Was the Roman Empire really made by conquest? Or was it powered by something much darker?
For centuries, millions of enslaved people sacrificed their lives and their labour on the altar of Roman progress, an integral cog in the grinding imperial machine. And so today on The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Emma Southon, author of Servus: How Slavery Made The Roman World to bring their overlooked stories back into the limelight. From the mines and farms to the households of the imperial elite, they discover how slavery was woven into the fabric of the Roman society and ask what life was really like for enslaved Romans.
Up Next in The Ancients Video Podcasts
-
The Catiline Conspiracy: Overthrowing...
In 63 BC, Rome faced a conspiracy that threatened to tear the Roman Republic apart. At its centre stood two figures: Marcus Tullius Cicero, the grand old orator of Rome and Lucius Sergius Catilina, accused of plotting violence, rebellion and the overthrow of Rome’s political order. But was the da...
-
How Odysseus Took His Revenge | The A...
When Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca, his homecoming turns into a ruthless reckoning. Tristan Hughes and Dr Emily Hauser dive into the shocking climax of Homer’s Odyssey, where hospitality, vengeance and survival collide in a blood-soaked finale.
What drives Odysseus to unleash such fury, an...
-
Why Odysseus Is The Worst Hero | The ...
What if the world’s most famous homecoming was really a nightmare of monsters, gods, and one very stubborn king trying to get back to Ithaca?
In our new series Tristan Hughes and classicist Dr. Emily Hauser dive into Homer’s Odyssey, an epic of shipwrecks, sorcery, giants and divine meddling, wh...
