41. Gangs of Rome

With the first Triumvirate publicly unraveling at the seams, Julius Caesar attempts to save the alliance. Calling Crassus and Pompey to his province of Cisalpine Gaul he lays out what the future could look like with Rome’s three most powerful men continuing to work together. W ...

Crassus and Pompey take the consulship by violent storm, backed by Julius Caesar. Their triumvirate wishlist from Lucca will take even more violence to get approved but Crassus and Pompey seem happy to use naked force where bribery and covert coercion fail. We also take a quic ...

Julius Caesar is one of history’s most famous figures. But before his legendary conquests and romance with Cleopatra, how did he rise to power?

In this episode of The Ancients, host Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Catherine Steel to explore Caesar’s ea ...

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

What is the main difference between Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great? When did Julius Caesar become one of the major players of the Roman Republic? What was the true nature of Caesar’s relationship with Cleopatra? How did he manage to defeat his enemies to become Dictator of ...  Show more

The Roman historian Suetonius’ The Lives of the Caesars, written during the early imperial period of the Roman Empire, is a seminal biography covering the biographies of the early emperors of Rome, during two spectacular centuries of Roman history. Delving deep into the personal ...  Show more