Oct 17, 2020
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo – brother-in-law of Caligula – is sent by Claudius to Germany to deal with some rebellious tribes. But he’s TOO successful, so Claudius calls him home. Messalina decides to get married again – while still married to...
Oct 11, 2020
Messalina starts killing off men who refuse her sexual advances or who just have something she wants. Meanwhile, Claudius keeps being a nice guy and the people feel sorry for him. If you're seeing this message, it means you aren't logged in as a subscriber. If want to...
Sep 18, 2020
The invasion of Brittania continues. When Plautius has them nearly finished, he sends for Claudius who turns up to take credit for the final blow. The Senate granted him tons of honours as a result of his victory. But he’s more interested in explaining to Romans how...
Sep 11, 2020
In 43 Claudius is consul again. Messalina is setting him up with girls to bang while she’s running sex parties in another part of the palace. Then he invades Britain, finishing the job Julius Caesar started nearly a century earlier. If you're seeing this message, it...
Sep 5, 2020
While the attempted coup was going on, Claudius had troops in Mauretania under the command of Suetonius Paulinus. One of Paulinus’ officers, Gnaeus Hosidius Geta, chases the Moors over the Atlas Mountains and into the desert – where he has to call on foreign...
Aug 21, 2020
Claudius was a builder and a visionary. Humble and generous. Okay – maybe he liked gladiatorial contests a little too much. But then there was his wife – Valeria Messallina. Like Livia, Messallina often gets blamed for some of the deaths that occurred...
Aug 14, 2020
Claudius was a builder and a visionary. Humble and generous. Okay – maybe he liked gladiatorial contests a little too much. But then there was his wife – Valeria Messallina. Like Livia, Messallina often gets blamed for some of the deaths that occurred...
Aug 8, 2020
In the early days of his reign, Claudius tried hard to be fair, humble and down-to-earth. He forbade anyone to worship him or to offer him any sacrifice and declared statues made of him to be a waste of money. It was too good to last. If you're seeing this message, it...
Jul 23, 2020
When Caligula was assassinated in 41, Claudius hid in a room of the palace called the Hermaeum, and then behind a curtain on a balcony. According to Suetonius, he was discovered by a soldier named Gratus – Gratitude – who said to his colleagues:...
Jul 16, 2020
For most of his life, Claudius was the Rosemary Kennedy of the Caesars. Without the ice pick lobotomy. Hidden from the public. If he wasn’t allowed to participate in Roman affairs, he would look elsewhere. He became a historian, writing a ton of books about his...
Jul 11, 2020
The first 50 years of Tiberius Claudius Nero’s life was a mixture of wealth, power and cruelty. With symptoms similar to cerebral palsy, the young Claudius was called “a monstrosity of a human being, one that Nature began and never finished” – by his...
Jun 15, 2020
In this special post-series wrap up episode of Caligula, I’m joined by my fellow Aussie history podcasters, Dr G and Dr R from The Partial Historians. If you're seeing this message, it means you aren't logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium...
Jun 6, 2020
Hey folks – because I’ve decided to take a few weeks off from late June (I’m actually driving down to Sydney and Melbourne to do some QAV events), we are going to take a break before we start the Claudius series. We’ll be back with Claudius around mid-July. But...
May 29, 2020
On the last morning of his life, Caligula entered the temporary theatre on the Palatine in a good mood. The conspirators attacked him in a narrow corridor, on his way back to the palace during the lunch break between performances. The lead conspirator, the praetorian...
May 21, 2020
There’s nothing worse than having a Finicky Anus aka Lucius Annius Vinicianus. According to Josephus, Vinicianus was one of the main conspirators. As we’ll see, Vinicianus was a long history of conspiring against the Julio-Claudians – he was...
May 16, 2020
The final conspiracy against Caligula involved Cassius Chaerea, an officer of the Praetorian Guard; Callistus, Caligula’s wealthy freedman adviser; and the senator Lucius Annius Vinicianus. Over the next three episodes, we’ll explore whether or not the...
Apr 24, 2020
My guest today is Anthony Poulton-Smith – Freelance Journalist, Author of 78 books, and many more articles, ghostwriter, speaker and etymologist. Chair of Tamworth Literary Festival, Tamworth History Group. He spoke to me recently about the Latin roots of some...
Apr 11, 2020
Caligula got back to Rome around May 40 but stayed outside of the city until he could celebrate his ovation on his 28th birthday, 31 August. In the meantime he met with delegations from various parts of the world, including Philo’s delegation from Alexandria,...
Apr 1, 2020
Ray recently interviewed Lindsay Powell about Caligula. I asked Ray for show notes. This is what he gave me. “We talked of keeping the sources in context, considering the times they lived it and agenda. He went deep. Then his analysis of the events in the German...
Mar 26, 2020
Many historians claim that Caligula’s demand to be treated as a living god is a sure sign of madness. And yet – JESUS claimed the same thing and nobody calls HIM insane. Why does he get special treatment? On this episode, we drill down into the evidence for the...
