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Beneath starched Shakespearean togas and the pungent fug of gladiator sweat there are real Romans waiting to be discovered. To know what it was to be Roman you need to gather the scattered clues until they form a living, breathing human, witness to the highs and horrors of Europe’s greatest empire.
Mary Beard, Britain’s best-selling historian of the ancient world, rebuilds the lives of six citizens of the Roman Empire, from a poet to a squaddie. Her investigations reveal death and deceit on the Nile and the art of running a Roman pub, but it’s the thoughts and feelings of individual Romans she’s really interested in.
It's 61CE. The rebellion of Boudicca has finally been quashed, but London and other Roman cities lie in ruins. A new finance officer for the province, Gaius Julius Classicianus arrives, to face an enormous recovery job. Standing in his way is the Governor, busy exacting terrible reprisals from the local population. Classicianus does what brave subordinates have done ever since. He whistle-blows – writing to the emperor to remove the Governor from British shores. The stage is set for an imperial face-off. For the people of Britain, the stakes could not be higher.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Expert Contributors: Matthew Nicholls, University of Oxford and Michael Marshall, Museum of London Archaeology
Cast: Tacitus played by Robert Wilfort
Translations by Mary Beard
Special thanks to the British Museum
Julia Balbilla is an accomplished poet and close friend of the wife of one of Rome’s mightiest emperors. Hadrian loves to travel and takes Julia and an entourage of thousands on the ultimate elite tourist trip- a leisurely Nile cruise to the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Colossus of Memnon, a statue that will sing for anyone blessed by the gods. Julia inscribes her poems on the giant foot of the statue, praising the power of Hadrian and the beauty of his wife, Sabina.
It’s a charming scene, darkened only by the fact that Hadrian’s male lover, Antinous has only just drowned in the Nile. Was he murdered by jealous rivals, killed in a lover’s tiff or did he drunkenly slip from the deck? Hadrian is publicly bereft, founding a new city in the name of Antinous, but seems happy to continue his luxury cruise. Mary Beard hops aboard Ancient Rome's most intriguing cruise with historian T. Corey Brennan and archaeologist Elizabeth Fentress.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Expert Contributors: Corey Brennan, Rutgers University and Lisa Fentress
Cast: Julia Balbilla played by Juliana Lisk
Special thanks to Andrea Bruciati, Villa Adriana
Just a quick update to let you know if you like this podcast you can get the book on which it’s based for free on my website nickholmesauthor.com. It’s called The Byzantine World War, and it's about the origins of the First Crusade and suggests that it really began as the result of the defeat of the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. This caused a revolution in the Middle-East when the Turks overran the hitherto Greek-speaking region of Anatolia – which is now modern Turkey.
What makes the story particularly exciting is that I suggest the Byzantines were actually winning the Battle of Manzikert until the emperor was betrayed by his own jealous nobles. So, history might easily have taken a totally different route. Indeed, there might not have been any Crusades at all.
The book has been a bestseller on Amazon where it has over 400 reviews, so why not click on the link in the show notes which will take you to the offer on my website. You can also stay in touch with my latest historical research and books which are focused on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
Get your free book Here! Hope you enjoy it and look forward to staying in touch on Byzantine, Roman and Crusader history!
Please take a look at my website nickholmesauthor.com where you can download a free copy of The Byzantine World War, my book that describes the origins of the First Crusade.