Pliny's Guide to Menstrual Magic – Vespasian #25
This episode we go deep on the hilltop fortresses still holding out in Judaea after the fall of Jerusalem, which turns into a very long detour through Pliny the Elder's chapter on menstrual blood…. which is, it turns out, absolutely packed with practical tips you can use at…
Roman history told the way it actually happened — bloody, horny, and frequently profane.
We started in 2013 with a series on Julius Caesar. Then a hundred on Augustus. Then Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero. Then, like the Lord God, we rested. Now we are BACK, working our way through the Year of the Four Emperors and into Vespasian.
We don’t do hot takes. We don’t do ten-minute summaries. We take a single emperor — sometimes a single year — and we sit with him until we understand him. That usually takes fifty to a hundred episodes. We’re aware this is unhinged. You’ll come for the geopolitics and stay for the swearing.
— Ray & Cam · The Podcast Network
Latest dispatches from the front.
Pliny's Guide to Menstrual Magic – Vespasian #25
This episode we go deep on the hilltop fortresses still holding out in Judaea after the fall of Jerusalem, which turns into a very long detour through Pliny…
A River of Gold – Vespasian #24
We're covering the triumph of Vespasian and Titus, and our eyewitness is Josephus…. a Jewish priest who watched Rome parade the looted contents of his own temple down…
The God in the Dog Mask – Vespasian #23
This episode we're deep in the Temple of Isis – which turns out to be exactly where Vespasian and Titus had to spend the night before their joint…
Titus' Victory Tour – Vespasian #22
Titus wraps up the Jewish War with a five-month tour of the region, dropping in on city after city with two legions at his back and thousands of…
The Last Man Standing – Vespasian #21
Vespasian is finally making his way back to Rome and apparently every city he passes through absolutely loses its goddamn mind…. according to Josephus who is, of course,…
We’re working our way down the imperial line, one civil war at a time.
Julius
Augustus
Tiberius
Caligula
Claudius
Nero
Galba
Otho
Vitellius
Vespasian
Titus
Domitian
Nerva
Trajan
Hadrian
Antoninus
Two old blokes. Thirteen years. An unreasonable number of footnotes.
RAY
Ray
History buff. Reads Suetonius on the train and underlines the rude bits. Specialises in pretending he knows what Cam is talking about. A big hit with the ladies and various farm animals.
“Augustus was basically the world's first PR consultant. He just had the budget to murder the journalists.”
CAM
Cameron
Literally invented long-form history podcasting in 2006. Obsessed with dirty Latin words. Handles the jokes, most of the swearing, and pushing Ray towards the edge of madness.
“Every Roman story is a love story between two ambitious men who absolutely would have stabbed each other given fifteen minutes alone.”
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