Life Of Caesar

The downfall of Ovid and the rise of Arminius.   Click on the banner and use the coupon code LOC to get 25% off your first three months! Another person who got caught up in all this was the poet Ovid.  He of the Ars Amatoria, in Engligh, the Arse of Love.  Remember him from […]

The downfall of Julia’s surviving children, Agrippa Postumus and Julia the Younger. Click on the banner and use the coupon code LOC to get 25% off your first three months! * The food shortages lasted for several months. * Including Augustus’s birthday, so he refused permission for public feats to be held to celebrate. * […]

* While all this is going on with the Dalmatians, there are problems in other provinces as well. * We hear of campaigning going on in….. Africa. * And also this is the period when Herod’s son Archelaus is so unpopular in Judaea that he’s stripped of his throne and forced into retirement, and Judaea […]

* Apparently this kind of pride was enough for Augustus to decide they had to go. * Bodacious must have seen it coming, because he built up his forces to prepare. * Which of course the Romans noticed, so they thought he was even more of a threat. * The Romans had a large army […]

And overnight, Tibbo goes from being invisible to being the Number Two man in Rome again! * WHO DOES NUMBER TWO WORK FOR * Oh he knows. * Now all of Aug’s successors are either Livia’s sons or her grandsons. * This would lead to rumours that she had organised the deaths of Caius and […]

* By the time news of Caius’ death had reached Rome it was some time in late March, 4 CE. * Aug mourned but also hurried to plan for the future. * Of course, he didn’t have many options left. * Julia and Agrippa had one son left – Agrippa Postumus. * Or Aggy P […]

* Keep in mind that by the standards of the day, jokes about deformities were pretty mild. * Remember those speeches Cicero gave about Mark Antony? The Phillipics? * Here’s just one example: * Let us speak rather of his meaner descriptions of worthlessness. You, with those jaws of yours, and those sides of yours, […]

Augustus stayed in Rome more now, no longer going out on long tours of the provinces, probably because he’s in his sixties, probably because he doesn’t have someone like Agrippa to leave in charge while he’s away. * On his birthday in 2 CE, he wrote an interesting letter to Caius Ninth day before the […]

* It’s the year 1 BCE * Caius Caesar, biological son of Agrippa and Julia, adopted son of Augustus, is 19 years old. * And what do you get for the 19 year old who has everything? * A military command. * In a distant land. * There was a power struggle going on in […]

A special philosophy episode. Nothing at all to do with Augustus or Rome. No Ray. Just me and a special guest – Dr. Richard Carrier, who has a M.Phil. and a Ph.D. Ancient History from Columbia University.  Talking about FREE WILL. Now most of you know that I’m as passionate about philosophy as I am […]

* Claudius was encouraged to take up writing history by the man who himself wrote one of the greatest histories during Aug’s reign – Titus Livius, aka Livy. * He was a local aristocrat from Northern Italy and never sought a career in public life. * His history – Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Books from […]

* Caius and Lucius presided over games including one where 260 lions were killed in the Circus Maximus which was built by the first Etruscan king of Rome Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. * BTW if you go to Rome today, you can see The Obelisco Flaminio, now in the Piazza del Popolo, which was once part […]

* Caius and Lucius seem unaffected by Julia’s exile. * She probably hadn’t had much to do with their upbringing for quite a while. * She was too busy having drunken orgies. * Both of them were adults and were assuming more of a public role. * They presided over the the games for the […]

A quick hello from our hotel room in Durham, North Carolina.

* In 2 BCE, Aug turned 60 and was made consul for the 13th time. * Lucius Caesar turned 15 and became a man. * He was made an augur and joined his brother as a leader of the youth. * He was also permitted to attend the Senate and marked down to be Consul […]