Power Play

This week, Maria Scott on recently discovered photographs of Jeanne Duval, muse and lover of Charles Baudelaire; and Pratinav Anil weighs up the case for and against reparations.'Reparations: Slavery and the tyranny of imaginary guilt', by Nigel Biggar'The big payback: The case f ...  Show more

This week, Tristram Fane Saunders surveys the poetic landscape; and Toby Lichtig on a rediscovered slice of life in 1930s Berlin.'A History of England in 25 Poems', by Catherine Clarke'Rhyme and Reason: A short history of poetry and people (for people who don't usually read poetr ...  Show more

With Julius Caesar dead, Cleopatra turned to another of Rome’s dominant figures. She became entwined with Mark Antony, the ruler of the eastern half of the Roman Empire, but even with their enormous combined power the destructive tendrils of Roman politics were inescapable. Just ...  Show more

This week David asks Mary Beard what the Roman Empire can tell us about the nature of unaccountable power, then and now. How did Roman emperors rule when they had so little knowledge of the lives of their subjects? Can absolute personal power ever escape the limits of biology, fr ...  Show more

Professor Barry Strauss and Dan talk about Cleopatra, Mark Antony, Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar and a host of historical luminaries in a tale worthy of Shakespeare as the Roman Republic goes down with the ships at Actium. Show Notes: 1. "The War That Made the Roman Empire: Anto ...  Show more

With her reign in peril in three separate arenas, Catherine begins to turn her attention to a young soldier, Grigory Potemkin. What follows is one of the great partnerships (and love affairs) of history. Together, they consolidate her rule then rapidly expand; seizing vast parts ...  Show more