History Listen (ABC) Those Bloody Vegos- a short history of vegetarianism. Even though I flirted with vegetarianism in my early 20s, I have been known to utter "bloody vegos" once or twice. I suspect that some of the vegetarians of my acquaintance would be disconcerted to learn of the connection of vegetarianism with some rather out-there religious beliefs in the late 19th/early 20th century. This episode is Australian-focused, which was good to hear.
The Ancients. During May, The Ancients are having a series of podcasts on Babylon. This first one is about Nebuchadnezzar -I can barely even say it let alone spell it. He ruled between 605-562 BCE, forty-two years at the height of the Babylonian Empire when it reached from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. He was himself the son of a king, so he had an easy accession to the throne. There was a power vacuum after the decline of the Assyrian empire, and both Babylon and Egypt vied to fill it. The Egyptians were propping up the King of Judea as a way of extending their power, but in 587 BCE Nebuchadnezzar beseiged Jerusalem and installed a client king. Ten years later, he captured Jerusalem and destroyed the first Temple. We get much of our information about him from the Jewish Old Testament, where he was seen as a historical figure, but also as a vehicle of God's punishment. The Babylonian Empire was as large as the Assyrian empire had been, but in a slightly different place. Babylon was a religious centre and a trade route, with a lot of monumental building. During the 20th century, German archaeologists were very active in excavating sites. It's not really known exactly where the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were (all large cities had gardens), and they were perhaps more 'terraced' than 'hanging'. After reaching its peak under Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian empire didn't last. After his death, his son was assassinated after 2 years, then his son-in-law met the same fate after four years. The last king of Babylon was unrelated to Nebuchadnezzar and in 539BCE the empire collapsed almost overnight in the face of the expansion of the Persian Empire.
Emperors of Rome Episode LXXVI - It's Good to be the King. All the sources available to us portray Commodus as a Very Bad Emperor, worse than Caligula, Nero and Domitian. He wanted to rename Rome after himself, as well as ALL the months of the year. He portrayed himself as Hercules, and replaced Nero's head on Nero's column with his own, and had it placed beside what is now the Colosseum. Indulging himself as a gladiator was completely inappropriate- a bit like the Queen going on Big Brother. Episode LXXVII - Such was the End of Commodus At the end of his reign, he embarked on a killing spree amongst the Senate and the elites, while on all sides there were uprisings against the Roman Empire in Brittanica, Germania and in Dacia. There were omens of his demise: fires in Rome, and his own smearing himself with blood. He was planning on killing two of the consuls and becoming consul himself dressed up as a gladiator, so it was no surprise that he was assassinated on New Years Eve in 192 CE. His own concubine organized the hit, first with poison (that he vomited up because he was drunk) and then strangling, which was a particularly ignoble way to die. And that was the end of Commodus and the Antonine dynasty. Episode LXXVIII - Borders of the Roman Empire features Dr Paul Burton from ANU who notes that all of the British Imperialists of the 19th century would have imbibed ideals of empire from their shared classical education, bringing it right up to our days. During the republic, wars were mainly conducted against Carthage (North Africa) and the Hellenistic leftovers of Alexander the Great's empire. The Roman army might be highly interventionist, but it would then withdraw- it wasn't interested in annexing territory. New territory came as the spoils of victory and in fact, some Kings of neighbouring allies bequeathed their territory to the Romans. At first governors were sent to an area for one year only, but their period of office was gradually extended, which may have contributed to the fall of the Republic as governors (like Julius Caesar) embedded their power in provincial support. When Augustus promised an end to the civil wars, there was a change in mindset about the provinces: no longer were they cash-cows, but instead they were the site of building projects where local big men contributed the funding. This led to an expansion of the provincial elite to inclusion in the Senate, and even as emperors. Citizenship was highly valued (St Paul proclaimed his Roman citizenship to avoid being flogged) and it was used as leverage for loyalty. In 212CE Caracalla extended citizenship to everyone in the empire.
Latin American History Podcast The Conquest of Peru Part 8 Pizarro was able to enter Cusco without resistance, where Manco accepted Pizarro's authority, and indeed all the power lay with the Spaniards. Manco then joined Almagro and Hernando de Soto in pursuit of Quizquiz. Finally turning to colonization instead of conquest, Pizarro established Lima as a port city. News of Peru's riches spread, attracting the attention of both immigrants and other conquistadors already present in South America including Pedro de Alvarado, the most bloody of the conquistadors. Eventually de Alvarado was paid off, and he sailed away, leaving the north of Peru in the hands of the Spanish colonialists.
Dan Snow's History Hit Continuing on his road-trip of British history in Episode 2 of Story of England: Medieval Invaders, Snow takes us to Pevensey where William the Conqueror and his Norman Invaders landed in 1066. The Duke of Normandy was a cousin of Edward the Confessor, who had just died, and he was taking his chances when this vacancy on the throne occurred. There are actually three Medieval periods: 1. Early Medieval (which used to be called the Dark Ages) between 400-1066CE; The Central period between 1066-1300, and Late Medieval from 1300-1500. The Early period was marked by increased regionalization of the Anglo-Saxon period, which settled into a few big kingdoms. Although we don't know if King Arthur actually existed, it is true that Ambrosius Aurelianus certainly did, and aspects of his reign were probably incorporated into the Arthurian legend. The Vikings, who arrived in the 860s gobbled up the kingdoms, although Alfred the Great made a strong stand. Dan Snow then travels to Dover Castle, which was built after the Norman invasion, on a site previously occupied during the Iron Age, and by the Romans who left a lighthouse which still stands today. All this came to a halt in 1348 when the plague arrived, killing off 25 million Europeans during 1347-1352, and leading to a labour shortage, increased labour mobility, and a change in land use.
Democracy Sausage. I usually listen to this every week, but I don't note it because it's usually too topical and dates too quickly. But Mark Kenny's The Queen is Dead with Stan Grant is excellent, and well worth a listen. It was a meet-the-author type event about Grant's new book, but they also spoke about his contribution to the panel discussion prior to the coronation that culminated in him quitting as host of Q&A.
The Rest is History. With all the pearl-clutching about the faint embers of republicanism in Australia, it's interesting to consider that in 1649 England declared a republic! It only lasted about ten years when, unable to get themselves out of what they had done, parliamentarians turned again to Charles II to fill the king-shaped hole. Featuring Anna Keay whose book The Restless Republic I've ordered from the library (these podcasts are not good for my already daunting TBR pile), this episode The Republic of Britain: Life Under Cromwell goes beyond the Cromwell/Parliament activities to look at the way that people either went along with it or changed their mind. I did a subject on this -ahem- fifty years ago, and had forgotten much of it, but what a fascinating time, with radical political experiments turbocharged by radical religiosity.
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