LOST ROMAN HEROES
A father-and-son ancient history podcast that explores the history of Rome from its founding to its fall, focusing on the figures who shaped it. Each episode digs into the surviving sources to tell the stories of lesser-known Roman heroes. The hosts debate these figures' legacies and what the ancient evidence really says about them. Every episode ends with the hero being scored and either admitted to or rejected from their Hall of Heroes.
Episodes
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 106: Heraclius (Part 6 - The Great Siege)
In the summer of 626, two empires agreed to end Rome together.
Khosrow sent Shahrbaraz, his finest general, to the Asian shore. The Avar Khagan came down from the Danube with eighty thousand men, Slavs and Bulgars and Gepids among them. Between them they would crush Constantinople, and the list of Rome would finally be extinguished.
Inside the walls: twelve thousand soldiers with no emperor to l
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 105: Heraclius (Part 5 - The Ghost Army)
In 625 the Persians sent three armies to finish him.
Shahrbaraz, Shahin, and Shahraplakan. Three converging forces, hunting one Roman emperor through the mountains of the Caucasus. Between them they had every advantage: numbers, supply, ground, and the certainty that they had him.
And what did Heraclius have? He had the last Roman army, THE GHOST ARMY, a very, very long way from home, and with
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 104: Heraclius (Part 4 - The Gamble)
DEUS ADIUTA ROMANIS. May God help the Romans. Because everything else had already been tried.
The church gold is melted. The coins are struck. The army is waiting in Bithynia. And somewhere in the palace of Constantinople, a man who has lost almost everything has spent a long dark winter reading a dead emperor's manual.
Now it is time to find out if any of it works.
Heraclius is the first emper
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 103: Heraclius (Part 3 - Rock Bottom)
He defeated Phocas. He was crowned emperor. He married the love of his life on the same extraordinary day. And then, for a decade, everything went wrong.
By 612 AD, Heraclius had lost Syria, lost Jerusalem, lost the True Cross, lost the Senate's dignity and his own. And then he lost the one thing that had nothing to do with Persia.
He lost Fabia.
The girl from Carthage. His anchor. His first lo
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 102: Heraclius (Part 2 - Darkness Falls)
Heraclius arrived on a warship and without shedding a drop of blood, he rid Rome of evil Phocas. Fair-haired. Young. An icon of the Virgin on the prow. That was Heraclius. October 5th, 610 AD. Crowned emperor, married the love of his life, and stepped out into cheering crowds while Persian watchfires burned on the Asian shore less than a mile away.
He obviously knew he faced a terrible fight. But
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 101: Heraclius (Part 1 - The Tyrant)
Rome had survived Nero. Rome had survived Caligula, Commodus, and Caracalla. Rome had survived the Crisis of the Third Century, the Huns, the Vandals, the Goths, and a plague that killed half the Mediterranean world. But in the year 602, Rome met something it had never faced before — and this time, it very nearly did not survive.
His name was Phocas.
In this episode, we begin the greatest story
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 100: Leander & Isidore
LRH Episode 100! We travel to Visigothic Spain to meet the two brothers who saved Roman civilization. Leander of Seville, best friend of Pope Gregorius, made Spain Catholic, converting the Visigothic kingdom from Arianism to Catholicism at the Third Council of Toledo and fusing Roman and Gothic culture into one people. Isidore of Seville made certain that Rome would not be forgotten, writing the E
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 99: How Slavery Made Rome with Emma Southon
Join LRH as we interview historian and podcaster Emma Southon, author of the recently published "Not Built in a Day: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire." For 98 episodes we've covered Roman heroes. But we've never told the story of the millions of enslaved people who built everything our favorite heroes stood on. It always appeared as backdrop. As color. As afterthought. Roman slavery started in ea
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 98: Father's Day Special with History in Zoomer
Today we collaborate with the awesome father-daughter team of Roly and Maddie from the History in Zoomer Podcast for a very special Father's Day Episode. Together we explore candidates for the very best, and worst fathers in the history of Rome and choose a winner for 'best' and 'worst' Roman dad that are bound to surprise you. Happy Father's Day everyone!
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 97: Gregory the Great (Part 2)
Rome is an island in a Lombard sea. The emperor is in Constantinople, offering criticism instead of troops. The plague is killing people in the streets. And Gregory, the man who tried to flee his own election hidden in a wine cask, is the only one left to save it. In Part 2, we watch a reluctant monk become the de facto ruler of Italy, negotiate face-to-face with a Lombard king, and send a nervous
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 96 - Gregory the Great (Part 1)
In 540 AD, Rome had thirty thousand people struggling to survive, living inside walls built for a million. Sheep grazed in the forums of Augustus and Trajan. Into this world was born one of the last great Roman aristocrats, a man who would give away his fortune, flee to a monastery, get sent to Constantinople, and spend six years politely chastising Emperor Mauricius, would would not listen, or di
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 95: Lost Roman Women with Ladies of Lore
This week we're doing something a little different. We've joined forces with the wonderful Ladies of Lore, a podcast dedicated to the fierce, forgotten and fascinating women of history, mythology and folklore, to bring you three exceptional women who helped keep Rome alive when the men around them were dropping the ball. Galla Placidia, who survived sack, exile and captivity to rule the Western Em
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 94: Mauricius (Part 2 - Apogee & Disaster)
In Part 2 of Mauricius' tale, the empire that he spent twenty years building begins to crack from within. We meet the generals he trusted, the ones he sidelined, and the ones he should never have appointed (like brother Petrus). We follow the Avars and the Slavs as they push the Balkans to the breaking point. And we watch as one man's iron discipline, the very quality that made him great , becomes
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 93: Mauricius (Part 1 - The Rise)
The young man from Arabissus catches the eye of Tiberius, rises through the Excubitors, and is sent to command the Roman eastern legions in the middle of a major Roman-Persian war with no experience under his belt! And what does the paper pusher do? He wins! And wins again, pushing Roman arms deeper into Persian territory than they have been for many decades. When Emperor Tiberius dies, the ri
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 92: Gregory of Tours
Gallo-Roman aristocrat, Bishop and Saint, Gregory kept a small flame alive in what had been Roman Gaul as the darkness fell in the 6th century with the arrival of Clovis and the Merovingian dynasty that would give birth to France. If it were not for Gregory's histories, this period after the Western Empire had collapsed would be lost to time. But Gregory preserves a remarkable age for us, and
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 91: Tiberius II
Tiberius was a handsome young man, born into a humble Thracian family in post-plague Rome. He enters the civil service as a notarius, and quickly rises to the very top of the Roman world, from Count of the Excubitors, to Magister Militum Praesentalis, to Caesar, and finally to Emperor where he takes over from crazed Justin II. In his reign he reminds Rome that there is hope, distributing imperi
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 90: Belisarius, Man Behind the Myth with Dr. David Parnell
Belisarius. Who was the man behind the myth? Are we right to feel uncharitably towards Antonina and Narses? Why did Justinian treat his best general and friend so poorly? And why exactly did Procopius place Belisarius on a richly deserved pedestal in the "Wars" and then tear him down in the "Secret History"? Join us with professor and historian Dr. David Parnell, author of "Belisarius and Anto
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 89: Procopius
Procopius was raised in Caesarea, the capital of Rome's Palaestina province, and was likely educated in Gaza and Beirut. A lawyer by training, he was plucked from obscurity by Justinian, and assigned to the staff of the brilliant young general Belisarius. Procopius would accompany Belisarius across land and sea to every major military command that Belisarius would hold, sharing his privations,
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 88: Justinian (Part 3 - Judgement Day)
The year is 542AD and Rome has just gone through its Thanos-moment - one out of every two Romans disappeared over the course of one fateful summer, and Justinian was almost one of them! Having personally survived the plague, he must now chart a course for a Roman empire that has half the soldiers, half the tax payers, half the farmers and fisherman with the same landmass to administer and defend,
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 87: Justinian (Part 2 - the Apogee)
We leave behind Belisarius, Justinian's avenging angel, and return to the Emperor's story. The year is 532AD and Constantinople still smolders in the wake of the Nika Riots. Having narrowly survived a coup thanks to Theodora's spine and Belisarius' steel, Justinian sets about remaking the Roman world. No more tentative rule, no more deference to the Senate or ancient mores, he sets about to show
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 86: Belisarius (Part 5)
Recalled to Constantinople to lead Rome's response to Persian aggression, Belisarius arrives just in time for Mother Nature to unleash the most vicious one-two punch in the history of humankind, ICE AGE + PLAGUE! Belisarius can navigate these twin disasters, but alas, the politics would prove to be his undoing. Join the last chapter in Belisarius' life, where we work through our complicated emot
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 85: Belisarius (Part 4)
The day is March 12th of 538AD, and General Belisarius has just accomplished the impossible. Not only did he survive a year long siege behind Rome’s Aurelian Walls, hopelessly outnumbered 20-1 by a Goth horde, but he sent that Goth horde scurrying north, shamed and afraid. Now Belisarius runs the table, sweep north with his small, elite cavalry, reestablishing Roman control of Italy, landing at
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 84: Belisarius (Part 3)
Rome is under siege! With a force of some five thousand Roman soldiers, Belisarius is put under siege by a >100k man Goth force under King Vitiges. But despite overwhelming odds, Belisarius finds opportunities to keep his enemy uncomfortable. And as the winter sets in, with the audacious sallies from the Aurelian Walls that he leads in person, Belisarius begins to turn the tide.
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 83: Belsarius (Part 2)
Belisarius has accomplished the heretofore impossible, with a small force of his handpicked and trained elite troops he has defeated the Vandals and returned Africa to the Romans after a hundred years. After receiving the greatest honor in the ancient Roman world, a proper triumph, the first in five hundred years, the Emperor Justinian sends his favorite general back to the West with the most aud
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 82: Belisarius (Part 1)
Belisarius. Just one name required, in the realm of other one-named immortals, like 'Jordan', 'Ali', 'Caesar', and so on. But this guy is a one-named mystery, worshipped in the ancient world, forgotten today. When we meet him in this episode, he is not let legend, simply a Thracian boy that makes his way to Constantinople, enters Justinian's bodyguard and in a heartbeat is a 28 year old Magiste
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 81: The Cabinet
The Emperor Justinian had the grandest of grand dreams, but he could not achieve them alone. The resurrection of the Western Empire was such an exceptionally ambitious objective, it would not just take a great emperor, it would take the most extraordinary team that Rome had ever assembled to pull it off. It just so happens that Justinian had built such a team, filled with some of Rome's all time
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 80: Justinian I (Part 1 - The Rise)
A fresh faced boy from war torn Tauresium finds himself in Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire, adopted son of a swineherd, making his way in the world, powered by what might just be the most audacious of all dreams. RESTORATION!
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 79: Anicia Juliana
How can you begin to describe one of the most remarkable women in history, let alone one of the most remarkable Roman women? Raised by two empresses, mom and grandma, descended from multiple emperors, last in line of one of republican Rome's greatest families, you could take away all of these things and still Juliana would have been a force of nature worthy of remembrance, a woman who stood toe t
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 78: Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius was a polymath philosopher and scion of one of Rome's most ancient families. Along with his father in law Symmachus, he was one of the Senate's last lions, and one of the last keepers of the flame that was Rome in the West! Seeking higher purpose, he served in Theodoric's court, and would finish his life a prisoner in a lonely tower, in which he wrote a gift t
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 77: Theodoric the Great
A Goth prince raised in the Imperial Palace in Constantinople, Theodoric the Amal consolidated control of the Ostrogoths, and then journeyed west at the behest of the Emperor Zeno to punish Odoacer, and to rule Italy in the Emperor's name. Ruling from the palace in Ravenna, he would rule well, and audaciously, attempting to resurrect the Empire of the West.
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 76: Thessalonica [Lost Roman Cities]
A LOST ROMAN CITIES special episode on Roman Thessalonica. Founded by Cassander, named after the younger sister of Alexander the Great, this city would go on to become the second city of the Roman Empire, and just perhaps, after the city of Rome herself, the longest held of Rome's possessions. What we can say for certain, is that without Roman Thessalonica (Greek Thessaloniki), Rome's history wou
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 75: Anastasius
Anastasius Dicorus - a finance dude - saw a wildly complex world very clearly through one blue eye and one black, steering the empire through perilous years after the Fall of the West. When the finance dude died an ancient man he had earned Rome's thanks, leaving behind a stable government and full coffers.
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 74: Zeno
Called down from the mountainous badlands of Isauria to Constantinople by the Emperor Leo, Tarasis son of Kodissa, later known as Zeno, would have to preserve the independence of the emperors of the East. Later he would serve as one of those emperors, and as the West fell, he would be challenged to chart a path for the East, so it would not share the same fate.
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 73: Ambrosius Aurelianus
Emperor Honorius told Britannia to see to its own defenses and the darkness fell on the island. With the Picts and Saxons overrunning Rome's forgotten province, one man, whose name would become inextricably linked with Arthurian lore, stood against the barbarian tide to protect what was left of Roman Britannia: Ambrosius Aurelianus.
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 72 : Leo the Butcher
Born of humble stock, elevated to the purple to be a puppet of Aspar, the barbarian power behind the Eastern Empire's throne, Leo had other thoughts in mind. He had watched as other barbarian strongmen had brought the Western Empire to the brink of extinction, and he was determined that the East would not suffer the same fate. But how could you counter the men who controlled the army and the pur
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 71: Aegidius & Syagrius
Aegidius and Syagrius, father and son warriors, born of an ancient Roman-Gaul senatorial lineage, would keep the dream of Rome alive in Gaul long after the Western Empire fell. In the baddest of bad neighborhoods, for three decades they reminded the world what Rome stood for, with no help from an emperor in Ravenna or Constantinople. It wasn't about fame for these two, it was about principle! P
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 70: Honorable Mentions (Part 2)
Join Lost Roman Heroes for Part 2 of our Honorable Mentions series, and meet some of the most remarkable Romans you never heard of: Pope Leo I (stood up to Attila), Anthemius the Prefect (built the Theodosian Walls), Constantine III (Britannia's last hope), Flavius Constantius (one of the West's last magister militums), and our favorite, Marcellinus (THE LAST JEDI)!
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 69: Honorable Mentions (Part I)
Lost Roman Heroes get their own episode, true, but as Season 2 draws to close we admit that we made some mistakes. We missed some guys, sad but true, and some genuinely heroic characters had the great misfortune of not appearing in the historical record. It's OK, these are our misfits, the extra-lost, Lost Roman Heroes, that we believe deserve an HONORABLE MENTION (PART 1). Tune in and meet Gn
Lost Roman Heroes: Episode 68 - Why The West Fell
A special episode in which we @lostromanheroes get to the heart of the question that has vexed proper, professional historians for centuries - 'why exactly did the Empire of the West fall'? Search no further, here we reveal the truth!
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 67: Majorian (Part 2)
Having inherited a bankrupt Western Empire, with no treasury, no army, no popular support, and no civitas, Majorian sets about achieving the impossible, knitting the West back together again. Never before has a Western Emperor started in such dire straits, with such ambitious objectives, and with such exceptional talents. We cannot help but wish him the very best (as we shed a tear for him, and
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 66: Majorian (Part 1)
Majorian was a young Italian commander who served with distinction under Aetius as the great general tried to piece the West back together again. When Aetius is assassinated, Majorian survives the bloodbath, and the murder of three emperors in rapid succession, leaving him on the cusp of the worst job in the world.
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 65: Aetius (Part 2)
Aetius maneuvers himself to the top of the power structure in the West, only to be brought low by Galla Placidia and loyal Bonfatius. After suffering his first and only real defeat, there is no one left to oppose him, but rather than seeking the throne for himself, he dedicates himself to piecing Rome back together, taking on his greatest nemesis, Attila himself!
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 64: Aetius (Part 1)
This is the man that even contemporaries referred to as THE LAST ROMAN. Only son of General Gaudentius, born in Durostorum, a frontier fortress on the Danube, Aetius, he wound up in the West after his father fought under Emperor Theodosius at the Frigidus. From there he found himself on a fast track that would send him as a hostage to Alaric and the Goths, and from there to Uldin and the Huns wh
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 63: Galla Placidia
Granddaughter of bear-loving Emperor Valentinian I, granddaughter of last-of-the-mohicans Count Theodosius, and daughter of Emperor Theodosius who salvaged the Empire after Adrianople, Galla Placidia had the bluest blue running through her veins. One might be tempted to think, that after having been born in this most privileged of positions, she had an easy life? Yet that could not be farther fr
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 62: Stilicho & Alaric (Part 2)
Just one year after the Emperor Theodosius died in 395AD, Stilicho, his son in law and the man he trusted to carry the Empire forward, is struggling with an impossible situation. The frontiers are overrun by an unholy coaltion of barbarian tribes, pushed inexorably towards Rome by the approaching Hun menace. Meanwhile, Alaric and his Goths, the most powerful military force in the Empire, rampage
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 61: Stilicho & Alaric (Part 1)
Meet Stilicho, the half Vandal, half Roman soldier who joins Emperor Theodosius' bodyguard in his late teens, catches the eye of the emperor's niece, marries into the imperial family, and rises to the highest military ranks in the Empire! A devoutly loyal and honest man, Stilicho makes a plethora of enemies along the way, but never loses sight of his loyalties, to Emperor and nation. Amongst tho
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 60: Ambrose of Milan
Born in Trier in 339AD, Ambrose was the privileged son of the praetorian prefect of Gaul. As a young man, he entered the Roman civil service and rose quickly to the role of governor in north Italy during the reign of Emperor Valentinian. Though he was not a Christian and did not seek the honor, Ambrose was elected Bishop of Mediolanum in 374AD, making him one of the most important leaders of the
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 59: Theodosius I
Theodosius, son of the legendary Count Theodosius, was thrust into one of the most desperate situations in Rome's history, in the wake of the utter bloodbath at Adrianople in 378AD. Inheriting the mantle of the East, with no army to call upon, and with the Goths rampaging in the Roman heartland, for some reason, Theodosius answered the call, in somehow, he would find a way to put the pieces toget
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 58: Count Theodosius
Count Theodosius, born in Hispania to a military family, he rose through the ranks and accomplished remarkable things lost in the mists of time. When he emerges into the spotlight he is the Emperor Valentinian's fixer, who recovers Britannia, settles the Rhine, and recovers Africa for the Empire without breaking a sweat, with humility and grace. But no good deed ever goes unpunished, and so it i
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 57: Valentinian
Valentinian, son of the Rope Man, emerged from dad's shadow, paid his dues in the army, and was in the right place at the right time when Julian's short-lived successor Jovian died somewhere outside Ancyra. Rising to the purple with his brother Valens (Adrianople anyone?) by his side, Valentinian would go on to rule from the west, holding the Rhine, recovering Britannia, and quashing rebelling in
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 56: Julian
Julian, nephew of Constantine the Great, cousin of Constantius the Murderous, aspiring philosopher, Emperor almost against his will, unfortunate soul! He would be the last pagan emperor of Rome, though the Empire would last for another 1100 years, trying in vain to turn back to the clock to a simpler world that no longer existed.
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 55: Q&A
Join us for our long awaited first Q&A episode, where we take on listener questions and do our level best to answer! From "why did Marc Antony fall in love with Cleopatra" to "did Livia kill Augustus" and "which Roman Emperor would you want to have a beer with"? This was the most fun we've had on an episode for some time, thanks to all of you! (We just republished this one with some minor fixes
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 54: Constantine (Part 4)
Finally in possession of the supreme power, after having eliminated all rivals and fully dismantling Diocletian's Tetrarchy, what will Constantine do? Will he use his power for good? What will he do with the Christians now that he has elevated their faith above all others? And what really happened to Crispus?
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 53: Constantine (Part 3)
Join Constantine as he crossed the Alps and marches on Rome, to meet his rival Augustus, Maxentius (son of Maximian the Mischievous) at the fabled Milvian Bridge. Constantine is intent on unwinding Diocletian's project, the Frankenstein-ish Tetrarchy, and consolidating power in his hands. He will use his considerable wiles, and the surging Christian sect, to accomplish his audacious objectives.
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 52: Constantine (Part 2)
Constantine assumes his father's mantle in Eboracum when know one authorized him to do so. But with the support of the troops and an unyielding sense of destiny and belief in his own abilities, he begins to gather power, and legitimacy in Britannia, Gaul and Hispania as the various rulers of the Italy and the East squabble among themselves. We said goodbye to the Old Guard, Diocletian, Maximian
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 51: Constantine (Part 1)
YAY - WE ARE BACK FROM OUR SUMMER BREAK, just in time to meet a young boy named Constantine, yet another of Illyrian stock, born to Helena the barmaid and Constantius, member of the Imperial bodyguard, steps into the light. Dad is making all of the right moves and finds himself rising fast in Diocletian's administration, from Praetorian Prefect, to Caesar, and finally to Augustus. But some people
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 50: Summer Vacation
To our amazing listeners! After one full year of research, writing, recording and releasing one episode a week, we are going to take a little vacation for the month of August 2024 (we hope you guys are too!) and we will be back on September 1st, with batteries recharged, ready to dive into Constantine the Great! Happy summer everyone....
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 49: Diocletian (Part 2)
Join Diocletian as he ups the ante, and continues his bold experimentation to reform the Imperial system to deal with the new world of threats that have overwhelmed Rome for the last one hundred years. But will this new system, that we know as the Tetrarchy, survive the biggest threat of all, human ambition?
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 48 - Diocletian (Part 1)
Diocles, son of a slave. WHAT?? Say that again. Diocles, who assumed the regnal name of Diocletian, was the first Roman Emperor to be born the son of a former slave. He would rise from dirt to the pinnacle of Roman power, yet another of the Illyrian cabal, hellbent on restoring Rome to her former glory. But rather than focusing simply on military brilliance to accomplish that objective, like h
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 47 - Probus
Probus, Aurelian's prodigy and friend, rose to the purple shortly after Aurelian's murder just like his mentor had, through sheer grit and merit. In five short years he pursued Aurelian's policies brilliantly, with a deftness of touch perhaps that Aurelian lacked. He was everywhere at once, East and West, North and South, campaigning north of the Rhine like Germanicus and Drusus, showing the Per
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 46: Aurelian (Part 2)
Emperor Claudius Gothicus is dead. Aurelian is dashing around Thrace, chasing a Goth horde, while Claudius' weakling brother Quintillus is elevated to the purple. Rome is still broken in three, with the Gallic Empire going strong in Gaul, Britannia and Germania. While the East is increasingly independent, and anti-Roman, under Odaenathus' widow Zenobia. What Aurelian accomplishes next is diffi
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 45: Aurelian (Part 1)
Aurelian. Farm boy. Born in the dirt somewhere near Sirmium, son of a soldier, and a priestess of Sol Invictus. He entered the army at the very bottom and fought his way to the top of the military hierarchy, the old fashioned way - he earned every bit of it. By the time Claudius Gothicus died, he was the number two to the emperor, the general in charge of the entire army. But this was a reduc
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 44: Postumus
In the heart of darkness that was the Crisis of the Third Century, Postumus was one of those super talented generals cherry picked by the supreme talent scout that was the Emperor Gallienus. A Roman through and through, as Juthungi and Frank warriors poured across the Rhine, Postumus rode a wave of discontent, was declared emperor of a new world that would be known as the Gallic Empire, killed Ga
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 43: Odaenathus
Who could have possibly imagined, that when Rome's fortunes hit their nadir, when the West had fallen away (to be ruled by the new Gallic Emperor Postumus) and the East crumbled under Shapur's relentless onslaught, it would not be a Roman Emperor, or a Roman General that saved Rome's eastern provinces from annihilation, but it would be a young guy born in the desert oasis town known as Palmyra tha
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 42: Gallienus
Poor Gallienus, son of poor Emperor Valerian, if you had existed in an earlier era, who knows what might have come of you? As it was, you had the bad luck of being born in the heart of the disastrous 3rd century, when the machine that was Rome careened down the tracks, no one at the helm, brakes shot, with the wheels coming off. With the Rhine and Danube frontiers overwhelmed by a relentless bar
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 41: Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus, Rome's first African emperor. Born in Leptis Magna, he ended the civil war that erupted following Commodus' death during the Year of the Five Emperors, restoring order to the Empire, cowing the Senate, strengthening the borders, and ushering in a new era of warrior-emperors just in time for the Crisis of the Third Century that would shortly bring Rome to her knees. Rome wouldn
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 40: Lucius Artorius Castus
Lucius Artorius Castus, centurion of the Roman legions, Primus Pilus under Rome's Philosopher-Emperor Marcus Aurelius himself in the Legio V Macedonica. This man went wherever the Empire needed him - from the scorching deserts of Syria to the frigid Danube at Belgrade and Carnuntum he served with distinction. But his true star turn came when he was sent with the Sarmatian knights to serve on the
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 39: Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius, the gentle philosopher who lived through the inconceivable, heart-wrenching loss of ten children. Heir to Antoninus Pius against his will, he became emperor of 1/3 of the known world just as the Pax Romana began to fracture. True to his stoic core, Marcus set aside personal wants and rose to the occasion, transforming himself from the first philosopher-emperor into the first war
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 38: Hadrian
Hadrian the Builder! Third of the Five Good Emperors, and as unknowable as the sphinx. He took over control of the Roman Empire from Trajan at its greatest territorial extent, inheriting a crazy Frankenstein of a territory that no one since Augustus had really focused on managing well, his predecessors had wanted to milk it or expand it, but Hadrian wanted to optimize it. A remarkable ambition,
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 37: Trajan
Trajan. Why do we feel so conflicted when we think about you? Well, Trajan was one of the Five Good Emperors, rising to power at a moment when Rome was the bully in the schoolyard and he knew how to wield that power brilliantly, Octavian-like, in a manner that did not threaten the Senate. Golden boy, Pompey-ish. Forever more, new emperors would be blessed in his name upon their ascension. The
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 36: Agricola
Agricola was a child of Rome's provinces whose father was murdered by Caligula shortly after his birth. Raised by a remarkable mom, he entered the Roman army and distinguished himself in every way possible, eventually winning the confidence of the Emperor Vespasian who sent him to Britannia to accomplish the impossible - subdue the island. Agricola reminded us of Agrippa in so many ways, and we
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 35: Pliny the Elder
Equal parts cerebral and brawny, here comes Pliny, the original disaster flick action hero! Join one of the most fascinating guys you've never heard of outside dusty academic circles. Pliny did it all, fought in Germania, was best buds with multiple emperors, and rode directly into the heart of darkness on August 24th of 29CE to save innocent lives as Vesuvius erupted, killing all in its wake.
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 34: Germanicus
Germanicus, son of Drusus, the golden boy! As remarkable as his father in so many ways, he made his name campaigning across the Rhine just like dad, and managed to recover lost Eagles, to give a proper burial to the Roman dead at Teutoburg, and to teach Arminimus a lesson. Perhaps he did too much in fact, inspiring jealousy in his adopted father, the Emperor Tiberius, and a suspicion that would
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 33: Drusus
We enter the world beyond the Republic with the first Roman to have earned the cognomen "Germanicus", through blood sweat and tears. Grandson of Marc Antony, son of Livia, step-son to Octavian, you might think that he was tempted to live in the lap of luxury but instead, Drusus was cut from an older cloth. Determined to win military glory, and to live an exemplary life, he did so in spades befor
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 32: Heroes of the Republic (Part 2)
Join us for the last of two special episodes recapping the Heroes of the Republic, from Scipio Amelianus, the killer of Carthage, to Octavian, the midwife to Empire. We give a little summary of each, revisit their scoring, bring a little fun, and then we will officially say goodbye to the Roman Republic, what a journey! Next stop, the Principate!!
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 31: Heroes of the Republic (Part 1)
Join us for the first of two special episodes recapping the Lost Roman Heroes of the Republic, a great way for new listeners to receive an introduction to the podcast, and for longtime listeners to have one last look at Rome's republican glory days before we jump into the Age of Emperors. In this first special episode, catch up with every Lost Roman Hero between Aeneas and Scipio Africanus.
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 30: Octavian (Part 4)
Octavian transforms himself into Augustus, and transforms the broken hulk of the Republic that was, into the Principate that would preserve Rome for fifteen centuries, and lays the framework for the world that we live in today. Need we say more?
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 29: Octavian (Part 3)
Tis the season of warlords - there is no Republic anymore, nor is there Empire, there is only a land of warlords, picking over the carcass of what the great had once created. This is it, this is where the fate of Rome is decided, does it fragment forever into the grubby hands of Antony, Sextus, Brutus and Cassius, or can the two twenty-somethings, Octavian and Agrippa, somehow find a way to threa
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 28: Octavian (Part 2)
Octavian, ready for prime time! Marc Antony disparaged him, the Senate disregarded him, and the Conspirators ignored him, all at their peril! Join us as the 19 year old Octavian arrives in Rome with his BFF Agrippa and in 24 short months completes his meteoric ascent.
Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 27: Octavian (Part 1)
Silly, skinny little pleb Octavian, what were you thinking? Or more importantly, what was Caesar thinking, what did he see, when the two of you shared a carriage from Hispania to Gaul in the autumn of 45BC, that made him change his will to name you the 17-year-old Gaius Octavius his sole heir and adopted son? Join us in Episode 27 on the first steps of Octavian's journey, from awkward teen to co
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