Special Episodes Archives - The Partial Historians - Ancient Roman History with smart ladies

In this special

Liz’s research includes the fashion of women’s dress in ancient representations in order to investigate what we can learn about the representation of women. This means considering how representations of women in statuary were often mediated by a male perspective and asking what this might reveal about women’s lived experience.

A consideration of material evidence, especially when combined with inscriptions offers an alternative to the literary sources for thinking about women and daily life in the ancient world. Our evidence in this episode dates from the third century CE, which means we’re thinking about a Rome embroiled in empire and imperial rule.

In this episode

• drapery in statues and reliefs
• the colour of statuary
• the stola
• the palla
• dress as status

Epiktesis outlives her family. We consider the monument she dedicates to her husband, her children, and herself. Liz takes us through the pose adopted by Epiktesis – the Large Herculaneum Woman Type – and its implications.

Grave stele dedicated by Epiktesis to her family, from Prilep, Macedonia. Skopje Archaeological Museum, inv. AMM 41. Photography © Skopje – Archaeological Museum of Macedonia. Photograph: Ortolf Harl 2017 November.

The husband remains

With Epiktesis

Liz explains how

We consider the

Social status is a

Sarcophagus dedicated by Aurelia Eutychia to herself and her husband Marcus Aurelius Marino. Originally in Voghiera, then moved to Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Italy. Front panel. Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Italy. No inventory number. DAIR Inst. Neg. Rom. 64.2022

Liz explores the

Here’s the inscription found on the sarcophagus:

Aurelia Eutychia built this sarcophagus while alive for herself and her husband Marcus Aurelius Marino a veteran of Syrian lineage at the behest of the patron and her most dutiful husband with whom she lived for forty-three years by order of the patron out of his own funds. If someone after the death of the both opens it they will deposit a thousand sesterces to the tax authorities.

Join us for a lively

Addendum: In exciting news, in the time between our chat with Liz and the release of this episode, we can confirm that Liz has passed her doctoral examination and joins us as a full academic. Congratulations Dr Liz Smith!

Edit: Since conducting this interview, further analysis of the sarcophagus dedicated by Aurelia has revealed the insight that Aurelia would have been Marcus Aurelius Marino’s enslaved property, before he freed and married her. As his freedwoman, Aurelia would have been bound by custom and law to respect Marcus and give him services (operae), even after her manumission. Accordingly, it is all the more interesting that Aurelia represented herself as an equal partner to her husband through the statuesque elements we see on the front and lateral sides.

For further reading:

Peter Stewart 2003. Statues in Roman Society

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Dr Radness travelled to Melbourne recently and met with the fantastic and erudite Dr Rhiannon Evans from La Trobe. Dr Evans is one of the famous voices on the Emperors of Rome podcast. In this special episode, Dr Rad and Dr Evans explore barbarians!

Tune in to learn more about how the Romans thought about the peoples they came into contact with.

Connotations have a very important place when thinking about barbarians. Our modern usage also influences how we think of the category. So the first order of business is a consideration of etymology and to consider who the Romans are applying the term to and why.

There are a range of factors to consider when turning to the Roman use of the term. Up for discussion:

• who cops the designation of barbarian from the Roman perspective
• what makes someone more and less barbarous
• just what is happening on the other side of the Rhine
• and some of the problems with our source materials – written versus archaeological

There’s nothing quite like expansion to bring a Roman into contact with barbarians. Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars detail his campaigns. Reading the source closely provide some clues as to:

• the divisions between the peoples
• the Roman criticism of the role of writing and speaking amongst non-Roman peoples
• maybe what’s not happening (Roman victory)
• and differences in attitude to land use

The concept of barbarian may emerge from an ancient past, but it continues to have relevance today. The idea of who belongs and who is considered an outsider, and the concept of the Other, are part of an ongoing engagement with how people navigate their relationships with strangers.

The conversation weaves through the dangers of Caesar’s description of the Germani and touches upon Claudius’ relationship with the Gauls, both of which have modern echoes that Dr R and Evans explore.

Join us for all this and more!

I, Dr G, sadly lament my absence from this episode – but having done the write up for this episode, I can assure you it is good!

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We return to the fray with the most excellent Rob and Jaime to tackle Dr Radness’ favourite emperor. How will Tiberius fare against the criteria of Totalus Rankium? We’re about to find out!

Oooo better not to

• Fights Maximus – an emperor’s fighting capacity
• Opprobrium Crazium – their average level of insanity / taking things just too far
• Succesus Ultimus – how successful were they (all things considered)?
• Image Facius – were they attractive? Yes, this is the sexy category

Like many people, Tiberius rises from humble beginnings. We’ll explore the nature of his childhood and consider how this may have influenced his character and disposition (a very Suetonian approach if we do say so ourselves). We’re on the search for clues that may help us better understand the complex influences on his life.

Some argue that Tiberius is the first emperor of Rome because he is the first to ‘inherit’ the legal privileges and concessions that secured Augustus’ rule. This is important as it reveals the tenuous nature of the imperial project in these early stages. The differences between Augustus and Tiberius are revealed the moment Tiberius becomes emperor.

Part of the

We’ll consider some of Tiberius’ achievements and also some of the more controversial aspects of his rule in this collaborative episode. You just never know what controversy is in the wind when we’re talking about Tiberius!

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We are super excited to announce that we sat down recently with Stephen Guerra, the host of the History of the Papacy Podcast to talk all about the classic 1951 sword-and-sandals film Quo Vadis.

This is a three way conversation with a variety of perspectives to enjoy. Stephen offers insights into the representation of Christianity. Dr Rad offers an intimate understanding of Rome in Hollywood cinema. Dr G has an eye for all things Roman politics.

Quo Vadis is a Latin phrase which translates as ‘Where are you going?’ and connects with the apocryphal story of Peter fleeing crucifixion in Rome. As he is leaving the city, Jesus appears to Peter in a vision. When Peter asks Quo vadis, Jesus confirms he is heading to Rome to be crucified again. The title of film alludes to the connections between ancient Rome and emerging Christian ideas.

This film deserves to be described as epic! From the MGM studio and filmed in technicolor, it ambitiously seeks to combine Roman history under the rule of Nero with a narrative of early Christianity. Although famous now for Peter Ustinov’s engaging performance as the emperor Nero, he was not the big ticket actor drawing audiences when the film was initially released. Bona fide Hollywood star Robert Taylor plays the lead role as the Roman soldier Marcus Vinicius and Deborah Kerr plays Lygia, the central Christian of this story.

Join us as we explore Quo Vadis from a variety of perspectives and consider things like:

• The origins of the film in Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel
• The challenges of bringing this story to the silver screen
• Just how epic this film was in terms of sets and design
• Roman history on screen and how it shapes understanding
• Interpretations of the Christian-Roman conflict and conversion narrative
• The reception of the film through time

We send a huge thank you to Stephen for having us as guests on his show and for the editing and post-production work on this episode. This is also a first for us in the sense that Dr Rad and Dr G were also in different locations for this recording. This episode is a big moment for us talking together but not in the same room. We’re crediting the powers of technology for making this project possible!

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We’re very excited to bring you a special episode where we sit down with Cam from The Life of Caesar podcast! We’re talking about Tiberius Caesar Divi Augusti filius Augustus or ‘Tibbo’ as he’s affectionately known.

As you know, Tiberius holds a special place in Dr Rad’s heart. The Life of the Caesars duo are in the midst of examining his life and career, so it seemed like a great chance to gather together and thrash out some of the details and perspectives on the man who follows in Augustus’ footsteps.

The Julio-Claudian emperors tend to garner lots of attention in our historical understanding of ancient Rome and for good reason. First, they break away from the republican traditions that had been at the centre of Roman thinking since the expulsion of the kings. And then Augustus’ politics sets the stage for Tiberius’ imperial turn.

In this broad, expansive, special episode we’ll consider some of the challenges Tiberius faces including:

This is a great

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In exciting news, we got together recently with the amazing and very hilarious gentleman of Totalus Rankium, Rob and Jaime, to discuss all things Augustus! We love their work on the Roman emperors and thought it would be great fun to see how all our different perspectives on Augustus shaped up in conversation.

The results are in!

The controversial politics of Augustus is central to the conversation and we’ll even take a spin on judging Augustus’ career against the categories developed by Totalus Rankium. We really enjoyed this collaboration and stay tuned because we’ll be delving into Tiberius next 🙂

Augustus is always a

The first problem is

63 BCE, 23rd of

• The son of Atia and C. Octavius. As is customary, they name their son after his father: C. Octavius. Suetonius Aug. 7 reports he is also known as Thurinus because of an ancestral connection with the Thurii region.

44 BCE, post the

• His adoption by Gaius Julius Caesar leads to the assumption of a new name. According to Appian BC 3.11, he begins to refer to himself as Caesar, son of Caesar – this is a different formulation than usual for adopted children. While Romans may have been expecting him to become known as C. Julius Caesar Octavianus, with a nod to his birth family, he instead takes a radical approach of renaming himself as though he were Caesar’s legitimate natal son rather than simply his grand-nephew adopted by will.
• Ancient historians tend to refer to him as Octavian for the period between 44-27 BCE. Octavian is a shortened version of Octavianus and it is a useful distinction to prevent confusion regarding which C. Julius Caesar is under discussion.

42 BCE onwards

• Construction begins on the temple to the deified Julius Caesar. This allows our main man to add something a little bit fancy to his name: he’s not just C. Julius Caesar son of Caesar, he is now C. Julius Caesar son of the God (C. Julius Caesar). It’s a bold political move!

27 BCE, 16th of January

• In the wake of the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra in 30 BCE, and the ostensible restoration of the republic, he accepts the honorific ‘Augustus’, proposed to the senate by Munatius Plancus. He’d been using the military title imperator for some time, but his transformation from humble Octavius to Augustus is something of a zenith. He will be known as Augustus for the rest of his life.

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