What did it take to rule an empire that was never meant to have an emperor?

In this second episode of our series on the Roman Empire, we're joined by classicist Mary Beard to trace how Roman leadership evolved over a thousand years - from the competitive power-sharing of the Republic, to the carefully constructed one-man rule of Augustus. Why did the republican system buckle under its own success? And what set the empire on the path to fragmentation?

Make sure to join us for our third episode next week, when Peter Heather will explain how and why the Roman Empire fell apart.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

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