Several years ago, a friend recommended I listen to “The History of Rome” podcast. At the time, Rome was having a moment. A social media trend had just begun where women asked their husbands or boyfriends how often they think about the Roman Empire. Hilarity ensued. Male partners often responded to the effect of, “Not that often. Probably only once a week or so.” That sounds normal to me, but apparently, the female species does not think about the Roman Empire on a regular basis, a fascinating difference between the sexes. A meme was born.
“The History of Rome” is a fantastic podcast. It was developed and hosted by Mike Duncan, just a regular guy with a passion for history. In some ways, this is better than having a professional historian, because they often lose sight of how little the average Joe knows about their favorite time period. Instead of diving into the weeds or engaging in controversial analyses, Duncan sticks to the basics. He doesn’t include any original research and generally restates the opinions of the majority of historians on various topics. His speaking style and cadence are perfect, and he uses the occasional quip or joke to keep the audience engaged. Most episodes are around 20-30 minutes long, wonderful for a short commute or when picking up the house.
Going into the podcast, I knew the basics of Roman history. I knew Rome started as a republic, then became an empire, at one point split in two, and slowly collapsed after hundreds of years as Europe and Western Asia’s premier power. I knew some of the big names: Julius Caesar, Augustus, Hannibal, Cleopatra, Nero, Constantine, etc. But my knowledge was very surface-level. For about two years, I slowly worked through the 193 episodes and 73 hours of “The History of Rome” and enjoyed it immensely. Here are some facts about the Roman Empire worth sharing:
The name “The Roman Empire” is a bit misleading. The Roman Empire did start in Rome, but for many years, Rome was not the capital city. In 286 AD, Emperor Diocletian moved the capital to Milan. In 330 AD, Emperor Constantine moved it to Constantinople. Even before 286 AD, Rome was often not the seat of power. Some Emperors would spend much of their reign in the Eternal City, while others barely set foot in the capital, instead taking their retinue around the empire as they fought battles against Rome’s numerous enemies. The point is that when Rome was sacked in 410 AD, this wasn’t as big a deal as one might think. Rome was still an important city and had great symbolic value, but by that point, many of the power structures of the Roman Empire had been elsewhere for over a century. However, because Rome was the founding city and capital of the empire for so long, even long after Rome fell, citizens referred to their administrative structure as the “Roman Empire”.
Much of the early history of Rome is lost to the sands of time. Rome was sacked for the first time in 390 BC by the Gauls, when it was just one of several city-states attempting to dominate the Italian Peninsula. The 390 BC sacking of Rome destroyed almost all written records of the Roman Republic. All that remains today are histories that were written long afterwards. Fact and fiction are impossible to untangle.
The greatest threat to the Roman Republic during the third and second centuries BC was the Carthaginian Empire, located in modern-day Tunisia in North Africa. For 43 years, the two dominant powers of the Western Mediterranean battled it out for supremacy. This is where Hannibal, the Carthaginian general and perhaps the most famous enemy of Rome, makes his appearance. In a bold gambit, Hannibal sailed across the Mediterranean and marched through the Alps with an entire army, including a large contingent of war elephants. For 14 years, he terrorized the Italian Peninsula, winning battle after battle, but never had the strength to take the city of Rome itself. Eventually, Rome resorted to a desperate gamble: they hastily built a navy and invaded Carthage. Hannibal was recalled to Africa, where he was defeated by Roman General Scipio Africanus. History is written by the victors, so I find it fascinating that Hannibal has become a much larger figure in history than the Roman general who beat him, someone I couldn’t name before listening to the podcast. Carthage would attempt to beat Rome one more time after Hannibal’s defeat, and the results were catastrophic. The Roman army sacked the city of Carthage, enslaved its people, and burned the city to the ground, ensuring no new empire would ever form there.
Hannibal’s story didn’t end at the Battle of Zama. He went into self-exile and spent several years living in the Seleucid Empire in West Asia. Eventually, the Seleucids went to war with the Romans, and Hannibal was even given a command. He lost a key naval battle, however, but survived and fled yet again, this time to the Kingdom of Bithynia. After all this, Hannibal still proved to be a capable commander, fighting for the Bithynians against Roman allies. Rome, fed up with this meddlesome general, finally said enough was enough, and gave the Bithynians an ultimatum: hand over Hannibal, or else. Hannibal, however, got wind of the plot and committed suicide before he could be captured, going down in history as the most able of Rome’s enemies.
Fast forward more than a century, and you reach the most famous Roman: Julius Caesar. His story is well-known: he became one of Rome’s best generals, then rebelled against the Senate in 49 BC, overthrowing the Roman Republic and proclaiming himself dictator before being assassinated in 44 BC. While his story is legitimately fascinating, it often omits what happened in the decades prior to his rise. After generations of being a successful and mostly peaceful republic, civil war broke out in 91 BC. In the years that followed, several famous generals would battle for control, including Gaius Marius and Sulla. Sulla eventually won out, and Rome was still technically a republic, but the foundation was broken beyond repair. I think it is likely that even without Julius Caesar, Rome was either going to become an empire or collapse entirely.
The actual power dynamics of the Roman Empire are mostly unknown. Augustus Caesar became the first Emperor in 27 BC, but named himself Princeps, or “first citizen”. Augustus was clearly the boss, but the Senate remained. Exactly how power was divided up in both theory and practice is unknown, but it appears that the Senate still had real power during the initial stages of the empire. Over the centuries that power would slowly be ceded to the Emperor.
For an astounding 500 years, Rome would be an empire. Its power would wax and wane as wars, both civil and interstate, would occasionally prompt a crisis. During times of peace, the empire would flourish. “The History of Rome” podcast is filled with hundreds of interesting anecdotes about emperors, praetorian prefects, generals, and my favorite Roman trope: the evil stepmother. One of the most interesting things I learned was that for centuries, there wasn’t just one emperor at a time. Beginning with Diocletian, there were often two, and sometimes as many as four. As time went on, Rome began to look less and less like a single coherent entity and more like a confederation of states.
The end of the Roman Empire was not a single major event. Historians today date the fall of Rome to 476, but in reality, the empire slowly collapsed over the course of many years. Rome in 450 was a far different place than the Rome of 350, and the Rome of 500 was still a powerful entity. On top of that, what was once the eastern half of the Roman Empire would continue along for another thousand years. Today it is known as the Byzantine Empire, but at the time, its citizens considered themselves Romans as much as Julius Caesar did. So there isn’t an end to the Roman Empire in the way, say, the USSR collapsed nearly overnight.
Two things struck me about Rome throughout the podcast. First, the Romans were not good people. Contrary to their depiction on film, they had no sense of honor. The Romans were constantly backstabbing, in some cases literally, and betraying one another. Soldiers would pledge allegiance to an emperor one day, and then murder him in his sleep the next. Men would murder their own family members if it meant a chance to wear the purple robes of the emperor.
The second is that the fall of Rome is, in my armchair expert opinion, erroneously attributed to problems within Rome, as opposed to the growing strength of its enemies. Rome had many periods of crisis throughout its long history. What caused those problems to be fatal in the fifth century AD was an added element: competition. The various barbarian hordes, from the Goths to the Vandals to the Huns, were growing rapidly through the fourth and fifth centuries. Eventually, Rome had too many enemies. Even with good leadership and coherent governance, I think it is likely Rome would not have been able to withstand wave after wave of barbarian assault.
Patrick, so interesting!! Sab has been also listening to this podcast for a few years!!