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
#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
#archaeology #ancientbluesky #history #skystorians
Were there good boys in ancient Rome? Of course! All dogs are good boys, and the girl ones are good girls. They mourned their pets just like we do, too.
Let's find out how!
shorturl.at/2mTdY
Were there good boys in ancient Rome? Of course! All dogs are good boys, and the girl ones are good girls. They mourned their pets just like we do, too.
Let's find out how!
shorturl.at/2mTdY
Were There Good Boys in Rome?
It is not uncommon in the Roman world to find little caches of child burials.
shorturl.at
October 22, 2025 at 10:23 AM
#archaeology #ancientbluesky #history #skystorians
Were there good boys in ancient Rome? Of course! All dogs are good boys, and the girl ones are good girls. They mourned their pets just like we do, too.
Let's find out how!
shorturl.at/2mTdY
Were there good boys in ancient Rome? Of course! All dogs are good boys, and the girl ones are good girls. They mourned their pets just like we do, too.
Let's find out how!
shorturl.at/2mTdY
#ancientbluesky #histoty #archaeology #ancientbluesky
Nero being dragged off into the inky abyss by the ghost of his dead wife, anyone?
Nero crawling about in a swamp? I got ya!
youtu.be/Y2FluR0kGLU?...
Nero being dragged off into the inky abyss by the ghost of his dead wife, anyone?
Nero crawling about in a swamp? I got ya!
youtu.be/Y2FluR0kGLU?...
The Death of Nero - Rome's Most Notorious Emperor
YouTube video by Potentially Interesting Roman History
youtu.be
October 15, 2025 at 9:16 PM
#ancientbluesky #histoty #archaeology #ancientbluesky
Nero being dragged off into the inky abyss by the ghost of his dead wife, anyone?
Nero crawling about in a swamp? I got ya!
youtu.be/Y2FluR0kGLU?...
Nero being dragged off into the inky abyss by the ghost of his dead wife, anyone?
Nero crawling about in a swamp? I got ya!
youtu.be/Y2FluR0kGLU?...
#ancientbluesky #history #archaeology
There'll be a new video out on YouTube tomorrow with as much blood and gore as I'm allowed, and more about what was going on behind the scenes after Nero's death via my newsletter Acta Populi on Thursday. So sign up!
jamescoverley.substack.com
There'll be a new video out on YouTube tomorrow with as much blood and gore as I'm allowed, and more about what was going on behind the scenes after Nero's death via my newsletter Acta Populi on Thursday. So sign up!
jamescoverley.substack.com
Potentially Interesting Roman History | James Coverley | Substack
A Roman historian answers the weird, scandalous, and overlooked questions your schoolbooks were too polite to print. Click to read Potentially Interesting Roman History, by James Coverley, a Substack ...
jamescoverley.substack.com
October 14, 2025 at 11:00 PM
#ancientbluesky #history #archaeology
There'll be a new video out on YouTube tomorrow with as much blood and gore as I'm allowed, and more about what was going on behind the scenes after Nero's death via my newsletter Acta Populi on Thursday. So sign up!
jamescoverley.substack.com
There'll be a new video out on YouTube tomorrow with as much blood and gore as I'm allowed, and more about what was going on behind the scenes after Nero's death via my newsletter Acta Populi on Thursday. So sign up!
jamescoverley.substack.com
#skystorians #ancientbluesky #nero #history #archaeology
In which Nero dies and then everyone spends a year in total panic, followed by pretending that whatever happened next is exactly what everyone had intended all along. Politics then, basically.
shorturl.at/N1bwr
In which Nero dies and then everyone spends a year in total panic, followed by pretending that whatever happened next is exactly what everyone had intended all along. Politics then, basically.
shorturl.at/N1bwr
The Death of Nero
They say that history is written by the victors, or at least Winston Churchill said it.
shorturl.at
October 14, 2025 at 11:18 AM
#skystorians #ancientbluesky #nero #history #archaeology
In which Nero dies and then everyone spends a year in total panic, followed by pretending that whatever happened next is exactly what everyone had intended all along. Politics then, basically.
shorturl.at/N1bwr
In which Nero dies and then everyone spends a year in total panic, followed by pretending that whatever happened next is exactly what everyone had intended all along. Politics then, basically.
shorturl.at/N1bwr
#ancientbluseky #skystorians #history #archaeology
Pliny was so upset with being told to shut his whining by Domitian that even four years after the latter's death, the grumpy little shit was still bleating about it.
Get over it, man!
shorturl.at/iUlfG
Pliny was so upset with being told to shut his whining by Domitian that even four years after the latter's death, the grumpy little shit was still bleating about it.
Get over it, man!
shorturl.at/iUlfG
Postcards From the Past
Number Five
shorturl.at
October 11, 2025 at 11:22 AM
#ancientbluseky #skystorians #history #archaeology
Pliny was so upset with being told to shut his whining by Domitian that even four years after the latter's death, the grumpy little shit was still bleating about it.
Get over it, man!
shorturl.at/iUlfG
Pliny was so upset with being told to shut his whining by Domitian that even four years after the latter's death, the grumpy little shit was still bleating about it.
Get over it, man!
shorturl.at/iUlfG
#ancientbluesky #skystorians #history #archaeology
Want to see a link between mad drawings by William Blake and Tacitus!?
I know I do! (Wait... I wrote this...)
shorturl.at/Qbuan
Want to see a link between mad drawings by William Blake and Tacitus!?
I know I do! (Wait... I wrote this...)
shorturl.at/Qbuan
Acta Populi
Number II
shorturl.at
October 10, 2025 at 3:31 AM
#ancientbluesky #skystorians #history #archaeology
Want to see a link between mad drawings by William Blake and Tacitus!?
I know I do! (Wait... I wrote this...)
shorturl.at/Qbuan
Want to see a link between mad drawings by William Blake and Tacitus!?
I know I do! (Wait... I wrote this...)
shorturl.at/Qbuan
#ancientbluesky #history #skystorians #archaeology #domitian
Here, in all its finger-shredding, eye-gouging, blood-soaked, assassin-screaming, enraged-emperor glory, is the final day of the emperor Domitian!
No terrified slave boys were terrified in the making of this terror
tinyurl.com/25d64z6h
Here, in all its finger-shredding, eye-gouging, blood-soaked, assassin-screaming, enraged-emperor glory, is the final day of the emperor Domitian!
No terrified slave boys were terrified in the making of this terror
tinyurl.com/25d64z6h
The Death of Domitian
The thing about tyrants, autocrats, power-mad demagogues and political bullies is that, in the end, someone will always come for you.
tinyurl.com
October 7, 2025 at 11:39 AM
#ancientbluesky #history #skystorians #archaeology #domitian
Here, in all its finger-shredding, eye-gouging, blood-soaked, assassin-screaming, enraged-emperor glory, is the final day of the emperor Domitian!
No terrified slave boys were terrified in the making of this terror
tinyurl.com/25d64z6h
Here, in all its finger-shredding, eye-gouging, blood-soaked, assassin-screaming, enraged-emperor glory, is the final day of the emperor Domitian!
No terrified slave boys were terrified in the making of this terror
tinyurl.com/25d64z6h
#ancientbluesky #skystorians #history #archaeology
"...excessive care with regard to the cut of the toga, the style of the shoes, or the arrangement of the hair, is just as reprehensible as excessive carelessness...."
Take note, gentlemen! Too much is as bad as not enough!
shorturl.at/WwFFs
"...excessive care with regard to the cut of the toga, the style of the shoes, or the arrangement of the hair, is just as reprehensible as excessive carelessness...."
Take note, gentlemen! Too much is as bad as not enough!
shorturl.at/WwFFs
Postcards From the Past
Number Four
shorturl.at
October 4, 2025 at 10:10 AM
#ancientbluesky #skystorians #history #archaeology
"...excessive care with regard to the cut of the toga, the style of the shoes, or the arrangement of the hair, is just as reprehensible as excessive carelessness...."
Take note, gentlemen! Too much is as bad as not enough!
shorturl.at/WwFFs
"...excessive care with regard to the cut of the toga, the style of the shoes, or the arrangement of the hair, is just as reprehensible as excessive carelessness...."
Take note, gentlemen! Too much is as bad as not enough!
shorturl.at/WwFFs
For #findsfriday, the beautiful 1stC BC 'Maiden of Vulci'. Her light corset and hairstyle date her to the early Augustan period, and if you look closely, you can see how her hair would have been decorated with the typical hair jewellery of the time. She also had a pair of earrings.
October 3, 2025 at 10:03 AM
For #findsfriday, the beautiful 1stC BC 'Maiden of Vulci'. Her light corset and hairstyle date her to the early Augustan period, and if you look closely, you can see how her hair would have been decorated with the typical hair jewellery of the time. She also had a pair of earrings.
#ancientbluesky #History #archaeology #skystorians
If you want to find out what this wonderful little gold thing is, you'll have to click the article and sign up for my rather awesome newsletter! You'll get an ebook copy of Suetonius if you do, mind!
shorturl.at/lvJHv
If you want to find out what this wonderful little gold thing is, you'll have to click the article and sign up for my rather awesome newsletter! You'll get an ebook copy of Suetonius if you do, mind!
shorturl.at/lvJHv
Acta Populi
Number I
open.substack.com
October 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM
#ancientbluesky #History #archaeology #skystorians
If you want to find out what this wonderful little gold thing is, you'll have to click the article and sign up for my rather awesome newsletter! You'll get an ebook copy of Suetonius if you do, mind!
shorturl.at/lvJHv
If you want to find out what this wonderful little gold thing is, you'll have to click the article and sign up for my rather awesome newsletter! You'll get an ebook copy of Suetonius if you do, mind!
shorturl.at/lvJHv
#archaeology #history #ancientbluesky #skystorians #sex
Let's talk about sex, as Salt-N-Pepa once famously said. Although I suspect they did not have Tiberius and Caligula in mind when they did.
But let's talk about it anyway - Roman sex!
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Let's talk about sex, as Salt-N-Pepa once famously said. Although I suspect they did not have Tiberius and Caligula in mind when they did.
But let's talk about it anyway - Roman sex!
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Sex and the Civitas
Potentially Interesting Roman History is a reader-supported publication.
open.substack.com
September 30, 2025 at 1:49 PM
#archaeology #history #ancientbluesky #skystorians #sex
Let's talk about sex, as Salt-N-Pepa once famously said. Although I suspect they did not have Tiberius and Caligula in mind when they did.
But let's talk about it anyway - Roman sex!
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Let's talk about sex, as Salt-N-Pepa once famously said. Although I suspect they did not have Tiberius and Caligula in mind when they did.
But let's talk about it anyway - Roman sex!
open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...
Rome had the Acta Diurna, the daily gazette pinned to the Senate House.
This week I'm reviving it with a twist: Acta Populi.
A private dispatch for those who want to go deep into the scandals, discoveries, and chaos of Roman life.
👉 Read today’s announcement & claim your seat: shorturl.at/TPAi1
This week I'm reviving it with a twist: Acta Populi.
A private dispatch for those who want to go deep into the scandals, discoveries, and chaos of Roman life.
👉 Read today’s announcement & claim your seat: shorturl.at/TPAi1
The Newsletter Has a New Name (and a Bit More Swagger)
Introducing Acta Populi: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Roman History
shorturl.at
September 29, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Rome had the Acta Diurna, the daily gazette pinned to the Senate House.
This week I'm reviving it with a twist: Acta Populi.
A private dispatch for those who want to go deep into the scandals, discoveries, and chaos of Roman life.
👉 Read today’s announcement & claim your seat: shorturl.at/TPAi1
This week I'm reviving it with a twist: Acta Populi.
A private dispatch for those who want to go deep into the scandals, discoveries, and chaos of Roman life.
👉 Read today’s announcement & claim your seat: shorturl.at/TPAi1