Category: Timeline Stories

Missorium of Theodosius   The emperor Theodosius I (r. 379-95) makes Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire in 380. More pagans and heretics are persecuted. The same…

Raphael (1517-24): The Baptism of Constantin (Public Domain)   The emperor Galerius puts a stop to the Christian persecutions in 311 by issuing the Edict of Toleration. Two years later, his…

Unknown illustrator, c. 1850 (Public Domain)   Around 213 BC, China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang orders the burning of books on history and philosophy. This is the first book…

Ashoka’s iconic pillar of Sarnath, c. 250 BC (Public Domain)   In the 3rd century BC, the Mauryan king Ashoka inscribes a number of edicts in stone in present day…

Cato the Younger (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek)   Cato the Younger defends the republic to the bitter end. According to Cassius Dio, he pulls out his own intestines when Caesar’s assumption…

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (public domain)   Augustus’ successor Tiberius convicts speech crime offenders to death and burns the entire works of seditious writers. In 23 CE, the poet Aelius Saturninus…

Bust from Musei Vaticani (public domain)   The general and consul Julius Caesar is a controversial character in the history of free speech. When he becomes consul in 59 BCE,…

(Public Domain)   Rome’s first emperor, Augustus, introduces punishments for “literary treason” and orders illegal texts burned.   It does not harmonize with his instruction to his adoptive son and…

François Perrier, The Death of Cicero, 1635   During the last days of the Republic, Cicero uses his rhetorical gifts to defend Roman liberty from Caesar and Mark Anthony.  …