Life Of Caesar

Why did Germanicus go to Egypt? To get to the other side. His real motive, according to Tacitus, was tourism HOWEVER a couple of papyrus fragments discovered in Oxyrynchus in the 20th century, contains a fragment of a speech to the Alexandrians And it confirms that the visit was also an official one and makes […]

To Germanicus, Piso’s appointment will have been clear proof that Tiberius still did not trust him. To some extent it followed the pattern whereby a tried and trusted man was sent to watch over a young and inexperienced prince. But Germanicus was neither so young nor by any means so inexperienced as Gaius Caesar had […]

Problems in the East. It had started back in 15, when the Parthians expelled their king, Vonones. Although I’ve also read 12. Vonones was the eldest son of Phraates iv and had been handed over to Augustus as a hostage in the 20s BCE along with his three brothers. After the assassination of Orodes III […]

The other problem Tibbo had in 16 was a belated consequence of the removal of Agrippa Postumus. As soon as he heard of Augustus’ death, Clemens, one of Agrippa’s slaves, had decided to sail to Planasia and engineer Agrippa’s escape to the German armies, where he obviously expected to gain the support of Germanicus and […]

Meanwhile, while Germs was off in Germany fighting Germans… Tibbo had major problems to deal with. SILK CLOTHING. CASSIUS DIO:  Tiberius forbade any man to wear silk clothing and also forbade anyone to use golden vessels except for sacred ceremonies. And when some were at a loss to know whether they were also forbidden to […]

We are very excited to welcome back to the show our favourite history detective Lindsay Powell, author of several terrific books on Agrippa, Augustus and Germanicus.

Germs got a FULL triumph and a triumphal arch, which was erected the following year only 150 yards from the arch erected by Augustus to celebrate the return of the standards from Parthia. This suggests Tibbo wanted people to think about the campaign as about retrieving a lost standard – not as an attempt to secure […]

After witnessing the Varus killing fields, They were furious and wanted revenge against Arminius and the Cherusci. Maybe Germs had calculated this? Or maybe it was an accident? With the Bructeri out of reach Germanicus set out in pursuit of Arminius, who skillfully led him deeper into the pathless forests. I feel like I’ve seen […]

Remember Arminius, the leader of the Cherusci tribe of Germans? The complete bad-ass who took down Quinctilius Varus at the Varian Disaster  aka the Clades Variana aka The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ? Well around 14 he’s having some issues with his father-in-law, Segestes. He was always suggesting things. Every night he was all […]

Poor Tiberius has to live up to Augustus! He’s already rich. He’s inherited Augustus’ fortune. He could just retire, get a nice little house by the beach, with a pool, some pretty girls, Netflix and chill for the rest of his life. Why should he deal with all of the stress of running the show?? Where’s the upside? […]

As you might recall from our last series, Tiberius came from several impressive families. He was, of course, the adopted son of Augustus, and therefore a Caesar. He was also a Claudian via his father. The Claudians were one of the most prominent patrician houses at Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest […]

And so it was that in the year 767 Ab Urb Condita, 14 AD if you’re a Christian, or 14 CE if you’re secular Or, if you were living in Rome at the time, you would called it the year of the consulship of Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Appuleius Caesar Augustus died. What would happen to Rome […]

Augustus is feeling pretty chipper so he and Livia join Tiberius on his trip to the east. It’ll be the princeps’ last trip. Meanwhile Augustus asked people to just leave him the fuck alone. In 12 CE Germanicus read a speech out in the Senate where he said the princeps wanted senators to stop formally greeting […]

Before the news of Varus’ defeat had reached Rome, one of Augustus’ main concerns in 9 CE was how unpopular his legislation encouraging marriage and raising of children was.  Click on the banner and use the coupon code LOC to get 25% off your first three months! It’s a new law, which is an extension to […]

News of Varus’ defeat reached Rome only five days after the victory celebrations from the Balkan war.  Click on the banner and use the coupon code LOC to get 25% off your first three months! At least Augustus could now transfer troops back to the Rhine.  But this was Rome’s biggest defeat since Carrhae in 53 […]