LOST ROMAN HEROES

In 540 AD, Rome had thirty thousand people struggling to survive, living inside walls built for a million. Sheep grazed in the forums of Augustus and Trajan. Into this world was born one of the last great Roman aristocrats, a man who would give away his fortune, flee to a monastery, get sent to Constantinople, and spend six years politely chastising Emperor Mauricius, would would not listen, or did not care, about the forgotten children of the fallen Western Empire. This is Gregory the Great. Part 1.

This week we're doing something a little different. We've joined forces with the wonderful Ladies of Lore, a podcast dedicated to the fierce, forgotten and fascinating women of history, mythology and folklore, to bring you three exceptional women who helped keep Rome alive when the men around them were dropping the ball. Galla Placidia, who survived sack, exile and captivity to rule the Western Empire. Anicia Juliana, who outmaneuvered an emperor to build the greatest church in Constantinople. And Theodora, who told a room full of panicking men exactly what she thought of running away. Three absolute powerhouses, to whom we owe a great debt, they defined Rome, they held the line, and yet were largely forgotten...

In Part 2 of Mauricius' tale, the empire that he spent twenty years building begins to crack from within. We meet the generals he trusted, the ones he sidelined, and the ones he should never have appointed (like brother Petrus). We follow the Avars and the Slavs as they push the Balkans to the breaking point. And we watch as one man's iron discipline, the very quality that made him great , becomes the thing that destroys him. A fatal order. A mutiny. A centurion named Phocas. And an ending that even Gibbon of the severe and vicious tongue could barely bring himself to describe.

The young man from Arabissus catches the eye of Tiberius, rises through the Excubitors, and is sent to command the Roman eastern legions in the middle of a major Roman-Persian war with no experience under his belt! And what does the paper pusher do? He wins! And wins again, pushing Roman arms deeper into Persian territory than they have been for many decades. When Emperor Tiberius dies, the rising star Mauricius becomes the new Augustus and gets to work, making radical changes to prepare Rome for a new world, creating the Exarchates, penning the Strategikon, and cutting fat in the legions, while making many, many new enemies in the process...

Lost Roman Heroes is proud to share something very special this week from our friends at the History of Egypt Podcast, which uses ancient texts, art, and archaeology to bring the world of the Nile Valley to life.

Written by a trained Egyptologist, the show explores 3000+ years of history, going behind the scenes, far deeper than any documentary or book, to bring you tales of the ancient Egyptians in-their-own-words.

You’ll meet characters like Narmer the unifier; Imhotep, the wise governor worshipped as a god of medicine; Hatshepsut the bold, who ruled as a female King; Akhenaten the heretic, who upset the established order, overturning centuries of tradition; Ramesses II, ultimate symbol of pharaonic splendor; Alexander the Great, the first Macedonian pharaoh; and Cleopatra VII, the doomed heir to three millennia of power.

Whether you’re interested in pharaohs or gods, monuments or home life, or simply want to journey through some of humanity’s oldest tales, the History of Egypt Podcast has a story to share. You can find the show on all podcasting apps, and on YouTube.