Patrick Wyman, 33 episodes, finished

The Fall of Rome Podcast

32 recordings · 31 numbered episodes · 23 hours

Presented by Patrick Wyman

Spotify

Periods · The kings, The Republic, The late Republic, The Pax Romana, The third-century crisis, Christian Rome, The fall of the west

Themes · Life on the frontier Government Daily life Battle Money and trade

Wyman has a doctorate in exactly this period and the series is the argument from it: the western empire came apart as a political decentralisation, and the economic and archaeological evidence carries the argument, without reaching for decadence. 33 episodes and 23 hours, complete since 2018, which makes it the rare show you can finish. Listen to it before you argue with anyone about why Rome fell.

Where to start. Episode 1; the run is short enough to take in order. 1 Introduction · 36 min

I feel like…

ThinkingAny

Cogitare, how it was thought and ordered

FeelingAny

Sentire, what was lived and endured

DoingAny

Facere, what hands made and did

PeriodAny

when it happens

LengthAny

how much time you have

All 32 episodes, in order. Every title links straight to the episode.

  1. 1Introduction36m
  2. 2The Barbarian World39m
  3. 3The Goths and the Beginning of Rome's End41m
  4. 4The Gothic Sack of Rome46m
  5. 5Just How Screwed Up Was the Later Roman Empire?46m
  6. 6The Catastrophic Fall Of Roman Britain48m
  7. 7The Three Transformations Of Roman Gaul55m
  8. Special Episode: The End Of The Gladiators19m
  9. 8The Vandals and the Fall of Roman Africa49m
  10. 9Attila and the Empire of the Huns55m
  11. 10The Late Roman Army, Barbarians, and the Frontier55m
  12. 11The Roman Economy Before the Fall42m
  13. 12The Fall of the Roman Economy43m
  14. 13The Unraveling of the Roman World46m
  15. 14The Calamitous Fifth Century - A Narrative History43m
  16. 15The Death of the Roman Political System44m
  17. 16The Kingdom of the Visigoths43m
  18. 17Ostrogothic Kingdom or the Western Empire Reborn?47m
  19. 18The Warlords of Northern Gaul and the Rise of the Franks48m
  20. 19Why Didn't Rome Rise Again? An Interview with Professor Walter Scheidel33m
  21. 20The Anglo-Saxon Migration, the North Sea World, and the Birth of England51m
  22. 21Rome's Legacy and the Barbarian Kingdoms42m
  23. 22The Brilliance of Saint Augustine. An Interview with Elizabeth Bruenig42m
  24. 23Could the Roman Empire Have Survived?37m
  25. 24Tides of History: The Roman City38m
  26. 25Tides of History: The Decline and Fall of the Roman City33m
  27. 26Tides of History: How Latin Became the Romance Languages50m
  28. 27Tides of History: Why Didn't The Eastern Empire Fall?40m
  29. 28Tides of History: How the Eastern Roman Empire Survived Attila the Hun and the Disastrous Fifth Century50m
  30. 29Tides of History: Justinian the Great and the Reconquest of the Western Empire46m
  31. 30Tides of History: Natural Disasters and the End of the Roman Empire43m
  32. 31Interview: Historian Kyle Harper on Disease, Climate and the Fall of the Roman Empire38m