Nick Holmes > Quotes

“At the heart of Byzantium was its capital, Constantinople, now modern Istanbul. Today it may look like a Turkish city but it contains an old city that was once a huge Roman metropolis and the largest city in Europe for nearly 1,000 years. Even today it has the remains of almost as many Roman buildings as Rome itself – towering walls and aqueducts, huge pillared underground cisterns, and churches that still dominate the modern skyline.”
― Nick Holmes, The Byzantine World War

“Roman victory over Carthage was a game changer.”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution

“the weakness of Alexander the Great’s successor states ‒ the Antigonid, Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires.”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution: Crisis and Christianity in Ancient Rome

“A hundred years of inconclusive fighting between the Ptolemaic, Seleucid and Antigonid empires”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution: Crisis and Christianity in Ancient Rome

“as Polybius wrote, ‘Monarchy degenerates into tyranny, aristocracy into oligarchy, and democracy into savage violence and chaos.’2”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution: Crisis and Christianity in Ancient Rome

“The Roman Revolution”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution: Crisis and Christianity in Ancient Rome

“The Palatine Hill was the one associated by the later Romans with the legend of Romulus,”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution

“For while the republic bore the trappings of democracy,”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution

“Polybius wrote, ‘Monarchy degenerates into tyranny, aristocracy into oligarchy, and democracy into savage violence and chaos.”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution

“in”
― Nick Holmes, Justinian's Empire: Triumph and Tragedy

“and a powerful navy matched only by that of Ptolemaic Egypt.”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution

“in 53 BC, Crassus and his seven legions were annihilated by the Parthians at the Battle of Carrhae in northern Mesopotamia.”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution: Crisis and Christianity in Ancient Rome

“Julian’s childhood was secluded, living in Bithynia, where he spent most of his time reading, as he later described himself: ‘Some men have a passion for horses, others for birds, others again for wild beasts; but I, from childhood have been infused with a passionate longing to acquire books.”
― Nick Holmes, The Fall of Rome: End of a Superpower

“Not only did it expand Roman territory into Africa and Spain,”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution

“Arab chroniclers say that Alp Arslan, who took great pride in his reputation as an archer, motioned to his guards not to interfere. He drew his bow, but his foot slipped and the arrow missed, allowing the man to reach him and stab him in the chest. Alp Arslan died from this wound four days later in October 1072.”
― Nick Holmes, The Byzantine World War

“Monarchy degenerates into tyranny, aristocracy into oligarchy, and democracy into savage violence and chaos.”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution

“it was in reality always a benign oligarchy run by the rich and powerful members of Roman society.”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution

“but it gave Rome complete mastery over the western Mediterranean”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution

“Rome began as a small settlement perched upon a few hills surrounding the river Tiber,”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution

“how did a small city state rise from total obscurity to become one of the greatest empires in history?”
― Nick Holmes, The Roman Revolution