Claim OwnershipThe History of Rome
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A weekly podcast tracing the history of the Roman Empire, beginning with Aeneas's arrival in Italy and ending with the exile of Romulus Augustulus, last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Now complete!
193 Episodes
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41Welcome to The History of Rome, a weekly series tracing the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Today we will hear the mythical origin story of Rome and compare it with modern historical and archaeological evidence. How much truth is wrapped up in the legend? We end this week with the death of Remus and the founding of Rome.
Last time we discussed the events that lead to the birth of Rome,
covering the arrival of Aeneas in Italy and the story of the twins
Romulus and Remus. Today we will cover the remainder of Romulus's life,
his questionable morality and ultimate disappearance from the world of
men.
This week we cover the first three of Romulus's successors to the
throne: Numa Pompulius, Tullus Hostilius and Ancus Marcius, who they
were and what affect they had on the evolution Roman law and culture.
The last days of the Roman Kingdom were ruled over by the three members
of the so-called Tarquin Dynasty: Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius
and Tarquinius Superbus. The last proved to be such a tyrant that he
was overthrown and monarchy was forever outlawed by the Romans.
The monarchy had been overthrown and the Roman Republic was now
established. Despite the appearance of a free democratic republic, the
Romans were beset with economic and political divisions that threatened
the unity of the young State.
The infant Roman Republic faced many challenges as it grew into
adolescence, both internally and externally. Most significantly class
divisions led to a confrontation between patricians and plebs that
resulted in the creation of the office of Tribune.
In 451 BC a committee was ordered to compile and then condense Roman
law into a single text called the Twelve Tables of Law. Despite
tyrannical machinations by the committee, the Twelve Tables secured an
objective rule of law for all Roman citizens regardless of wealth or
class.
Cincinnatus was famously appointed dictator of Rome in 458 BC and then
resigned soon after, securing his place in history as a paradigm of
republican virtue.
The years after the creation of the Twelve Tables were hard. Political
discord, grain shortages and famine all conspired to weaken the city,
but the Romans soldiered on in the face of seemingly insurmountable
adversity.
Economic necessity forced a final conflict with Veii, Rome's Etruscan
rival to the north. After years of inconclusive fighting, Marcus Furius
Camillus was appointed dictator and lead the Romans to victory.
Soon after the war with Veii, Rome was sacked by invading Gauls. The
event traumatized the Romans and left their city in ruins. It would be
the last time a foreign army breached the walls until the fall of the
empire 850 years later.
In the decades after the Gauls abandoned Rome to its fate, the Romans
were forced to battle both external threats and internal sedition. The
Plebes, saddled with debt from the reconstruction, forced through
reforms in 367 BC that finally gave them access to the most powerful
office of state: the Consulship.
From 343-341 BC Rome fought a brief war against the Samnites, a
powerful hill tribe who would plague the Romans for the rest of the
century. The Romans won an inconclusive victory, but the war was only
the opening salvo in a long running struggle between the two peoples.
The Romans fought a final war against their Latin neighbors from
340-338 BC. The Romans won a decisive victory and the Latin League was
abolished once and for all.
For hundreds of years the Roman Army used the Greek phalanx, but during
the Samnite Wars they were forced to develop a new distinctly Roman
system.
The Roman army abandoned the Greek phalanx in favor of a new system
based on a three line deployment organized by age and experience.
After a decade of peace, the Romans and Samnites returned to war. The
early years of fighting went well for Rome, but in 321 BC they were
handed a humiliating defeat at Caudine Forks.
After a five year break, hostilities resumed between the Romans and
Samnites. Despite early setbacks, Rome eventually emerged victorious in
304 BC. During these years a controversial politician, Appius Claudius,
initiated a series of ambitious public works projects that advanced
Roman civilization.
Rome battled a combined army of Samnites, Etruscans, Umbrians and Gauls
for control of Italy. At Sentinum, the two sides fought the largest
battle in Italian history up to that point.
The Greek cities of southern Italy called on King Pyrrhus of Epirus to
protect them from Roman encroachment. Though Pyrrhus was undefeated in
battle, his victories were so costly that he was forced to withdraw
from Italy in 275 BC, leaving Rome in control of Magna Graecia.
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This is all irrelevant propaganda you have been fed. Christ's birth is calculated easily from dates given in the Bible.
I really enjoy the podcast. however, I can't help but notice that the narrator is clearly biased towards Christian and against Pagan world. This transpires in his depiction of the emperors, including Constantine and Julian, with the former being elevated as a great leader, and the latter ridiculed as a hopeless idealist. Let's not forget that Constantine is largely to blame for the economic collapse of the empire, as well as further weakening the borders, thus rendering it vulnerable to external attacks. Again, I really enjoy the podcast, but I have to point out the obvious bias.
the History of the United States errrr....Rome.
Holy crap I just listened to this ep ON FATHER DAY 12 YEARS LATER
The poor pronunciation of the names of people and place is somewhat offputting. I am only through the Syrian War, but the constant mispronounciation of Antiochus was grating. When I studied ancient history, we learned Latin and Greek.
After listening to this long enough how is the CIA any different from the praetorian guard?
I am so pleased I found this. Everyone focus on Rome's downfall. Or the time just before. This would make a great HBO series & if done correctly could run for years like thevGame or Thrones. Mr. Duncan sell the screenplay. I like you have ideas how it could be done. Each section would feature a different famous actor here & gone in a few chapters
Great podcast. I'm Italian and wanted to know more about my roots. Very succinct and has some humor.
What if gaius assassinated Gordian the 3rd to get his brother Phillip on the throne
Is this dude capable of doing one damn sentence without smacking his mouth and making every mouth noise available
Lovely narration and smooth production 💛
Buzzzz, the cicadas have entered the chat
this was a wonderful project, and hugely satisfying. thanks for all of your hard work to make roman history accessible to everyone. i listened through episode 70 (in about 2.5 weeks), so I'm going to take a little breather. look forward to hearing what happened after Nero's barely successful suicide.
my favorite ancient history podcast ever.
This is a an epic series charting the rise and fall of Rome from its beginnings in myth, through its glory years and on to its ultimately sad and irrelevant ending. I don't want to sound like a ponce here but I believe that Mike Duncan has created something that will stand the test of time and will in the future be ranked alongside important works like Edward Gibbons 'The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire' Im struggling to think of anything else that provides such a comprehensive chronological timeline and any serious student of the subject will need to listen to this. I have always been interested in Roman history and over the years have read and watched what I could but I learnt so much from this and for that I am truly grateful.
this is a great podcast. I am listening to it for the second time.
There are some conflicting terms used to describe the first war 101-102. If Decebal surrendered, why there was an alliance formed instead of Dacia being annexed. Probably because Traian couldn't conquer it then.
the coronavirus shutdown has me starting Thor again. like for the 3rd or 4th time, then on to the history of Byzantium.