roman history

What did it take to be a gladiator? Who ended up in the arena, and why? And how did the gladiatorial games—one of the bloodiest sporting events known in the ancient [...Read More...]

We invited the Partial Historians onto our show to discuss one of their favorite topics and ours: Spartacus in film and pop culture. Join us in a no-holds-barred conversation [...Read More...]

The Thracians were the most feared professional killers of the ancient world—serving as hired assassins, enforcers, and mercenaries in famous battles from one end of the [...Read More...]

During the First Servile War, the epic prophet and fire-breather named Eunus led a rebellion that threatened the Republic to its foundations. For a time, Eunus controlled all [...Read More...]

Become a Patron! Here’s a video that does a great job of summing up the Second Servile War: Our ancient sources include: Diodorus Siculus’ Library of History (G. [...Read More...]

The First Servile War started in 135 BC—about 62 years before Spartacus led his rebellion. It lasted about twice as long as the Spartacus war, and involved hundreds of [...Read More...]

Become a Patron! Here’s a neat video of the events of the First Servile War: Our ancient sources include: Dionysius of Halicarnassus: Roman Antiquities (Earnest Cary [...Read More...]

In our last episode we talked about the journey Dionysus took to become a god. We followed his travels across the Mediterranean as he went on an epic quest to spread the [...Read More...]

After the disaster at Actium, Marc Antony’s entire army–100,000 strong–surrendered to Octavian. Marc Antony and Cleopatra fled to Alexandria to negotiate [...Read More...]

Become a Patron! This time, we begin the Show Notes with something a little more upbeat (which we could all use after that ending): Marc Antony’s romantic theme song. [...Read More...]