Podcasts about twelve tables

Episode #95 featuring Taylor Villegas, founder of Twelve Tables, a next-gen consulting firm fostering collaborations among independent creators and agencies, Taylor brings a unique perspective to problem-solving and strategy execution. Taylors entrepreneurial journey also includes being an active partner of Sunny Collabs, a content-first agency headquartered out of Tampa, Florida - with an impressive portfolio spanning Whiteclaw, Greenlane, Carrabbas, Pinch-a-Penny Pools, and Next Level Brand. With over a decade of experience, Taylor is a sought-after business strategist, challenging the narrative around constant stress as a precursor to success. Active in community service and mentorship, Taylor is dedicated to inspiring a balanced approach to success in the business landscape. Tune in with James Ontra and Taylor Villages to and learn how Taylor's career journey has led her to be where she is today!

Defying societal norms by confronting adversity head-on, Taylor carved her unique path to triumph after finding herself pregnant at sixteen. Which AI Tool you should learn firstCombatting teen pregnancy stigma Business strategist How to leverage AI “Radical” entrepreneurship She is the powerhouse behind the exclusive agency Twelve Tables, a bespoke collective of high-achievers supporting cutting-edge startups and Fortune 50 companies. Taylor is a global connector, a fiery business strategist, and one dynamic speaker. Her magnetic personality, tenure in digital transformation, and forever student mindset have led her to create effective, encompassing strategies for a wide range of clients. She also has her own podcast, so get ready to add another one to your queue.Join us for this week's spotlight story at the end of the show. It will cover the Forbes Article Motherhood Inspired These 12 Entrepreneurs To Start Companies With A MissionBrought to you by speaker coach, Cesar Cervantes - Specializing in helping you get your transformative message to the TEDx stage. Guaranteed. To schedule your free brainstorming session, visit CesarCervantes.tvEmail: PodcastsByLanci@Gmail.comWebsiteLanci's BooksYouTubeInstagramFacebookLinkedInDigital Editing / Podcast Guests Inquiries, email PodcastsByLanci@Gmail.comEpisode Music Credits: Adventure by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyadenHappy | https://soundcloud.com/morning-kuliSupport the showSupport the showIf you enjoyed this week's show, click the subscribe button to stay current.Listen to A Mental Health Break Episodes hereTune into Writing with Authors here

Transcript:Hello! This is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective! Early Christians were known for their care of the weak and frail. This contrasted deeply with the callous Roman culture in which they lived. For example, the Law of the Twelve Tables, the earliest codification of Roman Law (c. 450-451 BC) required fathers to kill any deformed child. Though this Law was no longer in force during the rise of the church, its basic ethos continued to influence Roman culture. As a matter of fact, one historian notes that in one Roman village, “archaeologists found one hundred skeletons of infants less than a week old in the sewers under the Roman baths. The babies were unwanted or inconvenient, and so were literally flushed down the drain” (Why You Think the Way You Do, p. 34). Christians refused to participate in such practice. Following Holy Scripture, they knew that every human was made in the image of God, regardless of how weak, deformed, or “unwanted”. Moreover, since they held that God Himself had become a real human (bodily!) in Jesus Christ, the value they placed on the human body was elevated to previously unknown heights. The Gospel of Matthew speaks of the conception and birth of Jesus Christ saying: “that which is conceived in Mary is from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20). At the center of the gospel story is God Himself becoming a weak and helpless infant, even a hidden embryo. This radically altered the way Christians viewed the weak and frail and, thus, drove them to reject not only the common practice of infanticide, but also the common practice of abortion. As modern historian Rodney Stark put it: “…perhaps above all else, Christianity brought a new conception of humanity to a world saturated with capricious cruelty and the vicarious love of death....”   “…what Christianity gave to its converts was nothing less than their humanity.” ~Rodney Stark as quoted in PBS: Frontline: “From Jesus to Christ” Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:     “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,      and they shall call his name Immanuel”(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus..”~ Matthew 1:18-23 (ESV) Sources to consider:Law of the Twelve Tableshttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Law-of-the-Twelve-Tables The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History by Rodney Stark (Princeton University Press 2020). The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbably Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire by Alan Kreider (Baker Academic 2016). Why You Think the Way You Do: The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home by Glenn S. Sunshine (Zondervan 2009). The Didache (Chapter 2).

Episode 214 – Ten Commandments – Part 10 – The Dignity of Truth Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. Script: You shall not testify falsely [that is, lie, withhold, or manipulate the truth] against your neighbor (any person). Exodus, Chapter 20, verse 16, Amplified Bible ******** VK: Hi and welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m Victoria K. We’re glad that you are able to join us for another episode of Anchored by Truth. Today, we are continuing our series on the Ten Commandments but since we are coming to the 9th commandment we know we are starting to approach the end. With us today in the studio we have RD Fierro. RD is an author and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. RD, today, we are going to discuss the 9th commandment which we heard in our opening scripture. That means that we have gone over the first 8 commandments. And in the last part of our last episode of Anchored by Truth we had begun to discuss the fact that one common thread that binds all of the commandments is that they are all concerned with the concept of dignity. Can you give us a brief summary of what you are thinking of when you say the Ten Commandments all concern “dignity?” RD: Well, before we get to that I would also like to welcome everyone to this episode of Anchored by Truth. We’re very grateful that everyone is with us. So, for a second let’s think about the Ten Commandments as they unfold from start to finish. The order of the commandments within the Bible is not random or haphazard. God had a reason He put them in the order that He did. The first 3 commandments all concern themselves with the dignity of God. This is entirely appropriate because God existed before He made any part of the created order. The next two commandments concern themselves with preserving God’s dignity as that dignity begins to manifest itself in the created order. The 4th commandment to honor the Sabbath refers us back to God’s period of creative activity. VK: The 4th commandment tells us that we are to honor the 7th day of the week because that was the day that God declared to be “blessed.” Genesis, chapter 2, verses 2 and 3 say, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” So, when God instructed Moses, the Israelites, and us to honor the Sabbath God is directing our attention straight back to – as you said – His period of creative activity. God created for 6 days and rested on the 7th. We are to work for 6 days and rest on the 7th – just as God did. RD: Yes. And the 4th commandment is evidence that the various theories that somehow the 1st chapter of Genesis refers to 6 indeterminately long periods of creative activity don’t make sense. God doesn’t intend for us to work for 6 periods of indeterminate activity followed by a rest period that might be thousands of years. God used a 7 day period of 24-hour days when he gave the 4th commandment and that is a direct reflection of how God performed His own creative activity. Then, the 5th commandment tells us to honor our mother and father. That refers us back to God’s partial delegation of the oversight of His created order to the creature He created in His image: man. God conveyed a portion of His authority to Adam and Eve in what is often referred to as the “Dominion Mandate.” So, the first five commandments are all concerned with the inherent dignity of God. VK: But of course man also possesses an inherent dignity because man is the only creature that God made in His image. We possess an inherent dignity because we are the image bearers of God. RD: Yes. And the 6th through 10th commandments, like the commandments that precede them, are also concerned with dignity. The 6th commandment is concerned with the dignity of their lives, the 7th the dignity of marriage, and the 8th the dignity of work. The 8th commandment, which says, “do not steal” is concerned with the dignity of work because it is through our labor that we produce the goods and services that we need to sustain our lives. If someone steals any of those goods or services, regardless of the amount or value, they have exhibited a blatant disrespect for the labor and work of another person. God took His own work in creation seriously. He said the product of His work was valuable. It was good. When God finished the entirety of His creative activity He said it was “very good.” VK: God highly valued the work that He had completed. He should. He made a universe with 50 to 100 billion galaxies each of which has 50 billion or more stars. That’s an impressive total of production for 6 days. And while our own work is not on the same scale anyone who is performing legitimate, productive labor may also be proud of their efforts. So, if anyone steals the product those efforts they are just denying the producer the value and they are demeaning the effort that went into the production. RD: Exactly. So, we see that the 6th commandment is concerned with the dignity of innocent human life, the 7th the dignity of marriage, and the 8th the dignity of work. Today we will see that the 9th commandment is concerned with the dignity of words, speech, and truth. And, to complete the thought, as strange as it may seem the 10th commandment is concerned with the dignity of desire. VK: The “dignity of desire” – now that’s a phrase you probably don’t hear every day. Would you care to give us a glimpse of what you’re thinking about with that? RD: I don’t want to take too much time today on the 10th commandment. That’s what the next episode of Anchored by Truth is for. But suffice it to say this. Too often, we equate the words “desire” and “lust.” And, as a general rule, lust is sinful. So, we think we are to avoid it. And, of course, we should avoid sinful lusts. But desire need not be sinful. The Bible commands us to desire good things. For instance, in the opening lines of the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught us to pray for “[God’s] kingdom to come and [God’s] will be done.” Well, if we want God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done, then obviously we are to desire those things. We are to desire to live holy lives, to have faith, and to please God. We are to desire to spend an eternity with God in heaven. Desire is a basic attribute of being human and there is nothing wrong with desire. There is a lot wrong with allowing our desire to be transformed into sinful lusts. The 10th commandment not to covet anything of our neighbors helps us see where and how to draw the line. So, the 10th commandment is concerned with the preserving the dignity of desire. And one thread that ties all of the commandments together is that are concerned with the dignity of God and the dignity of people because they are God’s image bearers. VK: Interesting. The “dignity of desire” – more about that in the next episode of Anchored by Truth. For today let’s turn our attention back to the 9th commandment which says not “bear false witness against our neighbor” or, as the Contemporary English Version put it, “Do not tell lies about others.” We might again think that this commandment would be unnecessary because it is so obvious. But it is necessary because we humans resort to lying so quickly when we get into trouble. And, even though the commandment is often phrased as “not lying about our neighbors” Christian scholars are uniform in their agreement that our neighbors isn’t just referring to the people living in the next house or apartment. The 9th commandment is concerned with a wide variety of human behavior including the behavior of individuals, groups, and governments. That’s why we used the Amplified Bible’s version of the 9th commandment as our opening scripture. Many versions will use the phrase “not bear false witness against your neighbor” but the Amplified Bible makes it plain that there are many forms of such “false witness” such as withholding or manipulating the truth. RD: Bible scholars down through history have recognized that certainly one of the primary applications of the 9th commandment has to do with giving false testimony in a trial or judicial proceeding. But that is only one of its applications. The 9th commandment goes well beyond just one specific venue where lying is prohibited. For instance, one of the best known Bible commentaries was written by Matthew Henry in the latter part of the 17th century and early part of the 18th century. Henry wrote this: “The ninth commandment concerns our own and our neighbour's good name. This forbids speaking falsely on any matter, lying, equivocating, and any way devising or designing to deceive our neighbour. Speaking unjustly against our neighbour, to hurt his reputation. Bearing false witness against him, or in common conversation slandering, backbiting, and tale-bearing; making what is done amiss, worse than it is, and in any way endeavouring to raise our reputation upon the ruin of our neighbour's. How much this command is every day broken among persons of all ranks!” VK: And another Bible scholar Matthew Poole, who wrote in the 17th century, reinforces the observation that there is a wide variety of behaviors that violate the 9th commandment. Poole said, “[do] not speak a false testimony, or as a false witness; which doth not only forbid perjury in judgment, but also all unjust censure, slander, backbiting, scorning, false accusation, and the like; and also requires a just and candid judgment of him, and of his words and actions, speaking well of him, as far as truth and justice will permit, and defending his good name against the calumnies and detractions of others.” Poole and Henry’s observations help us to see that the 9th commandment, like all of God’s commandments, are designed to help us recognize the sin that lurks deep within our hearts. (214 punch) Perversely enough, the 9th commandment about not lying about our neighbor is unlike the 8th commandment about not stealing because lying about others often injures the victim but doesn’t do any good for the liar. William Shakespeare wrote: “Who steals my purse, steals trash, But he who filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, Yet leaves me poor indeed …” What Shakespeare is observing that lies often destroy one person while not helping anyone else. Stealing property or money at least leaves the property or money in the possession of the thief. But you can decimate a person’s reputation with a lie and yet that may very well never improve the life of the liar. When you stop and think about it that truly is vile. RD: The 9th commandment is one area where God’s commandments and law were consistent with many of the other ancient cultures which took lying, especially lying in judicial proceedings, very seriously. This is true because most cultures have recognized that lying in court makes the administration of justice impossible. The Pulpit Commentary available at biblehub.com says this about the 9th commandment: “ The wrong done to a man by false evidence in a court may be a wrong of the very [worst] kind – [it] may be actual murder … [because it is] fatal to the administration of justice, false witness in courts has been severely visited by penalties in all well-regulated states. At Athens the false witness was liable to a heavy fine, and if thrice convicted lost all his civil rights. At Rome, by a law of the Twelve Tables, he was hurled headlong from the Tarpeian rock. In Egypt, false witness was punished by amputation … Private calumny may sometimes involve as serious consequences to individuals as false witness in a court. It may ruin a man; it may madden him; it may drive him to suicide. But it does not disorganise the whole framework of society, like perjured evidence before a tribunal...” VK: And as bad as lying in judicial proceedings may be for individuals and society the worst consequence of lying at all is that it displays an intentional disregard for God’s majesty, doesn’t it? RD: Yes. In our day and age we have forgotten the importance of words, speech, and language. But the Bible makes it clear that words and speech are so important that God used them to bring much of what exists into existence. In fact, God’s first use of language occurs in the 3rd verse of the 1st chapter of Genesis. And thereafter, chapter 1 of Genesis is full of “And God said,” such as “And God said let there be light.” God spoke the entire creation into existence and as He did so He started assigning names to things: day, night, sky, land, seas, etc. Words and language are so important to God that they were the mechanism by which he created life and made the world a suitable habitation for man. And the first task that God gave man involved the use of language. Adam’s first task was to name the animals. VK: Obviously, if God could give Adam a task that involved language we know that Adam was created with the capacity for speech and language. In fact, that is one of the major attributes that separates man from all other creatures. The ability to use language, speech, and words is one of the ways that man bears God’s image. Theologians sometimes use the phrase “communicable attributes” to refer to attributes that God possessed that He transmitted to man. RD: Correct. Other creatures certainly use sounds and audible signals to communicate with one another. But obviously, the information that goes back and forth is rudimentary and biological. I’m well aware that gorillas have been taught words by stimulus and response and some have developed vocabularies that are impressive by non-human standpoints. But no gorilla or chimpanzee has ever written a sonnet and no dolphin has ever composed in iambic pentameter. The human capacity for speech, language, words and the ability to express abstract and mathematical concepts is unique among the creatures that live on this earth. Now we know that angels speak and use language intelligently but angels are, of course, greater in power, mobility, and action than human beings. No other physical creature besides man uses words, linguistics, and speech. VK: So, when we misuse speech and words by lying or distorting the truth we really are committing an offense against God in a very real and fundamental way. We are, in effect, telling God that we have so little esteem or regard for the gifts He gave us that we are unconcerned about whether we use them in the manner in which He intended. In our time misrepresentations and distortions of the truth are so common that we come to expect them. We will use clever terms such as “political spin,” “gilding the lily,” “being disingenuous,” etc. to cover over the fact that someone is not telling the plain truth. We will excuse advertisers, marketers, and sales people for making ridiculous claims and say things like “well, that’s how business is done” or “everybody does it.” Students and politicians alike turn in work that is not their own as if it were. Lawyers go into court, blatantly lie, hide evidence, or use misleading arguments and claim that they are just providing zealous representation. All about us every day we see people manipulating the truth and we grow so used to it that we never bother to call it what it is: the sin of lying. But God is never misled and God always knows the plain truth. Spin is sin in God’s eyes and He sees the motivations of our hearts. Our clever, inventive ways neither mislead or please Him. RD: Exactly. God gave man the capacity to speak and use language and words but He also gave us the choice about we would employ that capacity. He gave us free choice. But violations of the 9th commandment are not strictly limited to the use of words or language. We can withhold, distort, or manipulate the truth even when our words may be technically accurate. In my first summer at West Point they gave us quite a number of classes about the cadet honor code which in those days said, “A cadet will not lie, cheat, or steal or tolerate anyone who does so.” One of the subjects they discussed at length was what was termed “quibbling.” VK: Quibbling was the practice of using technically accurate words that were intended to deceive or deflect. If a senior officer asked you whether you had shined your shoes, and all you had really done was rub a wash cloth over them, technically you could say that you had “shined your shoes.” But that, of course, was not what the senior officer was talking about. You knew it. He knew it. But you could – technically – accurately say “yes.” But that was quibbling. And I suspect it rarely fooled anyone at that place. But we have an awful lot of quibbling that goes on around us these days. Quibbling violates the 9th commandment as do all of the other detours and bypasses that are used today to manipulate the truth. RD: So, the point of all this is that the 9th commandment, like the commandments that precede it is concerned with dignity. The 9th commandment is concerned with the dignity of words and speech in no small measure because words and speech are so important they were used as part of God’s process of creating the universe. God spoke many parts of the created order into existence. By words God ordered a world that was “void and formless.” By words God made living creatures out of inanimate matter and energy. By words God made people. Today, we have more ways of communicating language and speech than ever before, but it has made us far less careful in how we use them, not more. VK: Well, Shakespeare also said “familiarity breeds contempt.” We have so many ways of flinging words about, we exhibit a blatant contempt for being accurate or careful with their use. Jesus’ half-brother James said in James, chapter 3, verses 5 through 8, “…the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” That’s from the New International Version. RD: The 9th commandment is concerned with the dignity of words, speech, and truth. James helps us understand the dangers that abound when we misuse them. In James day it was far more common for ordinary people to communicate orally rather than in writing. I have a feeling that if James were to bring his same message today he would note that not only is the tongue “restless” and “full of deadly poison” but so are our fingers and thumbs. VK: Now that is a really scary and sobering thought. How many people ever think about the 9th commandment when they sit down at a keyboard and go into a social media site or get ready to send a text message? And how much of the content that circulates on the internet violates the 9th commandment? And how many of us contribute to this mass of misleading content? When you think about the 9th commandment that way it probably would lead to some troubling questions and consciences. RD: God gave the 9th commandment to a people who leaving a period of captivity to begin to establish a new nation in a new location. As we heard earlier ensuring that truth is present in a judicial system and in judicial proceedings is a fundamental necessity for a sound society. In that respect, the 9th commandment was similar to the expectations of many ancient cultures. But in at least one respect it was different. As Jesus would clarify during His lifetime the neighbors who were not to be lied about or slandered were not limited to just Hebrews or Israelites. In the tale of the Good Samaritan we hear that our neighbors include even people who are not from our tribe and tongue. That was not all that common. Even in come cultures today it is perfectly okay to lie to someone who is not from a particular group. But that is not true for Christians. God expects us to be truthful in our speech, actions, and treatment of all people. This does not mean that we don’t need wisdom when we do so. We can, but we shouldn’t, hurt people by woodenly telling the truth. So, what we should do is pray for discernment to always be guided by a spirit of integrity but one that recognizes the dangers that lurk in a fallen world. VK: We don’t need to tell someone that we hated the cabbage rolls that they served us at dinner. And we don’t need to disclose the hiding places of people fleeing death or slavery. The 9th commandment would not have been necessary except for the fall but the fall has occurred and the 9th commandment sits behind the 6th commandment that prohibits murder for a reason. Like all the commandments, the 9th commandment restrains the sin that came from the fall but some deviations from the strict truth will be lesser sins than the ones that might follow when we tell all we know at the wrong time. And that’s a topic we will to continue to explore in this series because we just don’t have enough time to fully explore it today. God gave us the commandments because He wants us to have the right relationship with Him and a right relationship with each other. But until Jesus comes again we still have to navigate in a fallen creation. That’s one of the big reasons we wanted to do this series. The Ten Commandments are enduring ethical principles that are the basis for sound families, communities, and nations. We used to understand that. But the Ten Commandments, like all of God’s pronouncements, contain and demand wisdom to correctly apply and understand them. We should be willing to devote the time and energy necessary to be sure we apply them correctly because God gave His all for us. We should be willing to give our time and energy to Him to understand how to properly honor Him with our lives. Sounds like a good time to go to our God in prayer. Today, let’s listen to a prayer that we may all be faithful stewards of the resources that have been entrusted to us. Faithful stewardship is evidence of our own faithfulness to the cause of Christ. ---- PRAYER TO BE A FAITHFUL STEWARD (MARCUS) VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.” If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!” (Opening Bible Quote from the Amplified Bible) Exodus, Chapter 20, verse 16, Amplified Bible History, prophecy, ancestry, unity, and relevance

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.

Tonight we are going to tell you a tale. A superb tale. A tale as old as time that takes us from the beginnings of civilization until today. This tale will thrill you and chill you. It may elicit feelings of dread and sadness. It may make you angry.  At times it may make you uneasily laugh like the friend at school that was kicked in the balls but couldn't show his weakness. It's a subject that people continually argue about and debate with savage ferocity. Tonight we are talking about executions! We'll talk about the methods and the reasons behind executions throughout the years. Then we'll talk about some famous executions, as well as some of the more fucked up ones. And by fucked up, we mean botched. Bad stuff. This episode isn't meant to be a debate for or against executions but merely to discuss them and the crazy shit surrounding them. So with all that being said, Let's rock and roll!           Capital punishment has been practiced in the history of virtually all known societies and places. The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes.  The Code of Hammurabi was one of the earliest and most complete written legal codes and was proclaimed by the Babylonian king Hammurabi, who reigned from 1792 to 1750 B.C. Hammurabi expanded the city-state of Babylon along the Euphrates River to unite all of southern Mesopotamia. The Hammurabi code of laws, a collection of 282 rules, established standards for commercial interactions and set fines and punishments to meet the requirements of justice. Hammurabi's Code was carved onto a massive, finger-shaped black stone stele (pillar) that was looted by invaders and finally rediscovered in 1901. The text, compiled at the end of Hammurabi's reign, is less a proclamation of principles than a collection of legal precedents, set between prose celebrating Hammurabi's just and pious rule. Hammurabi's Code provides some of the earliest examples of the doctrine of “lex talionis,” or the laws of retribution, sometimes better known as “an eye for an eye the greatest soulfly song ever!   The Code of Hammurabi includes many harsh punishments, sometimes demanding the removal of the guilty party's tongue, hands, breasts, eye, or ear. But the code is also one of the earliest examples of an accused person being considered innocent until proven guilty. The 282 laws are all written in an “if-then form.” For example, if a man steals an ox, he must pay back 30 times its value. The laws range from family law to professional contracts and administrative law, often outlining different standards of justice for the three classes of Babylonian society—the propertied class, freedmen, and slaves.   A doctor's fee for curing a severe wound would be ten silver shekels for a gentleman, five shekels for a freedman, and two shekels for a slave. So, it was less expensive when you were a lower-class citizen. Penalties for malpractice followed the same scheme: a doctor who killed a wealthy patient would have his hands cut off, while only financial restitution was required if the victim was a slave. Crazy!   Some examples of the death penalty laws at this time are as follows:         If a man accuses another man and charges him with homicide but cannot bring proof against him, his accuser shall be killed. Holy shit.         If a man breaks into a house, they shall kill him and hang him in front of that same house.          The death penalty was also part of the Hittite Code in the 14th century B.C., but only partially. The most severe offenses typically were punished through enslavement, although crimes of a sexual nature often were punishable by death. The Hittite laws, also known as the Code of the Nesilim, constitute an ancient legal code dating from c. 1650 – 1500 BCE. The Hittite laws were kept in use for roughly 500 years, and many copies show that other than changes in grammar, what might be called the 'original edition' with its apparent disorder, was copied slavishly; no attempt was made to 'tidy up' by placing even apparent afterthoughts in a more appropriate position.    The Draconian constitution, or Draco's code, was a written law code enforced by Draco near the end of the 7th century BC; its composition started around 621BC. It was written in response to the unjust interpretation and modification of oral law by Athenian aristocrats. Aristotle, the chief source for knowledge of Draco, claims that he was the first to write Athenian laws and that Draco established a constitution enfranchising hoplites, the lower class soldiers. The Draconian laws were most noteworthy for their harshness; they were written in blood rather than ink. Death was prescribed for almost all criminal offenses. Solon, who was the magistrate in 594 BCE, later repealed Draco's code and published new laws, retaining only Draco's homicide statutes.   In the 5th century B.C., the Roman Law of the Twelve Tables also contained the death penalty. Death sentences were carried out by such means as beheading, boiling in oil, burying alive, burning, crucifixion, disembowelment, drowning, flaying alive, hanging, impalement, stoning, strangling, being thrown to wild animals, and quartering. We'll talk more about that later. The earliest attempt by the Romans to create a code of law was the Laws of the Twelve Tables. A commission of ten men (Decemviri) was appointed (c. 455 B.C.) to draw up a code of law binding on patrician and plebeian and which consuls would have to enforce. The commission produced enough statutes to fill ten bronze tablets.    Mosaic Law codified many capital crimes. There is evidence that Jews used many different techniques, including stoning, hanging, beheading, crucifixion (copied from the Romans), throwing the criminal from a rock, and sawing asunder. The most infamous execution of history occurred approximately 29 AD with the crucifixion of that one guy, Jesus Christ, outside Jerusalem. About 300 years later, Emperor Constantine, after converting to Christianity, abolished crucifixion and other cruel death penalties in the Roman Empire. In 438, the Code of Theodosius made more than 80 crimes punishable by death.    Britain influenced the colonies more than any other country and has a long history of punishment by death. About 450 BC, the death penalty was often enforced by throwing the condemned into a quagmire, which is not only the character from Family Guy, and another word for dilemma but in this case is a soft boggy area of land. By the 10th Century, hanging from the gallows was the most frequent execution method. William the Conqueror opposed taking life except in war and ordered no person to be hanged or executed for any offense. Nice guy, right? However, he allowed criminals to be mutilated for their crimes.    During the middle ages, capital punishment was accompanied by torture. Most barons had a drowning pit as well as gallows, and they were used for major as well as minor crimes. For example, in 1279, two hundred and eighty-nine Jews were hanged for clipping coins. What the fuck is that you may be wondering. Well, Clipping was taking a small amount of metal off the edge of hand-struck coins. Over time, the precious metal clippings could be saved up and melted into bullion (a lump of precious metal) to be sold or used to make new coins. Under Edward I, two gatekeepers were killed because the city gate had not been closed in time to prevent the escape of an accused murderer. Burning was the punishment for women's high treason, and men were hanged, drawn, and quartered. Beheading was generally accepted for the upper classes. One could be burned to death for marrying a Jew. Pressing became the penalty for those who would not confess to their crimes—the executioner placed heavy weights on the victim's chest until death. On the first day, he gave the victim a small quantity of bread, on the second day a small drink of bad water, and so on until he confessed or died. Under the reign of Henry VIII, the number of those put to death is estimated as high as 72,000. Boiling to death was another penalty approved in 1531, and there are records to show some people cooked for up to two hours before death took them. When a woman was burned, the executioner tied a rope around her neck when she was connected to the stake. When the flames reached her, she could be strangled from outside the ring of fire. However, this often failed, and many were burnt alive.   In Britain, the number of capital offenses continually increased until the 1700's when two hundred and twenty-two crimes were punishable by death. These included stealing from a house for forty shillings, stealing from a shop the value of five shillings, robbing a rabbit warren, cutting down a tree, and counterfeiting tax stamps. However, juries tended not to convict when the penalty was significant, and the crime was not. Reforms began to take place. In 1823, five laws were passed, removing about a hundred crimes from the death penalty. Between 1832 and 1837, many capital offenses were swept away. In 1840, there was a failed attempt to abolish all capital punishment. Through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, more and more capital punishments were abolished, not only in Britain but also all across Europe; until today, only a few European countries retain the death penalty.   The first recorded execution in the English American colonies was in 1608 when officials executed George Kendall of Virginia for supposedly plotting to betray the British to the Spanish. In 1612, Virginia's governor, Sir Thomas Dale, implemented the Divine, Moral, and Martial Laws that made death the penalty for even minor offenses such as stealing grapes, killing chickens, killing dogs or horses without permission, or trading with Indians. Seven years later, these laws were softened because Virginia feared that no one would settle there. Well, no shit.   In 1622, the first legal execution of a criminal, Daniel Frank, occurred in, of course, Virginia for the crime of theft. Some colonies were very strict in using the death penalty, while others were less so. In Massachusetts Bay Colony, the first execution was in 1630, but the earliest capital statutes did not occur until later. Under the Capital Laws of New England that went into effect between 1636-1647, the death penalty was set forth for pre-meditated murder, sodomy, witchcraft, adultery, idolatry, blasphemy, assault in anger, rape, statutory rape, manstealing, perjury in a capital trial, rebellion, manslaughter, poisoning, and bestiality. A scripture from the Old Testament accompanied early laws. By 1780, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts only recognized seven capital crimes: murder, sodomy, burglary, buggery, arson, rape, and treason. And for those wondering, The Buggery Act of 1533, formally An Act for the punishment of the vice of Buggerie, was an Act of the Parliament of England that was passed during the reign of Henry VIII. It was the country's first civil sodomy law.   The Act defined buggery as an unnatural sexual act against the will of God and Man. This term was later determined by the courts to include only anal penetration and bestiality.   The New York colony instituted the so-called Duke's Laws of 1665. This list of laws directed the death penalty for denial of the true God, pre-meditated murder, killing someone who had no weapon of defense, killing by lying in wait or by poisoning, sodomy, buggery, kidnapping, perjury in a capital trial, traitorous denial of the king's rights or raising arms to resist his authority, conspiracy to invade towns or forts in the colony and striking one's mother or father (upon complaint of both). The two colonies that were more lenient concerning capital punishment were South Jersey and Pennsylvania. In South Jersey, there was no death penalty for any crime, and there were only two crimes, murder, and treason, punishable by death. Way to go, Jersey Raccoons!   Some states were more severe. For example, by 1837, North Carolina required death for the crimes of murder, rape, statutory rape, slave-stealing, stealing banknotes, highway robbery, burglary, arson, castration, buggery, sodomy, bestiality, dueling where death occurs, (and this insidious shit), hiding a slave with intent to free him, taking a free Negro out of state to sell him, bigamy, inciting slaves to rebel, circulating seditious literature among slaves, accessory to murder, robbery, burglary, arson, or mayhem and others. However, North Carolina did not have a state prison and, many said, no suitable alternative to capital punishment. So, instead of building a fucking prison to hold criminals, they just made the penalty for less severe crimes punishable by death. What the shit, North Carolina?!?   The first reforms of the death penalty occurred between 1776-1800. Thomas Jefferson and four others, authorized to undertake a complete revision of Virginia's laws, proposed a law that recommended the death penalty for only treason and murder. After a stormy debate, the legislature defeated the bill by one vote. The writing of European theorists such as Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Bentham had a significant effect on American intellectuals, as did English Quaker prison reformers John Bellers and John Howard.   Organizations were formed in different colonies for the abolition of the death penalty and to relieve poor prison conditions. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a renowned Philadelphia citizen, proposed abolishing capital punishment. William Bradford, Attorney General of Pennsylvania, was ordered to investigate capital punishment. In 1793 he published “An Enquiry How Far the Punishment of Death is Necessary” in Pennsylvania. Bradford strongly insisted that the death penalty be retained but admitted it was useless in preventing certain crimes. He said the death penalty made convictions harder to obtain because in Pennsylvania, and indeed in all states, the death penalty was mandatory. Juries would often not return a guilty verdict because of this fact, which makes sense. In response, in 1794, the Pennsylvania legislature abolished capital punishment for all crimes except murder “in the first degree,” the first time murder had been broken down into “degrees.” In New York, in 1796, the legislature authorized construction of the state's first prison, abolished whipping, and reduced the number of capital offenses from thirteen to two. Virginia and Kentucky passed similar reform bills. Four more states reduced their capital crimes: Vermont in 1797 to three; Maryland in 1810, to four; New Hampshire in 1812, to two and Ohio in 1815 to two. Each of these states built state penitentiaries. A few states went in the opposite direction. Rhode Island restored the death penalty for rape and arson; Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut raised death crimes from six to ten, including sodomy, maiming, robbery, and forgery. Many southern states made more crimes capital, especially for slaves. Assholes.   The first profound reform era occurred between 1833-1853. Public executions were attacked as cruel. Sometimes tens of thousands of eager viewers would show up to view hangings; local merchants would sell souvenirs and alcohol. Which, I'm not sure if I hate or absolutely love. Fighting and pushing would often break out as people jockeyed for the best view of the hanging or the corpse! Onlookers often cursed the widow or the victim and would try to tear down the scaffold or the rope for keepsakes. Violence and drunkenness often ruled towns far into the night after “justice had been served.” People are fucking weird, dude. Many states enacted laws providing private hangings. Rhode Island (1833), Pennsylvania (1834), New York (1835), Massachusetts (1835), and New Jersey (1835) all abolished public hangings. By 1849, fifteen states were holding private hangings. This move was opposed by many death penalty abolitionists who thought public executions would eventually cause people to cry out against execution itself. For example, in 1835, Maine enacted what was in effect a moratorium on capital punishment after over ten thousand people who watched a hanging had to be restrained by police after they became unruly and began fighting. All felons sentenced to death would have to remain in prison at hard labor and could not be executed until one year had elapsed and then only on the governor's order. No governor ordered an execution under the “Maine Law” for twenty-seven years. Though many states argued the merits of the death penalty, no state went as far as Maine. The most influential reformers were the clergy, of course. Ironically, the small but influential group that opposed the abolitionists was the clergy.    Ok, let's talk about electrocution. Want to know how the electric chair came to be? Well, Electrocution as a method of execution came onto the scene in an implausible manner. Edison Company, with its DC (direct current) electrical systems, began attacking Westinghouse Company and its AC (alternating current) electrical systems as they were pressing for nationwide electrification with alternating current. To show how dangerous AC could be, Edison Company began public demonstrations by electrocuting animals. People reasoned that if electricity could kill animals, it could kill people. In 1888, New York approved the dismantling of its gallows and the building of the nation's first electric chair. It held its first victim, William Kemmler, in 1890, and even though the first electrocution was clumsy at best, other states soon followed the lead.   Between 1917 and 1955, the death penalty abolition movement again slowed. Washington, Arizona, and Oregon in 1919-20 reinstated the death penalty. In 1924, the first execution by cyanide gas took place in Nevada, when Tong war gang murderer Gee Jon became its first victim. Get this shit. The frigging state wanted to secretly pump cyanide gas into Jon's cell at night while he was asleep as a more humanitarian way of carrying out the penalty. Still, technical difficulties prohibited this, and a special “gas chamber” was hastily built. Other concerns developed when less “civilized” methods of execution failed. In 1930, Mrs. Eva Dugan became the first female to be executed by Arizona. The execution was botched when the hangman misjudged the drop, and Mrs. Dugan's head was ripped from her body. More states converted to electric chairs and gas chambers. During this time, abolitionist organizations sprang up all across the country, but they had little effect. Several stormy protests were held against the execution of certain convicted felons, like Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple was convicted of providing top-secret information about radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and valuable nuclear weapon designs. At that time, the United States was supposedly the only country with nuclear weapons. Convicted of espionage in 1951, they were executed by the United States federal government in 1953 in the Sing Sing correctional facility in Ossining, New York, becoming the first American civilians to be executed for such charges and the first to receive that penalty during peacetime. However, these protests held little opposition against the death penalty itself. In fact, during the anti-Communist period, with all its fears and hysteria, Texas Governor Allan Shivers seriously suggested that capital punishment be the penalty for membership in the Communist Party.   The movement against capital punishment revived again between 1955 and 1972.   England and Canada completed exhaustive studies which were largely critical of the death penalty, and these were widely circulated in the U.S.  Death row criminals gave their moving accounts of capital punishment in books and films. Convicted robber, kidnapper, and rapist Caryl Chessman, published “Cell 2455 Death Row” and “Trial by Ordeal.” Barbara Graham's story was utilized in the book and movie “I Want to Live!” after her execution. She was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin Prison on the same day as two convicted accomplices, Jack Santo and Emmett Perkins. All of them were involved in a robbery that led to the murder of an elderly widow.  Television shows were broadcast on the death penalty. Hawaii and Alaska ended capital punishment in 1957, and Delaware did so the following year. Controversy over the death penalty gripped the nation, forcing politicians to take sides. Delaware restored the death penalty in 1961. Michigan abolished capital punishment for treason in 1963. Voters in 1964 abolished the death penalty in Oregon. In 1965 Iowa, New York, West Virginia, and Vermont ended the death penalty. New Mexico abolished the death penalty in 1969.   The controversy over the death penalty continues today. There is a strong movement against lawlessness propelled by citizens' fears of security. Politicians at the national and state levels are taking the floor of legislatures and calling for more frequent death penalties, death penalties for more crimes, and longer prison sentences. Those opposing these moves counter by arguing that harsher sentences do not slow crime and that crime is slightly or the same as in the past. FBI statistics show murders are now up. (For example, 9.3 persons per 100,000 were murdered in 1973, and 9.4 persons per 100,000 were murdered in 1992, and as of today, it's upwards of 14.4 people per 100,000. This upswing might be because of more advanced crime technology, as well as more prominent news and media.   Capital punishment has been completely abolished in all European countries except for Belarus and Russia, which has a moratorium and has not conducted an execution since September 1996. The complete ban on capital punishment is enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU). Two widely adopted protocols of the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe are thus considered a central value. Of all modern European countries, San Marino, Portugal, and the Netherlands were the first to abolish capital punishment, whereas only Belarus still practices capital punishment in some form or another. In 2012, Latvia became the last EU member state to abolish capital punishment in wartime.   Ok, so now let's switch gears from the history of capital punishment and executions in general and get into what we know you beautiful bastards come here for. Let's talk about some methods used throughout the years, and then we'll talk about some famous executions and some fucked and messed up ones.   Methods:   We've discussed a few of these before, but some are so fucked up we're going to discuss them again.   Boiling To Death:   A slow and agonizing punishment, this method traditionally saw the victim gradually lowered — feet-first — into boiling oil, water, or wax (although uses of boiling wine and molten lead have also been recorded).   If the shock of the pain did not render them immediately unconscious, the person would experience the excruciating sensation of their outer layers of skin, utterly destroyed by immersion burns, dissolving right off their body, followed by the complete breakdown of the fatty tissue, boiling away beneath.   Emperor Nero is said to have dispatched thousands of Christians in this manner. At the same time, in the Middle Ages, the primary recipients of the punishment were not killers or rapists but coin forgers, particularly in Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. In Britain, meanwhile, King Henry VIII introduced the practice for executing those who used poison to commit murder.   Shockingly, the practice is believed to have been carried out as recently as 2002, when the government of Uzbekistan, led by Islam Karimov, was alleged to have tortured several suspected terrorists to death by boiling.   The Blood Eagle:   A technique ascribed to ancient Norse warriors, the blood eagle, mixed brutality and poetic imagery that only the Vikings could. First, the victim's back would be hacked open, and the skin ripped apart, exposing the spinal column.   The ribs would then be snapped from the spine and forcibly bent backward until they faced outwards from the body, forming a pair of bloody, shattered eagle's wings. As a horrifying finale, the lungs would then be pulled from the body cavity and coated with stinging salt, causing eventual death by suffocation.   There is some question whether this technique was ever actually used as the only accounts come from Norse literature. Odin did this shit, you know it.   Several scholars claim that the act we know of today is simply a result of poor translating and misunderstands the strong association of the eagle with blood and death in Norse imagery. That said, every account is consistent in that in each case, the victim is a nobleman being punished for murdering his father.   The good news for any poor soul who might have suffered this brutal death? The agony and blood loss from the initial wounds would probably have caused them to pass out long before the lungs were removed from their bodies.    Impalement:   Most famously used by Vlad the Impaler, 15th-century ruler of Wallachia (in present-day Romania) and inspiration for Count Dracula, the act of impalement has a long, grim history. While images tend to depict people skewered through the midsection and then held aloft — in a manner that would almost certainly bring about a rapid death — the actual process was a much longer, horrifically drawn-out ordeal.   Traditionally, the stake would be partially sharpened and planted, point up, in the ground. The victim would then be placed over the spike as it was inserted partway into the rectum or vagina.   As their body weight dragged them further onto the pole, the semi-greased wooden stake would force its way up through their body, piercing organs with agonizing slowness as it eventually penetrated the entire torso, finally tearing an exit wound through the skin of the shoulder, neck or throat. Holy shishkabob. Or bill. Or Karen.   The earliest records of the torture come from 1772 B.C. in Babylon, where the aforementioned King Hammurabi ordered a woman be executed in this way for killing her husband. But its use continued until as recently as the 20th century when the Ottoman government employed the technique during the Armenian genocide of 1915-1923. Which is super fucked up.   According to some accounts, it could take the victim — exposed, bleeding, and writhing in tormented agony — as long as eight whole days to die. Oh my hell!   Keelhauling:   Walking the plank might not be the most pleasant of deaths, but it seems moderately more humane than the other favored maritime punishment of keelhauling.   A punishment that often ended in death due to the severity of the wounds sustained (or was simply carried out until the point of death), it saw the victim, legs weighted and suspended from a rope, dropped from the bow of the ship, and then rapidly pulled underwater along the length of the hull — and over the keel (the beam that runs longitudinally down the center of the underside to the stern.   In the age of old, old wooden sailing ships, the hull of a vessel would generally be coated in a thick layer of barnacles, whose shells could be rock hard and razor-sharp.   As the drowning sailor was yanked relentlessly through the saltwater, these barnacles would strip the skin from his body, gouging out raw chunks of flesh and even, by some accounts, tearing off whole limbs or severing the head.   If the sailor was still alive, they might be hung from the mast for 15 minutes before going in again. In some cases, the victim would have an oil-soaked sponge — containing a breath of air — stuffed into their mouth to prevent a “merciful” drowning.   Employed mainly by the Dutch and the French from the 1500s until it was abolished in 1853, accounts of its use date back to Greece in 800 B.C.   The Roman Candle:   Many of the worst execution methods ever devised involve fire — from burning witches at stake in medieval Britain to roasting criminals alive in the hot metal insides of the brazen bull in Ancient Greece — but few match the sheer lack of humanity as the Roman Candle.   A rumored favorite of the mad Roman Emperor Nero, this method saw the subject tied to a stake and smeared with flammable pitch (tree or plant resin), then set ablaze, slowly burning to death from the feet up.   What sets this above the many other similar methods is that the victims were sometimes lined up outside to provide the lighting for one of Nero's evening parties.   Being Hanged, Drawn, And Quartered:   First recorded in England during the 13th century, this unusually extreme — even for the time — mode of execution was made the statutory punishment for treason in 1351. Though it was intended to be an act of such barbarous severity that no one would ever risk committing a treasonous act, there were nevertheless plenty of recipients over the next 500 years.   The process of being hanged, drawn, and quartered began with the victim being dragged to the site of execution while strapped to a wooden panel, which was in turn tied to a horse.   They would then experience a slow hanging, in which, rather than being dropped to the traditional quick death of a broken neck, they would instead be left to choke horribly as the rope tore up the skin of their throat, their body weight dragging them downwards.   Some had the good fortune to die at this stage, including the infamous Gunpowder Plot conspirator Guy Fawkes, who ensured a faster death by leaping from the gallows.   Once half-strangled, the drawing would begin. The victim would be strapped down and then slowly disemboweled, their stomachs sliced open, and their intestines and other significant organs hacked apart and pulled — “drawn” — from the body.   The genitals would often be mutilated and ripped from between their legs. Those unlucky enough to still be alive at this point might witness their organs burned in front of them before they were finally decapitated.   Once death had finally claimed them, the recipient's body would be carved into four pieces — or “quartered” — and the parts sent to prominent areas of the country as a warning to others.   The head would often be taken to the infamous Tower of London, where it would be impaled on a spike and placed on the walls “for the mockery of London.”   Rat Torture:   As recently depicted in that horrible show, Game Of Thrones, rat torture is ingenious in its disgusting simplicity. In its most basic form, a bucket containing live rats is placed on the exposed torso of the victim, and heat is applied to the base of the bucket.   The rats, crazy with fear from the heat, tear and gnaw their way into the abdomen of the victim, clawing and ripping through skin, flesh, organs, and intestines in their quest to escape.   Possessing the most powerful biting and chewing motion of any rodent, rats can make short work of a human stomach. Along with the unimaginable pain, the victim would also suffer the sick horror of feeling the large, filthy creatures writhing around inside their guts as they died.   While associated with Elizabethan England — where the Tower of London was said to have housed a “Dungeon of Rats,” a pitch-black room below high watermark that would draw in rats from the River Thames to torment the room's inhabitants — the practice has been used far more recently.   General Pinochet is said to have employed the technique during his dictatorship of Chile (1973-1990), while reports from Argentina during the National Reorganization Process in the late 1970s and early '80s claimed victims were subjected to a version in which live rats — or sometimes spiders — were inserted into the subject's body via a tube in the rectum or vagina….yep.   Bamboo Torture   Forcing thin shards of bamboo under the fingernails has long been cited as an interrogation method, but bamboo has been used to creatively — and slowly — execute a person, too. Allegedly used by the Japanese on American prisoners of war, it saw the victim tied down to a frame over a patch of newly sprouting bamboo plants.   One of the fastest-growing plants in the world, capable of up to three feet of growth in 24 hours, the sharp-tipped plants would slowly pierce the victim's skin — and then continue to grow. The result was death by gradual, continuous, multiple impalements, the equivalent of being dropped on a bed of sharpened stakes in terrible slow motion.   Despite the practice having roots in the former areas of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Siam (now Thailand) in the 19th century, there are no proven instances of it being used during WWII.   It's certainly possible, however, and it has been shown that the technique, among the worst execution methods ever, works: A 2008 episode of MythBusters found that bamboo was capable of penetrating a human-sized lump of ballistic gelatin over three days.   https://m.imdb.com/list/ls059738828/

Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law is established by statute, which is to say that the laws are enacted by a legislature. Criminal law includes the punishment and rehabilitation of people who violate such laws. Criminal law varies according to jurisdiction, and differs from civil law, where emphasis is more on dispute resolution and victim compensation, rather than on punishment or rehabilitation. Criminal procedure is a formalized official activity that authenticates the fact of commission of a crime and authorizes punitive or rehabilitative treatment of the offender. History. The first civilizations generally did not distinguish between civil law and criminal law. The first written codes of law were designed by the Sumerians. Around 2100 thru 2050 BC Ur-Nammu, the Neo-Sumerian king of Ur, enacted written legal code whose text has been discovered: the Code of Ur-Nammu although an earlier code of Urukagina of Lagash ( 2380 thru 2360 BC ) is also known to have existed. Another important early code was the Code of Hammurabi, which formed the core of Babylonian law. Only fragments of the early criminal laws of Ancient Greece have survived, e.g. those of Solon and Draco. In Roman law, Gaius's Commentaries on the Twelve Tables also conflated the civil and criminal aspects, treating theft (furtum) as a tort. Assault and violent robbery were analogized to trespass as to property. Breach of such laws created an obligation of law or vinculum juris discharged by payment of monetary compensation or damages. The criminal law of imperial Rome is collected in Books 47 thru 48 of the Digest. After the revival of Roman law in the 12th century, sixth-century Roman classifications and jurisprudence provided the foundations of the distinction between criminal and civil law in European law from then until the present time. The first signs of the modern distinction between crimes and civil matters emerged during the Norman Invasion of England. The special notion of criminal penalty, at least concerning Europe, arose in Spanish Late Scholasticism (see Alfonso de Castro), when the theological notion of God's penalty (poena aeterna) that was inflicted solely for a guilty mind, became transfused into canon law first and, finally, to secular criminal law. The development of the state dispensing justice in a court clearly emerged in the eighteenth century when European countries began maintaining police services. From this point, criminal law formalized the mechanisms for enforcement, which allowed for its development as a discernible entity. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/law-school/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/law-school/support

The Twelve Tables are a landmark moment of early Republican Roman history. In this episode we explore some of the highlights of this law code!

It's 453 BCE and just as Rome seems to be heading towards a legal milestone disaster strikes: it's a plague! Now plagues are terrible, of that there is no doubt, but how does this influence the path to codification? We're here to find out. Episode 108 - Plague and Politics The Character of the Plague It is hard to identify the plague with certainty. What is clear from our later written sources is that the collective memory recalls this plague as highly contagious with the capacity to leap between species. People caught it but so too did some of the animals that people worked closely with. The origin of the plague and how it eventually came to an end are lost to us. In lieu of strong osteoarchaeological evidence, it is possible to interpret this plague as a shared idea of opposition to the codification of the laws, which the elites likely saw as infringing upon their power. Both Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus focus on the devastating consequences of the plague. Things to listen out for: The horrific death tollThe Aequians!The issue with the harvest With 453 BCE wholly occupied with pestilence and its effects, everyone still standing is hoping for a better time in 452 BCE... The Athenian Junket Returns! Lucky for Rome, the plague does not go so far as Athens. The delegates sent out to find out about the law codes that others have produced return with some new ideas. There are some odd things about our narrative accounts though which Dr Rad delves into. Some pertinent questions: Why would the Romans go all the way to Athens?What are the law codes of the Greeks like? Do the Twelve Tables really suggest a Greek influence?What might our narrative accounts gain by suggesting a connection with Greece at this point? Rome's Heading into Uncertain Territory It's fair to say that our narrative sources leave us somewhat dissatisfied. Our sources inspire less confidence the further we move into the Struggle of the Orders. Who are the patricians? Who are the plebeians? How were these demarcations understood by the Romans?Do our writers from the late Republican period really have a clear handle on what happened in the past? Will the Twelve Tables live up to the suspense? Only time will tell... Thomas Cole The Course of Empire. Desolation 1836. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Our Players in 453BCE Consuls Publius Curiatus — f. — n. Fistus Trigeminus (Pat)Sextus Quinctilius Sex f. P. n. 'Varus' (Pat) Suffect Consul Spurius Furius Medullinus Fusus (cos. 464 BCE) (Pat) Flamen Quirinalus Servius Cornelius Augur C. Horatius Pulvillus Our Players in 452 BCE Consuls Gaius/Lucius/Titus (?) Menenius Agripp. f. Agripp. n. Lanatus (Pat)Publius Sestius Q. f. Vibi. n. Capito(linus?) Vaticanus (Pat) Consular Nominations Appius Claudius Ap. f. M. n. Crassus Inrigillenssis Sabinus (Pat)Titus Genucius L. f. L. n. Augurinus (Pat) Our Sources Dr Rad reads Livy ab urbe condita 3.32Dr G reads Dionysius of Halicarnassus Roman Antiquities 10.53-54 Sound Credits A big shout out to Ancient History Hound, whose work we recommend Musical interlude and final credits: Bettina Joy de GuzmanAdditional sound effects: Freesound (User bone666138)

“Sometimes one man gives the tone to a whole century,” it was not merely of his mathematics that he was thinking. It was the system and philosophy that Descartes derived from the application of mathematical reasoning to the mysteries of the world.a view espoused by Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle, a French author who wrote of Descartes,William Anderson GittensAuthor, Dip., Com., Arts. B.A. Media Arts Specialists’ License Cultural Practitioner,Publisher CEO ISBN 978-976-96512-6-5WORKS CITEDhttp://sens-public.org/articles/765/https://academic.oup.com/https://courses.lumenlearning.com/culturalanthropology/chapter/cultural-relativism/#:~:text=There%20are%20two%20different%20categories,of%20view%20justifying%20the%20Holocaust.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_stratificationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_(philosophy)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_relativism#As_a_methodological_toolhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawhttps://owlcation.com/https://www.ancient.eu/Twelve_Tables/https://www.britannica.com/https://www.finduslawyers.org/Support the show (http://www.buzzsprout.com/429292)

In which Gregg takes a look at what we have of the 12 Tables, the earliest preserved bits of Roman law. Remember folks: women are children, and cushions are optional.

In episode three we will examine the unwritten Spartan legal code, so coercive that one historian has described it as a "human molding" system, We will also look at the creation and enduring legacy of Rome's first written code of laws, the Twelve Tables, Last, we will examine the origins and practice of law in Classical Athens and Republican Rome. 

Email: contact@historyuncensoredpod.com Twitter: @Seth4Nerds   Welcome to history Uncensored, the best place to dig into the history nobody wanted to tell you. This is an uncensored show, I will probably share some things that will upset you. My opinions on things will probably upset you. I don’t really care, history shouldn’t be censored, we shouldn’t be taught just the “rosey” parts. Rome is a great example of how a civilization built upon the backs of slaves and farmers is remembered as one of the greatest in history.  I bet if you ask anyone what civilization had the greatest impact on the western world I am very certain they would unequivocally say that it was the Roman Empire. The briefest chronological overview of the Roman Empire coming your way The history of the Roman Empire can be divided into three distinct periods: The Period of Kings (625-510 BC), Republican Rome (510-31 BC), and Imperial Rome (31 BC – AD 476). Founding (c. 625 BC) Rome was founded around 625 BC in the areas of ancient Italy known as Etruria and Latium. It is thought that the city-state of Rome was initially formed by Latium villagers joining together with settlers from the surrounding hills in response to an Etruscan invasion. It is unclear whether they came together in defense or as a result of being brought under Etruscan rule. Archaeological evidence indicates that a great deal of change and unification took place around 600 BC which likely led to the establishment of Rome as a true city. Period of Kings (625-510 BC) The first period in Roman history is known as the Period of Kings, and it lasted from Rome’s founding until 510 BC. During this brief time Rome, led by no fewer than six kings, advanced both militaristically and economically with increases in physical boundaries, military might, and production and trade of goods including oil lamps. Politically, this period saw the early formation of the Roman constitution. The end of the Period of Kings came with the decline of Etruscan power, thus ushering in Rome’s Republican Period. Republican Rome (510-31 BC) Rome entered its Republican Period in 510 BC. No longer ruled by kings, the Romans established a new form of government whereby the upper classes ruled, namely the senators and the equestrians, or knights. However, a dictator could be nominated in times of crisis. In 451 BC, the Romans established the “Twelve Tables,” a standardized code of laws meant for public, private, and political matters. Rome continued to expand through the Republican Period and gained control over the entire Italian peninsula by 338 BC. It was the Punic Wars from 264-146 BC, along with some conflicts with Greece, that allowed Rome to take control of Carthage and Corinth and thus become the dominant maritime power in the Mediterranean. Soon after, Rome’s political atmosphere pushed the Republic into a period of chaos and civil war. This led to the election of a dictator, L. Cornelius Sulla, who served from 82-80 BC. Following Sulla’s resignation in 79 BC, the Republic returned to a state of unrest. While Rome continued to be governed as a Republic for another 50 years, the shift to Imperialism began to materialize in 60 BC when Julius Caesar rose to power. By 51 BC, Julius Caesar had conquered Celtic Gaul and, for the first time, Rome’s borders had spread beyond the Mediterranean region. Although the Senate was still Rome’s governing body, its power was weakening. Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC and replaced by his heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (Octavian) who ruled alongside Mark Antony. In 31 BC Rome overtook Egypt which resulted in the death of Mark Antony and left Octavian as the unchallenged ruler of Rome. Octavian assumed the title of Augustus and thus became the first emperor of Rome. Imperial Rome (31 BC-AD 476) Rome’s Imperial Period was its last, beginning with the rise of Rome’s first emperor in 31 BC and lasting until the fall of Rome in AD 476. During this period, Rome saw several decad --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/seth-michels66/support

This time Romans don't fight the Latins. Instead, they have to face the dangerous Aequi tribe.Partial TranscriptHello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast.The Tale of Rome, Episode 19 – The Battle of Mons Algidus.Last week we saw the arrival of the Twelve Tables.Written laws so that all Romans could be tried and treated the same way.And we also saw how all over Rome people learned those laws by heart. Among them, the oh-so-eager eight-year-old boy in our little family saga.To give you a few more examples of what these Tables contained, lets check out  a few of these laws:Killing an intruder in one's own house, if it was nighttime, was OK. No punishment, not even a case. But if it was daytime, the homeowner had to get the intruder to a magistrate for trial.If the court called a person to appear in front of a judge, and if that person was incapacitated in any way, the court would out send four soldiers, and four slaves to bring the man to the courthouse.But if the person's issue was an infectious disease, the date of the trial was postponed until above mentioned infection had passed, up to a period of six months.During those six months, the other person, the accuser, had the right to go to the defendant's house every three days, stand in front of the house of the accused, and yell in a loud voice, reminding the accuser that a trial awaited him. The purpose, of course was to embarrass the entire family by this way.When a lawsuit began, the judge gave two options to the opposing parties:ONE – To agree and resolve the problem without any involvement from the judge, andTWO – To not to agree, and go the nearest forum of the court in question, on the next working day. A debate would start there. That debate usually began around sunrise, and by obligation, a judge had to resolve the case before sunset.[…]After a crippling march, the Roman army arrived at the height of the mountain.They arrived at night.Cinncinatus sent the people in Tusculum a secret message, so that the Romans who were trapped inside the beleaguered city knew, they would be free soon.[…]

The life of the man who, when elected Dictator of Rome, decided to give that power back to the Senate, after just 16 days. Why? Simply because he finished the task he was given to do. And then, he went to plant lettuce in the outskirts of Rome.Partial TranscriptHello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast.The Tale of Rome, Episode 20 – Lucius Quinctius Cinncinatus.— “Marcia! When father told you what happened to your mom, did he tell you what a certain Appius Claudius did? “— “You mean, To Mom?”— “No, not to mom. He didn't do anything to mom, personally. I mean, what he did in general, in Rome. “Marcia and Aunt Julia stayed up late that night, something very unusual in ancient Rome, where people — especially Plebeians, went to sleep right after sunset, and rose way before sunrise.Aunt Julia told her the story of the wicked Decemvirs, those ten men elected by the Senate, and how they schemed together to stay in power, and not to return that power to the Senate of Rome. They didn't care they swore an oath for one, and only one year.Actually, truth be told, they DID need two years for the Twelve Tables to be written and polished, because every single bit of these laws was analyzed by the Patricians, especially the old Patricians, who used to gather in forums and discuss piece of law by piece of law.[…]Between the two dictatorships combined, he did not rule Rome for a single month.His example inspired the name of the American city of Cincinnati, in the state of Ohio.That name was given in honor of the Society of the “Cinncinatus,” which honored George Washington. Washington was considered to be a true “Cinncinatus” by this society, back in the days of the American Revolution.His symbols were the plow and the toga, instead of the sword and the fasces.Even though he was incredibly good at using the sword, and incredibly righteous at the use of the fasces.[…]

This time Romans don’t fight the Latins. Instead, they have to face the dangerous Aequi tribe. Partial Transcript Hello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast. The Tale of Rome, Episode 19 – The Battle of Mons Algidus. Last week we saw the arrival of the Twelve Tables. Written laws so that all Romans could be tried and treated the same way. And we also saw how all over Rome people learned those laws by heart. Among them, the oh-so-eager eight-year-old boy in our little family saga. To give you a few more examples of what these Tables contained, lets check out a few of these laws: Killing an intruder in one’s own house, if it was nighttime, was OK. No punishment, not even a case. But if it was daytime, the homeowner had to get the intruder to a magistrate for trial. If the court called a person to appear in front of a judge, and if that person was incapacitated in any way, the court would out ...

Hello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast. http://www.thetaleofrome.com/rome-020 The Tale of Rome, Episode 20 – Lucius Quinctius Cinncinatus. — “Marcia! When father told you what happened to your mom, did he tell you what a certain Appius Claudius did? “ — “You mean, To Mom?” — “No, not to mom. He didn’t do anything to mom, personally. I mean, what he did in general, in Rome. “ Marcia and Aunt Julia stayed up late that night, something very unusual in ancient Rome, where people — especially Plebeians, went to sleep right after sunset, and rose way before sunrise. Aunt Julia told her the story of the wicked Decemvirs, those ten men elected by the Senate, and how they schemed together to stay in power, and not to return that power to the Senate of Rome. They didn’t care they swore an oath for one, and only one year. Actually, truth be told, they DID need two years for the Twelve Tables to be written and polished, because every single bit of these laws was analyzed by the Patricians, especially the old Patricians, who used to gather in forums and discuss piece of law by piece of law. […] Between the two dictatorships combined, he did not rule Rome for a single month. His example inspired the name of the American city of Cincinnati, in the state of Ohio. That name was given in honor of the Society of the “Cinncinatus,” which honored George Washington. Washington was considered to be a true “Cinncinatus” by this society, back in the days of the American Revolution. His symbols were the plow and the toga, instead of the sword and the fasces. Even though he was incredibly good at using the sword, and incredibly righteous at the use of the fasces. […]

Hello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast. http://www.thetaleofrome.com/rome-019 The Tale of Rome, Episode 19 – The Battle of Mons Algidus. Last week we saw the arrival of the Twelve Tables. Written laws so that all Romans could be tried and treated the same way. And we also saw how all over Rome people learned those laws by heart. Among them, the oh-so-eager eight-year-old boy in our little family saga. To give you a few more examples of what these Tables contained, lets check out a few of these laws: Killing an intruder in one’s own house, if it was nighttime, was OK. No punishment, not even a case. But if it was daytime, the homeowner had to get the intruder to a magistrate for trial. If the court called a person to appear in front of a judge, and if that person was incapacitated in any way, the court would out send four soldiers, and four slaves to bring the man to the courthouse. But if the person’s issue was an infectious disease, the date of the trial was postponed until above mentioned infection had passed, up to a period of six months. During those six months, the other person, the accuser, had the right to go to the defendant’s house every three days, stand in front of the house of the accused, and yell in a loud voice, reminding the accuser that a trial awaited him. The purpose, of course was to embarrass the entire family by this way. When a lawsuit began, the judge gave two options to the opposing parties: ONE – To agree and resolve the problem without any involvement from the judge, and TWO – To not to agree, and go the nearest forum of the court in question, on the next working day. A debate would start there. That debate usually began around sunrise, and by obligation, a judge had to resolve the case before sunset. […] After a crippling march, the Roman army arrived at the height of the mountain. They arrived at night. Cinncinatus sent the people in Tusculum a secret message, so that the Romans who were trapped inside the beleaguered city knew, they would be free soon. […]

Finally, laws that can be seen, touched, and learnt by heart. And that's exactly what illiterate people, as well as lawyers do all over Rome. They recite their brand-new laws, compiled in Twelve Tables by heart.Partial TranscriptHello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast.The Tale of Rome, Episode 18 – The Twelve Tables.Last week we saw the installation of a new office in the Republic of Rome: the Plebeian Tribune.I also mentioned of a Roman general, who — in my personal opinion, was a cowardly general, by the name of Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, and we will see what that man did in the year 491 BC.But first we will see the general panorama of Rome, now that Rome defeated the Latins, and now that supposedly Rome wasn't going to have problems, no more.Well, if you think like that, you're wrong. Rome's troubles are about to begin!As a very general picture, Rome was now surrounded by three enemies.The Etruscans to the north, with the city of Veii as its main protagonist.The terrible Volsci to the south, and the Aequi to the east, right where the hills begin.[…]In fact, everyone was learning those laws by heart. Lawyers and magistrates, defendants and accusers, debtors and tax collectors, children and the elderly, all were busy memorizing pieces of Roman law.The tables contained several laws, some very logical, and some somewhat strange to our day and age. As an example, not appearing in front of a judge, or lying to a judge during a trial, deserved a death penalty.Another law said that throwing a gun into a crowd, carried the conviction that the person who threw the gun had to pay a sheep to every injured person.I'm going to list more laws in the next episode, but as for the historical account of these tables, here's what Livy tells us:◆ Tables I, II, and III contained civil procedural law.◆ Tables IV, V were entitled to family and inheritance.◆ Tables VI, VII were entitled to obligations, in other words, legal businesses of the time, and real estate rights.◆ Tables VIII, IX dealt with the criminal law of the time.◆ Table X contained the Sacred Law, a series of rules referring to the order of the inner life of the city.◆ and finally, tables XI and XII, also called the Unfair Tables, dealt with several criminal and civil problems.[…]

Finally, laws that can be seen, touched, and learnt by heart. And that’s exactly what illiterate people, as well as lawyers do all over Rome. They recite their brand-new laws, compiled in Twelve Tables by heart. Partial Transcript Hello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast. The Tale of Rome, Episode 18 – The Twelve Tables. Last week we saw the installation of a new office in the Republic of Rome: the Plebeian Tribune. I also mentioned of a Roman general, who — in my personal opinion, was a cowardly general, by the name of Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, and we will see what that man did in the year 491 BC. But first we will see the general panorama of Rome, now that Rome defeated the Latins, and now that supposedly Rome wasn’t going to have problems, no more. Well, if you think like that, you’re wrong. Rome’s troubles are about to begin! As a very general picture, Rome was now surrounded...

Hello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast. http://www.thetaleofrome.com/rome-018 The Tale of Rome, Episode 18 – The Twelve Tables. Last week we saw the installation of a new office in the Republic of Rome: the Plebeian Tribune. I also mentioned of a Roman general, who — in my personal opinion, was a cowardly general, by the name of Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, and we will see what that man did in the year 491 BC. But first we will see the general panorama of Rome, now that Rome defeated the Latins, and now that supposedly Rome wasn’t going to have problems, no more. Well, if you think like that, you’re wrong. Rome’s troubles are about to begin! As a very general picture, Rome was now surrounded by three enemies. The Etruscans to the north, with the city of Veii as its main protagonist. The terrible Volsci to the south, and the Aequi to the east, right where the hills begin. […] In fact, everyone was learning those laws by heart. Lawyers and magistrates, defendants and accusers, debtors and tax collectors, children and the elderly, all were busy memorizing pieces of Roman law. The tables contained several laws, some very logical, and some somewhat strange to our day and age. As an example, not appearing in front of a judge, or lying to a judge during a trial, deserved a death penalty. Another law said that throwing a gun into a crowd, carried the conviction that the person who threw the gun had to pay a sheep to every injured person. I’m going to list more laws in the next episode, but as for the historical account of these tables, here’s what Livy tells us: ? Tables I, II, and III contained civil procedural law. ? Tables IV, V were entitled to family and inheritance. ? Tables VI, VII were entitled to obligations, in other words, legal businesses of the time, and real estate rights. ? Tables VIII, IX dealt with the criminal law of the time. ? Table X contained the Sacred Law, a series of rules referring to the order of the inner life of the city. ? and finally, tables XI and XII, also called the Unfair Tables, dealt with several criminal and civil problems. […]

·   Founding Documents, and Other Influential Documents The Four Founding Documents are the Articles of Association, The Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, and The United States Constitution.  Many other documents were also a great influence on the Constitution.     ·   Holy Bible, Old Testament, Torah     ·   The Laws of the Twelve Tables of the Roman Republic (About 450 B.C.)     ·   Magna Carta (1215)     ·   English Bill of Rights (1689)     ·   Connecticut Fundamental Orders (1689)     ·   Articles of Association (1774)     ·   Declaration of Independence (1776)     ·   Articles of Confederation (1781)     ·   Northwest Ordinance (1787)     ·   United States Constitution (1787) Join Douglas V. Gibbs of Political Pistachio, Constitution Radio on KCAA 1050AM, and the Constitution Association, as he journeys through the United States Constitution. We will study the concepts, principles, and direct text of the U.S. Constitution from the original point of view of the Founding Fathers. New episodes each Sunday Morning at 9:00 am Pacific Time. The link above is also good for listening to the podcasts of passed episodes.

The years after the creation of the Twelve Tables were hard. Political discord, grain shortages and famine all conspired to weaken the city, but the Romans soldiered on in the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity.

In 451 BC a committee was ordered to compile and then condense Roman law into a single text called the Twelve Tables of Law. Despite tyrannical machinations by the committee, the Twelve Tables secured an objective rule of law for all Roman citizens regardless of wealth or class.