Although a nice summary, I might have a few (mostly) minor quibbles with the article. 

In his section about Galen, for example, he writes, “His distasteful party piece was severing the squealing nerves of a pig and the restoring them in front of a public audience.” If by “severing the nerves” Freeman meant ligating (tying off) the nerve to temporarily paralyzing it, I would agree. Usually sever means to cut, however. I doubt Galen could cut a nerve and then perform microsurgery to repair the nerve to a functional state.

Then, Freeman describes the events of Hypatia’s death in very simplistic terms: “Hypatia’s death is often seen as marking the end of a pagan learning that welcomed students of whatever beliefs.” I’m not sure of the meaning of “whatever beliefs,” but it wasn’t a tolerant and accepting view, for sure.

His final statement is absolutely ridiculous: “These free-traveling Greek intellectuals were replaced by monks whose world was inevitably narrower.” I would remind Mr. Freeman that these same monks he disparages also preserved much of classical thinking after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Alan Cameron in his book “The Last Pagans of Rome” wrote:

“[T]he main focus of much modern scholarship has been on [the last Pagans'] supposedly stubborn resistance to Christianity. Rather surprisingly, they have been transformed from the arrogant, philistine land-grabbers most of them were into fearless champions of senatorial privilege, literature lovers, and aficionados of classical (especially Greek) culture as well as the traditional cults. The dismantling of this romantic myth is one of the main goals of this book."

Overall, this is a good article and his book looks interesting. Some of his historical examples are either wrong or distorted, however. 

https://antigonejournal.com/2023/11/greek-intellectuals-roman-empire/

Winged Cupids dyeing textiles on a frieze at the House of Vettii in Pompeii.

In Pompeii there is a project to bring back the techniques of dyeing fabric of the ancient Roman city. 
 

They contacted master dyer Claudio Cutuli from Umbria for his input into the research.

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Cutuli uses the root of "rubia tinctorum,” or rose madder, for the famous Pompeiian red. He uses walnut husks for brown, elderberries for black and grey and cardamom for the amber, yellow and shades of green.

With the Pompeiian color palette, Cutuli is dyeing scarves with motifs taken from the House of Vetti frescoes, which include the cupids

 

https://www.dailysabah.com/life/pompeii-brings-back-fabric-dyeing-to-show-life-before-the-eruption/news

Here’s an excellent video on the latest findings at the House of Vettii in Pompeii, including the frescoes of scenes of daily life depicting Cupids dyeing fabric, preparing grapes for wine, making perfumes, and creating floral garlands (10:20):

Please refer to the Forum Guidelines before posting.

Similar recreations of Ancient Greece failed to show the vibrant colors of the city:

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The Morgan Cup [AD 1-50] is a rare example of Roman cameo glass. Cameo glass is made by encasing one color with one or more layers of contrasting colored glass. After cooling, the outer layer is cut away to create a scene in relief. Depicted here is a pregnant woman who worships at an outdoor sanctuary. This cup is named after J. Pierpont Morgan, who once owned it.

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This drinking vessel [AD 275-325] was decorated with sinuous snake-thread trails of molten glass patterned to form the bodies of leaping dolphins.

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[AD 300-399] Cage cups are among the rarest examples of Roman luxury glass. They were made by creating a thick blank, which was then carefully undercut into a network of interconnected ovals. 

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After the mid-fourth century, glassmaking declined in the Roman Empire. In the east, where the decline was less pronounced, a group of deep blue flasks, pitchers, and lamps with coiled bases was produced. Only three other head flasks made from the same mold are known to exist. The Corning flask once belonged to the celebrated operatic tenor Enrico Caruso.

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This jar [AD 50-75] was decorated by gathering molten glass on a blowpipe and rolling it in chips of colored glass before the process of blowing was completed.

https://www.cmog.org/set/glass-romans-featured-objects

Although this is an older article, it is an interesting finding. This Egyptian document possibly bears what is thought to be Cleopatra’s only known hand writing.  Below is thought to be Cleopatra's signature on an official document written by an Egyptian official.

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A single Greek word, ginesthoi, or "make it so," written at the bottom of a Ptolemaic papyrus may have been written by the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII herself, says Dutch papyrologist Peter van Minnen of the University of Groningen.

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Received in Alexandria on Mecheir 26 (February 23, 33 B.C.), the papyrus text, recycled for use in the construction of a cartonnage mummy case found by a German expedition at Abusir in 1904, appears to be a royal ordinance granting tax exemption to one Publius Canidius, an associate of Mark Antony's who would command his land army during the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. The text reads as follows:

We have granted to Publius Canidius and his heirs the annual exportation of 10,000 artabas [300 tons] of wheat and the annual importation of 5,000 Coan amphoras [ca. 34,500 gallons] of wine without anyone exacting anything in taxes from him or any other expense whatsoever. We have also granted tax exemption on all the land he owns in Egypt on the understanding that he shall not pay any taxes, either to the state account or to the account of me and my children, in any way in perpetuity. We have also granted that all his tenants are exempt from personal liabilities and from taxes without anyone exacting anything from them, not even contributing to the occasional assessments in the nomes or paying for expenses for soldiers or officers. We have also granted that the animals used for plowing and sowing as well as the beasts of burden and the ships used for the transportation [down the Nile] of the wheat are likewise exempt from 'personal' liabilities and from taxes and cannot be commandeered [by the army]. Let it be written to those to whom it may concern, so that knowing it they can act accordingly.
Make it so!

 

https://greekreporter.com/2023/09/20/cleopatra-handwriting-greek-word/

https://archive.archaeology.org/0101/newsbriefs/cleopatra.html

If not were there any famous historical gladiator schools or owners outside the 4 they name in Rome (magnus, dacicus, Gallic, and Matutinus)?

any names or references is much appreciated.

Unlike the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, the seaside villa and port of Stabiae managed to be quickly rebuilt after the devastation of Vesuvius in AD 79 despite being only 10 miles from Vesuvius. Pliny the Elder died at Stabiae as a result of the eruption.

The Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius (c AD 45-96) even wrote about a reborn Stabiae to his wife Claudia (in Silvae Book 3:5)

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Vesuvius’ crater and that fatal mountain’s flow of fire has not

Wholly depleted its towns of terrified citizens. Cities stand,

Alive with people. There is Puteoli, founded under Apollo’s

Auspices, its shoreline and harbour welcoming all the world,

There Capua’s walls, that Capys filled with Teucrian settlers,

You can visit the seductive shores of vaporiferous Baiae;

Or the medicinal pools of Venae and renascent Stabiae?

 

https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/StatiusSilvaeBkIII.php#anchor_Toc316636107

Here’s a short article about Stabiae:

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2021/03/stabiae-the-roman-resort-buried-by-mount-vesuvius/137475

Here is a previous post about Stabiae:

(A modern example of lapis specularis)

(A window made from lapis specularis in the Roman forum of Cartegena)

Lapis specularis was the Roman name for a translucent selenite gypsum stone that can be cut out of the local mines in large crystal-like sheets and used as window panes.

According to Pliny the Elder, lapis specularis could be found throughout the Empire, but the best source of clear and large pieces of lapis specularis were found near the modern city of Segorbe (ancient Segobriga), Spain.

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(Pliny Natural History, Book 36, chapter 45);

As to specular stone—for this, too, is ranked as one of the stones—it admits of being divided with still greater facility, and can be split into leaves as thin as may be desired. The province of Nearer Spain used formerly to be the only one that furnished it—not, indeed, the whole of that country, but a district extending for a hundred miles around the city of Segobrica But at the present day, Cyprus, Cappadocia, and Sicily, supply us with it; and, still more recently, it has been discovered in Africa: they are all, however, looked upon as inferior to the stone which comes from Spain. The sheets from Cappadocia are the largest in size; but then they are clouded. This stone is to be found also in the territory of Bononia, in Italy; but in small pieces only, covered with spots and encrusted in a bed of silex, there being a considerable affinity, it would appear, in their nature.

 

(Evidence of Roman mining for lapis specularis in Segóbriga. See video below.)

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D36%3Achapter%3D45

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This is a grain measure made from a copper alloy, called a modius. It's extremely rare and in very good condition. In fact, this example was accidentally found by a postman and is now in the Clayton Collection at Chesters Roman Fort.

The inscription on the outside of this modius dates it to the reign of Emperor Domitian (AD 81-96) and says that it holds 17.5 sextarii. A sextarii was a measurement of capacity used by the Romans. In modern measurements, a sextarii is about 546 millilitres or a pint. This modius can actually hold 20.8 sextarii so if it was used to measure taxes paid in grain, the tax payers were being swindled!

Domitian's name has been scratched out of the inscription. This would have been done as part of the practice of damnatio memoriae – where the memory of someone was damned and wiped from record. Domitian was a cruel emperor, known for his reign of terror, which may be why his name has been scratched out here. 

 

(Thanks to Jon Hawke @HawkeJon for bringing this to my attention.)

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/teaching-resources/curators-collections/-curators-collections-hadrians-wall/

Here’s an interesting article about the occasional Roman pouring of liquid gypsum in the burial process. Archaeologists in York have used 3D scans to study this unusual practice:

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For reasons archaeologists do not entirely understand, the Romans sometimes poured liquid gypsum - a mineral used in making various types of cement and plaster - over the clothed bodies of adults and children in lead or stone coffins before burying them. 

As the gypsum hardened around the bodies and they then broke down, a negative cavity formed that preserved the original position and contours of the dead. The imprint of shrouds, clothing, and footwear also survives in the gypsum, providing precious evidence for perishable materials that rarely survive in Roman graves.  

 

The remains of a liquid gypsum burial from a long and narrow stone coffin. The gypsum cavity reveals that the body was once wrapped in cloth and that the poured gypsum did not cover the feet. (Image credit: Image courtesy of York Museums Trust; http://yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/; (CC BY-SA 4.0))

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2023/research/3d-scans-mysterious-roman-burial-practice/

Note: I’m not sure of how pervasive this procedure was or even the purpose of this. The use of 3D technology to investigate this finding is interesting, nevertheless.

There long has been speculation about trade between India and the Roman Empire (see threads below). A statuette of Buddha, possibly associated with an Indian trader,  has been found in the city of Berenike (Berenice Troglodytica), which was an Ancient Egyptian seaport on the western shore of the Red Sea, Egypt (see map below).

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During the Roman period, between the 1st and 2nd century AD, the city was one of the primary waystations for the trade of war elephants and exotic goods such as pepper, semi-precious stones, cloth, and ivory, transported between India, Sri Lanka, Arabia, and Upper Egypt.
 

Archaeologists from a joint Polish-American mission have found a 71cm tall statue depicting a standing Buddha while excavating in a temple complex.

Excavations of the temple also discovered an inscription in Hindi (Sanskrit), dating from the reign of the Roman Emperor, Philip the Arab (AD 244 to 249), in addition to Greek inscriptions which are from the 1st century BC.

Archaeologists also uncovered two coins from the central Indian kingdom of Satavahana, an ancient Indian dynasty based in the Deccan region. The Satavahanas were one of the first Indian kingdoms to produce state coinage struck with images of their rulers, with the two coins found at Berenice Troglodytica dated to around the 2nd century AD.

 

(Two Indian coins minted in the 2nd century AD were found at the site)

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/04/statue-depicting-buddha-found-in-ancient-egyptian-city/147109

Site of Berenike, Egypt on Red Sea

It's becoming apparent to me it really wasn't that simple. Even Dictator, the most powerful of offices the Republic could assign, was in theory subject to veto. The issue here is that we tend to make huge assumptions about the Romans without really understanding how their society actually worked. The worst of these tendencies is to assume a modernesque style. But Rome belonged to the ancient world and was a fairly unique version of civilisation on top of that.

Let's take an example to illustrate what I mean. When we read Gaius by Suretonius we find that Caligula is given absolute power in recognition that he was the son of Germanicus and therefore bound to be a brilliant leader. Later still we read that Caligula, a man who regarded the Senate as a bunch of time wasters and an obstruction to his greatness, is asking the Senate for permission to hold games. 

It seems absurd. Yet what we have here is an example of demarcation in Roman power. In military terms a man might be given imperium, the right to command an army, and so if he's allocated legions, he may command them. However what is usually overlooked is that the Romans don't give power without strings attached. That leader must also have provincia, a field of responsibility, which described why the leader may have legions at his beck and call, what he is expected to  use them for, and the geopgraphic limits of his command. In one region he may be entitled to lead armies. In another, he isn't. The Roman writers don't emphasise this aspect of military control because they assumed everyone understood it.

Political power was also demarcated. So in our example, Caligula has the top level right to make decisions, but unless he can change Roman law, he cannot brush aside the rights of others (which of course is exactly what he thought he could get away with).

Roman politics was an exercise in managing privilege. It was the erosion of the rights of the Roman people that led to the Dominate when Rome became a full autocracy. But if you notice, during the Principate, the Caesars who led Rome did not invest all their power in one title. Their power was the sum total of privileges and the respect others had for their virtus, auctoritas, and potestas. Virtue, authority, and power. You could have two men assigned the same privileges yet there would be differences in how lesser mortals perceived them as leaders.

So the question must be asked, was absolute power in Rome quite what we expect it to have been? 
 

We are familiar with the promiscuous Messalina, the third wife of Claudius. In fact, Caldrail recently linked an old movie based on her life (see below). Below is an interesting podcast on her life based on a soon-to-be released book by the classicist Honor Cargill-Martin.

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The image of the empress Messalina as a ruthless, sexually insatiable schemer, derived from the work of Roman historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius, has taken deep root in the Western imagination. The stories they told about her included nightly visits to a brothel and a twenty-four-hour sex competition witha prostitute. Tales like these have defined the empress's legacy, but her real story is much more complex.

In her new life of Messalina, the classicist Honor Cargill-Martin reappraises one of the most slandered and underestimated female figures of ancient history. Looking beyond the salacious anecdotes, she finds a woman battling to assert her position in the overwhelmingly male world of imperial Roman politics – and succeeding. Intelligent, passionate, and ruthless when she needed to be, Messalina's story encapsulates the cut-throat political manoeuvring and unimaginable luxury of the Julio-Claudian dynasty in its heyday.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ancients/id1520403988?i=1000612571183

Our images of past historical figures are shaped by their modern depictions in the movies and television. Marc Antony is most memorably portrayed by James Purefoy in the HBO series “Rome” seen above. Cleopatra is wonderfully portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor below:

Here is a wonderful scene from the HBO series “Rome” between Marc Antony (James Purefoy) and Cleopatra (Lyndsey Marshal).

Here is an artists depiction of how they would look today by graphic designer Becca Saladin:

https://www.uxdesigndoc.com/2020/02/17/what-would-historical-figures-look-like-today/
 

And here is Julius Caesar:

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—A wife ought not to make friends of her own but enjoy her husband’s friends in common with him. The gods are the first and most important friends. It is becoming for a wife to worship and to know only the gods that her husband believes in, and to shut the front door tight upon all queer rituals and outlandish superstitions. For with no god do stealthy and secret rites performed by a woman find any favor.

Forever Hold Your Peace | Lapham’s Quarterly (laphamsquarterly.org)

Here are the 48 pieces of advice in their entirety:

Reading (markbwilson.com)

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"Rich bachelors should be heavily taxed. It is not fair that some men should be happier than others."

The use of a tax to shape social policy is nothing new. A Bachelor tax was enacted in Mussolini's Italy, for example:

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Benito Mussolini enacted a bachelor tax in Italy in 1927. The taxes twin objectives were to raise 50 million lira of revenue per year, and increase the Italian population. Mussolini was concerned that there were only 40 million Italians compared to 90 million Germans and 200 million Slavs. By 1936, Italian bachelors paid nearly double the normal income tax rate.

To avoid the bachelor tax, the solution was simple, just get married. Italy’s bachelor tax was repealed in 1943.

Today there are many that feel a tax break on joint marriage income also represents a bachelor tax.

An early precedent for the Bachelor tax was imposed by Augustus:

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The Lex Papia Poppaea was introduced by emperor Augustus to encourage marriage. In particular, penalties were imposed on those who were celibate, with an exception granted to Vestal Virgins (Ulp. Frag. xvii.1). The law also imposed penalties on married persons who had no children (qui liberos non habent, Gaius, ii.111) from the age of twenty-five to sixty in a man, and from the age of twenty to fifty in a woman. (Tacit. Ann. xv.19)

Ancient Rome was a source of unusual taxes, indeed. The famous "urine tax" of Nero and Vespasian is remembered even today:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecunia_non_olet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_tax

https://taxfitness.com.au/Blog/bachelor-tax

Here is a beautiful example of a “ribbon glass” cup thought to date from 25 BCE - AD 50, now at the Corning Museum of Glass. (Thank you Dr Crom @DocCrom for bringing this to my attention.)

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A new variety of mosaic glass was introduced in the first century B.C. It was “ribbon” mosaic, and the ornament consisted mainly of lengths (not slices) of canes arranged in geometric patterns. This concave-sided cup is a typical example. Many slices of just a few canes with different patterns were laid side by side on a flat surface and fused to form a disk. The disk was then placed on a convex mold and heated until the glass softened and slumped over the mold. The glassmaker then applied a softened spirally twisted cane to make the rim, and he finished the object by grinding and polishing. The fashion for brightly colored glass lasted until the mid-first century A.D., when colorless glass gained in popularity.

https://www.cmog.org/artwork/ribbon-glass-cup

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Italy is one of the leading countries in protected cultivation on account of its mild climate in winter and the old Italic feeling for greenhouses which appeared first in the ancient Rome.

Furthermore https://www.actahort.org/books/481/481_96.htm says the focus now is on lucrative off or shoulder season fruits and veggies, so these are concentrated on Italy's mild coastlines and the south (even where summer heat shuts them down). The availability of cheap plastic films made things more affordable than glass. The Roman greenhouses are often misrepresented as using implausable glass roofs to grow off season cucumbers on Capri for Tiberius. But a very interesting source https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/57/2/article-p236.xml explains:

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The origins of controlled-environment horticulture is the Roman specularia, which were wooden frames covered with transparent stone, a form of gypsum (selenite), known to the Romans as lapis specularia or transparent stone. The specularia was used for out-of-season culture of long-fruited melons, C. melo Flexuosus Group.

That is a truly fascinating illustrated article (actually, like the other, a book abstract), but I'm not sure why they speculate the greenhouses were near Villa Jovis when Tiberius had 4 other villas on the same island. Jovis is kind of a backbreaking climb, although maybe it pokes up into the sun on foggy days:

The once-controversial Roman Warren Cup will be highlighted at the British Museum this month in recognition of LGBT+ month. It has been dated to AD 10 and depicts a male couple engaging in sex. A reclining bearded man apparently is engaging with a beardless youth who lowers himself on him.

It was first purchased by American collector Edward Warren in 1911 for £2000 pounds along with coins of Claudius. It was thought to buried during the Jewish Revolt. It later sold to the British Museum in 1999 for £1.8million.

An in-depth description of the Warren Cup:

Background history of the Warren Cup:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Cup