Catherine Steel
Professor of Classics at the University of Glasgow
6 episodes
Covers topics in categories such as:
The Gracchi
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact on Roman politics of the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus and how the reaction to them helped destabilise the Republic.
3 April 2025
Also featuring: Federico Santangelo, Kathryn Tempest
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
Also featuring: Matthew Nicholls, Shushma Malik
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 BCRomeWarIs Shakespeare History? The Romans
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's treatment of Roman history, where he had scope to explore ideas too threatening for English histories.
18 October 2018
Also featuring: Jonathan Bate, Patrick Gray
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
Also featuring: Melissa Lane, 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 BCLawRomeJulius 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
Also featuring: Christopher Pelling, 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 BCRomeThe Roman Republic
Melvyn Bragg discusses the rise and eventual downfall of the Roman Republic which survived for 500 years.
30 December 2004
Also featuring: Greg Woolf, Tom Holland