“It’s the steel that they love” Juvenal

“I needed money for wine” Titus Pullo in HBO’s series Rome

“We can live vicariously through that moment, or use it to fuel what we desire in life.” Jake Rossen  

"You must die erect and invincible. What difference will it make if you gain a few more days or years? We are born into a world in which no quarter is given." Seneca

“He who has learned how to die has learned how not to be a slave.” Seneca

"Joy... is the victim's revolt and revenge against dishonor and powerlessness." Carlin Barton

Ancient Romans were obsessed with gladiatorial combat. In this two-part series, we time-travel back to get a sense of what the Games (of which gladiatorial combat was the main attraction) were like. In this episode: how gladiators were both superstars and despised outcasts at the same time, gladiators’ groupies, Marcus Aurelius’ wife taking a bath in gladiator’s blood, Commodus and his 620-0 record in the arena, the clash between Christianity and gladiators, the evolution of MMA in the early 1990s, having your violent cake and eating it too, gladiatorial video games, Titus Pullo’s badassery, Conan’s prayer (The video of my daughter mentioned in this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJIh5zNfmm8), the Red Hot Chili Peppers, MMA fighter Enson Inoue, gladiatorial combat as a master course on Stoicism in action…

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The stupid crowd is waiting eagerly

For the two valiant heroes to contend.                                                         

No farther than their noses can they see;

A spectacle is all they comprehend.” Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 30.27

Ancient Romans were obsessed with gladiatorial combat. In this two-part series, we time-travel back to get a sense of what the Games (of which gladiatorial combat was the main attraction) were like. In this episode: the origins of gladiators, human sacrifice, Achilles and the Iliad, feeding the dead with blood, who were the gladiators, female gladiators, the ludus, the different types of gladiators, the battles among the damnati, the naumachia, executions and ‘snuff plays’, the venatio, crushed by elephants or eaten by lions, the collapsing arena that killed over 20,000, the editor of the games, poor Romans eating lion for dinner, thumbs (up and down)...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“No matter how much I make up, there’s stuff in history that’s just as bad, or worse.” George R.R. Martin

 “Though I would treasure your friendship, I am mainly interested in your facility with murder” Tyrion Lannister

“That’s what I do. I drink and I know things.” Tyrion Lannister

“If we don’t put aside our enmities and band together, we will die. And then it doesn’t matter whose skeleton sits on the Iron Throne.” Ser Davos Seaworth

Sansa “Now, I’m sure cutting off heads is very satisfying, but that’s not the way you get people to work together.” Sansa Stark

I always say that history is really no different from Game of Thrones (minus the dragons). The passion, brutality, the joys and heartbreak, human greatness and human pettiness… it’s all there. And as it turns out the connection between history and the world created by George R.R. Martin’s run deep. In this episode, I am joined by Aziz Al-Doory from The History of Westeros Podcast, and together we discuss some (definitely not all) of the ways in which history has influenced Game of Thrones. In this episode we’ll tackle: The Wall & Hadrian’s Wall, flaying, human sacrifice, feeding enemies to dogs, Agamemnon and Stannis Baratheon, parallels with the Bible, the Dothraki and nomadic steppe peoples, execution by molten gold, the real life examples of the High Sparrow, the walk of shame, the inquisition, the Red Wedding, the siege of Constantinople & the battle of Blackwater Bay, and much more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“He refused to allow anyone—white or black—or any laws and customs—to dictate his place in society or the manner in which he should live.” Al-Tony Gilmore

“This negro, in the eyes of many, has been persecuted. Perhaps as an individual he was. But it was his misfortune to be the foremost example of the evil in permitting the intermarriage of whites and blacks.” Asst Atty. Gen. Harry Parkin

“No brutality, no infamy, no degradation in all the years of Southern slavery, possessed such a villainous character and such atrocious qualities as the provision of the laws of Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and other states which allow the marriage of the negro, Jack Johnson, to a woman of Caucasian strain… Intermarriage between whites and blacks is repulsive and averse to every sentiment of pure American spirit. It is abhorrent and repugnant to the very principles of a pure Saxon government. It is subversive to social peace. It is destructive of moral supremacy, and ultimately this slavery of white women to black beasts will bring this nation to a conflict as fatal and as bloody as ever reddened the soil of Virginia or crimsoned the mountain paths of Pennsylvania… Let us uproot and exterminate now this debasing, ultrademoralizing, un-American and inhuman leprosy.” Congressman from Georgia Seaborn Roddenberry

“It comes down, then, after all to this unforgivable blackness.” W.E.B. Du Bois

“I loved him because of his courage. He faced the world unafraid. There wasn't anybody or anything he feared.” Irene Pineau

“I would rather listen to you than hear an oration from a professional politician. I can learn more from you.” Mexican President Venustiano Carranza

By 1900, the federal government had long abandoned Reconstruction, and white supremacy was returning to the South with a vengeance. Jim Crow was in full swing. Segregation was the law of the land. And Fifty years before Jackie Robinson challenged segregation in baseball, there was Jack Johnson.

Lynching was a weekly event. Any black man in the South not acting subservient could find himself dangling from a tree. Even African American leaders like Booker T. Washington preached that accepting segregation, keeping one’s head down, and working hard were the best options for black people.

Jack Johnson clearly didn’t get the memo.

At this time when simply looking a white man in the eyes, or talking to a white woman, could get one lynched, Jack Johnson made a living beating the hell out of white men in the ring. Living defiantly as if prejudice didn’t exist—he felt—was the best way to defeat racism.

It would be easy to mistake Jack Johnson’s story simply as a tale of standing up to racism. It’s about that—sure. But it’s also about a lot more. Because as much Jack Johnson stared down white supremacy, he also battled those black people who insisted that he behaved like a hard-working, God-fearing role model. But JJ wasn’t about to trade a cage for another. He wouldn’t be anyone’s puppet. He would have no master telling him how to live—not white ones, but no black ones either. His story is the tale of a man who, in spite of a time and place that would not allow it, was on a defiant quest to be free, and live life on his own terms.

In this episode:

-The campaign to ban boxing

-Grappling with the demons of success

-Jack Johnson vs. Winston Churchill

-Marriage and suicide

-Legal persecution and marriage # 2

-The Police Gazette calling him “the vilest, most despicable creature that lives… he has disgusted the American public by flaunting in their faces an alliance as bold as it was offensive.”

-The paranoid hysteria at the roots of the Mann Act

-Running from the Law

-The title defense against Frank Moran

-At a party with Rasputin

-Rubbing elbows with Pancho Villa

-Jess Willard

-Prison life

-Marriage # 3

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“And it was fast cars and whiskey

Long legged girls and fun

I had everything that money could bring

And I took it all with a gun” from the song I’ve Never Picked Cotton

“Johnson did not care. He had no use for the bourgeois values of thrift and respectability.” Randy Roberts

“You don’t catch Jim Jeffries losing to a colored man.” Jim Jeffries

“Quite conceivably there had never been a more important athletic event in American history.” Randy Roberts

“Even those who have an absurdly exaggerated horror of prize fighting as a ‘brutal’ sport should gently warm in their sensitive minds a little hope that the white man may not lose, while the rest of us will wait in open anxiety the news that he has licked the—well, since it must be in print, let us say the negro, even though it is not the first word that comes to the tongue’s tip.” New York Times

By 1900, the federal government had long abandoned Reconstruction, and white supremacy was returning to the South with a vengeance. Jim Crow was in full swing. Segregation was the law of the land. And Fifty years before Jackie Robinson challenged segregation in baseball, there was Jack Johnson.

Lynching was a weekly event. Any black man in the South not acting subservient could find himself dangling from a tree. Even African American leaders like Booker T. Washington preached that accepting segregation, keeping one’s head down, and working hard were the best options for black people.

Jack Johnson clearly didn’t get the memo.

At this time when simply looking a white man in the eyes, or talking to a white woman, could get one lynched, Jack Johnson made a living beating the hell out of white men in the ring. Living defiantly as if prejudice didn’t exist—he felt—was the best way to defeat racism.

It would be easy to mistake Jack Johnson’s story simply as a tale of standing up to racism. It’s about that—sure. But it’s also about a lot more. Because as much Jack Johnson stared down white supremacy, he also battled those black people who insisted that he behaved like a hard-working, God-fearing role model. But JJ wasn’t about to trade a cage for another. He wouldn’t be anyone’s puppet. He would have no master telling him how to live—not white ones, but no black ones either. His story is the tale of a man who, in spite of a time and place that would not allow it, was on a defiant quest to be free, and live life on his own terms.

In this episode:

-Public Enemy Number One

-At home in the integrated criminal underworld

-Ladies and fast cars

-Jack Johnson’s intellectual side

-The Great White Hope

-Knocking out and befriending Stanley “The Assassin” Ketchel

-“I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a negro.” Jim Jeffries

-Why the Governor of California prohibited the fight

-Death threats and attempted poisonings

-Jack Johnson’s eerie calm under pressure

-A spectator: “He’ll kill you, Jack.”

Jack Johnson: “That’s what they all say.”

-The verbal fight with Jim Corbett

-Triumph and riots in over 50 cities

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back in the day when you could still pay your ticket on the spot in cash, a cop pulled over Jack Johnson for speeding.

“Hey boy—said the cop—This is going to cost you $ 50!”

Johnson handed him $ 100. The cop tried to protest he didn’t have change, but Johnson waved him off.

“I will be coming back this same way, and I’ll be driving at the same speed, so I’m just paying you in advance.”

“His story is one of the great dramas not just of American sports, but of all American history.” New York Times

 “This fellow Johnson is a fair fighter, but he is a black. And for that reason, I will never fight him.” Heavyweight Champion Jim Jeffries

By 1900, the federal government had long abandoned Reconstruction, and white supremacy was returning to the South with a vengeance. Jim Crow was in full swing. Segregation was the law of the land. And Fifty years before Jackie Robinson challenged segregation in baseball, there was Jack Johnson.

Lynching was a weekly event. Any black man in the South not acting subservient could find himself dangling from a tree. Even African American leaders like Booker T. Washington preached that accepting segregation, keeping one’s head down, and working hard were the best options for black people.

Jack Johnson clearly didn’t get the memo.

At this time when simply looking a white man in the eyes, or talking to a white woman, could get one lynched, Jack Johnson made a living beating the hell out of white men in the ring. Living defiantly as if prejudice didn’t exist—he felt—was the best way to defeat racism.

It would be easy to mistake Jack Johnson’s story simply as a tale of standing up to racism. It’s about that—sure. But it’s also about a lot more. Because as much Jack Johnson stared down white supremacy, he also battled those black people who insisted that he behaved like a hard-working, God-fearing role model. But JJ wasn’t about to trade a cage for another. He wouldn’t be anyone’s puppet. He would have no master telling him how to live—not white ones, but no black ones either. His story is the tale of a man who, in spite of a time and place that would not allow it, was on a defiant quest to be free, and live life on his own terms.

In this episode:

-How a man who would be among the best fighters in the world grew up as a wimp having his sisters protecting him

-The color line in boxing

-The 1900 Galveston Flood

-Joe Choynski: first KOs Jack Johnson and then teaches him how to fight… in jail

-JJ’s complicated fascination with white women

-The curious story of Saverio Giannone (aka Joe Grim): “I am Joe Grim and I fear no man”

-Chasing Tommy Burns around the world

-Jack Johnson’s defiant smile

-“Jim Jeffries must emerge from his alpha alpha farm, and remove that golden smile from Jack Johnson’s face. Jeff, it’s up to you. The White Man must be rescued.” Jack London

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Duncan is one of the pioneers of historical podcasting. His “History of Rome” is iconic. And his current “Revolutions” is equally compelling. In this episode, we sit down to chat about Roman history, Rome in cinema, the inevitable comparisons between Ancient Rome and the United States, the factionalism and corruption that brought down the Republic, the connection between ‘The Walking Dead’ + ‘Game of Thrones’ and Roman history, his upcoming book “The Storm Before the Storm,” and the future of his “Revolutions” podcast.

PATREON NEWS: I have just started a Patreon account!!!! If you feel in a generous mood, please, check it out at www.patreon.com/historyonfire

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I never planted wheat and never will, so long as there are other harvests to be reaped with the sword.” Robert E. Howard (from ‘Beyond the Black River’)

“In the rough and violent world of seafaring, mariners could not afford to always abide by the niceties of the law or proper etiquette.” Robert J Anthony

“There is no greater calamity than not knowing what is enough”. Tao Te Ching

At the very beginning of the 1800s, a Chinese woman went from being employed as a prostitute in the floating brothels close to Canton to becoming the leader of the biggest pirate confederacy in modern history. Despite ending up as one of the most successful pirates ever, little is known about her. Today, we dive into the mystery and explore her story.

In this episode:

-The three waves of piracy

-Piracy as a family business

-The boat people

-“People are not born sea bandits, but drift into brigandage because they can no longer support themselves.” Wang Zhiyin governor of Fujian

-The Tay-Son rebellion

-Death by a thousand cuts

-The seven pirate bosses and the creation of the biggest pirate confederacy in modern history

-When pirates invite you to join their crew, saying ‘no’ is not an option

-A pirate’s life for me: opium, prostitutes, gambling, fights

-The rise of Cheng I Sao, and her saving the Confederacy

-Chang Pao

-Cheng I Sao’s law: “Off with his head!”

-Former prostitute, full time pirate leader and part time shaman

-Straight out of Game of Thrones: fireboats

-Cheng I Sao and the Taoist talent of knowing when to stop

PATREON NEWS: I have just started a Patreon account!!!! If you feel in a generous mood, please, check it out at www.patreon.com/historyonfire

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“After getting this information, he had the arms, feet, and heads of our unfortunate companions cut off, and sent them round to various towns of our allies and those who had made peace with us, with the message that he did not think one of us would be left alive to return to Texcoco. Then he offered their hearts and blood to his idols.” Bernal Diaz

“Eat the flesh of your brothers, for we are full. You can stuff yourselves with our leftovers.” Mexica warriors addressing the Spaniards

“It is better that we should all die fighting in the city than see ourselves in the power of those who would enslave us and torture us for gold.” From a speech attributed to a Mexica captain

“The people of the city had to walk upon their dead while others swam or drowned in the waters of that wide lake… so great was their suffering that it was beyond our understanding how they could endure it.” Hernan Cortes

In the 1500s, two highly militaristic peoples fueled by religious ideologies requiring bloodshed clashed with one another. This is the tale of what happened when a band of Spaniards run into the Mexica (Aztec) empire. By the time the dust will settle, out of the 25 million indigenous inhabitants of Mexico, little over a million will be left standing. 

In this fourth episode:

-Cortes’ charge at the battle of Otumba

-The Tlaxcalan fateful choice

-Branding POWs in the face with the letter G for Guerra

-Smallpox was better than any army for the Spaniards

-Cortes holds a rape auction

-The master carpenter Martin Lopez, and his ships sealed with boiling human fat taken from dead Mexica warriors

-A plot against Cortes ends with a hanging

-Cortes on top of the pyramid at Xochimilco sees 2,000 canoes coming to kill him

-Xicotenga and Led Zeppelin’s Gallows Pole

-The siege of Tenochtitlan

-Cortes flirting with death

-The human sacrifice that gave Bernal Diaz permanent PTSD

-Eating the plaster off your walls and still fighting on

-The city of the dead

-The Mexica emperor being introduced to the expression “holding the feet to the fire”

-Ramsay Bolton would have loved both Mexica and Spaniards

-The aftermath of the Conquest

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“And when we saw all those cities and villages built in the water, and other great towns on dry land, and that straight and level causeway leading to Mexico, we were astounded. These great towns and cues and buildings rising from the water, all made of stone, seemed like an enchanted vision from the tale of Amadis. Indeed, some of our soldiers asked whether it was not all a dream. It is not surprising therefore that I should write in this vein. It was all so wonderful that I do not know how to describe the first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed of before… But today all that I then saw is overthrown and destroyed; nothing is left standing.” Bernal Diaz

“Have confidence, Montezuma. Fear nothing. We love you greatly.” Hernan Cortes

“What is the use of all these words? Either we take him or we knife him.” Juan Velazquez de Leon

“They ran in among the dancers, forcing their way to the place where the drums were played. They attacked the man who was drumming and cut off his arms… Some attempted to run away, but their intestines dragged as they ran; they seemed to tangle their feet in their own entrails… So great was the bloodshed that blood ran through the courtyard like water in a heavy rain.”

In the 1500s, two highly militaristic peoples fueled by religious ideologies requiring bloodshed clashed with one another. This is the tale of what happened when a band of Spaniards run into the Mexica (Aztec) empire. By the time the dust will settle, out of the 25 million indigenous inhabitants of Mexico, little over a million will be left standing. 

In this third episode:

-The massacre at Cholula

-The drunken man’s vision

-The splendor of Tenochtitlan

-Kidnapping an emperor

-Burning people at the stake in front of the Great Pyramid

-Why the Stockholm Syndrome should be renamed Tenochtitlan Syndrome

-A battle between Spaniards and Spaniards

-Alvarado’s bloody choices

-La Noche Triste: the end of the Spaniards?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices