Hugo Prudentius

Real Roman History

History EN ↓ 61 episodes

The complete history of Rome, from its origins in the eighth century BCE through the death of Justinian in 565 CE. Thirteen hundred years of one civilization, told in over two hundred episodes. Direct, warm, unhurried. No simplification of what was genuinely complicated. No softening of uncomfortable truths about Rome's heroes or about the people Rome conquered. The series is built by a team with a consistent point of view. History is made by far more people than the emperors and generals the standard narrative remembers. Material conditions shape events as much as individual decisions do. The...

Author

Hugo Prudentius

Episodes

Episode 11. The Samnite Wars, Part One: The Road to the Caudine Forks 27.03.2026 43:59

Works Cited Primary Sources Appian. Samnite Wars . A fragmentary account that preserves some details not in Livy. Cicero. De Re Publica ; De Officiis . Several passages discuss the devotio, Manlius Torquatus, and the moral significance of the Latin War settlement. Diodorus Siculus. Library of History . Books 16–19. A parallel Greek account; his silence on the First Samnite War is one of the pr...

Episode 10. After the Fire: Rome Rebuilds and Rome Remembers 20.03.2026 38:32

Works Cited Primary Sources Cicero. De Re Publica , Book II; De Officiis , Book III. On Ahala, Manlius, and the patrician duty tradition. Livy. Ab Urbe Condita . Books VI–VII, translated by B. O. Foster, Loeb Classical Library; also translated by Betty Radice, Penguin Classics. Plutarch. “Life of Camillus.” Makers of Rome , translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert, Penguin Classics, 1965. The fullest a...

Episode 9. Vae Victis: The Gallic Sack of Rome 20.03.2026 31:29

Works Cited Primary Sources Diodorus Siculus. Library of History . Books XIV–XV. Preserves the Greek dating tradition. Livy. Ab Urbe Condita . Books V–VI, translated by B. O. Foster, Loeb Classical Library. Our fullest account. Plutarch. “Life of Camillus.” Makers of Rome , translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert, Penguin Classics, 1965. Polybius. Histories . Book I.6. Important for the 387 BCE date....

Episode 8. Virtue and Its Discontents: Coriolanus, Cincinnatus, and Camillus 20.03.2026 28:36

Works Cited Primary Sources Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities . Books VI–XIII. Fuller on Coriolanus than Livy. Livy. Ab Urbe Condita . Books II–V, translated by B. O. Foster, Loeb Classical Library. Plutarch. “Life of Coriolanus” and “Life of Camillus.” Makers of Rome , translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert, Penguin Classics, 1965. Essential for both figures. Secondary Sources Beard, Mary...

Episode 7. Rome and Its Neighbors, the World of the Early Republic 20.03.2026 26:55

Works Cited Primary Sources Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities . Books VI–IX. Livy. Ab Urbe Condita . Books II–V, translated by B. O. Foster, Loeb Classical Library; also translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt, Penguin Classics. Polybius. Histories . Book VI, on the Roman army and its organization. Secondary Sources Beard, Mary. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome . Profile Books, 2015. Cha...

Episode 6. The Struggle of the Orders, Part Two: Law in Bronze 20.03.2026 39:03

Works Cited Primary Sources Cicero. De Re Publica , Book II; De Legibus , Books I–III; De Oratore , I.44.195, on schoolboys memorizing the Twelve Tables. Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities . Books V–XI. Livy. Ab Urbe Condita . Books II–X, translated by B. O. Foster, Loeb Classical Library; also translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt and Betty Radice, Rome and Italy , Penguin Classics,...

Episode 5. The Struggle of the Orders, Part One: City Divided 20.03.2026 49:23

Works Cited Primary Sources Appian. Civil Wars . Book I. Later perspective; useful background on debt and agrarian crisis as a recurring structural problem. Cicero. De Re Publica , Book II.56–63; De Legibus , Book III. Discusses the tribunate and its constitutional role. Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities . Books VI–VII. Gives a more detailed account of the negotiations than Livy; a...

Episode 4. The Fall of the Monarchy 20.03.2026 30:36

Works Cited Primary Sources Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities . Books IV–V. Parallel account, often preserving variant traditions; particularly useful on the Porsena episode. Fasti Consulares. The consular list, the institutional record that attests Brutus and Collatinus as the Republic’s first consuls. Livy. Ab Urbe Condita . Books I.56–II.14. The principal narrative for the fall of...

Episode 3. The Etruscan Kings 20.03.2026 45:19

Works Cited Primary Sources Cicero. De Re Publica . Book II. A philosophical dialogue that includes a substantial account of the kings and the transition to Republic. Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities . Books III–IV. A parallel account, often more detailed than Livy, with a Greek rhetorical perspective. Livy. Ab Urbe Condita . Books I.34–60. The principal narrative source for the Et...

Episode 2. The Latin and Sabine Kings 20.03.2026 41:18

Works Cited Primary Sources Cicero. De Re Publica . Book II.12–33, on the first four kings. Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities . Books I–III. Festus. De Verborum Significatu . Valuable for archaic religious institutions. Livy. Ab Urbe Condita . Book I, Chapters 4–35, translated by B. O. Foster, Loeb Classical Library; also translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt, The Early History of Ro...

Episode 1. In the Beginning: The Origins of Rome 20.03.2026 26:21

Works Cited Primary Sources Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities . Books I–II, translated by Earnest Cary, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1937. Livy. Ab Urbe Condita (From the Foundation of the City). Book I, translated by B. O. Foster, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1919; also translated by R. M. Ogilvie, Penguin, 1960. Ovid. Fasti . Book IV, on...