1st century BC
14 episodes
Catullus
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poetry of Catullus - some of the greatest verse of his time, and some of the most scurrilous - and his influence on Roman and later poetry
9 January 2020
Featuring: Gail Trimble, Simon Smith, Maria Wyke
Cicero
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Cicero's political ideas on laws, duty, tyrants and the republic, which he developed as the Roman Republic was threatened by Caesar and civil wars.
25 January 2018
Featuring: Melissa Lane, Catherine Steel, Valentina Arena
PhilosophyClassical humanistsTrope theoristsRoman quaestors1st-century BC Roman augurs, 1st-century BC Roman consulsRoman-era students in AthensGolden Age Latin writersPeople of the War of MutinaLetter writers in LatinNatural law ethicists1st-century BC writers in LatinAncient Roman equites, Ancient Roman exilesAncient Roman jurists, Ancient Roman rhetoricians2nd-century BC RomansExecuted writersExecuted philosophersPhilosophers of Roman ItalyRoman Republican praetorsDeaths by blade weapons1st century BC2nd century BCLawRomeHorace
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Horace, one of the greatest poets of his age, the origin of phrases such as carpe diem, nil desperandum and dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
15 November 2018
Featuring: Emily Gowers, William Fitzgerald, Ellen O'Gorman
Julius Caesar
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and reputation of Julius Caesar, one of the most intriguing figures of Roman history.
2 October 2014
Featuring: Christopher Pelling, Catherine Steel, Maria Wyke
History1st-century BC writersJulii CaesaresPopularesMemoiristsCleopatraAncient Roman triumphatorsGolden Age Latin writers1st-century BC historiansCharacters in Book VI of the AeneidGenocide perpetratorsAncient Roman military writers, Roman people of the Gallic Wars1st-century BC Roman augurs, 1st-century BC Roman consulsRoman Republican praetors1st century BCRomeOvid
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Roman poet whose influence is arguably greater than any poet of the classical age, besides Homer, even though his writing led to his exile.
29 April 2021
Featuring: Maria Wyke, Gail Trimble, Dunstan Lowe
Spartacus
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life of Spartacus, a Roman gladiator who was involved in a series of slave uprisings against the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC.
6 March 2014
Featuring: Mary Beard, Maria Wyke, Theresa Urbainczyk
Strabo's Geographica
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Strabo's Geographica, the only surviving work from the ancient world that describes the entire world known to the Greeks and Romans.
10 April 2014
Featuring: Paul Cartledge, Maria Pretzler, Benet Salway
The Aeneid
Melvyn Bragg discusses ‘The Aeneid’, Virgil’s great epic poem that formed a founding narrative of Rome.
21 April 2005
Featuring: Edith Hall, Philip Hardie, Catharine Edwards
The Augustan Age
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the political regime and cultural influence of the Roman Emperor Augustus.
11 June 2009
Featuring: Mary Beard, Catharine Edwards, Duncan Kennedy
CulturePeople in the canonical gospelsAncient Roman adopteesJulii CaesaresDeified Roman emperors1st-century BC Roman augurs, 1st-century BC Roman consuls1st-century RomansPeople of the War of MutinaFounding monarchsAugustusAncient Roman military personnel, Burials at the Mausoleum of AugustusShipwreck survivorsCharacters in Book VI of the AeneidRoman pharaohs1st-century Roman emperorsJulio-Claudian dynasty1st century BCRomeWarThe Etruscan Civilisation
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Etruscans, an ancient civilisation which flourished in central Italy for five hundred years before the emergence of the Roman Republic.
29 September 2011
Featuring: Phil Perkins, David Ridgway, Corinna Riva
The Roman Republic
Melvyn Bragg discusses the rise and eventual downfall of the Roman Republic which survived for 500 years.
30 December 2004
Featuring: Greg Woolf, Catherine Steel, Tom Holland
Tiberius
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the means by which Tiberius became the first Roman to succeed an Emperor and his reputation for financial prudence, cruelty and breeding paranoia.
14 December 2023
Featuring: Matthew Nicholls, Shushma Malik, Catherine Steel
History1st-century BC RomansPeople in the canonical gospelsAncient Roman adopteesJulii CaesaresRoman quaestorsAncient Roman triumphatorsClaudii Nerones, Roman-era Olympic competitorsAncient Roman military personnel, Burials at the Mausoleum of AugustusRoman pharaohs1st-century Roman emperorsJulio-Claudian dynasty1st century BCRomeWarVirgil's Georgics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Roman poet's celebration of agriculture and rural life composed in 29BC after a civil war, when questions of land ownership were contested.
18 May 2023
Featuring: Katharine Earnshaw, Neville Morley, Diana Spencer
Vitruvius and De Architectura
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Vitruvius's De Architectura, the first major treatise on architecture.
15 March 2012
Featuring: Serafina Cuomo, Robert Tavernor, Alice König
