Rome
27 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 BCLawRomeConstantine the Great
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Constantine the Great, the Roman emperor who made Constantinople his capital rather than Rome and who legalised Christianity across the Empire.
5 October 2017
Featuring: Christopher Kelly, Lucy Grig, Greg Woolf
Horace
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
Josephus
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Flavius Josephus, author of The Jewish War.
21 May 2015
Featuring: Tessa Rajak, Philip Alexander, Martin Goodman
Julian the Apostate
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosopher-emperor of Rome who sought to undo the empire's ties with Christianity in the 4th century AD and promote paganism
21 March 2024
Featuring: James Corke-Webster, Lea Niccolai, Shaun Tougher
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 BCRomeMarcus Aurelius
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, meditations and reputation of this stoic and philosopher king, who Machiavelli called the last of the 'Five Good Emperors'.
25 February 2021
Featuring: Simon Goldhill, Angie Hobbs, Catharine Edwards
HistoryAncient Roman philhellenesRoman-era Stoic philosophersAncient Roman adopteesPhilosophers of lawDeified Roman emperorsPolitical philosophersAeliiPhilosophers of mindSocial philosophersAugurs of the Roman EmpireNerva–Antonine dynastyRoman pharaohsPhilosophy writersPhilosophers of Roman ItalyRomeNero
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the reputation of Nero, popular with his subjects but vilified in his lifetime and after and associated with the Beast in the Book of Revelation.
25 April 2019
Featuring: Maria Wyke, Matthew Nicholls, Shushma Malik
Ovid
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
Pliny the Younger
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Roman lawyer and statesman Pliny the Younger, whose letters offer a fascinating insight into his life and the ancient world.
12 December 2013
Featuring: Catharine Edwards, Roy Gibson, Alice König
Pliny's Natural History
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Pliny the Elder's Natural History, a comprehensive and influential encyclopedia of the natural sciences written in the first century AD.
8 July 2010
Featuring: Serafina Cuomo, Aude Doody, Liba Taub
Ptolemy and Ancient Astronomy
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the last of the great Greek astronomers of antiquity, Ptolemy, and his influence on ancient and medieval astronomy.
17 November 2011
Featuring: Liba Taub, Jim Bennett, Charles Burnett
Seneca the Younger
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Seneca: philosopher, playwright, tutor to Nero, one of the first great writers born in the new Roman empire after the fall of the Republic.
23 February 2017
Featuring: Mary Beard, Catharine Edwards, Alessandro Schiesaro
CultureRoman-era Stoic philosophersAncient Roman satiristsPeople from Córdoba, Spain1st-century RomansForced suicidesLetter writers in LatinMale essayistsAncient Roman encyclopedistsSuffect consuls of Imperial RomeSuicides in Ancient RomeExecuted writersExecuted philosophersSilver Age Latin writers1st-century writers1st-century executionsPeople executed by the Roman Empire1st centuryRomeSt Paul
Melvyn Bragg and guests Helen Bond, John Haldane and John Barclay discuss the influence of St Paul on the early Christian church and on Christian theology generally.
28 May 2009
Featuring: John Haldane, John Barclay, Helen Bond
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
Tacitus and the Decadence of Rome
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Roman historian Tacitus, whose portrayal of Roman decadence influences the way we see Rome today.
10 July 2008
Featuring: Catharine Edwards, Ellen O'Gorman, Maria Wyke
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 Diet of Worms
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Diet of Worms where the Holy Roman Emperor demanded Martin Luther explain his attacks on the Catholic Church. The ensuing arguments helped trigger the Reformation.
12 October 2006
Featuring: Diarmaid MacCulloch, David Bagchi, Charlotte Methuen
The Roman Empire's Collapse in the 5th century
Melvyn Bragg discusses the causes and events leading to the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century and assesses the role of Christianity, the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths and the Vandals.
5 April 2001
Featuring: Charlotte Roueché, David Womersley, Richard Alston
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
The Sack of Rome 1527
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the slaughter and chaos as a hungry army of the Holy Roman Emperor swarmed through Rome, holding the pope hostage and weakening the Papal States.
22 February 2024
Featuring: Stephen Bowd, Jessica Goethals, Catherine Fletcher
The Siege of Vienna
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 1683 siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Army. The ensuing tale of blood and drama helped define the boundaries of Europe.
14 May 2009
Featuring: Jeremy Black, Andrew Wheatcroft, Claire Norton
The Thirty Years War
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a topic suggested by listeners: the war which was centred on the Holy Roman Empire from 1618 and was unequalled in scale until C20th
6 December 2018
Featuring: Peter Wilson, Ulinka Rublack, Toby Osborne
Third Crusade
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Third Crusade, from death of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, to the famous encounter between Richard I and Saladin.
29 November 2001
Featuring: Jonathan Riley-Smith, Carole Hillenbrand, Tariq Ali
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 BCRomeWarVitruvius 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
