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Real Roman History

Real Roman History

Di: Hugo Prudentius
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Real Roman History is a comprehensive, chronological account of Rome from its origins to its end—told with the depth the subject deserves. This is not a highlight reel. Every major figure, every turning point, and every war gets the full treatment: the stories as the Romans told them, the ancient sources and what they got right and wrong, and the historical arguments that scholars are still having today. Hugo Prudentius takes listeners from the kings of the early city through the Republic, the civil wars, the empire, and beyond—episode by episode, in sequence, without skipping the parts that made Rome what it was. If other Roman history podcasts have left you wanting more, you've found the right one.

All rights reserved. Arte Filosofia Mondiale Politica e governo Scienza Scienze politiche Scienze sociali Storia e critica della letteratura
Episodi
  • Episode 66. Germanicus: The Prince Who Was Not Allowed to Win

    Episode 66. Germanicus: The Prince Who Was Not Allowed to Win
    Jul 23 2026
    Works CitedPrimary Sources
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History, Books 56 to 57. The continuous Greek-language narrative from 9 CE through 19 CE.
    • Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre. Already covered in Episodes 63 and 65. Referenced here for the political consequences of Germanicus's death but not re-analyzed.
    • Suetonius. Life of Caligula, chapters 1 to 7. The opening chapters of the Caligula biography are essentially a biography of Germanicus. Cover his career, character, family life, death, and the public mourning. Less analytically structured than Tacitus, but contains material Tacitus did not.
    • Tabula Hebana and Tabula Siarensis. Bronze copies of the senatorial decrees voted in honour of Germanicus after his death in 19 CE. The Tabula Siarensis was found near Seville in 1982 and gives us the most detailed surviving Senate decree from the imperial period. The official framing of the loss.
    • Tacitus. Annals, Books 1 to 3. Germanicus is the central figure of Books 1 to 2 and the opening chapters of Book 3. The German campaigns are at Annals 1.55 to 71 and 2.5 to 26. The eastern journey is at 2.53 to 68. The death scene is at 2.69 to 83—one of Tacitus's most sustained dramatic passages. The return of the ashes is at 3.1 to 7.
    Secondary Sources
    • Barrett, Anthony A. Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire. Yale University Press, 1996. The standard modern treatment of Agrippina the Elder and Agrippina the Younger. Essential for Parts Six and Seven.
    • Eck, Werner, Antonio Caballos, and Fernando Fernández. Das Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre. C. H. Beck, 1996. The foundational publication of the Piso decree, relevant for the political aftermath.
    • Levick, Barbara. Tiberius the Politician. Revised edition, Routledge, 1999. The Germanicus material from Tiberius's perspective.
    • Powell, Lindsay. Germanicus: The Magnificent Life and Mysterious Death of Rome's Most Popular General. Pen and Sword Military, 2013. Recent military-focused biography. Most thorough modern treatment of the campaigns.


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    37 min
  • Episode 65. Tiberius, Part One: The Reluctant Successor

    Episode 65. Tiberius, Part One: The Reluctant Successor
    Jul 23 2026
    Works CitedPrimary Sources
    • Acta Arvalia for 14 to 26 CE. Fragmentary but informative for the official cult activities and the public framing of Tiberian governance.
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History, Books 57 and 58. Continuous Greek-language narrative. Book 57 covers 14 to 22 CE; Book 58 covers 23 to 29 CE. Sometimes preserves information not in Tacitus.
    • Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre. The bronze decree of December 10, 20 CE. Already discussed in detail in Episode 63 (Livia, Part Two: Julia Augusta). Referenced here as the documentary anchor for the Piso material, not re-analyzed.
    • Suetonius. Life of Tiberius. Chapters 23 to 43 cover the period of this episode. Gives the gossip, the family details, the personal habits. Less analytically structured than Tacitus, but contains material Tacitus did not.
    • Tabula Hebana and Tabula Siarensis. Bronze copies of the senatorial decrees voted in honour of Germanicus after his death in 19 CE. These give us the official Senate and Tiberian-court framing of the loss.
    • Tacitus. Annals, Books 1 through 4. The single largest narrative source for these years. Books 1 to 3 cover 14 to 22 CE; Book 4 covers 23 to 28 CE. The most analytically sophisticated ancient account of any Roman emperor, and the most hostile portrait of Tiberius. Used carefully—Tacitus is brilliant and limited in specific ways that the episode acknowledges throughout.
    • Velleius Paterculus. History of Rome, 2.125 to 131. The contemporary witness. Velleius was a Tiberian loyalist who served on the Pannonian and German campaigns and who wrote his history during Tiberius's reign. His account is openly admiring of Tiberius. The standard scholarly position has been to dismiss it as sycophantic, but the dismissal is too easy. Velleius is what a serving Roman senator under Tiberius actually wrote about Tiberius, and the perspective he gives us is irrecoverable from Tacitus.
    Secondary Sources
    • Barrett, Anthony. Livia: First Lady of Imperial Rome. Yale University Press, 2002. Already cited for Episode 63, but relevant for the first half of Tiberius's reign through the Piso trial.
    • Champlin, Edward. “Tiberius the Wise.” Historia, 2008. A useful corrective on the question of how aware Tiberius was of his own image management.
    • Levick, Barbara. Tiberius the Politician. Revised edition, Routledge, 1999. The standard modern revisionist treatment. The reference for almost every analytical decision in this episode.
    • Seager, Robin. Tiberius. Second edition, Blackwell, 2005. The other major modern biography. More cautious than Levick but covers the same ground.


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    45 min
  • Episode 64. The Roman Army Under the Principate

    Episode 64. The Roman Army Under the Principate
    Jul 23 2026
    Works CitedPrimary Sources
    • Cassius Dio. Roman History, Books 54–55. The reorganization of the army under Augustus, with Book 55, chapter 25 covering the establishment of the aerarium militare in 6 CE.
    • Egyptian papyri. Collected most accessibly in Robert O. Fink, Roman Military Records on Papyrus. American Philological Association, 1971. Pay records, duty rosters, personal correspondence—the only surviving documentary evidence of this volume from anywhere in the Roman world.
    • Josephus. Jewish War, Book 3, chapters 5 and 6. The famous Greek-language description of the Roman army of the late 60s CE, written by a former enemy commander who had real reason to understand how the army worked. The best surviving outsider's account.
    • Military diplomas. The bronze citizenship grants issued to discharged auxiliaries. Catalogued across the Roman Military Diplomas series and standard epigraphic corpora.
    • Suetonius. Life of Augustus, chapters 24–25 and 49. On Augustus's military reforms, the founding of the aerarium militare, and his attitudes toward discipline.
    • Tacitus. Annals, 1.16–49. The Pannonian and Rhine mutinies of 14 CE—the army from inside, complaining about pay, discipline, and conditions. The clearest narrative window on what serving in the army felt like.
    • The Vindolanda tablets. Published by Alan K. Bowman and J. David Thomas across multiple volumes since 1983. The most vivid evidence for daily life on a frontier post. The birthday party invitation of Claudia Severa is Tablet 291 in the standard numbering.
    • Vegetius. Epitoma Rei Militaris, late fourth century CE. The single most extensive surviving Roman military manual. Written long after the period of this episode and partly archaizing—Vegetius is looking back to an idealized earlier army he believed had since deteriorated—but invaluable when used with care. The Loeb edition, translated by N. P. Milner, is the standard.
    Secondary Sources
    • Bowman, Alan K. Life and Letters on the Roman Frontier: Vindolanda and Its People. Third edition, British Museum Press, 2003. The best introduction to the Vindolanda evidence for general readers.
    • Goldsworthy, Adrian. The Complete Roman Army. Thames and Hudson, 2003. The standard modern treatment, and the structural reference for this episode.
    • Keppie, Lawrence. The Making of the Roman Army: From Republic to Empire. Revised edition, Routledge, 1998. The best account of the transition from the Republican army to the Augustan one.
    • Luttwak, Edward N. The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976; revised edition, 2016. Influential and contested account of the political logic of the frontier system. Worth reading with a critical eye.


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    41 min
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