
www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/n...
Roman amphitheatre older than Colosseum gets accessible facelift for Winter Paralympics
The conversion of the Arena di Verona, which will host the Paralympics opening ceremony, includes the addition of a lift and toilets to a structure older than the Colosseum
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
#archaeology #history #Italia
Whilst this magnificent building is part of our shared human heritage, it is not a museum piece and so should be adapted to accommodate the needs of the community that uses it.
www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/n...
Whilst this magnificent building is part of our shared human heritage, it is not a museum piece and so should be adapted to accommodate the needs of the community that uses it.
www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/n...
#ancientbluesky #history #archaeology #jesus
This seemingly innocent question is not quite what it seems. But political overtones apart, I can still answer it!
Please subscribe on Substack. I'm aiming for 1,00 subscribers by Christmas.
jamescoverley.substack.com/p/did-jesus-...
This seemingly innocent question is not quite what it seems. But political overtones apart, I can still answer it!
Please subscribe on Substack. I'm aiming for 1,00 subscribers by Christmas.
jamescoverley.substack.com/p/did-jesus-...
November 25, 2025 at 12:58 PM
#ancientbluesky #history #archaeology #jesus
This seemingly innocent question is not quite what it seems. But political overtones apart, I can still answer it!
Please subscribe on Substack. I'm aiming for 1,00 subscribers by Christmas.
jamescoverley.substack.com/p/did-jesus-...
This seemingly innocent question is not quite what it seems. But political overtones apart, I can still answer it!
Please subscribe on Substack. I'm aiming for 1,00 subscribers by Christmas.
jamescoverley.substack.com/p/did-jesus-...
#archaeology #history #ancientbluesky
An inscription on a limestone stele dated to 53 AD from the old forum in Lepcis Magna. The Latin text, originally in bronze letters, records a dedication to the emperor Claudius by the proconsul of the province.
An inscription on a limestone stele dated to 53 AD from the old forum in Lepcis Magna. The Latin text, originally in bronze letters, records a dedication to the emperor Claudius by the proconsul of the province.
November 23, 2025 at 9:49 PM
#archaeology #history #ancientbluesky
An inscription on a limestone stele dated to 53 AD from the old forum in Lepcis Magna. The Latin text, originally in bronze letters, records a dedication to the emperor Claudius by the proconsul of the province.
An inscription on a limestone stele dated to 53 AD from the old forum in Lepcis Magna. The Latin text, originally in bronze letters, records a dedication to the emperor Claudius by the proconsul of the province.
#ancientbluesky #architecture #history #archaeology
"For moneylenders and tax farmers, houses should be built rather comfortable and showy, and secure against robbery; for advocates and public speakers, handsomer and more roomy, to accommodate their audiences ...
"For moneylenders and tax farmers, houses should be built rather comfortable and showy, and secure against robbery; for advocates and public speakers, handsomer and more roomy, to accommodate their audiences ...
November 23, 2025 at 6:47 AM
#ancientbluesky #architecture #history #archaeology
"For moneylenders and tax farmers, houses should be built rather comfortable and showy, and secure against robbery; for advocates and public speakers, handsomer and more roomy, to accommodate their audiences ...
"For moneylenders and tax farmers, houses should be built rather comfortable and showy, and secure against robbery; for advocates and public speakers, handsomer and more roomy, to accommodate their audiences ...
#ancientbluesky #christianity #bacchanalia #romans #history
This week's Postcards from the Past has the 'promiscuous intercourse of free men and women'
So you don't want to miss out on any of that, right!?
Please subscribe on Substack - it's free!
shorturl.at/B4cEz
This week's Postcards from the Past has the 'promiscuous intercourse of free men and women'
So you don't want to miss out on any of that, right!?
Please subscribe on Substack - it's free!
shorturl.at/B4cEz
November 22, 2025 at 2:43 PM
#ancientbluesky #christianity #bacchanalia #romans #history
This week's Postcards from the Past has the 'promiscuous intercourse of free men and women'
So you don't want to miss out on any of that, right!?
Please subscribe on Substack - it's free!
shorturl.at/B4cEz
This week's Postcards from the Past has the 'promiscuous intercourse of free men and women'
So you don't want to miss out on any of that, right!?
Please subscribe on Substack - it's free!
shorturl.at/B4cEz
#ancientbluesky #archaeology #history #skystorians
Where did the Romans get yeast to make bread from, especially once the yeast mines of Judea had fallen into rebel hands?
Find out below!
substack.com/profile/1634...
Where did the Romans get yeast to make bread from, especially once the yeast mines of Judea had fallen into rebel hands?
Find out below!
substack.com/profile/1634...
November 20, 2025 at 2:49 PM
#ancientbluesky #archaeology #history #skystorians
Where did the Romans get yeast to make bread from, especially once the yeast mines of Judea had fallen into rebel hands?
Find out below!
substack.com/profile/1634...
Where did the Romans get yeast to make bread from, especially once the yeast mines of Judea had fallen into rebel hands?
Find out below!
substack.com/profile/1634...
#archaeology #history #ancientbluesky #skystorians
Check out my new post, in which I manage to talk about the BBC for a while without mentioning you-know-who and you-know-what! You try it! It's not easy.
That deserves a subscription on its own!
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Check out my new post, in which I manage to talk about the BBC for a while without mentioning you-know-who and you-know-what! You try it! It's not easy.
That deserves a subscription on its own!
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Did the Romans Have Adverts?
It is a source of perpetual bemusement among traitorous colonials that the British have to pay for a TV licence - effectively a form of taxation - in order to watch whatever it is that TVs show you th...
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:50 PM
#archaeology #history #ancientbluesky #skystorians
Check out my new post, in which I manage to talk about the BBC for a while without mentioning you-know-who and you-know-what! You try it! It's not easy.
That deserves a subscription on its own!
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Check out my new post, in which I manage to talk about the BBC for a while without mentioning you-know-who and you-know-what! You try it! It's not easy.
That deserves a subscription on its own!
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
#history #WWII #militaryhistory #WWI
Away from the Romans for a moment, I have missed, by a few days, the anniversary of the death of a rather notable chap by the name of Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, KCB, DSO*.
Born in Cheshire in 1892, he saw action in WWI, being wounded at Ypres.
Away from the Romans for a moment, I have missed, by a few days, the anniversary of the death of a rather notable chap by the name of Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, KCB, DSO*.
Born in Cheshire in 1892, he saw action in WWI, being wounded at Ypres.
November 17, 2025 at 5:31 PM
#history #WWII #militaryhistory #WWI
Away from the Romans for a moment, I have missed, by a few days, the anniversary of the death of a rather notable chap by the name of Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, KCB, DSO*.
Born in Cheshire in 1892, he saw action in WWI, being wounded at Ypres.
Away from the Romans for a moment, I have missed, by a few days, the anniversary of the death of a rather notable chap by the name of Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, KCB, DSO*.
Born in Cheshire in 1892, he saw action in WWI, being wounded at Ypres.
#archaeology #history #ancientbluesky #Hadrian #England #Shropshire
One of the most magnificent monumental inscriptions from Roman Britain once sat above the uncompleted Flavian forum in Wroxeter, Roman Viroconium Cornoviorum, Shropshire, England.
One of the most magnificent monumental inscriptions from Roman Britain once sat above the uncompleted Flavian forum in Wroxeter, Roman Viroconium Cornoviorum, Shropshire, England.
November 17, 2025 at 1:30 PM
#archaeology #history #ancientbluesky #Hadrian #England #Shropshire
One of the most magnificent monumental inscriptions from Roman Britain once sat above the uncompleted Flavian forum in Wroxeter, Roman Viroconium Cornoviorum, Shropshire, England.
One of the most magnificent monumental inscriptions from Roman Britain once sat above the uncompleted Flavian forum in Wroxeter, Roman Viroconium Cornoviorum, Shropshire, England.
#archaeology #history #ancientbluesky
A stone ‘distance slab’, from Old Kilpatrick on the Clyde, Scotland, marking the western end of the Antonine Wall.
A stone ‘distance slab’, from Old Kilpatrick on the Clyde, Scotland, marking the western end of the Antonine Wall.
November 16, 2025 at 5:01 PM
#archaeology #history #ancientbluesky
A stone ‘distance slab’, from Old Kilpatrick on the Clyde, Scotland, marking the western end of the Antonine Wall.
A stone ‘distance slab’, from Old Kilpatrick on the Clyde, Scotland, marking the western end of the Antonine Wall.
#ancientbluesky #history #archaeology
The original tomb of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus is in the Vatican, in Rome, whilst a copy sits in its place in the Tomb of the Scipios, which is in, you guessed it, Rome.
But you can blame several Popes for this strange anomaly.
shorturl.at/7Kg6l
The original tomb of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus is in the Vatican, in Rome, whilst a copy sits in its place in the Tomb of the Scipios, which is in, you guessed it, Rome.
But you can blame several Popes for this strange anomaly.
shorturl.at/7Kg6l
Postcards From the Past
Number Nine
shorturl.at
November 15, 2025 at 1:48 PM
#ancientbluesky #history #archaeology
The original tomb of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus is in the Vatican, in Rome, whilst a copy sits in its place in the Tomb of the Scipios, which is in, you guessed it, Rome.
But you can blame several Popes for this strange anomaly.
shorturl.at/7Kg6l
The original tomb of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus is in the Vatican, in Rome, whilst a copy sits in its place in the Tomb of the Scipios, which is in, you guessed it, Rome.
But you can blame several Popes for this strange anomaly.
shorturl.at/7Kg6l
Was Suetonius a curtain-twitching old busybody, an esteemed biographer or a bit of both?
The answer is ‘a bit of both, ’ of course, but find out more by subscribing and reading this! -
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
The answer is ‘a bit of both, ’ of course, but find out more by subscribing and reading this! -
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Acta Populi
Number VII
open.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Was Suetonius a curtain-twitching old busybody, an esteemed biographer or a bit of both?
The answer is ‘a bit of both, ’ of course, but find out more by subscribing and reading this! -
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
The answer is ‘a bit of both, ’ of course, but find out more by subscribing and reading this! -
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
#ancientbluesky #history #archaeology #romans
As Oscar Wilde once said, “With freedom, books, flowers, and the Moon, who could not be happy?” Well, now you can add “and a free article about the Romans” to the list of things that make you happy.
shorturl.at/DHmh0
As Oscar Wilde once said, “With freedom, books, flowers, and the Moon, who could not be happy?” Well, now you can add “and a free article about the Romans” to the list of things that make you happy.
shorturl.at/DHmh0
What Did the Romans Think the Moon Was Made From?
A few years ago, the artist Blake Fall-Conroy made an installation at the Met Modern, which consisted of a machine full of pennies and a crank handle.
shorturl.at
November 11, 2025 at 2:29 PM
#ancientbluesky #history #archaeology #romans
As Oscar Wilde once said, “With freedom, books, flowers, and the Moon, who could not be happy?” Well, now you can add “and a free article about the Romans” to the list of things that make you happy.
shorturl.at/DHmh0
As Oscar Wilde once said, “With freedom, books, flowers, and the Moon, who could not be happy?” Well, now you can add “and a free article about the Romans” to the list of things that make you happy.
shorturl.at/DHmh0
#ancientbluesky #archaeology #history #skystorians
Romans could, on occasion, be rather friendly to people whom they might otherwise bash into submission. Here’s a little treaty they drew up with the fine denizens of a tiny Greek island.
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Romans could, on occasion, be rather friendly to people whom they might otherwise bash into submission. Here’s a little treaty they drew up with the fine denizens of a tiny Greek island.
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Postcards From the Past
Number Eight
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:21 PM
#ancientbluesky #archaeology #history #skystorians
Romans could, on occasion, be rather friendly to people whom they might otherwise bash into submission. Here’s a little treaty they drew up with the fine denizens of a tiny Greek island.
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Romans could, on occasion, be rather friendly to people whom they might otherwise bash into submission. Here’s a little treaty they drew up with the fine denizens of a tiny Greek island.
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
#ancientbluesky #history #archaeology #skystorians
Why did the Romans invade Britain? It wasn't for the weather, I'll tell you that for nothing...
jamescoverley.substack.com/p/why-did-th...
Why did the Romans invade Britain? It wasn't for the weather, I'll tell you that for nothing...
jamescoverley.substack.com/p/why-did-th...
Why Did the Romans Invade Britain?
For someone who was, to a large extent, simply making things up as he went along, Augustus had some very good ideas, especially when it came to empirical tyranny, at which he proved to be a dab hand.
jamescoverley.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:25 PM
#ancientbluesky #history #archaeology #skystorians
Why did the Romans invade Britain? It wasn't for the weather, I'll tell you that for nothing...
jamescoverley.substack.com/p/why-did-th...
Why did the Romans invade Britain? It wasn't for the weather, I'll tell you that for nothing...
jamescoverley.substack.com/p/why-did-th...
Who was Boudica? Apart from the woman on a chariot with swords on the wheels? Quite what a British Queen would have been doing with a Scythian war chariot is beyond me, but they were an excitable bunch, those Victorian sculptors!
Anyway! Time for staggering amounts of death -
shorturl.at/OiIvI
Anyway! Time for staggering amounts of death -
shorturl.at/OiIvI
Acta Populi
Number VI
shorturl.at
November 6, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Who was Boudica? Apart from the woman on a chariot with swords on the wheels? Quite what a British Queen would have been doing with a Scythian war chariot is beyond me, but they were an excitable bunch, those Victorian sculptors!
Anyway! Time for staggering amounts of death -
shorturl.at/OiIvI
Anyway! Time for staggering amounts of death -
shorturl.at/OiIvI
And oh how they danced, the little children of Stonehenge, beneath the haunted moon for fear that daybreak might come too soon.
And where were they now, the little people of Stonehenge, and what would they say to us if we were here tonight?
Let’s find out!
#history #archaeology
shorturl.at/nKjXN
And where were they now, the little people of Stonehenge, and what would they say to us if we were here tonight?
Let’s find out!
#history #archaeology
shorturl.at/nKjXN
What Did the Romans Think of Stonehenge?
Stonehenge is, as everyone knows full well, a magic place, where the Moon doth rise with a dragon’s face, where the dew drops cry and the cats meow and where banshees live and they do live well.
shorturl.at
November 4, 2025 at 12:25 PM
And oh how they danced, the little children of Stonehenge, beneath the haunted moon for fear that daybreak might come too soon.
And where were they now, the little people of Stonehenge, and what would they say to us if we were here tonight?
Let’s find out!
#history #archaeology
shorturl.at/nKjXN
And where were they now, the little people of Stonehenge, and what would they say to us if we were here tonight?
Let’s find out!
#history #archaeology
shorturl.at/nKjXN
#archaeology #history #ancientbluesky #skystorians
In today’s Postcards From the Past, sumptuary laws, wild spending and elephants, because you can never have enough elephants.
jamescoverley.substack.com/p/postcards-...
In today’s Postcards From the Past, sumptuary laws, wild spending and elephants, because you can never have enough elephants.
jamescoverley.substack.com/p/postcards-...
Postcards From the Past
Number Eight
jamescoverley.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 11:41 AM
#archaeology #history #ancientbluesky #skystorians
In today’s Postcards From the Past, sumptuary laws, wild spending and elephants, because you can never have enough elephants.
jamescoverley.substack.com/p/postcards-...
In today’s Postcards From the Past, sumptuary laws, wild spending and elephants, because you can never have enough elephants.
jamescoverley.substack.com/p/postcards-...
For #frescofriday the extraordinary 'black room' from the imperial villa at Boscotrecase, dating to the end of the first century BC. It might look dark and gloomy now, but the walls would originally have been burnished to a glossy finish, filling the room with almost magical reflected candlelight.
October 31, 2025 at 2:38 PM
For #frescofriday the extraordinary 'black room' from the imperial villa at Boscotrecase, dating to the end of the first century BC. It might look dark and gloomy now, but the walls would originally have been burnished to a glossy finish, filling the room with almost magical reflected candlelight.
#ancientbluesky #skystorians #history #archaeology
Did the Romans tell each other ghost stories? Damn right they did! And one of the ones Pliny tells his chum in a letter includes a haunted house prowled by a chain-rattling phantom!
shorturl.at/g9Plc
Did the Romans tell each other ghost stories? Damn right they did! And one of the ones Pliny tells his chum in a letter includes a haunted house prowled by a chain-rattling phantom!
shorturl.at/g9Plc
Acta Populi
Number V
shorturl.at
October 30, 2025 at 11:50 AM
#ancientbluesky #skystorians #history #archaeology
Did the Romans tell each other ghost stories? Damn right they did! And one of the ones Pliny tells his chum in a letter includes a haunted house prowled by a chain-rattling phantom!
shorturl.at/g9Plc
Did the Romans tell each other ghost stories? Damn right they did! And one of the ones Pliny tells his chum in a letter includes a haunted house prowled by a chain-rattling phantom!
shorturl.at/g9Plc
#ancientbluesky #history
The study of history is not about whether the sources can be taken as accurate accounts of events they describe, but about the attitudes, context and intentions of the people who wrote them.
There. I said it.
The study of history is not about whether the sources can be taken as accurate accounts of events they describe, but about the attitudes, context and intentions of the people who wrote them.
There. I said it.
October 29, 2025 at 2:47 PM
#ancientbluesky #history
The study of history is not about whether the sources can be taken as accurate accounts of events they describe, but about the attitudes, context and intentions of the people who wrote them.
There. I said it.
The study of history is not about whether the sources can be taken as accurate accounts of events they describe, but about the attitudes, context and intentions of the people who wrote them.
There. I said it.
#Reliefwedensday #ancientbluesky #archaeology
The woman is the main focus of this funerary altar, although the relationship between her and the two chaps is uncertain. Her hairstyle dates this to the early part of Hadrian's reign.
The woman is the main focus of this funerary altar, although the relationship between her and the two chaps is uncertain. Her hairstyle dates this to the early part of Hadrian's reign.
October 29, 2025 at 11:52 AM
#Reliefwedensday #ancientbluesky #archaeology
The woman is the main focus of this funerary altar, although the relationship between her and the two chaps is uncertain. Her hairstyle dates this to the early part of Hadrian's reign.
The woman is the main focus of this funerary altar, although the relationship between her and the two chaps is uncertain. Her hairstyle dates this to the early part of Hadrian's reign.
#ancientbluesky #history #archaeology #skystorians
This week, I get to say 'piss' and 'shit' a few times and claim academic immunity from acting like a sweary oaf.
Plus, you get to learn something about how Romans washed their clothes - it's win/win!
shorturl.at/K2FIS
This week, I get to say 'piss' and 'shit' a few times and claim academic immunity from acting like a sweary oaf.
Plus, you get to learn something about how Romans washed their clothes - it's win/win!
shorturl.at/K2FIS
How Did Romans Wash Their Clothes?
It’s a great irony that the man who ultimately succeeded the emperor Nero couldn’t have been any less like him.
shorturl.at
October 28, 2025 at 10:59 AM
#ancientbluesky #history #archaeology #skystorians
This week, I get to say 'piss' and 'shit' a few times and claim academic immunity from acting like a sweary oaf.
Plus, you get to learn something about how Romans washed their clothes - it's win/win!
shorturl.at/K2FIS
This week, I get to say 'piss' and 'shit' a few times and claim academic immunity from acting like a sweary oaf.
Plus, you get to learn something about how Romans washed their clothes - it's win/win!
shorturl.at/K2FIS
#ancientbluesky #skystorians #history #archaeology
Corruption, death and taxes. The cornerstone of any power-grabbing empirical madness.
Read more by clicking the link (and subscribe, will ya? It cheers me up!)
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Corruption, death and taxes. The cornerstone of any power-grabbing empirical madness.
Read more by clicking the link (and subscribe, will ya? It cheers me up!)
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Postcards From the Past
Number Seven
open.substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 1:54 PM
#ancientbluesky #skystorians #history #archaeology
Corruption, death and taxes. The cornerstone of any power-grabbing empirical madness.
Read more by clicking the link (and subscribe, will ya? It cheers me up!)
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Corruption, death and taxes. The cornerstone of any power-grabbing empirical madness.
Read more by clicking the link (and subscribe, will ya? It cheers me up!)
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Apart from being Cleopatra, who was Cleopatra? 'Cleopatra', obviously, but was she 'Cleopatra' (*big wink*) or 'Cleopatra' (*nudge nudge*). Find out who Cleopatra was in 'Who was Cleopatra?', which is, unsurprisingly, about Cleopatra.
Confused? I am! Unlock the article today!
shorturl.at/yQoQc
Confused? I am! Unlock the article today!
shorturl.at/yQoQc
Acta Populi
Number IV
shorturl.at
October 23, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Apart from being Cleopatra, who was Cleopatra? 'Cleopatra', obviously, but was she 'Cleopatra' (*big wink*) or 'Cleopatra' (*nudge nudge*). Find out who Cleopatra was in 'Who was Cleopatra?', which is, unsurprisingly, about Cleopatra.
Confused? I am! Unlock the article today!
shorturl.at/yQoQc
Confused? I am! Unlock the article today!
shorturl.at/yQoQc