The Fall of the Roman Republic, Part 1: The Late Roman Republic in Theory and Practice

'tis but a scratch: fact and fiction about the Middle Ages - Episode 50
For the fiftieth (!) episode of this podcast, I'm taking a few centuries detour from the Middle Ages to talk about the fall of the Roman Republic. In this episode, the first of a two part series, my cohost Dr. Jenny Paxton and I talk about the political and cultural institutions of the Roman Republic in the late second and first centuries B.C.E.*. We explain how and why a republic designed to govern an Italian city-state fell victim to its own success as Rome rose to empire, despite all of its built in checks and balances. In the second episode, Jenny and I relate how a series of ambitious political generals--Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Caesar, Mark Antony, and Octavian Augustus--plunged the Republic into two generations of civil war that culminated in the establishment of a military autocracy disguised as a republic.
Note: B.C.E. stands for "Before the Common Era"; C.E. for "The Common Era." They are the secular equivalents of B.C. and A.D.. Be warned, we weren't consistent in our use of these dating conventions. I also noticed that sometimes we called the Roman legislative and judicial body known as the consilium plebis the plebeian assembly and sometimes the council of plebeians. Sorry for any confusion this might cause.
This episode includes an audio clip from Universal Picture's 1993 film "Jurassic Park"
The host of 'tis but a scratch is Richard Abels, a professor emeritus of history at the United States Naval Academy, Richard is a specialist in the military and political institutions of Anglo-Saxon England. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America.
You can listen to more episodes of 'tis but a scratch: fact and fiction about the Middle Ages on:
Buzzsprout - feeds.buzzspro...
Apple Podcasts - podcasts.apple...
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Podbay - podbay.fm/p/ti...
Their own UA-cam Channel - / @factandfictionaboutth...
Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada

[@mdittmar1315]

You just HAD to inject personal political views....NO THANKS