Emperors of Rome

It is the summer of 29 BCE. The civil wars are over. Antony and Cleopatra are dead. Egypt has fallen. The victorious Octavian returns to Rome.

What follows is three days of spectacle unlike anything the city had seen. Three triumphs, three separate victories, three processions through the streets of Rome to the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline.

The triple triumph will close the era of the civil wars and opens something new. It will send a clear message about Octavian himself, about his enemies, and about the Rome he was building.

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Episode CCLXI (261)

Guest: Dr Rhiannon Evans

In this special live episode recorded at the Melbourne Museum we set aside the military narrative to look at something just as fierce: the propaganda war waged between Octavian and Antony in the years before Actium. The insults traded in letters and pamphlets. The coins minted as political weapon. The will stolen from the Vestal Virgins. And the brilliant, ruthless campaign that cast a Roman civil war as a foreign invasion — with Cleopatra as the villain.

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Episode CCLX (260)

Guest: Dr Rhiannon Evans

The decade after Caesar's murder is make or break for Octavian. He is very young and inexperienced, he is often between Mark Antony and the senate, and he needs to avenge Caesar and become his acknowledged heir. Despite these challenges he is slowly setting the stage for breaking the Roman republic.

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Episode CCLVIII (259)

Guest: Dr Rhiannon Evans

How did Octavius become Octavian? We trace what we know of Octavius’ early life in Rome during a tumultuous era of violence and civil conflict, through to Julius Caesar's unexpected adoption of a perennially sickly teenager.

Come and see a live recording of the Emperors of Rome podcast at the Melbourne Museum on 4th of August. Tickets here

Support Emperors of Rome on Patreon: patreon.com/romepodcast

Episode CCLVII (258)

Guest: Dr Rhiannon Evans

Before Augustus reached his great heights as Emperor, before he was even Octavian, he was Giaus Octavius, born to a relatively humble family and giving no indication of the greatness he would achieve. While his father had a reasonably successful political and military career, it’s almost certain that he wouldn’t have become princeps at all without the important connections provided by his mother, Atia.

We are crowdfunding a podcast miniseries on Tacitus' Germania! It is exclusive to supporters only, and available now on kickstarter.

Support Emperors of Rome on Patreon: patreon.com/romepodcast

Episode CCLVII (257)

Guest: Dr Rhiannon Evans