Ancient History Fangirl · Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy

RE-RELEASE: Fulvia: Original Gangster of Ancient Rome

March 19, 2026·1 hr 38 min·1 clip

Fulvia begins in blood. The episode puts her at a threshold, holding her dead husband while a grieving crowd gathers and the city seems to move under her feet. It is theatrical, but not empty drama. The hosts treat Fulvia as a political presence, and her marriage to Curio matters. Curio arrives quickly. After marrying Fulvia, his populist fire and public weight jump enough that Caesar pays attention. Then he is gone. Curio dies in 49 BC while fighting in Caesar's army against King Juba in North Africa. The surrounding mess matters too. Caesar has crossed the Rubicon, taken Italy, and pushed the existing Roman government into civil war against Pompey and the so-called best men. The hosts have no patience for that label, and the aside gets a clean laugh while the politics get more crowded. North Africa turns into a hinge point. Caesar defeats Pompey, then Cato and the remaining best men, in the same war where Fulvia's second husband dies. Cleopatra appears next. Caesar goes to Alexandria, falls hard for Cleopatra, fights the Alexandrian War, and strengthens her hold over Ptolemaic Egypt. All of this takes about three years, from 49 to 46 BC, though the hosts joke that explaining it feels just as long because the civil-war setup is so packed. Mark Antony gets the loosest treatment. Left in charge of Rome, he gallivants in a lion-drawn chariot, sleeps scandalously, drinks hard, and answers to almost nobody. That chaos is the point. Fulvia is moving through a world of violence, theater, elite branding, bad judgment, and moral mess, which is exactly why the episode has bite.

As heard by us

Fulvia anchors a brisk, unsentimental tour of grief, power, and Rome.

Fulvia comes across as the episode's nerve center: private grief hardening into public force, with the opening image doing a lot of work fast.

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Why you'd press play

For Fulvia, doorstep blood, and Roman power shifting under your feet, press play.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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