Fall of the Western Roman Empire

How did the Romans ambush a massive Carthaginian fleet from behind a Sicilian island to win one of history's fiercest sea battles? For over 20 years, Rome and Carthage fought a brutal war for supremacy over Sicily. Tristan Hughes is joined by Carthage expert Dr. Eve MacDonald to ...  Show more

How much of Iron Age Ireland is myth, and how much is archaeological reality? At the monumental Hill of Tara, sacred kings ruled over a landscape steeped in ancient ritual and ancestral memory.Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr. John Waddell, author of The Celtic World, to explore th ...  Show more

Known for bringing about the fall of the Western Roman Empire - the Vandals have a reputation for violence, destruction, and conquering. Moving from Eastern Europe across Gaul, and eventually taking Carthage, their actions have been immortalised in Christian texts and Western ...

In 476, the last of the Roman emperors in the West was deposed; in 1776, historian Edward Gibbon wrote “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, and Rome’s fate became a major point of comparison for all empires. In Gibbon's view, instead of inquiring why the Rom ...  Show more

For centuries, the Roman Empire commanded unparalleled control over the world around it. It expanded its borders through trade and conquest, sucking resources from the periphery into its thriving centre - Rome. And then, suddenly, everything changed. The Empire entered a state ...

Soon after the war with Veii, Rome was sacked by invading Gauls. The event traumatized the Romans and left their city in ruins. It would be the last time a foreign army breached the walls until the fall of the empire 850 years later.