The normal diet of gladiators was vegetarian, but not through choice or principle. The rations in their barracks consisted of sagina, which literally translates as ‘stuffing’. It was a barley and bean

The poor citizens of Al-Jazira al-Khadra never knew what hit them. In 859, an unfamiliar fleet sailed into the bay separating this Muslim settlement – which later evolved into the city of Algeciras, n

The earth-shattering collapse of the Western Roman Empire was the result of invasions, corruption and cruelty

The Romans are famed for feats of engineering and architecture: towering aqueducts, huge amphitheatres, paved roads that stitched the empire together. The hypocaust underfloor heating system may be le

In 1494, the high castle walls that had dominated the Middle Ages came tumbling down in clouds of gunpowder smoke. It was the start of a new age

The article on the battle against U-boats in the Second World War in the November issue omitted perhaps the most important episode. That was the part played by the late Joe Baker-Cresswell of Bamburgh