More Patreon Zoom Calls
Added 2025-08-11 21:09:00 +0000 UTCHey everyone,
I'm going to host three more Zoom calls for Patrons on Sunday 7th September.
The Zoom calls will be at 1pm, 5pm and 9pm UK time. Each will last an hour and you can join all three of them if you want to. If anyone would like to moderate a call please let me know.
You can ask me anything on these calls. But I'd also be interested to know what questions you have about the earlier Roman Empire. If I podcast about it in the future what questions would you like answered? For example I am interested in learning about how and when people "became" Roman in other provinces. And why Christianity became the faith which took over the Empire.
I look forward to speaking to you soon,
Robin
Comments
Thank you for the kind words. I am reluctant to do this since I am not a Muslim. I think a lot of my assumptions about everyday life are Christian and so it was easy to present a podcast about a Christian civilisation. But I think it would be tricky to transfer that to something else
Robin Pierson
2025-09-11 09:46:36 +0000 UTCRobin, I’d like to know what happened to battle formations. Back in History of Rome there was a lot of tslk of the Roman innovation oh creating ‘hinges’ in the Macedonian style phalanx. This has often been presented as a key reason for Roman military success. When did that die out and what replaced it when infantry engaged in battle in Byzantine times?
Joseph Little
2025-09-04 08:03:23 +0000 UTCHI ROBIN, I LOVED YOUR HISTORY OF BYZANTIUM. HOW ABOUT IF YOU DO A HISTORY OF THE ARAB CONQUEST AND MUSLIM HISTORY, FROM THE RISE OF MUHAMMAD UNTIL THE CURRENT MIDDLE EAST. YOU COULD HAVE SUBDIVIDE IT BETWEEN PERIODS AND EVEN BETWEEN CERTAIN COUNTRIES. I HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE PODCASTS. IT WOULD BE GREAT. THINK ABOUT IT.
Luis A. Melendez Albizu
2025-08-29 17:14:15 +0000 UTCOne thing I noticed on a relisten of the History of Rome is how the christians wasted no time tearing each other apart the second Constantine legalized them. I'm used to hearing about them going at each others' throats in the History of Byzantium, but it sounds like the first thing they did after Milan (313) was pester Constantine to take sides. The first ecumenical council was in 325 so 12 years after. That may seem like a long time, but I remember hearing in the podcasts it took months for information to travel. I get this cartoony impression of a flame war slowly escalating between the sides in those 12 years. Were they always like that pre Milan? Or is this similar to how Mike Duncan mentions post Punic War Rome lost their common enemy so turned to in fighting in place. (In this case, the common enemy being the empire.) PS: in my head, I also cartoonishly picture Constantine reading the flame war papers and thinking, "oh my god, leave me alone".
AAccount
2025-08-26 07:13:22 +0000 UTCA question for Robin: have you ever thought about writing any alternative histories? If so, what critical moments in Roman history are you dying to play "what-if" about? What are some moments that NEARLY went another way, that keep you up at night? What are some moments that went as they probably should have, but could be made into FAR more compelling stories with just a few tweaks?
The Children of Jack Acid
2025-08-21 11:44:15 +0000 UTCCan you talk about the "Alexander Romance"--what the Romans thought of it, or even if it had any impact on Roman or Byzantine logistics/planning/conquests? (You know... like how its fan-fic sequel, the "Prester John Letter," inspired European explorations a millennium or two later?) We have a version of the Alexander Romance from 331 AD, so it was known about in antiquity. And CLEARLY it is much older, as its earliest versions assume a pagan worldview (and parts of it later showed up in some of the Abrahamic holy books--maybe even the New Testament?). IMHO it probably goes back to the second century BC, but even if it doesn't, the myths it contains must have been all OVER Asia Minor and the Eastern Roman Empire. And I'd love to learn more! This could also be a springboard for talking about the impact that Indian philosophy and religion, e.g. Jainism and Buddhism, may have had on the Greeks and Romans. E.g. the Alexander Romance seems to depict a nude Jainist guy in it. Were the Romans of mid and Late Antiquity far more familiar with eastern mysticism and thought than is typically discussed? [UPDATE: I see people such as "Suck My Finger" also are interested in similar topics!]
The Children of Jack Acid
2025-08-21 11:25:20 +0000 UTCI ask this question every few months, but: can you tell us more about the history of polo and/or "the tzykanion?" Looking at any old map of Constantinople and the original Great Palace, you can't help but notice just how MUCH prime real estate is devoted to "he tzykanisterion" or polo grounds. Heck, at least two emperors DIED from playing it! But it also seems to have been exclusively for rich folks? Was it considered a martial sport, similar to jousting? How many spectators do we think watched one of these games? Where all was it played, and by whom? And how did it filter down to modern rich people and their polo grounds? P.S. I know you want questions more from the "earlier" Roman era, but since this game's popularity amongst the rich seems to go back to at least the time of Justinian, if not to the founding of Constantinople itself, I feel like maybe there's a "there" there. (Maybe the Parthians played polo with the head of Crassus's son?)
The Children of Jack Acid
2025-08-21 10:17:16 +0000 UTCI love this! Maybe you could even take this on a deep dive? Probably a dozen questions come to mind, just off the top of my head: 1. After Alexander the Great came through, which lands did or did NOT convert to using Greek as a common or prestige language? Was this Greek still going by the time the Romans took it all? (Or the Parthians, etc?) 2. Backing up, where, when, and for how long, did Latin diffuse into common speech into different parts of the Roman Empire? (Like, did Armenians ever speak Latin at home?) Did Dacian kids, like, become fluent in Latin and lose their home languages, only to be left adrift as Latin speakers once Rome gave Dacia back? 3. Was Latin always the liturgical language of ANY sect of Christianity tied to the pope in Rome, or did the mandatory Latin thing happen later? (E.g. did the Bulgarians initially plan to switch to using Latin, during those five weeks they were flirting with Western Catholicism?) 4. And what were the other liturgical languages of Orthodox and/or other Christianity? 5. Did the PRE-CHRISTIAN and Jewish religious traditions popular in different parts of the Roman empire have their own liturgical languages? Was that, like, a normal thing? 5. Why is Coptic a thing, and not just more Greek? 6. Did the Italian portions of the later Roman Empire actually speak Greek for hundreds of years (at least after the death of Justinian)? I've heard of "Calabrian" but perhaps you can go into more detail? 7. Why did France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, etc, keep their Latin-based lingo, but not, like, Dalmatia? WHY NO LATIN YUGOSLAVIA?!? 8. For that matter, why aren't there any derived languages from Greek, as there are Romance languages derived from Latin? 9. How the HELL did the Romanians come out of all this speaking a Romance language?
The Children of Jack Acid
2025-08-21 10:05:04 +0000 UTCHello, I would be curious to know more about the transition over time between Latin-speaking Romans to more Greek-speaking ones. I know that much of the Eastern empire was more Greek speakinh anyway, but it seems like officially Latin was the language of choice? Anyhow, just looking yo get more clarity on how language shifted and changed over time.
Douglas McLean
2025-08-18 14:31:34 +0000 UTCI post nearer the time
Robin Pierson
2025-08-17 20:38:42 +0000 UTCWhere’s the link?
Weekenderer
2025-08-17 19:30:53 +0000 UTCSadly, I won't be able to join the calls on September 7th (work-related stuff), but the early history of Christianity - including how it evolved from just another late Second Temple era Jewish messianic sect to the religion that took over the Empire - is a fascinating subject worth a podcast of its own. I studied a bit about it during my history degree, and it's really something worth exploring. I don't know if there's already a podcast about it, but I'd be very interested in your take on the subject.
Alex Dubrovsky
2025-08-12 21:00:48 +0000 UTCI am interested in what was occurring in the border regions f.ex Ilyricum which produced generals and emperors whom brought the empire through the crisis of the 3rd century. Another aspect I would like to discuss is how the during the period of the decline the intellectual life of the empire apparently continued to evolve and follow the deeply rooted classical traditions even to some extent under Germanic kings like Theodoric - until the devastations of the Wars of the Eastern Roman reconquest.
Lorne Mark Lathey
2025-08-12 17:42:06 +0000 UTC
