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- [00:00]
Narrator
There are more ways than ever to listen to History Daily ad free. Listen with Wondry plus in the Wondery app as a member of Noiser plus at noiser.com or in Apple Podcasts. Or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com Today is March 29, 2025 and you should all feel lucky. 14 days ago you escaped the Soothsayer's warning. Remember this bit of Shakespeare Caesar Ah, who calls? Be it every noise, be still peace yet again. Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue shriller than all the music, cries Caesar. Speak. Caesar has turned to hear. Beware the Ides of March. What man is that? A soothsayer bids you beware the Ides of March. Set him before me. Let me see his face. Fellow, come from the throng, look upon Caesar. What thou sayest to me now? Speak once again. Beware the Ides of March. Ah, he is a dreamer. Let us leave him pass. Caesar, of course, should have listened. Because on 3-15-44 BC, Julius Caesar approached the theater of Pompey, unaware that the men inside had sworn an oath to save the Republic from the hands of this self styled perpetual dictator. Caesar must die. But where did the Republic start? How did it transform Rome from a small town into a superpower? And what made its government so steadfast against autocracy past the tipping point into a dictatorship? To answer these questions on today's Saturday matinee, we bring you an episode from the excellent Noiser podcast, Ancient Civilizations. I hope you enjoy While you're listening listening, Be sure to search for and follow Ancient Civilizations. We put a link in the show notes to make it easy for you.
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- [03:41]
Paul McGann
Early morning on a cool spring day in Rome 44 BC a man walks ahead of his advisors towards the Senate, the hem of his stately purple toga whispering at his ankle. The sun is only just rising above the rooftops of the city, but the streets are already coming alive from the thermopolia, or food stalls that serve the common citizens. The scent of baking bread and wheat pancakes with dates and honey mingle with the early morning mists. Traders are beginning to set out their wares. It will be a busy day, because today the Ides of March is sacred to the God Jupiter. Tonight is the first full moon of the new year to be celebrated drinking and feasting. But there is serious business to be done, too. Along the wide street of Via Sacra, preparations are being made for the processions of the religious leaders who will later bring the eyed sheep to be sacrificed. The man knows the ceremony well. When still in his teens, he himself was the high priest of Jupiter. Now, aged 55, he's finally secured the ultimate high office. But he's not without his opposition. He's heard the rumors that although the people adore him, worship him, some in the Senate are unhappy, mutinous even. Only last week he consulted a Haruspex, a religious seer who sacrificed a goat and inspected its organs for omens. It wasn't good news. Beware the Ides of Marge, he was told. He keeps his head high as he passes, the people bowing before him, but he can't shake the sense of foreboding. Traditionally, this is the day on which old debts are settled, but it's not money that's on the man's mind. This morning his wife begged him to cancel his plans, disturbed as she was by a dream of holding his murdered body in her arms. Up ahead, he sees Spurinna, the Haruspex, and calls out to him. Well, the Ides of March have come, he says jovially. Spurinna bows his head. Aye, but they've not yet Gone, he murmurs. The man continues out towards the field of Mars and the theater of Pompey, built by his greatest rival. To his left, slaves are already at work on the site of what will be the jewel in this city's crown, the new forum. It will be a great monument to everything Rome has achieved and yes, all he himself has achieved too. And why not? He is the greatest leader this city, this republic, has ever known. Was it Pompey who conquered Gaul or led armies to Britain, believed by many not to exist at all? No. And if the people treat him like a God, like a king, then so be it, because he is no ordinary man. And his family is no ordinary family. He is a Julius whose ancestors descend directly from the Trojan prince Aeneas, son of the goddess Venus. It's an honor for any man to be a Novus Homo, the first of his family to reach the Senate. But this man is Julius Caesar. And a month ago he appointed himself perpetual dictator. And he is the first of any family to do that. What he has isn't just power, but dominion. And that surely should make him invincible deep in sword. But as he approaches the magnificent curved building, he doesn't notice the shifty looks on the senators faces. He doesn't see the flash of daggers beneath their violet edged senatorial togas. Despite the ban on bearing arms inside the city walls, before the morning is out, the history of ancient Rome will have passed a crucial milestone in its march towards imperial imperialism. And Julius Caesar, statesman, orator, conqueror of Gaul, will be dead by the time Julius Caesar declares himself perpetual dictator in 44 BC. The Roman Republic is established as the unrivaled power in the Mediterranean. From what is now Belgium in the north to modern day Tunisia in the south, and from the Atlantic western shores of Portugal to Syria in the east, the life of everyday people depends on their allegiance to Rome. The true beginnings of this civilization have been so muddied by time and circumstance that it's difficult to tell fact from fiction, myth from reality. Many records have been lost. Those that survive were written decades or centuries after the events they describe by historians with agendas of their own. But with every archaeological dig, new chapters are added to the story of ancient Rome. So what do we know about the birth of this civilization, believed by many to be the greatest in history? How did a small city state in the middle of Italy become the center of power in the Western world? And what led its classic republican model, based so determinedly on the principle of shared power, to approach the tipping point into a dictatorship? I'm Paul McGann and this is a short history of the Roman Republic. For many of us, ancient Rome is synonymous with the idea of empire, of the power crazed, tyrannical emperors reclining on couches, being fed grapes, deciding the fates of their gladiators with the movement of a thumb. But before the Empire came the Republic. For 500 years before the first emperor, Rome was controlled by senators and consuls. As their highly complex society developed, the Republic's influence expanded across thousands of miles, forcing millions of diverse tribes people to bend to its will or be wiped out entirely. So where did it all start? Is it even possible to untangle its earliest roots from the last threads of the mythology that predates it? Dr. David Gwin, professor of Roman History at Royal Holloway University, explains.
- [10:58]
Dr. David Gwin
Like every society, the Roman Republic's origins are rooted in their mythology. It's rooted in how they remembered how it happened. Rome began as a monarchy. Actually, it began technically with two kings named Romulus and Remus. And these are the famous infant children who, according to Roman myth, their mother was seduced by the Roman war God Mars. So she has these two children and fearing them, they're exposed. So the children are just left to die, which was an ancient custom more true for girls than for boys, unfortunately. But the boys survive. In Roman legend, they are suckled by the she wolf. Now, the word for she wolf is actually the same as the word for prostitute. And you can actually interpret the myth in different ways, but there's no question the iconic image is the wolf. With the two babies, the boys recovered and they eventually gather followers and build a city. And originally, they both are supposed to be in control of the city, but they get into a fight. And it's something about Roman mythology that the story begins with one brother killing the other brother. So Romulus kills Remus, which is why the city is called Rome.
- [12:13]
Paul McGann
Although the extent to which the legend of Romulus is based on a real historical figure is unclear, there is certainly some truth to the myth. Modern excavation shows that the first pioneers come to the site before 800 BC. It's not hard to imagine why they choose to settle here. Nestled 15 miles inland from the Mediterranean against a ford on the River Tiber, the seven hills of early Rome provide a perfect central location. It's a marketplace for farmers working the extensive productive neighboring fields. And its elevation gives a naturally defensive advantage. According to tradition, Rome is founded on April 21, 753 BC. Establishing himself as the founder of the settlement. After the death of his brother, Romulus and his followers set about digging a furrow to establish the city's boundaries. After convincing the three local tribes to accept him as their leader, Romulus chooses a hundred men from their leading families. These men are known as patricians, literally translated as fathers. In these early days, it's their job to advise the king. But it's from here that we can trace the very first roots of the republican system. With its structures of authority already taking shape, what Rome needs is citizens. Word spreads about the fledgling city, in particular the fact that it offers asylum to fugitives and bandits. The population swells. The promise of citizenship in a fast growing city surrounded by prime farmland is enough to draw many men from the surrounding areas. But without women, it's not going to be a long term success story. Romulus attempts to bring in new blood and secure the future of the city by encouraging the men to marry the daughters of the local tribes. But the neighbouring people have seen the kind of ruffians that Romulus is assembling behind his walls. So they refuse, fearing the growing might of what looks from where they're standing to be a city of criminals. But Romulus isn't known for his diplomacy. What he can't get by asking nicely, he will take by force. He sends a message to one of the tribes, the Sabines, inviting them to a celebration in honour of Neptune. Tentatively, the Sabine elders accept. On the day of the feast, they stream inside the city walls and the festivities begin. There are games, music, dancing. Tables are laid out with roasted meats, olives, special breads baked with honey and rosemary, and there's as much wine as they can drink. The Roman men, however, keep an eye on their leader. As the sun is setting, Romulus gives the sign. Without a word of warning, they seize the Sabine women. They drag them, terrified and confused, inside the buildings and chase the men away, weapons drawn. According to the first century historian Livy, it takes the Sabine men some considerable time to retaliate. When they finally meet the Romans on the battlefield to demand the return of their daughters, sisters and wives, it's too late. Having seemingly forgiven their abductors, the women are Roman wives and mothers now. Eventually, an agreement is reached and the Sabines are absorbed into Rome. With the basic requirements of a government to rule and people to govern, the early Romans start to look towards building and expansion. Over the course of the coming centuries, the culture develops.
- [16:08]
Dr. David Gwin
North of Rome there are the annoyingly mysterious people known as the Etruscans. They're clearly a very sophisticated society. They traded with the Greeks. Indeed, many of our best Greek pots are actually preserved in the Etruscan cities of the dead Necropoli, where they were buried. The problem with the Etruscans is they are one of the very few ancient societies whose language still can't be translated, even though we've got quite a lot of it. It's not Indo European, so it doesn't share the same language base as Greek Latin. We can't read their inscriptions. What is clear, though, is they had well organized cities north of Rome, the Greeks had well organized cities south of Rome, and Rome is formed by a fusion between the two. So there's Greek culture coming in. The Roman gods are the same as the Greek gods, just with Roman names. So the Greek Zeus is the Roman Jupiter, the Greek Athena is the Roman Minerva, The Greek Apollo is the Roman Apollo. Always useful, that one. It doesn't change. And yet the way the Romans build temples is actually Etruscan. It's an Etruscan style of building. So the Roman settlement is being influenced in both directions.
- [17:33]
Paul McGann
The settlement starts to take shape. Building start slowly. And at first, it's not pride or grandiosity which drives it, but practicality. Work gets underway on the Cloaca Maxima, one of the world's first sewage systems. Initially, it's just a system of open canals built to drain the marshes around the Roman forum and carry effluent to the river Tiber. By the mid 6th century BC, the seventh king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, orders underground works to begin above the ground. Though Tarquinius, known to the people as Tarquin the Proud, is facing a growing problem. Since gaining the throne in a violent power grab, his extravagant lifestyle and relentless warmongering have made him increasingly unpopular on the streets. The people are beginning to grumble. Eventually, things come to a head.
- [18:33]
Dr. David Gwin
Every version we've got of the story tells basically the same event. Tarquin the Proud had sons, and they were arrogant princes, and they made a bet with one of their friends over who had the best wife, so whose wife would be doing proper domestic duties while the men were away. And their friend maintained that, no, he had the best wife. So they went back to spy on their wives. And the prince's wives were all having an orgy, whereas their friend's wife, Lucretia, is running the household. She's spinning in the light of the candles and she's directing the other servants. And Lucretia is in many ways the ideal Roman woman. It says something about Roman ideas of gender roles. She's completely pure, moral, upright, highly intelligent. And unfortunately, that is what so impresses the sons, as does her beauty duty. And one of the sons of Tarquin goes back and rapes Lucretia. And Lucretia summons her husband and their friends. She explains what happens. She explains that there was nothing she could do. And every account makes that very clear, that she herself is completely guiltless. And then she kills herself. Because the honor of the family must be maintained.
- [19:57]
Paul McGann
For Lucretia's husband, it's the last straw. Spreading the story to the appalled city folk, he organizes a rebellion.
- [20:09]
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- [20:24]
Paul McGann
Nice.
- [20:25]
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Or remember their elbow pads.
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- [20:29]
Paul McGann
There you go.
- [20:30]
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- [21:09]
Paul McGann
Tarquin is deposed by his nephew Brutus, a name that future leaders of Rome will do well to remember. Tarquin makes several attempts to retake the throne. But in the eyes of the people and the Senate, Rome's days of monarchy are over. They've seen what happens when power is concentrated in the hands of one man with a lifetime mandate. So in 509 BC, the Roman kingdom becomes the Roman Republic. Instead of a single figurehead, the Senate was appoint two consuls or co leaders from its number. The consuls serve for a single year before they are replaced. They can stand for election again, but only after 10 years have passed. The very first consuls are the chief conspirators in the overthrow of the Roman kings Brutus and Collinatus, Lucretia's widowed husband.
- [22:07]
Dr. David Gwin
The entire political organization of what now emerges. What is called the Roman Republic is ultimately geared around one principle. There cannot be a monarchy. The entire republican system is designed to stop one person taking power. It is slightly ironic that this violently anti autocratic republic will create arguably the greatest autocratic state the European landmass has ever known. But it's crucial to understanding the Roman republic because the Roman Republic's political organization was based on the principle of collected authority. It is not a democracy. It is not in any way everyone is equal, one man, one vote. The Athenian democracy, which exists at this time, does genuinely believe that every male citizen should have a vote. But in the Roman Republic, it's the aristocracy. Now, the Roman Republic is a remarkably complex structure and it took about 200 years to evolve, but the way it evolved, it's actually, I would argue, personal bias. Perhaps the most brilliant constitution the ancient world ever devised.
- [23:29]
Paul McGann
In the early decades, the new republic starts as it means to go on prioritizing war and expansion. One by one, it defeats and controls the neighboring towns and cities, establishing itself as a dominant force in the region. For the most part, its system of shared power works well. But once in a while, decision making needs to be swifter, more nimble, than the republican model allows. It's 460 BC, and Rome's facing something of an emergency. A stubborn local tribe, the Equi, have launched an assault on the Roman army in the neighbouring Alban Hills. The current consul, inept at the best of times, is trapped. It's no concern of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. He has served his time in the Senate, but these days, at almost 60, he's happy tending to his farm. It's a warm afternoon and digging trenches by hand is hard work. Taking a break, he straightens up and wipes the sweat from his brow. Leaning on his plough, he sees an unfamiliar sight. Two men are approaching him. He immediately identifies them by the braiding on their togas. They're senators. The men greet him, but although Cincinnatus responds warmly, the rules of decorum must be obeyed. He washes the mud from his hands and calls to his wife to bring his toga. Once he's respectfully dressed, the senators explain their predicament. They need a decision maker, someone to captain the Republic through the crisis. Cincinnatus doesn't hesitate. Leaving his plough lying in his field, he goes with them across the Tiber to the Senate, where he is appointed dictator. As the emergency leader, he has absolute power for a maximum of six months, or as long as it takes to restore stability. Cincinnatus doesn't need six months. Within two weeks, he's quelled the crisis. He then returns to his farm, hangs up his tova, picks up his plough and gets back to work. Admittedly, historians debate the veracity of the story, but it's what this depiction of the virtuous dictator tells us about Roman values that's important. A true senator will act for the Republic above all else. He will relinquish power rather than seize or abuse it. Above all, he will respect the structures of the government he serves. These codes of conduct and shared values are right at the heart of what it means to be a Roman. For the rich patrician families, though, there are two other crucial principles that are prized above all others. They guide every decision, every career move, every marriage. More importantly, it's these twin ideals that power the expansion, the dominance, and as we'll see, even the eventual fall of the Roman Republic.
- [26:37]
Dr. David Gwin
The two key words are dignitas and gloria, dignity and glory. But they don't quite mean in Latin what their English equivalents mean. Dignitas was your place in the hierarchy. It was determined by how great your family was, how great their achievements were, and then how great your own achievements were. What offices did you hold? But how do you gain this dignitas? That's where the word gloria comes in. The single greatest way to improve your dignitas is to win gloria. Now, in English, glory can mean many different achievements. In Latin, gloria means military glory. The Senate is driven by a competition to secure military glory. That is the greatest marker of success. Now, if you stop and think for a moment. If the Roman Republic is driven by the Senate and the Senate is driven by a desire for military glory, and they are the ones who make the decisions about declaring war, you really don't need to be a political scientist to work out what's going to happen next. You're only consul for one year. That is your one chance to win glory. It's your one year where you command the army. So you're at war almost the entire time because the people in authority want war.
- [28:00]
Paul McGann
It's no coincidence the Romans are best known for their armies. In the 4th and 3rd centuries BC they fight the Samnites, the Latins, the Gauls. To the east, they battle the Greeks and the Pyrrhic wars and finish off what remains of the Etruscans in the north.
- [28:17]
Dr. David Gwin
They simply keep on expanding. It keeps going up and up in scale. Now that's the single greatest driving force for the Roman Republic, conquering over the Mediterranean. The Roman republican constitution may be a brilliant system. That doesn't explain how did Rome rise to dominance? Why is it so aggressive? The Roman Republic existed for approximately 450 years. Well, according to our records, it was at war for approximately 440 of them. In other words, the Roman Republic is always at war. It is one of the most militaristic societies ever recorded. And this explains both the rise of Rome to greatness and the collapse of the Roman Republic.
- [29:06]
Paul McGann
Some of the most significant military action occurs during the three Punic Wars. The city state of Carthage in modern day Tunisia has been mirroring Roman expansion and accumulation of wealth for centuries. It controls vast territories across northern Africa, southern Spain, Sardinia and Sicily. By the third century BC it's renowned as the richest city in the world. During the Pyrrhic wars against Greece, Rome and Carthage are briefly allied. But when mercenaries seize the Sicilian town of Messina Its leaders call on both Rome and Carthage for help. Carthage is the first to respond. Notorious for their navy, they send a fleet to Messina. But when the Romans arrive with a far superior infantry. The Carthaginian general surrenders. It's a misstep that will later see him punished by crucifixion. The war is only just getting started. Elsewhere on the island, even a Carthaginian army of 50,000 men and 60 North African War elephants are unable to break a Roman siege. The city of Akragas falls and Rome sells 25,000 of its inhabitants into slavery. A stalemate settles on the island. And then one day things change. Early one morning, a Roman soldier relieves his comrade on sentry duty at a cliff top watchtower. He's a little drowsy after staying up late in his barracks playing dice. But falling asleep is punishable by death. So he stamps his sandal feet to keep himself alert. Then, finishing the strip of dried meat he's brought with him for a snack, he spots some in the shallows. Wide awake now, he calls to his decanus, a sergeant who runs straight to the centurion. Within minutes the news floods the garrison. A Carthaginian warship has run aground. While the Romans have concentrated their expansion on foot and horseback Carthage's dominance has depended on its navy. The Romans waste no time in exploring, exploiting their find. Within days, shipbuilders from the mainland arrive. All through the night the soldier hears them on the beach breaking the massive vessel. One evening after stable duty he decides to get a better look. He rushes his meal of boiled goat meat and figs but takes his ration of bread and posca, a diluted sweetened wine. And he pays a visit to the beach. What he sees takes his breath away. The rumors he's heard of what's happening down here aren't even close. Over the course of a few weeks the broken vessel has been reverse engineered. The first copy is almost complete and it's a sight to behold. He watches as dozens upon dozens of men swarm up the gangplanks and take their seats at the oars. There are spaces for 300 rowers stacked above each other on three levels. A massive bronze ram protrudes at the prow. Within just 60 days, the Romans have a fleet of these quinkaribs, 120 strong. By the time they launch an attack on the North African coast in 256 BC, the Romans are confident they have the army upper hand. But it's never as simple as that. Faced with a massive mercenary army under Spartan command, not to mention the scores of war elephants and thousands of cavalry, they suffer a devastating defeat. Rome sends a relief fleet to its beleaguered army, this time its novice sailors ambushed not by military might, but by the forces of nature. Before they can retreat to safety, 280 Roman warships are caught in a storm. The lives of over 100,000 troops are wiped out overnight. The wars rumble on, not just for years, but for decades. Rome eventually wins the First Punic War, but the peace doesn't hold. In 219 BC, Hannibal, the son of Carthage's previous leader, picks up where his father left off. Determined to squeeze Italy on all fronts, Hannibal enacts an audacious grand scale pincer tactic to surprise the Romans in the north. Starting with 50,000 men, 6,000 cavalry and his famous elephants, he travels up through Spain, skirts the southwest border of the Pyrenees and then crosses the alps. More than 13,000 men perish on the treacherous journey through freezing, unfamiliar conditions. But when the troops eventually arrive in northern Italy, they punish the Romans without mercy. According to the Greek historian Plutarch, on one day of fighting alone, 50,000 men are killed. The war continues for 17 years. Years. Large portions of southern Italy are lost, along with almost 800,000 lives. But Hannibal meets his match in the great Roman general Scipio. And when the conquering Scipio returns to Rome, every single person, patrician, plebeian, freeman or slave, knows his name.
- [34:48]
Dr. David Gwin
The greatest accolade in Roman society is what is called a triumph. It's when you've won a war and you parade through the city of Rome with your plunder, with your soldiers. It is the only circumstance where Roman soldiers can enter the city following their commander is in this great procession. So Cincinnatus had a triumph after his great victory as a dictator, but the early triumphs, they just take about an hour. They're a procession. Well, as Rome begins conquering, further and further triumphs take days. And because it is an escalating competition, so Each next generation is told well, this is what your father did. This is what your grandfather did. Your job is to win more glory to enhance the dignitas. It's a major pressure.
- [35:39]
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- [36:10]
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- [37:00]
Paul McGann
Rome, it's the day of the triumph of Scipio, the man they're now calling Africanus. In a poor part of the city, a young man wakes early. He dresses for work in a rough tunic and sandals and leaves his simple apartment or insulae. The homes of the poor rarely have kitchens, so he buys a wheat pancake with figs and honey for breakfast from a stall on the way to his employer's villa. The house is alive with activity. His master is hosting a meal this evening in celebration of the great General's return. The young man gets to work helping to prepare the large atrium in the center of the villa. This is the home of a wealthy patrician family, and every wall is adorned with mosaics designed by master craftsmen to demonstrate the family status and dignitas. Servants rush around draping the sloped couches with fresh linens. Jugs of water are filled. They'll be used later by the slaves, who must continually wash the hands of the noble men and women as they eat with their hands, a bell rings, and the young man attends to his master. After dressing him, he accompanies him to the local baths. At the entrance, the servant nods to his brother, only 12 years old, who works here. He's relieved to see him well, because the job he does is not only blisteringly hot and uncomfortable, but deadly, too. The boy spends his days crawling between the brick stacks of the hypocaust heating system under the floors of the baths, clearing out the soot and keeping the pipes clear. Children die here on a regular basis. The pair pass into the atrium of the baths, then the unctorium. A slave appears to anoint the older man with oil to ready him for the hot pool. In the steaming caldarium, the servant waits as his master discusses the day's coming events with the other nobles taking the waters. For weeks, the city has spoken of nothing else. After a plunge in the cold pool, the master is scraped down using a metal striggle, which removes the oil, perspiration and dirt. The pair then head back out into the open air. The sound of horns, drums and cheering drift towards them from the Porta Triumphalis, the ceremonial gate on the outskirts of the city. The procession is underway. The parade is the greatest Rome has ever seen. Plunder from the conquered lands is paraded by the soldiers. Innumerable prisoners of war follow, terrified in the final hours before their execution. The servant, having delivered his master to the Senate, elbows his way through the exhilarated onlookers. They are thousands strong now, and he is just in time. The cheering swells, thundering along the Via Sacra like a tsunami, and then coming into sight as the crowd reaches a fever pitch. The man himself, Scipio Africanus, standing atop a chariot emblazoned with ivory and gold and pulled by four decorated horses. An effigy of a phallus hangs beneath the chariot placed by the religious order of the Vestal Virgins to ward off the evil eye. Behind Africanus, a slave stands holding a golden crown above his head. A later account by the early Christian historian Tertullian claims that the slave would also whisper to the general as he proceeded around the city. Respi se poste hominem te memamento. Look behind you. Remember that you're a man. There's good reason to offer this reminder. The dazzling purple and gold of Scipio's toga tells the people of his standing in the mortal world, but his face is painted with red pillow pigment derived from powdered cinnabar. As he approaches the final Stage of the triumph, mounting the Capitoline hill to offer sacrifice in the temple of Jupiter, he himself appears less of a man and more like a God. It's the crowning moment in Scipio's career. But in the story of the Republic, a crisis is underway.
- [41:33]
Dr. David Gwin
They now dominate North Africa, Spain, they went out east and beat the successor kingdoms to Alexander the Great. And then they keep going. And this is the problem. That drive for glory is the single simplest explanation for the rise of the Roman Republic. It also directly caused its collapse, because the problem with constant expansion is you overstretch. Partly it was that more and more money slaves were flooding into Italy, which caused a massive social crisis. After all, if you've got slave labor for everything, what did the old farmers do? One critical change happens in the course of the Roman Republic. It comes back to the army. And obviously in a society at war, this much the army is rather essential. Well, in Roman custom, and it was actually a Greek custom the Romans took over to serve in the army, you had to own a certain amount of land. Originally it was because that way you could supply your equipment. But it's also because, and this is the Greek philosophical principle, if you own land, you have a stake. So they're the people you can trust to fight for your society, not the mercenaries. Carthage relied on mercenaries. It didn't have the population, so it had to pay soldiers. In the Roman Republic, it's supposed to be the farmers. But as the republic gets bigger and bigger, and crucially this flood of slaves and money, what it actually caused was increasingly a loss of population of the farmers. Small farmers get driven off their land, which means they can no longer fight in the army.
- [43:11]
Paul McGann
There is no one trigger for the eventual destruction of the republican model. But arguably it's this problem that produces the spark. For brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, grandsons of Scipio Africanus, the issue of farming and land ownership puts into motion a series of events that will immortalize them, but not in the way that they hope. Having served in the Third Punic War, Tiberius Gracchus returns home to continue his political career. A wealthy plebeian or non patrician, he is elected to oversee the assembly of the plebs, which functions similarly to a congress or House of Commons. But it's on his travels across the Roman territories in modern day Spain that he realizes the extent of the side effects of Rome's success. It's a long journey back to Rome in the cursus publicus or fabric topped cart, that he's travelling in the newly Laid road is exemplary in its construction, 8ft wide with a camber for drainage and allows him to cover up to 50 miles a day. But traveling for hours on wooden cartwheels is hardly easy on the bones. He calls to the horsemen to stop in a town where he buys snacks. Some dormice rolled in sesame and a small jug of. When they set off again and the town recedes, he sees field after field being toiled by barbarian slaves. It's the same story all the way back to Rome. That unquenchable thirst for military gloria has conquered vast swathes of land and enslaved huge numbers of people. By now there are 2 or 3 million slaves in Italy alone, accounting for maybe 40% of the population. Day after day, passing region after region, Tiberius watches them work. The grand villas of the very wealthy, beautified with marble fascias and elaborate mosaics, stand proudly among the orange groves. But the ordinary families have no land at all. As he comes into Rome, he sees sees that work is continuing on the Aqua Tapula, the fourth of the great aqueducts that have made Roman infrastructure famous. Using a complex system of scaffold and pulleys, hundreds of men are hoisting enormous blocks of stone many yards into the air, creating an elevated channel to bring water into the city. These aqueducts aren't just functional. They're designed to show how Roman engineering can dominate even the forces of nature. The Republic, especially the consuls who lead it, wastes no opportunity in showcasing its affluence. So surely Tiberius thinks it can spare the resources to help its less well off citizens. By the time he gets home, Tiberius has a redistribute. Distributing land among the poorer men will give them a stake in the Republic. It also means that in return, according to custom, they will pledge to support the military when required. The army will be strengthened, the farmers will be happy. It's a win. Win. Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, his plan is unpopular with the landowning Senate. When he seeks re election, the patricians claim that he's accumulating too much power. He is murdered in a riot and thrown into the Tiber. But even that isn't enough to put an end to his vision. His younger brother tries to finish what he started. Gaius goes even further, demanding that Roman citizenship and voting rights should be extended across the Latin world. But the Senate, populated as it is by men who jostled for personal dignitas their whole lives can't risk this step towards democracy. The system and their power within it depends on their ability to outvote the poor. And so Gaius opponents call for his death. Whoever brings Gaius head will earn its weight in gold. Hours after the pronouncement, Gaius severed head is presented. Its bearer is delighted to see the scales tip at 17 and a half pounds. Suspicious, the senators inspect it further. The enterprising butcher, they discover, has removed the brain and filled the cavity with molten lead. In death, the Gracchi brothers are upheld as martyrs for the poor. But the dwindling numbers of men eligible for the army remains a problem.
- [48:05]
Dr. David Gwin
And the way the crisis is solved eventually isn't a land reform. It's letting people who don't own land serve in the army. It's done by Gaius Maris, who was a novice homo, a new man. It meant no other member of your family had ever been in the Senate. But he faced the first great Germanic invasion of Italy, or threatening Northern Italy. The Cimbre and Teutones smashed two Roman armies apart. They killed 60,000 Roman soldiers in one battle. It's the worst defeat Rome ever suffered. In order to reorganize the army, Marius recruits the very poor. And what he promised them was if you serve when your service is finished, you'll get land. Because this is a farming society. These poor want land. It all sounds so logical, and yet there's one massive problem. These armies of the very poor are loyal to the person who promised them land. That's not the Senate, that's their general.
- [49:09]
Paul McGann
By the last century bc, the days of the Roman Republic are numbered. In the end, it's not a threat from without that sounds the death knell, but simple human folly. The determination to secure gloria on the battlefield and dignitas for one's own name and family, has driven the expansion of Rome and secured its military dominance. But now those twin ideals also start to herald its downfall. That great model of power distributed among virtuous elders, men like Cincinnatus, is fast becoming a thing of the past. After winning the first civil war with what was essentially a private army in 82 BC, Sulla revives the position of dictator for the first time since the Punic Wars a century before. According to the contemporary histories of Cicero, among Sulla's first actions is the writing of proscriptions, lists of men to be purged. The killings go on for months, wiping out up to 9,000 lives. As Plutarch puts it, husbands were butchered in the arms of their wives, sons in the arms of their mothers. The title of dictator is beginning to resemble our modern understanding of it. Unsurprisingly, Sulla has made a lot of enemies in his ascendancy. And it's not just his political opponents who need to be wary. Whole families are forced to relinquish their wealth and titles and are forced into hiding. One of those affected is a young man by the name of Gaius Julius Caesar. He is from a moderately important family and right from the start, he's shrewd and ambitious. When his father dies suddenly while putting on his shoes, the so 16 year old Caesar becomes head of a family. Just one year later, he's elected Flamon Dialis, High Priest of Jupiter. It takes a while to get used to the rules of religious life. And there are many, many rules, to name just a few. He's forbidden to mount a horse, touch iron or have a knot in any of his clothes. He may not eat beans or flower or cut his hair without ceremonially burying it. The Romans believed that the accuracy of religious rites was the single most important way to please the gods. As luck would have it, this new head of the Roman religion is a fast learner. But now, in around 81 BC, the young Caesar finds his early momentum interrupted. As the nephew of Gaius Marius, one of Sulla's enemies, he's stripped of his inheritance and his position within the priesthood. He leaves Rome and joins the army. A few years later, he hears of Sulla's death and returns to the city. Making his way across the Aegean Sea. However, he's kidnapped by pirates. They initially demand a ransom of 20 talents of gold, around 400 kg. Caesar, not to be undervalued, insists they more than double their price. While they wait for the money to be raised, he makes use of his time by writing and practicing his public speaking. He spends 38 days in captivity. It's easy to imagine the bandits becoming relaxed around this charismatic young man. He reads his poems aloud to them and playfully calls them barbarians when they fail to understand their nuance. So when he says he'll have them executed when he's released, they assume he's joking. He's not. The first thing he does when he's free is to raise a fleet and capture them. But they treated him well, so he shows them leniency. Before they're crucified, the merciful Judius Caesar has their throats cut. Caesar now begins his own quest for Gloria in earnest. After winning battles in modern day Spain, he returns to Rome and is offered a triumph of his own. But there's a catch. If he takes it, he must forgo his chance to lead the Senate as consul, ever with his eye on the Bigger picture. He turns down the pomp and ceremony of being king for a day. What he wants is a much Greater Prize. He's 40 years old by the time he's first elected consul in 60 BC. Not long afterwards, he forms the first triumferate, an alliance between himself, Crassus and Pompey. All three men are wealthy, influential, well connected and relentlessly ambitious. They spread out, seeking to extend the dominance of Rome still further. Crassus heads east to Syria. Pompey takes the road west to Hispania. For his part, Caesar moves up and out to control Gaul, covering what is now frequent France, Belgium, Switzerland and parts of Germany and the Netherlands. Under his command, the army commits what can only be described as genocide. Over the course of his campaign, up to a million people are slaughtered, Another million are enslaved. That accounts for almost 2/3 of the conquered population. 800 cities are destroyed. In some cases, not a single occupant is left alive. The triumvirate collapses in 53 BC with Crassus death, Caesar and Pompey become locked in a civil war for ultimate control of the Roman Empire. Despite outnumbering Caesar's troops two to one at the battle of Pharsalus, Pompey suffers a resounding defeat. Soon afterwards he is assassinated by four is loyal to Cleopatra's brother Ptolemy. Now only Caesar is left of the original three.
- [55:30]
Dr. David Gwin
There's no question Caesar was brilliant. A superb orator, a superb writer, a superb soldier, a superb politician, One of those really irritating people who does genuinely seem to have been good at everything. Oh, and also a superb lover and famous for rampant and rampant adultery. Caesar had no brain breaks. Caesar just keeps collecting power. He controls who's in the Senate. People like consuls are no longer elected. He simply drew up a list for the next years. Caesar is effectively a king, a rex. And in Caesar's time there are still enough Romans, particularly enough Roman senators, who are so opposed to the idea of monarchy that that is not acceptable.
- [56:15]
Paul McGann
In the last few months of his life, he removes the powers of the people's assembly and disrespects the Senate twice. He makes a show being given but rejecting a crown. Though his popularity among the people is cult like these theatrics are viewed by many of his fellow statesmen with suspicion. Maybe he's testing the waters. Maybe what he's really doing is establishing support for a return to monarchy. His self appointment as perpetual dictator at the beginning of 44 BC is the final straw. It is in the end hubris that puts an end to Caesar's meteoric rise. And so, on the morning of the 15th of March, 44 BC, Caesar ignores the warnings of the Haruspex and the dreams of his wife. He mounts the steps to the theater of Pompey, built by his greatest rival for the last time. As he takes his seat on the Senate floor, he is surrounded. Too late. He sees the dagger in the hand of Casca and then in the hands of the others. After the first strike, he tries to get away, but blinded by blood, he falls. In his last moments, he understands the depth of the conspiracy. Not one of the several dozen senators try to help him. Among them is Brutus, descendant of that man who almost five centuries before, toppled the last king of Rome. The immortal line Et tu Brute? Is a Shakespearean interpretation from centuries later. But records by Suetonius suggest Caesar's last words are the equally plaintive caesu technon and you too, my child. Others recount that Caesar, on seeing Brutus, merely pulls his toga over his head and says nothing at all.
- [58:22]
Dr. David Gwin
The great fear the Romans had was of the return of a King Rex. It's why Caesar got murdered perhaps more than anything else, because he took the title perpetual dictator. That's a contradiction in Roman terms. And it's an indicator that what's happened across the history of the Republic is bit by bit, powers come into individual hands. Given that at least 70 people knew about the conspiracy, it wasn't exactly a senatorial secret. The real problem is, like so many such assassinations, there's no plan for what happens next. They seem to have just assumed that if you kill Caesar, you go back to the old Republic. But the old Republic hasn't existed now since gaius Marius time 60 years before. The Senate has no army.
- [59:14]
Paul McGann
They may have killed the would be architect of a new age of kings. But Brutus and his conspirators fail to save the Republic. What follows is a power vacuum that will seal the fate of the old system for good. Within 17 years, the last pretences of senatorial rule have crumbled away. And emerging from the rubble of what many believe to be the greatest republican civilization the world has ever seen, is an empire. It may have started as a humble settlement of bandits and prospectors, but by the time Caesar's great nephew Augustus officially becomes the first emperor in 27 BC, Rome is unrivaled in its dominance of the Mediterranean. Despite centuries of war, the Roman Republic falls in the end, not to external invasion, but to greed. Its carefully built institutions stood for more than half a millennium and were it not for that insatiable hunger for Gloria and Dignitas, maybe they would have stood for a millennium more. Next time, we'll bring you a short history of Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun lived and indeed was king at an incredibly interesting point in Egyptian history. This is because his reign follows almost immediately, a period when Egypt is turned on its head. That's next time.
- [60:51]
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