Images

The so-called Arch of Trajan of Timgad was actually built during the reign of Septimius Severus (r. 193-211 CE). The structure is a three-vaulted triumphal arch built at the west end of the decumanus (the east-west oriented road of the town...

Paul Barras (1755-1828), a prominent French leader during both the Thermidorian Reaction and the French Directory, a politician known for his cunning. Here he is depicted in the ceremonial robes of a French Director. The painting was by Pierre-Michel...

The five French Directors in their traditional garments. From left to right, the figures depicted are: Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai, Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux, Paul Barras, François de Neufchâteau, and Jean-François Rewbell...

General Napoleon Bonaparte leads his soldiers across the bridge at the Battle of Arcole (17 November 1796). Oil on canvas painting by Horace Vernet, 1826.

Napoleon Bonaparte is greeted by the French Directory as "the hero of Italy". Lithograph by Charles Motte, c. 1820. British Museum, London.

French soldiers under General Pierre Augereau, sent by Napoleon Bonaparte, surround the legislative chambers and arrest General Jean-Charles Pichegru in the Coup of 18 Fructidor Year V (4 September 1797). Engraving by Pierre Gabriel Berthault...

Napoleon Bonaparte in the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire Year VIII (9 November 1799), the coup that ended both the French Directory and the French Revolution. Oil on canvas painting by François Bouchot, 1840. Palace of Versailles.

An 1880's photograph taken by Alexander Bassano of Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901). (Royal Collection)

Edward Gibbon, oil on mahogany panel by Henry Walton, 1773. National Portrait Gallery, London.

The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 1, by Gibbon, Edward, London, 1777. John Adams Library (Boston Public Library)