The Pax Romana Podcast

Rome was sacked in AD 410, but the western empire did not end. What did the Roman Empire Honorius do after this disaster? This episode argues that Honorius failed to preserve the Empire because he confused the survival of his court with the survival of the Empire. Donate: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFC⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube Channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

In AD 410, the emperor Honorius told the British communities to look to their own defense—a moment often treated as the official end of Roman rule in Britain. But by then, how much Roman power was really left? This episode traces the crisis from the late fourth century to the years just after 410: from usurpers like Magnus Maximus and Constantine III, to raids by Saxons, Picts, and Scots, to the c...

In August AD 410, something happened that many Romans believed was impossible: Rome fell. After eight centuries without a foreign conquest, the “Eternal City” was breached by the Gothic king Alaric and his army. But was this really the violent apocalypse later generations imagined? This episode follows the collapse of diplomacy after the execution of Stilicho, the sieges that brought famine to Rom...

What does it take to hold an empire together when the emperor is a child? Who really rules— the man with the title, or the man with the army? And how long can that arrangement last before it begins to crack? In the early fifth century AD, the western Roman Empire faced precisely this problem. A boy, Honorius, sat on the throne, while a general, Stilicho, governed in his name, winning wars, managin...

In 395, the Roman Empire did not collapse, but it lost the ability to act as a single, coordinated system. Two emperors inherited the empire—Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West—but neither truly governed. Power lay with the men around them. Among those men, one stood out: Stilicho, the western general who claimed to act for the unity of the empire itself. Donate: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ww...

On January 19, AD 379, at Sirmium, a Latin-speaking westerner from Spain named Flavius Theodosius was invested with the imperial purple. He was a man for the times but, in many ways, a man out of place; he was expected to rule a Greek-speaking East and a church deeply fractured by doctrinal disputes. His reign, spanning nearly sixteen years, would see him outlive his imperial colleagues and briefl...

After the disaster of Adrianople, the Roman Empire struggled to rebuild its army and restore order. But in AD 390, a riot in the city of Thessalonica spiraled into one of the most infamous episodes of late Roman history. How did the arrest of a single charioteer lead to the death of a Roman general? Why did imperial troops suddenly turn on a crowd in the city’s hippodrome? And how did the aftermat...

The Battle of Adrianople in August of AD 378 was one of Rome’s worst military disasters. A refugee crisis at the edge of the empire turned into a bloody afternoon battle that shattered the Roman and changed imperial policy forever. What led the Romans into the Battle of Adrianople? Why did the emperor Valens rush into battle? What did the loss mean for the future of the Empire? Donate: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Jovian ruled the Roman Empire for barely eight months (AD 363–364), yet his reign reveals how imperial power functioned in moments of extreme crisis. Elevated suddenly after Julian’s death deep in Persia, Jovian faced the immediate task of saving a stranded Roman army. He chose negotiation over annihilation and stabilized Rome’s eastern frontier for generations. His death from carbon monoxide pois...

Did the emperor Aurelian's big coin reform in the 270s AD shatter public trust in the money system? Did it shift value from faith in the government to just the metal in the coins? I wrote most of an article addressing these issues, but never got around to publishing it. So I use this podcast episode to make an argument that the system was already crumbling decades before Aurelian. And Aurelian...

Disease shaped population levels, military strength and the stability of imperial institutions in the Roman Empire. Smallpox, a highly lethal viral disease known from the early modern period and eradicated only in the twentieth century, has long been assumed to have been part of that ancient disease environment. A recent-ish article in the Journal of Roman Studies challenges that assumption, showi...

363 AD: Emperor Julian, Rome’s last pagan ruler, wagered everything on a massive invasion of Persia to eclipse Alexander the Great and prove that the old gods blessed his empire. He crossed into Persia with tens of thousands of soldiers and a thousand supply ships. Fortresses fell, cities burned and Ctesiphon itself lay within reach. But Julian's careful efforts were undone by his own hubris....

In AD 361, Flavius Claudius Julianus--Julian "The Apostate"--entered Constantinople as the unexpected sole Augustus of the Roman world. Here was a thirty-year-old philosopher-king who had spent the previous decade dissimulating Christianity while privately offering midnight sacrifices to pagan gods. He had roughly twenty months left to live. In that brief span he attempted nothing less t...

Julian the Apostate is a well-documented and fascinating figure--a secret pagan who wound up ruling the Christian Roman Empire. This episode examines the formative years that transformed a survivor of a dynastic purge into the last pagan emperor. How did isolation shape his intellectual trajectory? How did he find himself second-in-command of the Roman Empire? And how did he win glory for himself,...

In 355 AD, Silvanus, a high-ranking officer in the Roman Empire faced treason charges from forged letters. The emperor, Constantius II had him executed. But also, after learning that the letters were forged, the emperor pardoned the conspirators. Why else would he do all this unless he was either gullible or cruel? Well, the ancient historian who wrote about this episode, Ammianus Marcellinus, may...

Constantine's sons fought one another for control over their father's Empire. The last one standing was Constantius II. But even after conquering the Empire, his problems were only just beginning. He had Alemanni invading in the west, the Persian threat in the east and religious schisms across the increasingly Christian Roman Empire. He would attempt to stabilize the Empire, but was he suc...

In AD 337, Constantine's sons--Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans--and nephew Dalmatius, inherited a vast empire. But dynastic rivalries erupted in a brutal summer massacre. Who was killed, and who orchestrated the purge? How did the survivors divide the Roman world? What lasting impact did the civil wars that followed have on the Empire's stability? Donate: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.paypal.com/nc...

Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity, stands as a pivotal figure in late antiquity, bridging the classical world and the emerging Byzantine era. His reign transformed the empire, yet, as Constantine entered his sixties, he continued to plan for wars and also the succession at the same time. How did his dynastic plans unfold? What were his plans for foreign policy?...

The Age of Constantine bridged the Classical World and the world of Late Antiquity. This era has a reputation for being economically troubled, but the reality is far more complicated. This episode ruminates on the defining features of Constantine's economy, with special focus on agriculture, urbanization, money, government finances and the growing economic power of the Christian church. Donate: ⁠⁠...

In AD 330, Constantine the Great established Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire--transforming his empire, and the world. Constantine built a cultural and economic powerhouse, and a city associated with Christendom. It was a city that, depending on your perspective, helped usher in the end of the Roman Empire, or perhaps aided its preservation. Why did Constantine pick the site o...

In 325 AD, a gathering of bishops in a small town near Constantinople changed the course of Christianity and the Roman Empire forever. Known as the Council of Nicaea, this wasn’t just a theological debate—it was a collision of imperial power and religious authority. At its heart was Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, whose dream of a unified empire under one God reshaped church an...

Was Constantine's conversion to Christianity genuine? How did it reshape Roman politics and culture? Evidence from Lactantius and Eusebius suggests a sincere conversion, with a divine vision sparking his faith, though political pragmatism shaped its expression. His actions, like the Edict of Milan and church-building, wove Christianity into Roman identity, transforming the empire. Constantine’...

The Third Century Crisis prompted Diocletian’s Tetrarchy in 293 AD--a bold four-ruler system to restore order. Then, in 303, Diocletian inaugurated the Great Persecution of Christians. Religion and politics intersected when Diocletian abdicated in 305, setting in motion a chain of events which prompted a succession crisis and empowered a new usurper, Constantine, to make a play for Rome. How did C...

What happens when a society’s protectors turn on its elites? Why did the Roman military, with its fierce loyalty and unity, eclipse the wealthy senators of the Pax Romana? How did Rome’s own soldiers, alienated and rootless, turn into “barbarians” within? Peter Turchin's insights offer some useful food for thought. ⁠⁠Donate: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFC⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube Chan...

Diocletian’s Edict on Maximum Prices was a bold attempt to combat hyperinflation. It was sold with moralizing rhetoric--not unlike rhetoric in favor of anti-price-gouging laws or wage and price controls in modern states. Diocletian blamed greed instead of addressing currency issues. Did the Price Edict work? ⁠Donate: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFC⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠YouTube Channel: https://w...