Emperors of Rome

It is the summer of 29 BCE. The civil wars are over. Antony and Cleopatra are dead. Egypt has fallen. The victorious Octavian returns to Rome.

What follows is three days of spectacle unlike anything the city had seen. Three triumphs, three separate victories, three processions through the streets of Rome to the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline.

The triple triumph will close the era of the civil wars and opens something new. It will send a clear message about Octavian himself, about his enemies, and about the Rome he was building.

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Episode CCLXI (261)

Guest: Dr Rhiannon Evans

In this special live episode recorded at the Melbourne Museum we set aside the military narrative to look at something just as fierce: the propaganda war waged between Octavian and Antony in the years before Actium. The insults traded in letters and pamphlets. The coins minted as political weapon. The will stolen from the Vestal Virgins. And the brilliant, ruthless campaign that cast a Roman civil war as a foreign invasion — with Cleopatra as the villain.

Support Emperors of Rome on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/romepodcast

Episode CCLX (260)

Guest: Dr Rhiannon Evans

The decade after Caesar's murder is make or break for Octavian. He is very young and inexperienced, he is often between Mark Antony and the senate, and he needs to avenge Caesar and become his acknowledged heir. Despite these challenges he is slowly setting the stage for breaking the Roman republic.

Support Emperors of Rome on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/romepodcast

Episode CCLVIII (259)

Guest: Dr Rhiannon Evans

How did Octavius become Octavian? We trace what we know of Octavius’ early life in Rome during a tumultuous era of violence and civil conflict, through to Julius Caesar's unexpected adoption of a perennially sickly teenager.

Come and see a live recording of the Emperors of Rome podcast at the Melbourne Museum on 4th of August. Tickets here

Support Emperors of Rome on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/romepodcast

Episode CCLVII (258)

Guest: Dr Rhiannon Evans

Before Augustus reached his great heights as Emperor, before he was even Octavian, he was Giaus Octavius, born to a relatively humble family and giving no indication of the greatness he would achieve. While his father had a reasonably successful political and military career, it’s almost certain that he wouldn’t have become princeps at all without the important connections provided by his mother, Atia.

We are crowdfunding a podcast miniseries on Tacitus' Germania! It is exclusive to supporters only, and available now on kickstarter.

Support Emperors of Rome on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/romepodcast

Episode CCLVII (257)

Guest: Dr Rhiannon Evans

Tacitus's Germania is one of the most fascinating, strange, and surprisingly modern texts to survive from the ancient world. Part ethnographic survey, part moral provocation, part geopolitical warning, it describes the tribes living along Rome's northern frontier: their customs, their gods, their warriors, their women, and their stubborn refusal to become Roman.

This is the first episode of a new podcast miniseries from Rhiannon Evans and Matt Smith. It is exclusive to supporters only, and available now on kickstarter.

Support Emperors of Rome on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/romepodcast

Episode CCLVI (256)

Guest: Dr Rhiannon Evans

In 305 CE, a carefully staged transition took place: the emperors Diocletian and Maximian retired, handing power to a new generation of rulers. Exactly how it happened is still debated, but the act itself was unprecedented in the long history of the Roman Empire.

Support Emperors of Rome on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/romepodcast

Episode CCLV (255)

Part VII of Diocletian

Guest: Professor Caillan Davenport (Centre for Classical Studies, Australian National University)

In the early fourth century the emperors of the Tetrarchy initiated what later Christians would call the “Great Persecution.” Under Diocletian and his colleagues, churches were demolished, sacred texts seized, and believers forced to choose between sacrificing to the Roman gods or facing punishment by the state.

Support Emperors of Rome on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/romepodcast

This month's bonus episode on Patreon is with Caillan Davenport, looking at the Christian martyr, Saint Sebastian..

Episode CCLIV (254)

Part VI of Diocletian

Guest: Professor Caillan Davenport (Centre for Classical Studies, Australian National University)

With the tetrarch system still taking shape, Diocletian and his Caesar Galerius come under growing pressure in the East, facing rebellion from Egypt and invasion from the Persian King Naresh. A series of hard campaigns, careful political choices and eventual victory will determine whether this new imperial order can truly secure Rome's frontiers.

Support Emperors of Rome on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/romepodcast

This month's bonus episode on Patreon is with Rhiannon Evans, looking at panegyrics..

Episode CCLIII (253)

Part V of Diocletian

Guest: Professor Caillan Davenport (Centre for Classical Studies, Australian National University)

Constantius was elevated to Caesar with one primary mission - retake Britannia for the Roman empire. In the later half of the fourth century the province and parts of western Gaul had retained a stubborn sort of independence, flying in the face of a unified Rome. If the tetrarchy were to prove they were a stable system, this had to come to an end.

Support Emperors of Rome on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/romepodcast

This month's bonus episode on Patreon is with Peter Guest, looking at the coins of Carausius.

Episode CCLII (252)

Part IV of Diocletian

Guest: Professor Caillan Davenport (Centre for Classical Studies, Australian National University)

Diocletian and Maximian have established themselves as co-Emperors, working together to amicably administrate a sprawling Roman Empire. But with Persians to the east, Britons to the west, and discontent all around… maybe it’s time for more laurel wreaths?

Support Emperors of Rome on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/romepodcast

Episode CCLI (251)

Part III of Diocletian

Guest: Professor Caillan Davenport (Centre for Classical Studies, Australian National University)

Emperors of Rome is now on Patreon! To find out about perks and give your support head to patreon.com/romepodcast

Rhiannon Evans, Caillan Davenport, Matt Smith and special guest William Dalrymple share items of Roman interest! You will hear:

- A phoenix in the forum
- The unknown Queens of Rome
- The Roman perception of elephants
- Trade between India and Rome
- The low bar of Roman insults
- The false female centurion
- What Emperors called themselves
- An accurate population of Pompeii
- The false Theodosius
- Sallust and ethnic etymology in North Africa

Episode CCL(250)

Guests:
Associate Professor Rhiannon Evans (Classics and Ancient History, La Trobe University)
Professor Caillan Davenport (Centre for Classical Studies, Australian National University))
William Dalrymple (Esteemed author and host of Empire podcast)

Viriathus was a Lusitanian leader who rose from humble beginnings to become one of Rome’s most formidable enemies. A skilled tactician and master of guerrilla warfare, he led his people in resistance against Roman expansion in Hispania during the second century BCE. Celebrated for his honour and leadership — even by the Romans who fought him — Viriathus’s story is one of resilience, betrayal, and the enduring struggle for freedom against empire.

Episode CCXLIX (249)

Guest: Dr Christopher Gribbin (Adjunct Lecturer, Classics and Ancient History, La Trobe University)

Arria, and her daughter of the same name, were celebrated in Roman literature for their virtues, piety, and devotion to family. Remembered above all for their willingness to embrace self-sacrifice, their lives and deaths became exemplars of courage and duty, cited by writers like Pliny and Martial as models of Roman virtue.

Episode CCXLVIII (248)

Guest: Assoc. Professor Rhiannon Evans (Classic and Ancient History, La Trobe University)

Being the daughter of Cato and wife of Brutus came with certain expectations from the ancient world. Embody her father’s principles, be a fine, upstanding Roman lady, and put Rome first above all other things. Porcia did this, and was admired for her disposition.

Episode CCXLVII (247)

Guest: Assoc. Professor Rhiannon Evans (Classic and Ancient History, La Trobe University)

In times of antiquity, alongside the Via Appia, stood the Laudatio Turiae, a funerary inscription praising the life of an exceptional Roman woman. While we aren’t sure of her actual identity her husband was clearly fond to her, and wanted everyone approaching Rome to know it.

Episode CCXLVI (246)

Guest: Assoc. Professor Rhiannon Evans (Classic and Ancient History, La Trobe University)

When Nero took his own life in 68CE it was the end of an era for Rome. The Julio-Claudians had ruled for close to 100 years, and with the end of the dynasty there was confusion, civil war, and an outpouring of grief.

Some would exploit this confusion and claim to be the still alive Emperor Nero, with the intention of retaking his empire.

Episode CCXLV (245)

Guest: Assistant Professor Zachary Herz (Legal Historian, Department of Classics, University of Colorado Boulder).

Plague getting your people down? Suffering from a mysterious ailment? Perhaps a festival of Apollo is what you need. A simple festival with games, plays and feastings could be enough to sway Apollo in your favour. Or at least, distract your city for a while.

Episode CCXLIV (244)

Guest:
Assoc. Professor Rhiannon Evans (Classic and Ancient History, La Trobe University)

After the death of Crassus his powerful name, his fortune, and his family’s honour survived. In this episode we’ll trace the life of the Crassi yet to come, and how the family comes together with an old rival.

Episode CCXLIII (243)

Part V of Crassus

Guest:

Assoc. Professor Rhiannon Evans (Classic and Ancient History, La Trobe University)