The Piscina Mirabilis is a large ancient Roman freshwater cistern located in Bacoli near Naples. Built in the 1st Century BC, it served as the terminal reservoir for the 100-kilometre-long Aqua Augusta aqueduct, storing fresh water to supply the imperial western fleet stationed at nearby Misenum (pictured below). Photographs (c) Essential History.
Bay of Baiae, Naples
The Archaeological Park of Baiae (Parco Archeologico di Baia) is around 20 kilometers west of Naples. In Ancient Rome, Baiae was an opulent beach resort for Roman emperors and elites, before a local volcanic phenomenon called bradyseism slowly submerged half of the city beneath the sea. Today, the site is uniquely split into a land-based [...]
The Imperial Amphitheatre, Capua
Capua (Anfiteatro Campano) in Santa Maria Capua Vetere is the second-largest Roman amphitheatre in the world dating from the earth 2nd century AD. With 80 arches and a 60,000-spectator capacity it served as the likely model for the Colosseum in Rome. Photography (c) Essential History.
The Royal Exchange, City of London
In the sixteenth century, London had no international wholesale market matching the best in Europe, in particular the Antwerp Bourse. In 1571, a prominent City trader named Thomas Gresham put that right, when he and others financed the building of an exchange on a site provided by the Mercers livery company. Queen Elizabeth I opened [...]
Discovering Madrid near Restaurante Ultramarinos QuintÃn. Streets of history, streets of taste.
Conflict and ConquestConsolidationThe arrival of the Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula resulted from struggles for dominance in the western Mediterranean with the Carthaginian Empire, located in present-day Tunisia Despite the efforts of Hannibal in leading a force across the Strait of Gibraltar up through Spain and into Italy during the so-called Punic Wars, Carthage [...]