By Cameron Reilly & Ray Harris
A long-form podcast about the lives of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.
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In the year 26, Sejanus went after Agrippina again, this time by attacking her close friend and cousin, Claudia Pulchra, who was accused of adultery and treason. Agrippina loses her shit and gets all up in Tiberius’ face in public....
Even as late as 24 CE, Tiberius seems to be mostly rational, although his view on majestas was hardening. He refused to allow Further Spain to erect a temple to himself and his mother. And when Sejanus asked for permission...
It’s the year 24 CE. Sejanus is trying to convince Tiberius that the sky is falling. His advice: sweep the leg.
Sejanus and Livilla conspire to murder her husband, Drusus, son of Tiberius. At least that’s the story according to Sejanus’ ex-wife Apicata. With Drusus out of the way, Sejanus next plots the demise of Germanicus’ kiddies and widow, Agrippina.
Tacitus seems to think Sejanus was the manipulator of Tiberius and that Sejanus wanted the power for himself. But of course he has things in his way. Drusus, the adult son of Tiberius, who is about 37. And Drusus also had...
According to Tacitus, 23 CE is the turning point in Tiberius’s reign. He blames it on Lucius Aelius Sejanus. Suetonius, on the other hand, blames Sejanus on Tiberius. On this episode, we tell the story of the rise of Sejanus – the man who...
Tiberius, unlike Augustus, was only generous with financial help on rare occasions. And he stopped the urban development in the provinces. Because these are things you do if you want to make people like you. Tiberius didn’t seem to care. The...
In 21 there was a revolt by a number of Gallic tribes under the leadership of Julius Florus and Julius Sacrovir. And in 28, there was another revolt. This time by the Germanic Frisii tribe – all because their cows weren’t large...
The one about the military situation during Tibbo’s reign, Jesus murdering a herd of pigs in cold blood, Rhescuporis and Cotys battle for Thrace, Uppity Softy, Uppity Pussylips and Pappy Sabs – and Camerinus.
Tiberius’ position on maiestas (treason) started to harden over time. By the year 22, according to Tacitus, the charge of maiestas was pretty standard in most trials. Meanwhile, Aemilia Lepida tried Barry & Stan’s Virgin Birth Defence.
TIbbo bans the Druids and loves to sit in on court cases, giving his opinion on the guilt or innocence of the accused, even when nobody asked him. We go into some details on the origins of the Maiestas laws, which...
Listen to me read the INTRODUCTION to my new book THE PSYCHOPATH ECONOMY. And you only have until 20 March to pre-order your copy!
It’s a very special episode! Cam is joined by hilarious fellow Aussies Dr Fiona Radford and Dr Peta Greenfield from The Partial Historians podcast to discuss the epic question – who wore it best? Augustus or Tiberius? No Ray on...
More stories from the ancient sources about what a nice guy Tibbo was. Most of the time. In the early years. Before he went all sex-dungeon-y. And more stories about how the Senate became increasingly spineless.
In the year 21 CE, Tacfarinas, the African Arminius, is still causing trouble for the poor old Romans. So Tibbo, who is busy, off building his sex dungeon, asks the Senate to deal with it. They, of course, wet themselves,...
We’re still looking at stories showing how moderate Tiberius was in the early years – and how the Senate gradually became more and more useless. One great example is the inability to appoint a proconsul of Africa to deal with Tacfarinas,...
We look at some of the controversies that Drusus had to deal with when he was sole consul in the year 21 CE. For example – Caecina Severus made a strong case that the wives of provincial governors should no longer be...
Claudius, son of Drusus and Antonia Minor, grandson of Livia and Mark Antony, was born in 10 BCE. He’s so disabled, his mother refers to him as a monster and uses him as a synonym for stupidity.
Edward J. Watts is a professor of history at the University of California, San Diego, and author and editor of several prize-winning books, including The Final Pagan Generation, and a great book about Hypatia. He’s got a great new book out about...
Abandoned by everyone, Piso walks off the stage. Plancina gets a pardon. Tiberius pulls a Trump and says Piso betrayed his trust. And then there’s this how thing about erections and electrocution that we are slightly ashamed about.
Agrippina and Piso arrive (separately) back in Rome. And the trial of Piso begins.
Meanwhile in Rome, people are just getting news that Germs is ill and they are furious at Tibbo and Livia. Aha! They said. Now we know why he was sent into the middle of nowhere. He has probably been poisoned...
I just launched my second and last Kickstarter campaign for the Jesus film! Check it out, promote it, support it, lick it, rub yourself all over it!
Why did Germanicus go to Egypt? To get to the other side. His real motive, according to Tacitus, was tourism HOWEVER a couple of papyrus fragments discovered in Oxyrynchus in the 20th century, contains a fragment of a speech to...
To Germanicus, Piso’s appointment will have been clear proof that Tiberius still did not trust him. To some extent it followed the pattern whereby a tried and trusted man was sent to watch over a young and inexperienced prince. But...
Problems in the East. It had started back in 15, when the Parthians expelled their king, Vonones. Although I’ve also read 12. Vonones was the eldest son of Phraates iv and had been handed over to Augustus as a hostage...
The other problem Tibbo had in 16 was a belated consequence of the removal of Agrippa Postumus. As soon as he heard of Augustus’ death, Clemens, one of Agrippa’s slaves, had decided to sail to Planasia and engineer Agrippa’s escape...
Meanwhile, while Germs was off in Germany fighting Germans… Tibbo had major problems to deal with. SILK CLOTHING. CASSIUS DIO: Tiberius forbade any man to wear silk clothing and also forbade anyone to use golden vessels except for sacred ceremonies....
We are very excited to welcome back to the show our favourite history detective Lindsay Powell, author of several terrific books on Agrippa, Augustus and Germanicus.
Germs got a FULL triumph and a triumphal arch, which was erected the following year only 150 yards from the arch erected by Augustus to celebrate the return of the standards from Parthia. This suggests Tibbo wanted people to think about...
After witnessing the Varus killing fields, They were furious and wanted revenge against Arminius and the Cherusci. Maybe Germs had calculated this? Or maybe it was an accident? With the Bructeri out of reach Germanicus set out in pursuit of...
Remember Arminius, the leader of the Cherusci tribe of Germans? The complete bad-ass who took down Quinctilius Varus at the Varian Disaster aka the Clades Variana aka The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ? Well around 14 he’s having some...
Poor Tiberius has to live up to Augustus! He’s already rich. He’s inherited Augustus’ fortune. He could just retire, get a nice little house by the beach, with a pool, some pretty girls, Netflix and chill for the rest of his life....
As you might recall from our last series, Tiberius came from several impressive families. He was, of course, the adopted son of Augustus, and therefore a Caesar. He was also a Claudian via his father. The Claudians were one of...
And so it was that in the year 767 Ab Urb Condita, 14 AD if you’re a Christian, or 14 CE if you’re secular Or, if you were living in Rome at the time, you would called it the year...
Augustus is feeling pretty chipper so he and Livia join Tiberius on his trip to the east. It’ll be the princeps’ last trip. Meanwhile Augustus asked people to just leave him the fuck alone. In 12 CE Germanicus read a speech...
Before the news of Varus’ defeat had reached Rome, one of Augustus’ main concerns in 9 CE was how unpopular his legislation encouraging marriage and raising of children was. Click on the banner and use the coupon code LOC to get...
News of Varus’ defeat reached Rome only five days after the victory celebrations from the Balkan war. Click on the banner and use the coupon code LOC to get 25% off your first three months! At least Augustus could now transfer...
The downfall of Ovid and the rise of Arminius. Click on the banner and use the coupon code LOC to get 25% off your first three months! Another person who got caught up in all this was the poet...
The downfall of Julia’s surviving children, Agrippa Postumus and Julia the Younger. Click on the banner and use the coupon code LOC to get 25% off your first three months! * The food shortages lasted for several months. * Including...
* While all this is going on with the Dalmatians, there are problems in other provinces as well. * We hear of campaigning going on in….. Africa. * And also this is the period when Herod’s son Archelaus is so...
* Apparently this kind of pride was enough for Augustus to decide they had to go. * Bodacious must have seen it coming, because he built up his forces to prepare. * Which of course the Romans noticed, so they...
And overnight, Tibbo goes from being invisible to being the Number Two man in Rome again! * WHO DOES NUMBER TWO WORK FOR * Oh he knows. * Now all of Aug’s successors are either Livia’s sons or her grandsons....
* By the time news of Caius’ death had reached Rome it was some time in late March, 4 CE. * Aug mourned but also hurried to plan for the future. * Of course, he didn’t have many options left....
* Keep in mind that by the standards of the day, jokes about deformities were pretty mild. * Remember those speeches Cicero gave about Mark Antony? The Phillipics? * Here’s just one example: * Let us speak rather of his...
Augustus stayed in Rome more now, no longer going out on long tours of the provinces, probably because he’s in his sixties, probably because he doesn’t have someone like Agrippa to leave in charge while he’s away. * On his...
* It’s the year 1 BCE * Caius Caesar, biological son of Agrippa and Julia, adopted son of Augustus, is 19 years old. * And what do you get for the 19 year old who has everything? * A military...
Our new series, The Renaissance Times, launched on Dec 24, 2017. Here’s the first episode! Go check out the rest of the series at therenaissancetimes.com. At its peak, the Library of Alexandria was estimated to contain somewhere in the order...
A special philosophy episode. Nothing at all to do with Augustus or Rome. No Ray. Just me and a special guest – Dr. Richard Carrier, who has a M.Phil. and a Ph.D. Ancient History from Columbia University. Talking about FREE...
* Claudius was encouraged to take up writing history by the man who himself wrote one of the greatest histories during Aug’s reign – Titus Livius, aka Livy. * He was a local aristocrat from Northern Italy and never sought...