Forum Traiani: The German-language knowledge portal on the ancient world

Forum Traiani is an editorially curated online magazine for Roman history, Egyptology, Greek antiquity and current archaeology news. For many years, under the guiding principle “We bring history to life” the portal has combined in-depth background articles with up-to-date excavation reports from Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Egypt and Switzerland. Forum Traiani is operated by Andreas Hopson, who is also responsible for the affiliated Roman Shop.

At its core is a Roman encyclopedia from A to Z with several hundred entries, complemented by twelve thematic categories, a dedicated section on Ancient Egypt, a section on ancient Greece, and an up-to-date event calendar featuring Roman festivals and reenactment events in German-speaking countries.

What you will find on Forum Traiani

The content is organized into three pillars that together cover the ancient world from everyday culture to military history:

• Daily life in the Roman Empire: Food and drink (cena), Roman games (ludi romani), Roman schooling with papyrus, wax tablets and teaching practices, Roman women (femina) and men (virilis), houses and villas including the Roman garden (hortus), baths and thermae.
• Power, cult and military: The Colosseum and gladiators, the Roman Pantheon and its gods, domestic cult and lararium, structure and equipment of the Roman army from the Republic to Late Antiquity.
• Current archaeology news: Weekly new excavation reports, including Roman silver hoards in Romania, military sandals (caligae) from German excavations, water systems from Leuven, new discoveries in Pompeii and astronomical observatories in Egypt.

Who Forum Traiani is written for

The content is specifically aimed at three groups: teachers looking for primary and secondary sources for Latin, history or interdisciplinary teaching; reenactors and living history groups who require historically reliable information on equipment, clothing and rituals; and history enthusiasts seeking well-founded insights into the ancient world beyond popular clichés.

Editorial profile and quality standards

Each article is designed to meet three criteria simultaneously: academically sound in its facts, narratively accessible in style, and historically precise in its temporal, geographical and social classification. Generalizations about “the Romans” are avoided. Instead, it is consistently specified from which period, province and social class the described findings originate.

Connection to the Roman Shop

Forum Traiani is the editorial core of a two-part offering. While the magazine provides knowledge, the affiliated Roman Shop (roemershop.de) supplies the corresponding products: high-quality replicas for museums and schools, reenactment equipment, writing materials based on papyrus and wax tablets, and Roman jewelry such as the apotropaic Lunula.