Roman power, argued from the evidence.
Emperors of Rome turns Roman imperial history into brisk, evidence-led conversation. Recent episodes move from Diocletian’s eastern campaigns and the Tetrarchy to Britannia, Caesar’s self-presentation, imperial dining, coins, panegyrics, and Roman political insult.
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Emperors of Rome is a long-running Roman history series with a clear interest in how imperial power was made, defended, advertised, and remembered. Its recent run spends substantial time with Diocletian, Maximian, Constantius, Galerius, the Tetrarchy, and the strain of managing a sprawling empire under pressure. The show is not only about emperors as personalities. It follows the machinery around them. Armies have to be moved. Ships have to be built. Frontiers have to be fortified. Cities can gain or lose privileges, including the right to mint their own coinage. Public speeches can turn military success into ideology, and coins can turn a contested ruler into someone claiming the Roman golden age. The series is at its best when a large historical structure becomes concrete through a small detail. Preparations for an imperial visit in Egypt become lists of horses, food, delays, and irritated administration. The reconquest of Britannia becomes a problem of fleets, timing, named and unnamed commanders, and who gets credit in the official story. Caesar’s account of the Gallic Wars becomes not just battlefield narrative, but image control, with Vercingetorix shaped into a credible enemy. The show also makes space for stranger and more social corners of Roman culture. Anthology episodes bring in phoenix lore, political name-calling, gendered insult, and literary afterlives. An episode on imperial dining treats dinner as ceremony, theatre, reward, intimidation, and sometimes danger. The register is informed and relaxed. It assumes curiosity rather than specialist training, but it does not sand away the complexity of sources or uncertainty. Conversation carries the scholarship, with jokes and side comments sitting beside close attention to papyri, panegyrics, paintings, coins, and ancient historians. That balance gives the show a distinctive texture: serious classical history that still sounds like people thinking aloud together. It is especially suited to listeners who like Roman politics, military history, propaganda, material culture, and the uneasy gap between what happened and how powerful people wanted it recorded.
Made for: For listeners interested in ancient Rome, imperial politics, classical sources, military campaigns, and the everyday mechanics of power. It works for curious non-specialists who like academic substance in a conversational format.
What sets it apart: The show connects emperors to the systems around them: coins, speeches, papyri, paintings, dinners, borders, and succession arrangements. Its strength is making big Roman power struggles legible through concrete evidence and careful conversation.
“Great empires are not maintained by timidity.” - Tacitus. A podcast series looking at the rulers of the ancient Roman empire, by Dr Rhiannon Evans, Dr Caillan Davenport and Matt Smith.
Imperial office politics gets you armies, dynastic marriages, and consequences no HR department could contain.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A frontier crisis becomes a grounded study of Roman power, from campaigns to Alexandria's coins and Panopolis papyri.
How the Tetrarchy Won the East follows Diocletian's new imperial order as rebellion in Egypt and invasion by the Persian King Naresh test both military strength and political design.
A carefully prepared invasion reveals how Rome made imperial authority look inevitable.
Britannia's recovery becomes a sharp case study in how Roman authority was prepared, staged, and sold. Matt Smith and Professor Caelan Davenport track Constantius after his elevation to Caesar, as the campaign to retake Britannia takes shape around ships, troops, and contingency…
A Roman power-sharing system takes shape under pressure, with family ties already complicating the design.
Tetrarchy follows a neat imperial fix as it starts to strain under real pressure. Diocletian and Maximian have divided the work of ruling without formally splitting the empire, and Diocletian remains the senior figure.
A brisk Roman anthology that moves from phoenix lore to Cicero's vicious ancient insults.
"Anthology of Interest IV" plays as a brisk Roman history sampler, with Matt Smith joined by Rhiannon Evans and Caelan Davenport for three topics in three minutes.
Greek myth told with fatal momentum.
Ancient empire told in old public-domain voices.
A live podcast episode discussing Caesar's portrayal of his Gallic Wars and his arch foe Vercingetorix.
This episode discusses the obscure Roman goddess Bona Dea and the scandal when Clodius Pulcher infiltrated her secret women-only festival.
This episode discusses the Tetrarchic Persecution of Christians in the early 4th century, initiated by Emperor Diocletian and his colleagues.
This episode discusses how Diocletian and Galerius faced rebellion in Egypt and invasion from Persia, ultimately securing Rome's eastern frontiers through hard campaigns and political choices.
Professor Caelan Davenport discusses Constantius's mission to reclaim Britannia from Carausius in the late 3rd century.
This episode discusses the establishment of the Tetrarchy under Diocletian and Maximian, their division of the Roman Empire, and the challenges they faced.
Emperors of Rome’s “Anthology of Interest IV” features Matt Smith, Rhiannon Evans, and Caelan Davenport presenting short discussions on Roman history.
Matt Smith, Rhiannon Evans, and Caelan Davenport use Pliny, Tacitus, and Strabo to compare a "fake news phoenix," Roman elephants, and trade with India.
Christopher Gribbon tells Matt Smith how Viriathus led the Lusitani against Rome from 147 to 138 BC, using lightly armed horsemen to harass legions across the Iberian Peninsula.
This episode explores Crassus's rivalry with Pompey and his role in the war against Spartacus, highlighting his use of wealth for political influence.
Classicist Mary Beard discusses how Roman emperors used dinner as a tool for power, reward, and intimidation, often with lavish and bizarre foods.
A live podcast episode discussing Caesar's portrayal of his Gallic Wars and his arch foe Vercingetorix, recorded in Albury.