Podcasts about roman antiquities

We look at the reign of Ancus Marcius a second time- this time around from a civil perspective rather than all the punching. Join us for bridges, forcible deportations leading to city growth, hills being added, and a man called Lucumo who claims descent from Hercules/Heracles.Time period: 640- 616 BCERelevant individuals: Ancus Marcius, 4th King of Rome; Lucius Tarquinius, commander of the cavalrySources for this episode:Appian (1972), Appian's Roman History in Four Volumes (Volume I). London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Cassius Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Eutropius (1760), Eutropius: Epitome of the Roman History. London: Printed for W. Johnston et al.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Selincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Matyszak, P. (2008), Chronicle of the Roman Republic: The Rulers of Ancient Rome from Romulus to Augustus. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.Orosius (1936), History Against the Pagans. Translated by I. W. Raymond. Available at Attalus.Sextus Aurelius Victor (1825), Galerie Romaine, ou les Hommes Illustres de Rome et les Cesars. Translate by A. Caillot. Paris.Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Tarquinia gens (online) (Accessed 03/11/2026).

Ancus Marcius comes to the throne- maybe after murdering his predecessor- and finds himself fighting endless wars with the Sabines, Latins, and whoever else wants to have a go. But Ancus isn't the pacifist Numa reborn; there's plenty of fighting to be getting on with. He does have some other achievements in more domestic setting- but those will have to wait until next time...Time period: 640- 625 BCERelevant individuals: Ancus Marcius, 4th King of Rome; Lucius Tarquinius, Roman cavalry commanderSources for this episode:Appian (1972), Appian's Roman History in Four Volumes (Volume I). London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Cassius Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Eutropius (1760), Eutropius: Epitome of the Roman History. London: Printed for W. Johnston et al.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Selincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Matyszak, P. (2008), Chronicle of the Roman Republic: The Rulers of Ancient Rome from Romulus to Augustus. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.Orosius (1936), History Against the Pagans. Translated by I. W. Raymond. Available at Attalus.Robinson's History of the Roman Republic (TBA).Sextus Aurelius Victor (1825), Galerie Romaine, ou les Hommes Illustres de Rome et les Cesars. Translate by A. Caillot. Paris.Author unknown, Etymology Online (date unknown), Papyrus (online) (Accessed 26/07/2026).

Tullus Hostilius' time is drawing to a close. Today, we see a plague overtake Rome, and Tullus himself die alongside his wife and children in a tragic housefire caused by a lightning strike. But- hang on... what's this? Ancus Marcius, what were you doing with that lighter? And why is your sword dripping? Oh, food colouring, you say? All right, carry on...Time period: 640 BCERelevant individuals: Tullus Hostilius, 3rd King of Rome; Ancus Marcius, 4th King of RomeSources for this episode:Appian (1972), Appian's Roman History in Four Volumes (Volume I). London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Caseau, B. (2018), Too Young to be Accountable: Is 15 Years Old a Threshold in Byzantium? Chapter in: Ariantzi, D. (ed.), Coming of Age in Byzantium. Berlin: De Gruyter Brill.Cassius Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Diodorus of Sicily (1993), The Library of History Books IV.59- VIII. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Eutropius (1760), Eutropius: Epitome of the Roman History. London: Printed for W. Johnston et al.Harkness, A. G. (1896), Age at Marriage and Death in the Roman Empire. Transactions of the American Philological Assocation 27: 35-72.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Selincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Matyszak, P. (2008), Chronicle of the Roman Republic: The Rulers of Ancient Rome from Romulus to Augustus. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.Orosius (1936), History Against the Pagans. Translated by I. W. Raymond. Available at Attalus.Robinson's History of the Roman Republic (TBA).Sextus Aurelius Victor (1825), Galerie Romaine, ou les Hommes Illustres de Rome et les Cesars. Translate by A. Caillot. Paris.Author unknown, Convert Units (date unknown), Convert stade to mile - Conversion of Measurement Units (online) (Accessed 12/07/2026).Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Ancus Marcius (online) (Accessed 02/11/2025).

Alba Longa goes out with a bang today. Mettius Fufetius, having been beaten by Tullus Hostilius in the duel between triplets, rises up once again- and this time doesn't get off with a warning. Alba Longa itself will be razed to the ground before this episode is over...Content warning: if you are sensitive to gore, even if there's not a lot of description, you might want to skip between 13:40 and 14:40.Time period: Between 672 and 640 BCERelevant individuals: Tullus Hostilius, 3rd King of Rome; Mettius Fufetius, Dictator of Alba LongaSources for this episode:Cassius Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Eutropius (1760), Eutropius: Epitome of the Roman History. London: Printed for W. Johnston et al.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Selincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Matyszak, P. (2008), Chronicle of the Roman Republic: The Rulers of Ancient Rome from Romulus to Augustus. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.Noonan, J. D. (2006), Mettius Fufetius in Livy. Classical Antiquity 25(2): 327-349.Orosius (1936), History Against the Pagans. Translated by I. W. Raymond. Available at Attalus.Sextus Aurelius Victor (1825), Galerie Romaine, ou les Hommes Illustres de Rome et les Cesars. Translate by A. Caillot. Paris.Author unknown, Convert Units (date unknown), Convert stade to mile - Conversion of Measurement Units (online) (Accessed 04/06/2026).

Worship isn't a checklist. Romans 12 tells why a renewed mind, not a list of rules, is what it means to offer yourself to God. Click here to read the sermon True and Proper Worship Romans 12:1–2 Well, I'm back. So good to see you again today. I was joking a few weeks ago that I'm kind of like a bad penny — I'll just keep turning up again and again. Bryce was kind enough to let me know that they've discontinued pennies, so I need to be very careful about that joke. So thank you, Bryce. So yes, here we are. We're back. What I'd like to do with you today is continue the conversation we've been having for the past few weeks that I've been here. If you remember a couple of weeks ago, we were in 1 Peter, and we hit on this idea that we are priests in God's house [See "A Spiritual House," June 14, 2026]. We said that priesthood can face two directions. Number one, it can face toward God — in that sense, we are the priests in God's house who offer spiritual sacrifices to God. But we also said that priesthood can face one another — not because we need any priest but Jesus to stand between us and God, but because sometimes God chooses to minister to people through other people. So sometimes we have the privilege of speaking for God to one another, of acting on behalf of God among one another. That priesthood can face God; it can also face one another. For the next couple of weeks — I'll be here this week and next week — I'd like to focus on both sides of that coin. Today we're going to focus on what it means to be priests before God. What does it mean to face God? Next week we'll talk about what it means to be priests among one another, to be empowered by the Spirit for mutual ministry. But today, what we're going to talk about is this: what is it to be a priest before God? To do that, I'd like to take you to Romans chapter twelve, verses one and two. It's a well-known passage of Scripture from the apostle Paul to a group of Christians in the city of Rome. Let's go ahead and put that up there. Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — His good, pleasing, and perfect will. (Rom 12:1–2, NIV) Now, as we come to this passage of Scripture, we can see that the apostle Paul is doing something similar to what Peter was doing a couple of weeks ago. Peter was playing on this imagery of temples and priests and sacrifices (cf. 1 Pet 2:5, 9), and Paul is doing the same thing here. When Paul says that we should offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, he's playing on the same kind of imagery — but he takes it a step further than Peter did. For Peter, we ourselves are the temple of God; we ourselves are the priests in God's house; we ourselves are offering spiritual sacrifices to God. That's all true for Paul too, but Paul takes it a step further and says that not only are we the ones who offer sacrifices — we ourselves become the sacrifices. So for Peter, we offer spiritual sacrifices to God. For Paul, we offer our own bodies as sacrifices. As he talks about this, he's talking about a very specific practice that took place in the ancient world: animal sacrifice.1 That's something very foreign to us — we talk about it when we're reading the Bible or talking about ancient history. But for Paul's audience, for the people in Rome, this would have been something that was just part of life. So let's look at this next slide. I don't know if you can see it very well, but this is a relief from the first century of a sacrificial procession moving toward an altar — basically we have a pig, a sheep, and a bull. The idea is that these animals will be led to the altar to be offered to the god Mars. So Paul starts talking about animal sacrifice and worship, and the people at Rome know exactly what that means. They see things like this taking place. You could also go back to the Old Testament, where in God's relationship with God's people Israel, there is a space for animal sacrifice. We're not going to go into all the reasons for that right now, but suffice it to say that animal sacrifice was something people in the ancient world understood. So Paul draws on this imagery. He says — you know about this practice of animal sacrifice. Well, for Christians, you were a priest, you were offering sacrifices, but then he stretches that image a little bit. He says, but you're not going to offer a dead animal on the altar. Instead, you are going to offer yourselves on the altar. You will not be a dead sacrifice that lasts for a moment. You will be a living sacrifice — one that is offered continually before God. You guys kind of see how that's working this morning? He takes this imagery of sacrifice and shifts it a little. We are the priests who offer; we are also the sacrifice ourselves. Which is great, but then you have this question: what does that mean? You think about the sacrifice that takes place on the altar — that happens in a specific way. When you move into this metaphorical, spiritual kind of space, what does it actually mean for us to offer our bodies, our very selves, as a sacrifice to God? I think that's what Paul gets at next. He says, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:2, NIV). So what does it mean to offer our very selves as sacrifices to God? Well, number one, it's a negative — we need to stop doing something. Number two, there's a positive — we need to begin, we need to become something. So what do we need to stop doing? Paul basically says the world has this way of trying to press us into a specific kind of mold. Now we need to be careful here. The world is not all bad. Genesis tells us that when God created, God said that creation was very good (cf. Gen 1:31). That creation has not been completely eclipsed, but there are patterns in this world, there are forces in this world that slant away from God — that sometimes go directly against God. What Paul says is we need to stop being conformed by those kinds of forces. Those things in this world that turn us away from God. Those things in this world that compete with God. We need to stop being formed by those things. Why? Because they're not pleasing to God. If you're going to offer yourself as a sacrifice to God, you've got to put away the things that are not pleasing to God. You've got to stop being pressed into the world's mold. So what might that mean a little more practically this morning? Maybe we need to stop being conformed to the toxic political rhetoric that is rampant in our culture these days. Maybe we need to stop being formed by a mindset that says we only look out for number one. Maybe we need to stop being formed by a culture that is obsessed with competition and one-upping one another. Maybe we need to stop being formed by those voices that say, you know, Jesus — he's pretty cool, he's all right, but really his teachings, they're not practical. We leave those behind when we go into the real world, because there we've got to win. Maybe we need to stop being conformed to these ways of the world that are slanting us away from God. Because if we can put those things away, we can become something new — which is what Paul gets to next. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:2, NIV). And so with this — stop being conformed to these ways of the world that are against God. Instead, I want you to be transformed, which has to do with your mind, with the way that you think. And then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect will (Rom 12:2, NIV). So notice this. As long as we are being conformed to the ways of this world that slant away from God, we can't offer ourselves as sacrifices pleasing to God. But once we stop doing that, we can begin this process of transformation in which our minds are renewed in such a way that we are able to test and approve what God's will is. We've hit on this a few times in the past few weeks, but we need to say it again: Christianity is not about to-do lists. Yes, there are things that we want to respect — there are things we know about how God wants us to live our lives. But it's not just — you remember, back in the day, I worked at a church once, and I found their old offering envelopes. On the offering envelopes, there was a check system. If you attended the sermon, you got ten percent. If you tithed, you got maybe twenty percent. If you went to Sunday school, you got — I was always confused why the sermon was only ten percent, right? But with that, it was kind of this idea that if you can just check off all these things, you're being a good Christian. Now those are all good things, but being a Christian goes beyond those things, beyond those practices, beyond those rules. Instead, we're being made into a specific kind of people who can discern what God's will is. Because we know that we're supposed to be loving people, but how many of you ever come to a place where you're just not quite sure what the loving thing to do is? We need to discern God's will in these moments. It's not enough to just have the rules — we have to have a particular kind of mind. We need to be a particular kind of people. So Paul says, I want you to be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can test and approve what God's will is, God's pleasing and perfect will (cf. Rom 12:2, NIV). And here's the thing — if you can discern what that is, you can pursue it. And if you can pursue it, you can offer yourself as a living sacrifice, day in and day out, as you become the kind of person who knows what God wants and is able to offer that to God as your own worship in view of what God has done for you. So: stop being conformed to the ways of this world that set themselves against God. Be transformed into a different kind of person who can discern what God's will is, and who, once that will is discerned, can then go ahead and pursue it. That is what it means to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God. But now there's this important question. Okay, I know I need to be transformed. I know that I need to become a certain kind of person — but how do I go about that? First off, this is a work of God in our lives. It doesn't say transform yourself; it says be transformed (Rom 12:2, NIV). That's the first thing we need to put in our back pocket. But beyond that, we could also say there are ways that we can put ourselves in God's way — ways that we agree with the work of God in our lives. One way we do that is we show up for worship, like you have done this morning. We gather around the Scripture together. We raise our voices together and proclaim the praises of our great God. We remind ourselves of this alternative story by which we live. We could talk about worship. Maybe we could talk about Sunday school — about getting together, once again, around the Scriptures, really applying it to our own lives. We could talk about fellowship, just laughing together. We could talk about the ways that we pursue God individually — our quiet times, maybe our times of prayer where we walk through the woods. It looks different for each one of us. The idea here is that there are ways we can put ourselves in God's way. We moved into a house a while back, in a place called Temple, Texas. And I decided I was going to be a gardener. That was before I knew how hard being a gardener was, so I had really grand plans. They didn't really go much further than that, but I went ahead and dug up this section of grass and planted a really beautiful garden. It was symmetrical. It had a birdbath in the center, surrounded by shrubs. I had vines on either side going up the side of the house. It was beautiful — until it started to grow. Because what happened was, half of that garden grew like gangbusters, and the other half just didn't grow at all — it just stayed the same. Any ideas why that was? It was because there was a big oak tree in the front yard, and I wanted to be a gardener, but I didn't do any research. That oak tree meant that half of the garden was always in the shade and half of the garden got sun. The sunny side of the garden grew. The one in the shade didn't. We talk about being transformed. Sometimes we need to talk about what it means for us to step into the light of God — to move into a place where we can be worked on by God, where we can agree with what God is doing in our lives. As I said, that's practices — coming for worship, joining for fellowship, pursuing God in our everyday lives. Maybe the thing to see here is that stepping into God's light isn't just something that we do and then step out of and then step back into. Maybe you could think about it that way, but really, it's a way of life. How many of you here have ever played a sport? All right, there's a few of you. Here's the thing: when you start playing that sport, you have no idea what you're doing. You might understand the rules, but you've really got to think about the rules. Your body doesn't yet move the way it's supposed to move. Let's just talk about baseball, all right? You might know what it means to hit a ball — it's completely different to actually stand in front of a pitcher and take a swing. You actually have to play, and as you play the game, you are made more and more able to play the game. Does that make sense to you guys? You step into the game, and then the people around you — you have a coach, and they help you understand how you can do this better. And as you continue in this way of life, in this particular sport, your body learns how to move. You build up muscle memory. You start to understand all the rules until you're able to discern what is needed in this particular moment — not because you have to think about it all the time, but because you've been formed into a certain kind of person who understands how the game should be played. I think that's what Paul was talking about this morning. It's these practices, but it's more than that. It's us choosing to pursue God together. And as we move in that direction, we begin to learn more and more what it is to be the people of God. We begin to discern more and more what God desires in different kinds of situations. We begin to understand who God is calling us to be in ministry to the surrounding community. We begin building up some muscle memory. We begin building an understanding of this world that just flows with how God moves. Now, do we ever get it perfect? No. At the same time, we can become — we can become more, we can become suited to pursuing the kind of life that is an ever-present offering, that is holy and pleasing to God. May we be that kind of people. May we step into the light. Endnotes 1 The relief Smith describes is a Roman suovetaurilia panel — the rite takes its name from the three sacrificial animals involved: sus (pig), ovis (sheep), and taurus (bull). This particular relief, a marble sarcophagus panel from the first half of the 1st century CE, depicts a sacrificial procession dedicated to Mars. It is held by the Musée du Louvre, Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, inventory number Ma 1096 (MR 852), and is not currently on public display. The relief's provenance traces to the Grimani Collection in Venice; it was seized during the French Revolutionary campaigns in Italy in 1798 and was not among the works restituted to Venice after Napoleon's defeat. The suovetaurilia was traditionally offered to Mars and was often performed to conclude a census or military campaign — the type of public, state-level sacrifice familiar to Paul's first-century Roman audience, and the backdrop against which his "living sacrifice" language in Romans 12 would have registered with particular force. Works Cited The Holy Bible, New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Smith, Michael. "A Spiritual House." Sermon, Yates Baptist Church, Durham, NC, June 14, 2026. Suovetaurilia relief (pig, sheep, and bull sacrifice to Mars). Marble sarcophagus panel. Roman, first half of 1st century CE. Musée du Louvre, Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, Paris, inv. Ma 1096 (MR 852). © 2026 Michael Smith. All rights reserved.

Numa Pompilius' rule is a lot less exciting than that of Romulus in terms of warfare. Instead, we get a whole lot of religious restructuring, instilling piety into the rabble that is Roman society, and a mysterious burial with sacred texts the later Republic will never address again... That and calendar administration.Time period: 716- 672 BCERelevant individuals: Numa PompiliusSources for this episode:Cassius Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History in Nine Volumes. Volume II. Translated by E. Cary. London, United Kingdom and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Selincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Marks, A. and Tingay, G. (date unknown), Romans. London: Usborne Publishing.M's Chronicle of the Roman Republic (TBA).Plutarch (1938), Plutarch's Lives (Volume I). London and New York: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. and E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc.Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Via Sacra (online) (Accessed 27/10/2025).

Here is the Sunday School lesson I taught this Sunday. Jehovah's Witnesses argue that Jesus died on an upright stake with no crossbeam. His hands were nailed together above his head. This is because the Greek words stauros and xulon only mean one piece of timber.They're actually right about what those words literally mean. Does that mean Jesus didn't die on a cross? Let's look at some evidence from the Bible and historical works before Constantine that strongly suggest a cross beam.Sources Cited:"Did Jesus Die on a Cross?" JW.org.New Bible Dictionary, 3rd ed., s.v. "Cross, Crucifixion" (pp. 245-246).The Imperial Bible-Dictionary, vol. 1., s.v. "Cross."E. W. Bullinger, The Companion Bible, Appendix 162 ("The Cross and Crucifixion").William Wood Seymour, The Cross in Tradition, History, and Art (pp. 54,64,73,75).Frederick Zugibe, The Crucifixion of Jesus: A Forensic Inquiry, 2nd ed. (New York: M. Evans and Company, Inc., 2005), 104."The Epistle of Barnabas," NewAdvent.org."Dialogue with Trypho (Chapters 89-108)," NewAdvent.org.Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, Book VII.Artemidorus Daldianus, Oneirocritica 1:76.Lucian, Trial in the Court of Vowels, 12.4-13."The Alexamenos Graffito," ChristianIconography.info."The Staurogram," Biblical Archaeology Society, September 30, 2025.Patrick Young, "Early Christian Symbols: Staurogram," Forgotten Christianity on Substack, March 20, 2026."The Cross - Is it Biblical?" JW.org.Scriptures Referenced:Matthew 27:37John 20:24-25John 21:18-19John 19:31-33Mark 15:441 Corinthians 1:18,23We value your feedback!Have questions for Truthspresso? Contact us!

Between 716 and 715 BCE, Rome undergoes what becomes known as an interregnum- an inter regnum, or period between kings. Senators take five-day turns ruling the country, and then one year into it, Numa Pompilius becomes elected king! However, our Sabine protagonist just refuses to become monarch until all sorts of hoops have been jumped through...Sources for this episode:Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Selincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Plutarch (1938), Plutarch's Lives (Volume I). London and New York: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. and E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc.Sextus Aurelius Victor (TBA).Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Olympiad (online) (Accessed 27/10/2025).

It's 5th July, 716 BCE. Campus Martius. One way or another, King Romulus of Rome disappears. But how? Did he become a god? Did the Senate do him in? Was there an uprising by the people? Let's pick our way through the different versions of events...Sources for this episode:Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Selincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Ovid (1968), The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Translated by M. M. Innes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Pliny's Natural History (TBA).Plutarch (1938), Plutarch's Lives (Volume I). London and New York: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. and E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc.Sextus Aurelius Victor (TBA).Wiseman, T. P. (1983), The Wife and Children of Romulus. The Classical Quarterly 33(2): 445-452.Author unknown, NASA (date unknown), Solar eclipses of historical interest (online) (Accessed 27/10/2025).Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), List of solar eclipses in antiquities (online) (Accessed 27/10/2025).

We march through the years from 752 to 716 BCE, polishing off the remaining thirty-six years of Romulus' rule. Along the way, we'll watch Rome hit a bunch of opponents until they stay down one after another and Romulus take on some tyrannical airs the Senate don't like. Also, is it Dionysus of Halicarnassus- or is it John?Sources for this episode:Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Selincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.M's Chronicle of the Roman Republic (TBA).Pliny's Natural History (TBA)Plutarch (1938), Plutarch's Lives (Volume I). London and New York: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. and E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc.

With the reign of Proca in the rear view mirror, we turn our attention to his two sons- Numitor and Amulius. A murderous plot and a usurpation leads to a young woman being condemned to a life as a Vestal Virgin. However, that doesn't stop her getting pregnant somehow. Oh well, let's put those twin boys in the Tiber...Sources for this episode:Appian (1972), Appian's Roman History in Four Volumes (Volume I). London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Diodorus of Sicily (1993), The Library of History Books IV.59- VIII. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.The Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica (2025), Vestal Virgins (online) (Accessed 15/08/2025).Eutropius (1760), Eutropius; Epitome of the Roman History. London: Printed for W. Johnston et al.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Sélincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Ovid (1968), The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Translated by M. M. Innes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Plutarch (1938), Plutarch's Lives (Volume I). London and New York: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. And E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc.Sextus Aurelius Victor (2004), Origo Gentis Romanae: The Origin of the Roman Race. Translated by K. Haniszewski, L. Karas, K. Koch, E. Parobek, C. Pratt and B. Serwicki. Canisius College Translated Texts 3. Canisius College, Buffalo, New York.Author unknown (date unknown), Nuremberg Chronicle: being the Liber Chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann translated in English. Morse Library, Beloit College.

Aventinus and Proca take us all the way down to the 790s BCE. Along the way, we see another hill of a certain famous city gets its name, the city chugs along quietly in the background, and the Herbology teacher from Harry Potter gets a cameo story in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Wait... What was that last part?Sources for this episode:Appian (1972), Appian's Roman History in Four Volumes (Volume I). Translated by H. White. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ld. and Harvard University Press.Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Diodorus of Sicily (1993), The Library of History Books IV.59- VIII. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Sélincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Ovid (1968), The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Translated by M. M. Innes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Sextus Aurelius Victor (2004), Origo Gentis Romanae: The Origin of the Roman Race. Translated by K. Haniszewski, L. Karas, K. Koch, E. Parobek, C. Pratt and B. Serwicki. Canisius College Translated Texts 3. Canisius College, Buffalo, New York.Author unknown (date unknown), Nuremberg Chronicle: being the Liber Chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann translated in English. Morse Library, Beloit College.Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Seven hills of Rome (online) (Accessed 15/08/2025).

This episode is very, very frightning- me! But Bohemian Rhapsody references aside, we continue our story of the kings of Alba Longa down to 856 BCE. Join us for the arrogance of Remulus, earthquakes, divine punishments, and Cassie's intense dislike of an Alban king called Acrota.Sources for this episode:Appian (1972), Appian's Roman History in Four Volumes (Volume I). London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Diodorus of Sicily (1993), The Library of History Books IV.59- VIII. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Sélincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Ovid (1968), The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Translated by M. M. Innes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Sextus Aurelius Victor (2004), Origo Gentis Romanae: The Origin of the Roman Race. Translated by K. Haniszewski, L. Karas, K. Koch, E. Parobek, C. Pratt and B. Serwicki. Canisius College Translated Texts 3. Canisius College, Buffalo, New York.Author unknown (date unknown), Nuremberg Chronicle: being the Liber Chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann translated in English. Morse Library, Beloit College.The lightning sound effect used is by TanwerAman (Thunder Strike (Wav) | Royalty-free Music - Pixabay), used under Pixabay licence (Content License - Pixabay).

Quite a few reigns come and go as we head towards 916 BCE. Perhaps the most noteworthy of them all is that of Tiberinus- who drowns in the Albula river during a battle and becomes a god...Sources for this episode:Appian (1972), Appian's Roman History in Four Volumes (Volume I). London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Diodorus of Sicily (1993), The Library of History Books IV.59- VIII. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Sélincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Ovid (1959), Ovid's Fasti. Translated by J. G. Frazer. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Ovid (1968), The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Translated by M. M. Innes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Sextus Aurelius Victor (2004), Origo Gentis Romanae: The Origin of the Roman Race. Translated by K. Haniszewski, L. Karas, K. Koch, E. Parobek, C. Pratt and B. Serwicki. Canisius College Translated Texts 3. Canisius College, Buffalo, New York.Author unknown (date unknown), Nuremberg Chronicle: being the Liber Chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann translated in English. Morse Library, Beloit College.

From about 1030 BCE, all of our sources about Alba Longa and its kings crumble into disagreement. Get ready for tales of heirs saving puppies in housefires, three kings at once, and whether the recording room of Autocrat is still haunted.Sources for this episode:Appian (1972), Appian's Roman History in Four Volumes (Vol. I). London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Diodorus of Sicily (1993), The Library of History Books IV.59- VIII. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Sélincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Ovid (1959), Ovid's Fasti. Translated by J. G. Frazer. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Ovid (1968), The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Translated by M. M. Innes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Author unknown (date unknown), Nuremberg Chronicle: being the Liber Chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann translated in English. Morse Library, Beloit College.

He's finally here! Aeneas II of Alba Longa! Long may he reign gloriously! Get ready for mighty battles, great conquests, soaring triumphs and... what's that? Ovid, Livy and Cassius Dio want to have a word? Well of course, I- what do you mean the history books are empty?Sources for this episode:Appian (1972), Appian's Roman History in Four Volumes (Volume I). London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Diodorus of Sicily (1993), The Library of History Books IV.59- VIII. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Sélincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Ovid (1968), The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Translated by M. M. Innes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Sextus Aurelius Victor (2004), Origo Gentis Romanae: The Origin of the Roman Race. Translated by K. Haniszewski, L. Karas, K. Koch, E. Parobek, C. Pratt and B. Serwicki. Canisius College Translated Texts 3. Canisius College, Buffalo, New York.Author unknown (date unknown), Nuremberg Chronicle: being the Liber Chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann translated in English. Morse Library, Beloit College.

Pausing our narrative with the death of Silvius in 1111 BCE, we follow his exiled younger son Brutus, who winds up in Britain after a series of Odyssey-style adventures and becomes its first king. His family will rule Britain for centuries according to the mythological narrative of Geoffrey of Monmouth, taking us all the way to the epoch of Rome's founding before we circle back next week to deal with Aeneas II...Sources for this episode:Baker, R. (1670), A Chronicle of the Kings of England. London: Printed for George Sawbridge.Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume II). London: William Heinemann.Geoffrey of Monmouth (1966), The History of the Kings of Britain. Translated by L. Thorpe. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Sélincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Marks, A. and Tingay, G. (date unknown), Romans. London: Usborne Publishing.Shakespeare, W. (2014), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. New York: Race Point Publishing.William of Malmesbury (1847), William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England. London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden.Author unknown (date unknown), Nuremberg Chronicle: being the Liber Chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann translated in English. Morse Library, Beloit College.Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Silvius (online) (Accessed 05/09/2024).Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Totnes (online) (Accessed 05/09/2024).

With Ascanius gone, his half-brother Silvius- the posthumous son of Aeneas and Lavinia- steps into the narrative. This week on Autocrat, a contested royal election, murky regency timelines, and the podcast hosts declaring war on Titus Livius.Would you be interested in a discussion on what the historical founding of Rome was like outside of its mythological origins? Let us know!Sources for this episode:Appian (1972), Appian's Roman History in Four Volumes (Volume I). London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Diodorus of Sicily (1993), The Library of History Books IV.59- VIII. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Sélincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Meade, G. (2021), Romans, Religion and the Aid of the Gods: An Exploration of the Pontifex Maximus in Roman Society. Portland State University: University Honors Theses: 1035.Ovid (1959), Ovid's Fasti. Translated by J. G. Frazer. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Ovid (1968), The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Translated by M. M. Innes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Sextus Aurelius Victor (2004), Origo Gentis Romanae: The Origin of the Roman Race. Translated by K. Haniszewski, L. Karas, K. Koch, E. Parobek, C. Pratt and B. Serwicki. Canisius College Translated Texts 3. Canisius College, Buffalo, New York.Suetonius (1983), The Twelve Caesars. Translated by R. Graves. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Author unknown (date unknown), Nuremberg Chronicle: being the Liber Chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann translated in English. Morse Library, Beloit College.Sources for the pope's pontifical association (even if not outright calling him pontifex maximus):Kelly, J. N. D. (1996), Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Author unknown (1916), The Book of the Popes (Liber Pontificalis) (Volume I). Translated by L. R. Loomis. New York: Columbia University Press.

Alba Longa is here! Pig City! Or Long White City. Or Longtown... The etymology is disputed. As is pretty much everything else from the reign of Ascanius! Join us for revisions of our timeline from episode 77, a wine obsession on the part of Dionysus of Halicarnassus, and far too much of our Auto-cat Felix disrupting recording.Sources for this episode:Appian (1972), Appian's Roman History in Four Volumes (Vol. I). London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History (Volume I). Translated by E. Cary. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Diodorus of Sicily (1993), The Library of History Books IV.59- VIII. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Eutropius (1760), Eutropius; Epitome of the Roman History. London: Printed for W. Johnston et al.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Sélincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Ovid (1968), The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Translated by M. M. Innes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Sextus Aurelius Victor (2004), Origo Gentis Romanae: The Origin of the Roman Race. Translated by K. Haniszewski, L. Karas, K. Koch, E. Parobek, C. Pratt and B. Serwicki. Canisius College Translated Texts 3. Canisius College, Buffalo, New York.Virgil (1976), The Aeneid. Translated by W. F. J. Knight. London: Penguin Books Ltd.Wilkinson, P., Carroll, G., Faulkner, M., Field, J. F., Haywood, J., Kerrigan, M., Philip, N., Pumphrey, N. and Tocino-Smith, J. (2018), The Mythology Book. London: Dorling Kindersley Ltd.Author unknown (date unknown), Nuremberg Chronicle: being the Liber Chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann translated in English. Morse Library, Beloit College.Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Dionysus of Halicarnassus (online) (Accessed 23/11/2025).Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Falerna (online) (Accessed 23/11/2025).

People have kept diaries and recorded notes since writing was invented. But planners as we think of them today have their roots in almanacs.  Research: Atkins, Samuel. “Kalendarium Pennsilvaniense.” W. Bradford. 1685. https://books.google.com/books/about/Kalendarium_Pennsilvaniense_Or_America_s.html?id=wT0wAAAAYAAJ Nichols, Charles L. “Notes on the Almanacs of Massachusetts.” American Antiquarian Society. 1912. https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/45647891.pdf Railton, Stephen. “Anti-Slavery Almanacs.” University of Virginia. https://utc.iath.virginia.edu/abolitn/gallaaaf.html Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "almanac". Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Oct. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/almanac Badian, E.. "fasti". Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Dec. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/fasti-Roman-calendar Winlock, H. E. “The Origin of the Ancient Egyptian Calendar.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 83, no. 3, 1940, pp. 447–64. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/985113 Smith, William, et a. “A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.” Albemarle Street, London. John Murray. 1890. Accessed online: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=fasti-cn Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Richard Pynson". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Pynson Driver, Martha W. “When Is a Miscellany Not Miscellaneous? Making Sense of the ‘Kalender of Shepherds.'” The Yearbook of English Studies, vol. 33, 2003, pp. 199–214. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3509026 Hockey, Thomas et al. (eds.). “The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers.” Springer Reference. New York: Springer, 2007, pp. 1258-1260 https://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Zarqali_BEA.htm “Diaries and Planners Market Size, Share, Growth, and Industry Analysis by Type (Diaries and Planners) By Application (Premium, and Mass), Latest Trends, Regional Insights, and Forecast From 2024 to 2031.” Business Research Insights. April 2023. https://www.businessresearchinsights.com/market-reports/diaries-and-planners-market-102040 Hubrigh, Joachim. “An almanacke, and prognostication, for the yeare of our Lorde God. 1565. : seruing for all Europia, and also most necessary for all students, marchantes, mariners and trauellers, both by sea and lande, composed and gathered by Ioakim Hubrigh, Doctor in Phisick. Also the most principall fayres in Englande, very necessary for people that doe resorte to the same.” Imprinted by Henry Denham for William Pickring. 1565. Accessed online: https://catalog.folger.edu/record/170062?ln=en Shank, Michael. "Regiomontanus". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Jul. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Regiomontanus Danforth, Samuel and Royster, Paul (transcriber & editor), "Samuel Danforth's Almanack Poems and Chronological Tables 1647-1649" (1649). Faculty Publications, UNL Libraries. 36. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/36 “History of The Nautical Almanac.” Astronomical Applications Department, U.S. Government. https://aa.usno.navy.mil/publications/na_history “William Pierce.” Town Memorials, Winthrop, Massachusetts.” https://winthropmemorials.org/great-allotment/pages/william-pierce.html See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rome seems to be an impasse. Facing war on all fronts and with escalating crisis between the patricians and the plebeians the place of Rome in the Italian world is at the brink. It's 445 BCE and the republic is still young enough to fail. How will Rome face the chaos coming at them from outside while weakened from their own internal conflict? Tune in to find out!Secret MeetingsIn order to get Rome motivated for war, the internal problems need to be resolved first. What better time then for some of the more senior Romans (who also just happen to be patrician) to get together for a clandestine meeting… Some important decisions are reached but despite the secrecy of the meeting, it does not go unnoticed. Is Rome really more of an oligarchy than it likes to think it is?Canuleius' SpeechOn the other side of town, the tribune of the plebs, Gaius Canuelius, is getting fired up about the restrictive marriage laws that are part of the Twelve Tables. And boy does he have a speech to make about it! He digs deep into Rome's history right back to the kings to explain to the plebeians how their exclusion from marriage to patricians is offensive. He explores the way Rome is in a process of constant adaption and change with examples to support his case that excluding plebeians is insupportable.Military Tribunes with Consular PowerIn a time of great struggle innovation becomes a necessity. With Rome facing threats from just about every direction, the consuls won't be able to be everywhere they are needed commanding armies. Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus view the development of military tribunes with consular power as part of the patricians trying to placate the plebeians. But is there more to it than that? We delve into the background of the role, what it means for the structure of Roman governance, and compare the sources on the subject.Tune in forThe suggestion that the plebeians have the right to introduce lawsDastardly plans from the the patriciansSome weighty demands for the repel of the marriage ban and access to governing power for the plebeiansA shocking moment of patricians conceding to the plebeians!Our PlayersConsuls 445 BCEM. Genucius – f. – n. Augurinus – Pat.C. (or Agripp.) Curtius – f. – n. Philo (or Chilo) Pat.Notable PatriciansGaius Claudius, uncle of the infamous Appius ClaudiusTitus Quinctius L. f. L. n. Capitolinus BarbatusL. Valerius P. f. P. n. Potitus (Poplicola?) – Pat.M. Horatius M. f. L. (or P.) n. BarbatusTitus Genucius, the brother of the consul!Tribune of the PlebsC. CanuleiusC. Furnius SourcesDr G reads Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 11.55-60.Dr Rad reads Livy ab Urbe Condita 4.2-6.Broughton, T. R. S., Patterson, M. L. 1951. The Magistrates of the Roman Republic Volume 1: 509 B.C. – 100 B.C. (The American Philological Association)Cornell, T. J. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC) (Taylor & Francis)Forsythe, G. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War(University of California Press) For our full show notes and edited transcripts, head on over to https://partialhistorians.com/Support the showPatreonKo-FiRead our booksRex: The Seven Kings of RomeYour Cheeky Guide to the Roman Empire Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2019 the Louvre Pyramid by Chinese-American architect I.M Pei turned thirty. Designed as a contemporary art installation, the pyramid is nowadays a landmark of the Parisian museum—but it was also one of the most controversial cultural projects of François Mitterrand’s presidency. Since, the Louvre Pyramid has been accepted and embraced, and now houses art installations that look back on this controversial birth and refresh its myth. This talk welcomed Ludovic Laugier — curator in the Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities at the Louvre Museum — to speak about the pyramid and Pei’s work.

In the 1860s, San Francisco's most popular tourist attraction was not a place but a person: Joshua Norton, an eccentric resident who had declared himself emperor of the United States. Rather than shun him, the city took him to its heart, affectionately indulging his foibles for 21 years. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll consider the reign of Norton I and the meaning of madness. We'll also keep time with the Romans and puzzle over some rising temperatures. Intro: Amazon customers have been reviewing a gallon of milk since 2005. G.W. Blake patented a flyswatter pistol in 1919. Sources for our feature on Joshua Norton: William Drury, Norton I: Emperor of the United States, 1986. William M. Kramer, Emperor Norton of San Francisco, 1974. Catherine Caufield, The Emperor of the United States of America and Other Magnificent British Eccentrics, 1981. Benjamin E. Lloyd, Lights and Shades in San Francisco, 1876. Fred Dickey, "Norton I: Ruler of All He Imagined," American History 41:4 (October 2006), 65-66,68,70,6. Robert Ernest Cowan, "Norton I: Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico (Joshua A. Norton, 1819-1880)," California Historical Society Quarterly 2:3 (October 1923), 237-245. Eric Lis, "His Majesty's Psychosis: The Case of Emperor Joshua Norton," Academic Psychiatry 39:2 (April 2015), 181–185. Gary Kamiya, "How Emperor Norton Rose to Power," San Francisco Chronicle, April 1, 2017. "Street Characters of San Francisco," Overland Monthly 19:113 (May 1892), 449-459. "Death of an American Emperor," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper 49:1271 (Feb. 7, 1880), 428-429. "Emperor Norton," Sacramento Daily Record-Union, Jan. 26, 1880, 1. "Collections: The Emperor's Cane," California History 82:2 (2004), 3, 59. Alejandro Lazo and Daniel Huang, "Who Is Emperor Norton? Fans in San Francisco Want to Remember," Wall Street Journal, Aug. 13, 2015. David Warren Ryder, "The Strange Story of Emperor Norton," Saturday Evening Post 218:6 (Aug. 11, 1945), 35-41. Julian Dana, "San Francisco's Fabulous Fools," Prairie Schooner 27:1 (Spring 1953), 45-49. Jed Stevenson, "Notes Issued by the Self-Crowned Emperor of the United States Have Become Collector's Items," New York Times, Dec. 9, 1990, 84. "Death of an Eccentric Californian," New York Times, Jan. 10, 1880, 5. Listener mail: Leonhard Schmitz, "Hora," in William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 1875. Wikipedia, "Roman Timekeeping" (accessed Sept. 23, 2017). "A Brief Guide to Roman Timekeeping and the Calendar," World History (accessed Sept. 23, 2017). Wikipedia, "Finger-Counting" (accessed Sept. 23, 2017). Aditya Singhal, "Math Teachers Should Encourage Their Students to Count Using Fingers," Math Blog, July 20, 2016. Nancy Szokan, "Think Counting on Your Fingers Is Dumb? Think Again," Washington Post, July 30, 2016. An Indian 5-year-old doing mental sums. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Sofia Hauck de Oliveira, who sent this corroborating link (warning -- this spoils the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Get a free audiobook with a 30-day trial at Audible. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

Jeffrey L. Collins, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Academic Programs, Bard Graduate Center More is More: Piranesi and Design Giambattista Piranesi is best known today as a printmaker. Yet in his lifetime, he routinely signed his plates—and clearly wished to be known—as an architect, a profession that in the eighteenth-century often embraced interior decoration and furnishing. As an architect-designer, Piranesi "invented" not just buildings but chairs, tables, clocks, coaches, vases, candelabra, tablewares, chimneypieces, wall ornaments, and even complete rooms. Many feature in this exhibition, some on paper (where they largely remained) and some brought to life for the first time in three dimensions. In their eclecticism, visual density, and even whimsy, these exuberant modern designs may challenge our idea of Piranesi as a neoclassicist devoted solely to an image of ancient grandeur. But what were the sources and inspirations for Piranesi's ideas, and how do they relate to prevailing eighteenth-century tastes? This lecture places Piranesi's design work in its cultural and conceptual context, asking how this seemingly marginal activity exemplified the artist's broader concerns and constituted, albeit secondhand, a central part of his legacy. John Pinto, Ph.D., Howard Crosby Butler Memorial Professor of Art and Archeology, Princeton University Piranesi's "Speaking Ruins:" Fragment and Fantasy Shortly after his first visit to Rome, Giovanni Battista Piranesi memorably wrote, "Speaking ruins have filled my spirit with images that accurate drawings could never have succeeded in conveying." Piranesi's appreciation of the expressive nature of ruins is telling. So, too, is the distinction he makes between experiencing ancient architecture directly, through on-site examination, on the one hand, and studying it at several removes by means of measured drawings, on the other. Piranesi provides a poetic distillation of over three centuries of reappraisals of the value and meaning of ruins for humanists, antiquarians, and architects. Professor Pinto's lecture will use Piranesi's graphic work to explore his virtuoso variations on the theme of the fragment, his analytic strategies, and his visionary engagement with the past. It was Piranesi's genius to bridge the gap between past and present, between source and invention, thereby breathing new life into the classical legacy. Christopher M.S. Johns, Ph.D., Norman L. and Roselea J. Golberg, Professor and Chair of the Department of History of Art, Vanderbilt University Piranesi and the Fabrication of Rome in the European Imagination: Le Vedute di Roma and Antichità Romane The vast majority of Europeans who studied, collected and admired the graphic works of Giambattista Piranesi never saw Rome. This fabricated Rome inspired the European imaginary in a way that is difficult to understand in the modern age of imagery overload and instantaneous access to almost everything. But Piranesi's Rome was a reality in it own right, and only those relative few who actually visited the Eternal City during their Grand Tours could compare the artist's vision with diurnal reality. Indeed, not a few Roman visitors, conditioned by their study of Piranesi's imagery, were disappointed in the modest scale and shabby surroundings of some of the greatest monuments to survive from an admired antiquity. The Views of Rome and Roman Antiquities, two of the artist's most influential series of etchings, had an exceptionally high profile in Enlightenment Europe and form the basis for his vision of Roman magnificence. This lecture will explore the connection between word and image and between image in reality in Piranesi's influential series with the intention of shedding some light on the disconnection between the scholar's and the tourist's Rome in the middle decades of the eighteenth-century. www.TheSanDiegoMuseumofAr

Jeffrey L. Collins, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Academic Programs, Bard Graduate Center More is More: Piranesi and Design Giambattista Piranesi is best known today as a printmaker. Yet in his lifetime, he routinely signed his plates—and clearly wished to be known—as an architect, a profession that in the eighteenth-century often embraced interior decoration and furnishing. As an architect-designer, Piranesi "invented" not just buildings but chairs, tables, clocks, coaches, vases, candelabra, tablewares, chimneypieces, wall ornaments, and even complete rooms. Many feature in this exhibition, some on paper (where they largely remained) and some brought to life for the first time in three dimensions. In their eclecticism, visual density, and even whimsy, these exuberant modern designs may challenge our idea of Piranesi as a neoclassicist devoted solely to an image of ancient grandeur. But what were the sources and inspirations for Piranesi's ideas, and how do they relate to prevailing eighteenth-century tastes? This lecture places Piranesi's design work in its cultural and conceptual context, asking how this seemingly marginal activity exemplified the artist's broader concerns and constituted, albeit secondhand, a central part of his legacy. John Pinto, Ph.D., Howard Crosby Butler Memorial Professor of Art and Archeology, Princeton University Piranesi's "Speaking Ruins:" Fragment and Fantasy Shortly after his first visit to Rome, Giovanni Battista Piranesi memorably wrote, "Speaking ruins have filled my spirit with images that accurate drawings could never have succeeded in conveying." Piranesi's appreciation of the expressive nature of ruins is telling. So, too, is the distinction he makes between experiencing ancient architecture directly, through on-site examination, on the one hand, and studying it at several removes by means of measured drawings, on the other. Piranesi provides a poetic distillation of over three centuries of reappraisals of the value and meaning of ruins for humanists, antiquarians, and architects. Professor Pinto's lecture will use Piranesi's graphic work to explore his virtuoso variations on the theme of the fragment, his analytic strategies, and his visionary engagement with the past. It was Piranesi's genius to bridge the gap between past and present, between source and invention, thereby breathing new life into the classical legacy. Christopher M.S. Johns, Ph.D., Norman L. and Roselea J. Golberg, Professor and Chair of the Department of History of Art, Vanderbilt University Piranesi and the Fabrication of Rome in the European Imagination: Le Vedute di Roma and Antichità Romane The vast majority of Europeans who studied, collected and admired the graphic works of Giambattista Piranesi never saw Rome. This fabricated Rome inspired the European imaginary in a way that is difficult to understand in the modern age of imagery overload and instantaneous access to almost everything. But Piranesi's Rome was a reality in it own right, and only those relative few who actually visited the Eternal City during their Grand Tours could compare the artist's vision with diurnal reality. Indeed, not a few Roman visitors, conditioned by their study of Piranesi's imagery, were disappointed in the modest scale and shabby surroundings of some of the greatest monuments to survive from an admired antiquity. The Views of Rome and Roman Antiquities, two of the artist's most influential series of etchings, had an exceptionally high profile in Enlightenment Europe and form the basis for his vision of Roman magnificence. This lecture will explore the connection between word and image and between image in reality in Piranesi's influential series with the intention of shedding some light on the disconnection between the scholar's and the tourist's Rome in the middle decades of the eighteenth-century. www.TheSanDiegoMuseumofAr

Jeffrey L. Collins, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Academic Programs, Bard Graduate Center More is More: Piranesi and Design Giambattista Piranesi is best known today as a printmaker. Yet in his lifetime, he routinely signed his plates—and clearly wished to be known—as an architect, a profession that in the eighteenth-century often embraced interior decoration and furnishing. As an architect-designer, Piranesi "invented" not just buildings but chairs, tables, clocks, coaches, vases, candelabra, tablewares, chimneypieces, wall ornaments, and even complete rooms. Many feature in this exhibition, some on paper (where they largely remained) and some brought to life for the first time in three dimensions. In their eclecticism, visual density, and even whimsy, these exuberant modern designs may challenge our idea of Piranesi as a neoclassicist devoted solely to an image of ancient grandeur. But what were the sources and inspirations for Piranesi's ideas, and how do they relate to prevailing eighteenth-century tastes? This lecture places Piranesi's design work in its cultural and conceptual context, asking how this seemingly marginal activity exemplified the artist's broader concerns and constituted, albeit secondhand, a central part of his legacy. John Pinto, Ph.D., Howard Crosby Butler Memorial Professor of Art and Archeology, Princeton University Piranesi's "Speaking Ruins:" Fragment and Fantasy Shortly after his first visit to Rome, Giovanni Battista Piranesi memorably wrote, "Speaking ruins have filled my spirit with images that accurate drawings could never have succeeded in conveying." Piranesi's appreciation of the expressive nature of ruins is telling. So, too, is the distinction he makes between experiencing ancient architecture directly, through on-site examination, on the one hand, and studying it at several removes by means of measured drawings, on the other. Piranesi provides a poetic distillation of over three centuries of reappraisals of the value and meaning of ruins for humanists, antiquarians, and architects. Professor Pinto's lecture will use Piranesi's graphic work to explore his virtuoso variations on the theme of the fragment, his analytic strategies, and his visionary engagement with the past. It was Piranesi's genius to bridge the gap between past and present, between source and invention, thereby breathing new life into the classical legacy. Christopher M.S. Johns, Ph.D., Norman L. and Roselea J. Golberg, Professor and Chair of the Department of History of Art, Vanderbilt University Piranesi and the Fabrication of Rome in the European Imagination: Le Vedute di Roma and Antichità Romane The vast majority of Europeans who studied, collected and admired the graphic works of Giambattista Piranesi never saw Rome. This fabricated Rome inspired the European imaginary in a way that is difficult to understand in the modern age of imagery overload and instantaneous access to almost everything. But Piranesi's Rome was a reality in it own right, and only those relative few who actually visited the Eternal City during their Grand Tours could compare the artist's vision with diurnal reality. Indeed, not a few Roman visitors, conditioned by their study of Piranesi's imagery, were disappointed in the modest scale and shabby surroundings of some of the greatest monuments to survive from an admired antiquity. The Views of Rome and Roman Antiquities, two of the artist's most influential series of etchings, had an exceptionally high profile in Enlightenment Europe and form the basis for his vision of Roman magnificence. This lecture will explore the connection between word and image and between image in reality in Piranesi's influential series with the intention of shedding some light on the disconnection between the scholar's and the tourist's Rome in the middle decades of the eighteenth-century. www.TheSanDiegoMuseumofAr

Jeffrey L. Collins, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Academic Programs, Bard Graduate Center More is More: Piranesi and Design Giambattista Piranesi is best known today as a printmaker. Yet in his lifetime, he routinely signed his plates—and clearly wished to be known—as an architect, a profession that in the eighteenth-century often embraced interior decoration and furnishing. As an architect-designer, Piranesi "invented" not just buildings but chairs, tables, clocks, coaches, vases, candelabra, tablewares, chimneypieces, wall ornaments, and even complete rooms. Many feature in this exhibition, some on paper (where they largely remained) and some brought to life for the first time in three dimensions. In their eclecticism, visual density, and even whimsy, these exuberant modern designs may challenge our idea of Piranesi as a neoclassicist devoted solely to an image of ancient grandeur. But what were the sources and inspirations for Piranesi's ideas, and how do they relate to prevailing eighteenth-century tastes? This lecture places Piranesi's design work in its cultural and conceptual context, asking how this seemingly marginal activity exemplified the artist's broader concerns and constituted, albeit secondhand, a central part of his legacy. John Pinto, Ph.D., Howard Crosby Butler Memorial Professor of Art and Archeology, Princeton University Piranesi's "Speaking Ruins:" Fragment and Fantasy Shortly after his first visit to Rome, Giovanni Battista Piranesi memorably wrote, "Speaking ruins have filled my spirit with images that accurate drawings could never have succeeded in conveying." Piranesi's appreciation of the expressive nature of ruins is telling. So, too, is the distinction he makes between experiencing ancient architecture directly, through on-site examination, on the one hand, and studying it at several removes by means of measured drawings, on the other. Piranesi provides a poetic distillation of over three centuries of reappraisals of the value and meaning of ruins for humanists, antiquarians, and architects. Professor Pinto's lecture will use Piranesi's graphic work to explore his virtuoso variations on the theme of the fragment, his analytic strategies, and his visionary engagement with the past. It was Piranesi's genius to bridge the gap between past and present, between source and invention, thereby breathing new life into the classical legacy. Christopher M.S. Johns, Ph.D., Norman L. and Roselea J. Golberg, Professor and Chair of the Department of History of Art, Vanderbilt University Piranesi and the Fabrication of Rome in the European Imagination: Le Vedute di Roma and Antichità Romane The vast majority of Europeans who studied, collected and admired the graphic works of Giambattista Piranesi never saw Rome. This fabricated Rome inspired the European imaginary in a way that is difficult to understand in the modern age of imagery overload and instantaneous access to almost everything. But Piranesi's Rome was a reality in it own right, and only those relative few who actually visited the Eternal City during their Grand Tours could compare the artist's vision with diurnal reality. Indeed, not a few Roman visitors, conditioned by their study of Piranesi's imagery, were disappointed in the modest scale and shabby surroundings of some of the greatest monuments to survive from an admired antiquity. The Views of Rome and Roman Antiquities, two of the artist's most influential series of etchings, had an exceptionally high profile in Enlightenment Europe and form the basis for his vision of Roman magnificence. This lecture will explore the connection between word and image and between image in reality in Piranesi's influential series with the intention of shedding some light on the disconnection between the scholar's and the tourist's Rome in the middle decades of the eighteenth-century. www.TheSanDiegoMuseumofAr