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Real Roman History episodes

  • Episode 74. Boudicca and the British Revolt
    Works Cited Primary Sources
    • Archaeology. The destruction layers at the three burned cities—Camulodunum, Londinium, and Verulamium—constitute the most substantially preserved single-event archaeological horizon in Roman provincial Britain. The Boudican destruction horizon is dated to 60 or 61 CE, and is one of the clearest archaeological confirmations we have of any event in early imperial history.
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History, Book 62.1 through 62.12. The alternative narrative source. Includes the physical description of Boudicca at 62.2 that has shaped the iconographic tradition, and the alternative version of her death by illness rather than suicide.
    • Tacitus. Agricola, chapters 14 through 16. Tacitus's later treatment of the British background, written approximately 98 CE.
    • Tacitus. Annals, Book 14.29 through 14.39. The principal narrative source. Includes the Mona campaign, the Iceni provocation, the destruction of the three cities, the battle, the aftermath conflict between Suetonius Paulinus and Classicianus, and the recall of Suetonius Paulinus. Tacitus's father-in-law Agricola served in Britain during the conquest period and is one of his sources, which gives this section a particular quality—it is the part of the Annals where Tacitus is closest to a participant's testimony.
    Secondary Sources
    • Aldhouse-Green, Miranda. Boudica Britannia. Pearson, 2006. Focused biography incorporating both literary and archaeological evidence.
    • Barrett, Anthony A. Rome Is Burning. Princeton University Press, 2020. Substantial treatment of the Boudican revolt in its broader Neronian context.
    • Frere, Sheppard. Britannia: A History of Roman Britain. Fourth edition, Routledge, 1999. The standard scholarly history of the Roman province. The chapter on the revolt provides the broader provincial context.
    • Webster, Graham. Boudica: The British Revolt Against Rome AD 60. Routledge, 1978; revised edition, 2004. The standard focused study of the revolt.
    39 min
  • Episode 73. Nero, Part One: The Quinquennium
    Works Cited Primary Sources
    • Aurelius Victor. De Caesaribus, 5.2. The late-fourth-century source preserving the Trajanic remark about the quinquennium Neronis. The attribution is uncertain and modern scholarship treats it with appropriate skepticism.
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History, Book 61. Greek-language continuous narrative for the period. Preserves some details not in Tacitus and is the principal alternative for events Tacitus organizes differently.
    • Coinage of the period. The aurei and denarii of 54 to 58 CE are unusually informative for the image management of the early reign, particularly the depictions of Nero and Agrippina together that track the political relationship between the two.
    • Seneca. De Beneficiis. Treatise on patronage relationships, also from the early reign. Useful for the philosophical framework Seneca was operating within.
    • Seneca. De Clementia. Political treatise addressed to Nero in the first or second year of the reign, arguing for the virtues of imperial moderation. The most extensive surviving political treatise from the early imperial period directed at a sitting emperor by an active adviser.
    • Suetonius. Life of Nero. Biographical source for the early reign and the matricide. Less detailed than Tacitus on the political arrangements but useful for the personal material.
    • Tacitus. Annals, Books 13 and 14. Continuous Latin narrative covering the years 54 through the matricide in March 59 CE (Book 13) and the matricide and its aftermath (Book 14). The principal narrative source. The accession arrangements, the early reign administration, the Britannicus poisoning, the Agrippina material, and the matricide are all preserved at length.
    Secondary Sources
    • Barrett, Anthony A. Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire. Yale University Press, 1996. The standard treatment of Agrippina the Younger. Indispensable for the matricide and the political relationship of the early reign.
    • Barrett, Anthony A. Rome Is Burning: Nero and the Fire That Ended a Dynasty. Princeton University Press, 2020. Recent treatment of the broader Neronian period with particular attention to the political consequences of the Great Fire that we will reach in a later episode.
    • Champlin, Edward. Nero. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003. The substantially revisionist alternative to Griffin. Argues that much of the standard picture of Nero reconstructs as deliberate political performance rather than as evidence of personal corruption. Cited at the appropriate moments without being adopted as the structural anchor of the episodes.
    • Griffin, Miriam T. Nero: The End of a Dynasty. Yale University Press, 1984. The standard modern English-language biography. The reference for most analytical decisions across the Neronian episodes.
    48 min
  • Episode 72. Britain: The Province at the Edge of the World
    Works Cited Primary Sources
    • Archaeology. The body of archaeological evidence for the Roman conquest of Britain is substantial. The destruction layers at the hill forts of the West Country, including Maiden Castle's war cemetery, are foundational. The road and fort network is preserved across the modern English landscape and is the subject of ongoing scholarly investigation. The bog bodies—Lindow Man in Cheshire being the most famous—preserve evidence of Iron Age ritual practice including possible Druidic sacrifice.
    • Caesar. De Bello Gallico, Books 4 and 5. The principal source for the 55 and 54 BCE expeditions and for Caesar's account of the British world he encountered. To be treated with the usual source-criticism appropriate to Caesar's self-presentation.
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History, especially Book 60. Greek-language narrative covering the Claudian invasion in considerable detail.
    • Pliny the Elder. Natural History, especially Book 16. Preserves substantial material on Druidic ritual including the famous account of the cutting of mistletoe with golden sickles.
    • Suetonius. Life of Claudius and Life of Vespasian. The Claudius biography preserves the invasion material at chapter 17. The Vespasian biography preserves the Britain campaign material at chapter 4, including the figure of more than twenty hill forts captured and the addition of the Isle of Wight to the empire.
    • Tacitus. Agricola, especially chapters 13 through 17. Tacitus's later treatment of the British conquest, written approximately 98 CE with material from his father-in-law Agricola, who served in Britain during the conquest period.
    • Tacitus. Annals, especially Books 12 and 14. Book 12 preserves the Caratacus material at 12.33–37, including the famous speech before Claudius. Book 14 preserves the campaign against Mona at 14.30.
    Secondary Sources
    • Aldhouse-Green, Miranda. Boudica Britannia. Pearson, 2006. Includes substantial background on the conquest period and the British world that Roman armies encountered.
    • Aldhouse-Green, Miranda. The World of the Druids. Thames and Hudson, 1997. The standard treatment of Druidic religion drawing on both literary and archaeological evidence.
    • Frere, Sheppard. Britannia: A History of Roman Britain. Fourth edition, Routledge, 1999. The standard scholarly history of the Roman province. The reference for most analytical decisions in this episode.
    • Webster, Graham. The Roman Invasion of Britain. Routledge, 1980/1999. Focused military history of the conquest period.
    31 min
  • Episode 71. Claudius: The Emperor Behind the Curtain
    Works Cited Primary Sources
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History, Book 60. The continuous Greek-language narrative for the full reign. Particularly important for the Britain campaign of 43 CE, where the Tacitean account is lost.
    • Josephus. Jewish Antiquities, Books 19 and 20. Substantial first-century material on the accession and on Claudius's eastern policy.
    • Juvenal. Satires, especially Satire 6. Verse satire from the early second century preserving the most extreme version of the Messalina material. To be treated with the source-criticism the Part Six discussion outlined.
    • The Lyon Tablet (the Tabula Claudiana). Bronze inscription preserving Claudius's actual speech to the Senate of 48 CE on the admission of Gallic notables to the senatorial order. The only surviving Roman document where we can compare a literary version of an imperial speech (Tacitus, Annals 11.24) with the actual delivered text.
    • Pliny the Elder. Natural History. Various references throughout, including the Messalina material at 10.172.
    • Seneca. Apocolocyntosis. The satirical pamphlet written shortly after Claudius's death. The most extensive surviving contemporary text on the emperor by a writer who had served as a senator under him and as tutor to his successor. Brutally hostile but unusually informative about aristocratic attitudes.
    • Suetonius. Life of Claudius. The principal biographical source for the accession and the early reign that Tacitus does not cover. Preserves the Augustan correspondence about Claudius's childhood, the donative figure for the Praetorians, and the death scene.
    • Tacitus. Annals, Books 11 and 12. The principal Latin narrative for the years 47 through 54 CE. Book 11 begins partway through the reign—the opening seven years are in the lost Books 7 through 10. Book 12 includes the Agrippina marriage, the Nero adoption, and the death scene. Tacitus's hostility to the freedmen administration and to Agrippina shapes his presentation throughout.
    Secondary Sources
    • Barrett, Anthony A. Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire. Yale University Press, 1996. The standard treatment of Agrippina the Younger. Indispensable for Parts Six and Seven.
    • Joshel, Sandra, and various contributors. The Routledge Companion to the Reign of the Emperor Claudius. Routledge, 2020. Recent collection of scholarly essays covering the major analytical questions about the reign.
    • Levick, Barbara. Claudius. Yale University Press, 1990. The standard modern English-language treatment. The reference for most analytical decisions in this episode.
    • Momigliano, Arnaldo. Claudius: The Emperor and His Achievement. Oxford, 1934 (translated from the Italian). The classic mid-twentieth-century revisionist defense of Claudius's administrative reforms. Still valuable as the foundational modern reassessment.
    58 min
  • Episode 70. Caligula: The Principate Without Restraint
    Works Cited Primary Sources
    • Acta Arvalia for 37 to 41 CE. Fragmentary but informative for the public cult activities and the official framing of the reign.
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History, Book 59. The Greek-language summary, written approximately two centuries after the events. Supplements Suetonius in important respects.
    • Coinage of the reign. The official imperial coinage is unusually informative for Caligula's image-management priorities, particularly the depictions of his sisters during the early reign.
    • Josephus. Jewish Antiquities, Books 18 and 19. Substantial first-century material on the Temple statue crisis and the assassination conspiracy. Josephus preserves the most detailed surviving account of the assassination itself, at Antiquities 19.17 to 113.
    • Philo of Alexandria. Embassy to Gaius (Legatio ad Gaium). The contemporary first-person witness. Philo led the Jewish delegation from Alexandria that met Caligula in Rome in 39 to 40 CE. The closest thing we have to a contemporary inside account of the emperor in operation.
    • Seneca. Various references across the philosophical works. Seneca lived through the reign as a young senator. His references to Caligula are scattered but valuable as contemporary aristocratic perspective.
    • Suetonius. Life of Caligula. The principal narrative source. Written around 120 CE, eighty years after the events. Hostile, methodologically committed to court gossip, and the source of most of the famously sensational material. Used throughout this episode with the source-criticism approach the historiographical section discusses.
    • Tacitus. Annals. The books covering Caligula's reign (Books 7 through 10) are entirely lost. This is one of the most severe source-gaps in the imperial sequence.
    Secondary Sources
    • Barrett, Anthony A. Caligula: The Corruption of Power. Yale University Press, 1989; revised edition, 2015. The standard modern English-language treatment. Sympathetic but careful. The reference for most analytical decisions in this episode.
    • Barrett, Anthony A. Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire. Yale University Press, 1996. Relevant for the broader Julio-Claudian context and the sisters.
    • Shotter, D. R. Tiberius Caesar. Routledge, 1992. Relevant for the broader Julio-Claudian context.
    • Wilkinson, Sam. Caligula. Routledge Historical Biographies, 2005. Shorter; useful as a sourcebook approach.
    • Winterling, Aloys. Caligula: A Biography. University of California Press, 2011; original German edition, 2003. The major recent revisionist account. Argues that the bizarre behaviour in the sources represents deliberate political acts later distorted by hostile traditions.
    51 min
  • Episode 69. Tiberius, Part Three: The Final Years
    Works Cited Primary Sources
    • Acta Arvalia for the period. Preserves official cult activities and the formal damnatio memoriae of Sejanus.
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History, Book 58. The continuous Greek-language narrative. Fills important gaps including the death of Livilla.
    • Josephus. Jewish Antiquities, 18.205 to 237. First-century account of Tiberius's final months and Caligula's accession. Includes material on the Macro-Caligula relationship not in the Latin sources.
    • Suetonius. Life of Caligula, chapters 10 to 14. Caligula at Capri, the marriage to Junia Claudilla, the cultivation by Macro and Ennia Thrasylla, the accession.
    • Suetonius. Life of Tiberius, chapters 41 to 76. The personal habits, the Capri material, the death scene. Chapters 43 to 45 and 60 to 62 contain the famously disturbing late-Capri accounts that this episode treats with source-criticism.
    • Tacitus. Annals, Book 6. The principal Latin narrative for 32 to 37 CE. Begins in 32 CE and ends mid-sentence in the middle of Tiberius's obituary. The death scene at 6.50 is preserved. The summary judgment that would have been the analytical climax of the entire Tiberian arc is lost.
    Secondary Sources
    • Barrett, Anthony A. Caligula: The Corruption of Power. Yale University Press, 1989. For the Capri grooming material, the succession question, and the political consequences of Tiberius's death.
    • Champlin, Edward. “Tiberius and the Heavenly Twins.” Journal of Roman Studies, 101, 2011. On the Gemellus-Caligula succession question. The article argues for a more deliberate Tiberian arrangement than the surface narrative suggests.
    • Levick, Barbara. Tiberius the Politician. Revised edition, Routledge, 1999. The standard modern treatment. The reference for the analytical framework of these last three Tiberian episodes.
    • Seager, Robin. Tiberius. Second edition, Blackwell, 2005. Alternative modern biography. More cautious than Levick on several specific points.
    46 min
  • Episode 68. Tiberius, Part Two: The Years of Sejanus
    Works Cited Primary Sources
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History, Book 58. The continuous Greek-language narrative for the period of the Tacitean gap. Dio is writing two centuries later from sources we cannot reconstruct in detail, but he is, for the destruction of Germanicus's family and for Sejanus's fall, the most extensive surviving account.
    • Josephus. Jewish Antiquities 18.180–182. Preserves the Antonia letter to Tiberius warning of Sejanus's planned move — material that may have been in the lost portions of Tacitus but that survives only in Josephus.
    • Juvenal. Satire 10. The famous passage on Sejanus's broken statues — written decades after the events but useful for what it shows about how the fall was remembered in subsequent generations.
    • Sperlonga sculptures and archaeology. The partial remains of the Sperlonga grotto can still be visited, and the marble sculptures that decorated it have been reconstructed and are housed at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Sperlonga. They give us the physical setting of the 26 CE incident that elevated Sejanus from administrator to indispensable man.
    • Suetonius. Life of Tiberius, chapters 41 to 65. The personal habits, the Capri material in its early phase, the death of Sejanus. Chapter 61 contains the passage on the execution of Sejanus's daughter that is one of the most disturbing single passages in any Roman source.
    • Tacitus. Annals, Books 4 and 5. Book 4 covers 23 to 28 CE, including the early Sejanus material we have used here. Book 5 covers 29 to 31 CE in the original — but survives only in its opening five chapters. The principal narrative source for Sejanus's fall is therefore lost. We have, instead, the fragments that other ancient authors quoted from the now-missing portions, plus the reconstructions modern scholarship has built from those fragments and from Cassius Dio.
    • Velleius Paterculus. History of Rome, 2.127 to 128. Contemporary witness, written before Sejanus's fall and dedicated to the Tiberian consul Marcus Vinicius. Preserves a pre-fall portrait of Sejanus that the post-fall sources erased.
    • Villa Jovis on Capri. The substantial archaeological remains of Tiberius's principal villa on Capri can be visited today. They give us the physical setting of the late-reign administration.
    Secondary Sources
    • Barrett, Anthony A. Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire. Yale University Press, 1996. For the Agrippina the Elder material and the Antonia letter.
    • Hennig, D. L. Aelius Seianus: Untersuchungen zur Regierung des Tiberius. C. H. Beck, 1975. German-language. The standard scholarly treatment of Sejanus specifically.
    • Levick, Barbara. Tiberius the Politician. Revised edition, Routledge, 1999. The standard treatment. Cited throughout the recent episodes.
    • Seager, Robin. Tiberius. Second edition, Blackwell, 2005. Alternative modern biography. More cautious than Levick on several specific points.
    36 min
  • Episode 67. The Praetorian Guard: The Sword Behind the Throne
    Works Cited Primary Sources (Ancient Texts)
    • Polybius. Histories 6.31 — Republican military camp structure and the praetorium as command centre. The earliest extant description of the institutional space from which the praetorian cohort takes its name.
    • Suetonius. Divus Augustus 49 — Augustus's establishment of the nine cohorts, with three quartered in Rome and six distributed across Italy; the pay differential with the legions.
    • Suetonius. Divus Augustus 101 — the will and the soldier bequest (1,000 sesterces to each Praetorian, 300 to each legionary).
    • Suetonius. Tiberius 37 — Sejanus's consolidation of the Praetorian cohorts at a single camp on the city's edge.
    • Suetonius. Divus Claudius 10.4 — Claudius's accession donative of 15,000 sesterces per Praetorian.
    • Tacitus. Annals 1.7 — Augustus's death, the reading of the will, Tiberius's first imperial actions.
    • Tacitus. Annals 4.1–2 — Sejanus's family origins, his character as Tacitus reads it, the consolidation of the cohorts at the Castra Praetoria.
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History 53.11 — Augustan military reorganization context.
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History 55.10 — creation of the Praetorian Prefecture, 2 BCE, with the dual command structure.
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History 57.19 — Sejanus's tenure as sole prefect and the Castra Praetoria.
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History 74.1–5 and 75.1–2 — Pertinax's killing by the Praetorians in 193 CE and the auction of the empire to Didius Julianus.
    • Herodian. History of the Empire 2.2–6 — the Pertinax/Julianus crisis of 193 CE; useful as an independent narrative parallel to Dio.
    • Velleius Paterculus. History of Rome 2.127 — the Tiberian-contemporary positive portrait of Sejanus, valuable as the only substantial account written during his lifetime.
    • Plutarch. Life of Marius — Marius's praetorian cohort during the Cimbric Wars.
    • Plutarch. Life of Sulla — Sulla's praetorian cohort and the marches on Rome.
    • Plutarch. Life of Pompey and Life of Caesar — praetorian cohorts in the late Republic.
    • Caesar. Bellum Gallicum and Bellum Civile — the Tenth Legion functioning in a quasi-praetorian role; references throughout to the cohors praetoria.
    • Res Gestae Divi Augusti — Augustus's own account of his military arrangements, useful for the framing rather than for specific Praetorian detail.
    Material Evidence
    • Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL), volume VI — the substantial corpus of Praetorian career inscriptions from Rome and the surrounding region. Tombstones recording years of service, cohort numbers, ages at death, and specific imperial deployments — most commonly identifying the centurion under whom the man served rather than the prefect.
    • Military diplomas — the bronze tablets recording discharge and privileges for retiring soldiers. For Praetorians, who were recruited as citizens, these record marriage rights and discharge benefits rather than the citizenship grants that auxiliary diplomas conferred.
    • The Castra Praetoria itself — the northern and eastern walls survive substantially intact along the Viale del Castro Pretorio in modern Rome; the site today is partly Italian army barracks and partly the national library (Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale).
    Modern Scholarship
    • Bingham, Sandra. The Praetorian Guard: A History of Rome's Elite Special Forces. Baylor University Press, 2013. The most accessible modern treatment in English, covering Republican origins through late antiquity.
    • de la Bédoyère, Guy. Praetorian: The Rise and Fall of Rome's Imperial Bodyguard. Yale University Press, 2017. Engaging narrative history; valuable for the donative system and the political role.
    • Durry, Marcel. Les cohortes prétoriennes. Boccard, 1938. The foundational scholarly work in French; still the definitive treatment of the cohort structure, recruitment patterns, and career inscriptions.
    • Rankov, Boris. The Praetorian Guard. Osprey Elite Series 50, 1994. Short, well-illustrated, useful for the institutional and equipment detail.
    26 min
  • Episode 66. Germanicus: The Prince Who Was Not Allowed to Win
    Works Cited Primary Sources
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History, Books 56 to 57. The continuous Greek-language narrative from 9 CE through 19 CE.
    • Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre. Already covered in Episodes 63 and 65. Referenced here for the political consequences of Germanicus's death but not re-analyzed.
    • Suetonius. Life of Caligula, chapters 1 to 7. The opening chapters of the Caligula biography are essentially a biography of Germanicus. Cover his career, character, family life, death, and the public mourning. Less analytically structured than Tacitus, but contains material Tacitus did not.
    • Tabula Hebana and Tabula Siarensis. Bronze copies of the senatorial decrees voted in honour of Germanicus after his death in 19 CE. The Tabula Siarensis was found near Seville in 1982 and gives us the most detailed surviving Senate decree from the imperial period. The official framing of the loss.
    • Tacitus. Annals, Books 1 to 3. Germanicus is the central figure of Books 1 to 2 and the opening chapters of Book 3. The German campaigns are at Annals 1.55 to 71 and 2.5 to 26. The eastern journey is at 2.53 to 68. The death scene is at 2.69 to 83—one of Tacitus's most sustained dramatic passages. The return of the ashes is at 3.1 to 7.
    Secondary Sources
    • Barrett, Anthony A. Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire. Yale University Press, 1996. The standard modern treatment of Agrippina the Elder and Agrippina the Younger. Essential for Parts Six and Seven.
    • Eck, Werner, Antonio Caballos, and Fernando Fernández. Das Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre. C. H. Beck, 1996. The foundational publication of the Piso decree, relevant for the political aftermath.
    • Levick, Barbara. Tiberius the Politician. Revised edition, Routledge, 1999. The Germanicus material from Tiberius's perspective.
    • Powell, Lindsay. Germanicus: The Magnificent Life and Mysterious Death of Rome's Most Popular General. Pen and Sword Military, 2013. Recent military-focused biography. Most thorough modern treatment of the campaigns.
    37 min
  • Episode 65. Tiberius, Part One: The Reluctant Successor
    Works Cited Primary Sources
    • Acta Arvalia for 14 to 26 CE. Fragmentary but informative for the official cult activities and the public framing of Tiberian governance.
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History, Books 57 and 58. Continuous Greek-language narrative. Book 57 covers 14 to 22 CE; Book 58 covers 23 to 29 CE. Sometimes preserves information not in Tacitus.
    • Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre. The bronze decree of December 10, 20 CE. Already discussed in detail in Episode 63 (Livia, Part Two: Julia Augusta). Referenced here as the documentary anchor for the Piso material, not re-analyzed.
    • Suetonius. Life of Tiberius. Chapters 23 to 43 cover the period of this episode. Gives the gossip, the family details, the personal habits. Less analytically structured than Tacitus, but contains material Tacitus did not.
    • Tabula Hebana and Tabula Siarensis. Bronze copies of the senatorial decrees voted in honour of Germanicus after his death in 19 CE. These give us the official Senate and Tiberian-court framing of the loss.
    • Tacitus. Annals, Books 1 through 4. The single largest narrative source for these years. Books 1 to 3 cover 14 to 22 CE; Book 4 covers 23 to 28 CE. The most analytically sophisticated ancient account of any Roman emperor, and the most hostile portrait of Tiberius. Used carefully—Tacitus is brilliant and limited in specific ways that the episode acknowledges throughout.
    • Velleius Paterculus. History of Rome, 2.125 to 131. The contemporary witness. Velleius was a Tiberian loyalist who served on the Pannonian and German campaigns and who wrote his history during Tiberius's reign. His account is openly admiring of Tiberius. The standard scholarly position has been to dismiss it as sycophantic, but the dismissal is too easy. Velleius is what a serving Roman senator under Tiberius actually wrote about Tiberius, and the perspective he gives us is irrecoverable from Tacitus.
    Secondary Sources
    • Barrett, Anthony. Livia: First Lady of Imperial Rome. Yale University Press, 2002. Already cited for Episode 63, but relevant for the first half of Tiberius's reign through the Piso trial.
    • Champlin, Edward. “Tiberius the Wise.” Historia, 2008. A useful corrective on the question of how aware Tiberius was of his own image management.
    • Levick, Barbara. Tiberius the Politician. Revised edition, Routledge, 1999. The standard modern revisionist treatment. The reference for almost every analytical decision in this episode.
    • Seager, Robin. Tiberius. Second edition, Blackwell, 2005. The other major modern biography. More cautious than Levick but covers the same ground.
    46 min

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