Who's Better Off: A Roman Emperor, or You?

Today on The Gist, we look at the complex racial and political dynamics surrounding a newly redistricted congressional seat in Florida. Then, journalist Sadie Dingfelder returns for another edition of "Is It Bullshit" to break down the myth of windburn, tracing the science back t ...  Show more

Today on The Gist, a look into the local New York controversy surrounding Mayor Zoran Mamdani's initiative to stream World Cup and NBA Finals games on Link NYC kiosks. Then, television writer-producer Michael Schur and veteran sports columnist Joe Posnanski return for the conclus ...  Show more

The annals of ancient Rome’s first emperors have been recounted countless times. However, in his new book, Palatine: An Alternative History of the Caesars, former editor of The Times Peter Stothard presents a fresh perspective. Stothard shifts the focus to the individuals who orb ...  Show more

How cruel was Caligula? How depraved was Tiberius? And how monstrous was Nero? The dark reputations of these emperors owe a great deal to the Roman writer Suetonius, whose 121 AD work Lives of the Caesars offered intimate portraits of 12 rulers of Rome – from Julius Caesar to Dom ...  Show more

Why is the Battle of Kadesh so famous, compared to other ancient conflicts? What can we take away from Ramesses' account in terms of "truth" vs "rhetoric." And what did it all up to, really? Prof. Peter Brand returns to discuss the battle in great detail, from the blow-by-blow mo ...  Show more

In the second of our special episodes exploring the rise and fall of Sir Thomas More, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Dr. Joanne Paul chart the great Tudor statesman's demise. Despite his silence about Henry VIII's self-proclamation as Supreme Head of the Church of England, Mo ...