The History of Rome

By Mike Duncan

Education History

What's The History of Rome about?

A weekly podcast tracing the history of the Roman Empire, beginning with Aeneas's arrival in Italy and ending with the exile of Romulus Augustulus, last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Now complete!

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The Storm Before The Storm:...

07.27.2017

Audio excerpt from The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic by Mike Duncan. Forthcoming Oct. 24, 2017. Pre-order a copy today! Amazon Powells Barnes & Noble Indibound Books-a-Million Or visit us at: revolutionspodcast.com ...

The History of Rome episodes:

07.27.2017 The Storm Before The Storm: Chapter 1- The Beasts of Italy Audio excerpt from The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic by Mike Duncan. Forthcoming Oct. 24, 2017. Pre-order a copy today! Amazon Powells Barnes & Noble Indibound Books-a-Million Or visit us at: revolutionspodcast.com ...
09.16.2013 Revolutions Launch Available at revolutionspodcast.com, iTunes, or anywhere else fine podcasts can be found.
05.30.2013 Update- One Year Later Next show coming soon!
05.06.2012 179- The End The history of The History of Rome...Why the Western Empire Fell when it did...Some thoughts on the future...Thank you, goodnight.
04.30.2012 178- Not With A Bang But A Whimper In the last few years of the Western Empire a series of Emperors came and went. The cycle finally ended in 476 with the exile of Romulus Augustulus.
04.22.2012 177- The Burning Ships In 468 the two halves of the Empire combined forces to dislodge the Vandals from North Africa.They failed spectacularly.
04.16.2012 176- The Quote Unquote Emperor From 461-465 the Western Empire was ruled by Ricimer through a puppet Emperor named Libius Severus. Not everyone in the west was supportive of the new regime.
04.09.2012 175- Trying to Take It All Back From 457-461, Majorian marched around trying to reassert Imperial authority over the provinces while Ricimer remained in Italy.
04.02.2012 174- The Sack of Rome Part II Following the death of Valentinian III there was an Imperial power struggle in the West. In the midst of this struggle, the Vandals sacked Rome in 455 AD.
03.25.2012 173- The Broken Bow In the early 450s a string of deaths changed the political dynamic of Roman world. Between 450 and 455 Galla Placidia, Aelia Pulcheria, Atilla the Hun, Flavius Aetius and Valentinian III would all die- leaving the stage wide open for ...
03.19.2012 172- Showdown In 451 Atilla the Hun invaded the West. He was repelled by a coalition of forces lead by the General Aetius.
03.11.2012 171- The Gathering Storm After placating Atilla with yet another indemnity, Theodosius II fell from his horse and died in 450, leaving the Eastern throne vacant.
02.19.2012 170- Atilla Cometh In the 440s, the Huns began to direclty attack the Roman Empire.
02.12.2012 169- Huns and Vandals and Goths, Oh My In the 430s the Romans dealt with increasingly agressive and confident barbarian tribes living both inside and outside the traditional borders of the Empire.
02.05.2012 168- The Rise of Aetius In the late 420s AD, the Roman General Flavius Aetius connived and backstabbed his way up the chain of command.
01.29.2012 167- Exploiting the Opportunity The Emperor Honorius died in 423, leading to a brief civil war between the Theodosian dynasty and a self-proclaimed Imperial regime in Ravenna.
01.22.2012 166- As Long As She's Nice To Look At Constantius III continued to lead the Western Empire as its defacto Emperor until 421, when he was officially elevated to the rank of Augustus. Unfortunately, this elevation was not recognized by Cosntantinople.
01.15.2012 165- Reviving the Roman Name Between 412 and 415 relations between the Romans and Goths shifted back and forth between alliance and antagonism.
01.09.2012 164- The Sack of Rome After failing to secure a deal with Honorius, Alaric sacked Rome in August of 410. It was the first time the Eternal City had been sacked in 800 years.
12.18.2011 163- Theodosius's Walls Following the death of Eudoxia, the Praetorian Prefect Anthemius took control of the Eastern Empire and ran it wisely for the next decade. Meanwhile in the West, anti-barbarian policies will lead to the invasion of Italy by Alaric.
12.12.2011 162- Opening the Floodgates On New Year's Eve 406 a horde of barbarians crossed the lower Rhine into Gaul. Their arrival would have severe consequences for the Western Empire.
12.05.2011 161- The Swamps of Ravenna Alaric and his Goths invaded Italy in 402. After they were pushed out, Stilicho moved the seat of the Western Imperial Court to the city of Ravenna.
11.28.2011 160- East vs. West In the late 390s, the generals and ministers who dominated Arcadius and Honorius battled with each other for control of the Empire.
11.21.2011 159- The Divine Winds After winning the Battle of the Frigidus River, Theodosius stood alone as the last sole ruler of the Roman Empire. He would be die just four months later.
11.14.2011 158- An Imperial Suicide In 392 Valentinian II was found hanged in his bedchamber, paving the way for another Roman Civil War.
10.31.2011 157- Only the Penitent Man Shall Pass After defeating the usurper Maximus in 388 AD, Theodosius found himself facing an even greater opponent in Ambrose of Milan.
10.24.2011 156- Jockeying for Position From 383-387 the tense quasi-partnership of Maximus, Valentinian II and Theodosius ruled the Roman Empire. During those years Bishop Ambrose and Nicean Christianity pushed themselves to dominance over their Arians rivals.
10.16.2011 155- The New Bishop of Milan In 383 the General Magnus Maximus rose up in revolt against Gratian. The power sharing agreement that followed Maximus's victory would be negotiated in part by St. Ambrose, the influencial new Bishop of Milan.
10.10.2011 154- The Gothic War Following Adrianople, Theodosius was brought in to salvage the situation. After determining that he could not beat the Goths in battle, the new Emperor was forced to sign a peace with the barbarians that treated them as, gasp, equals.
10.02.2011 153- Adrianople Operating with faulty intelligence and desperate to defeat the Goths on his own, Valens forced the disasterous Battle of Adrianople in August 378.
09.25.2011 152- The Storm Before the Storm In 375 the Huns exploded into Gothic territory, sending refugees fleeing for the saftey of the Roman Empire.
09.11.2011 151- Bursting a Blood Vessel Valens spent the late 360s and early 370s dealing with hostile Goths in the north and hostile Persians in the east. In 375 he would be left to face these threats alone when Valentinian suddenly died.
09.04.2011 150- The Perils of Mismanagement in the late 360s and early 370s AD Roman mismanagment of three different regions in the Western Empire led to armed conflict.
08.29.2011 149- The Great Conspiracy In the winter of 367 Britannia was hit from all sides by a coordinated barbarian invasion. It would be more than a year before the Romans were able to reassert control over the island.
08.22.2011 148- The Cousin's Cousin Shortly after Valentinian and Valens ascended to the throne, one of Julian the Apostate's maternal cousins seized control of Constantinople.
08.15.2011 147- Capitulation Jovian extracted the Roman legions from the east at a heavy price. He then ruled the Empire for eight months before suddenly dying on his way to Constantinople in early 364.
08.08.2011 146- The Spear of Destiny In 363 Julian launched an invasion of Sassanid Persia. He would die in battle just three months later.
07.31.2011 145- Julian the Apostate Julian came to power in late 361 and immediately set about trying to turn back the clock on both Church and State.
07.25.2011 144- The Road to Constantinople Once he was established as a force to be reckoned with in the west, Julian revolted against Constantius II in 360 after the Emperor ordered half the Gallic army redeployed to the eastern frontier.
07.10.2011 143- Julian the Pre-Apostate After a childhood spent mostly in exile, Juian was elevated to the rank of Caesar in 355. His first assignment was to clear Gaul of Germanic invaders.
07.04.2011 142- You've Earned It After two years of sporadic war, Constantius II defeated the usurper Magnentius in 353. Following his victory the Emperor let his advisors talk him into executing first Gallus in 354 and then Claudius Silvanus in 355.
06.27.2011 141- Blood and Water Constantius and Constans shared the Empire for a decade until Constans was overthrown by a rebel general named Magnetius in 350 AD.
06.20.2011 140- My Three Sons The three sons of Constantine took control of the Empire following the death of their father and the murder of most of their extended family.
06.13.2011 139- Wash Away Your Sins Constantine was baptized on his deathbed after arranging a plan for succession.
05.30.2011 138- The New Rome Live and direct from Old Rome!
05.15.2011 137- The Christian Emperor This episode brought to you live and direct from Constantinople! After defeating Licinius, Constantine found his dream of a united Christian Empire foiled by a very disunited Christian Church.
05.01.2011 136- Let This Be Our Final Battle War between Licinius and Constantine flared up again in 324 AD. This time Constantine would finish the job.
04.25.2011 135- Brothers in Name Only Constantine and Licinius split up the Empire following the death of Maximinus Daia in 313. It did not take long for relations betweent the two Emperors to turn sour.
04.18.2011 134- And Then There Were Two In 313 AD, Maximinus Daia and Licinus fought for control of the Eastern Roman Empire.
04.11.2011 133- The Milvian Bridge On October 28, 312 AD Constantine and Maxentius fought a battle at Rome's doorstep for control of the Western Empire.

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