Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchThe Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 130 "The Rise and Fall of Byzantium"
Season 1 Episode 130
In the century from 860 to 960 Byzantium was reborn as the greatest power in western Eurasia. Its armies were invincible, spearheaded by regiments of…
3 weeks, 5 days ago
The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 129 "Byzantium: The Slow Road to Recovery"
Season 1 Episode 129
In today’s episode, I’d like to switch from the Abbasid Caliphate to the Byzantine Empire. The fortunes of both were of course connected and the Cali…
1 month, 1 week ago
The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 128 "The Abbasids: Golden Age or Age of Collapse?"
Season 1 Episode 128
Many historians call the Abbasid caliphate ‘the Golden Age of Islam’ but in this episode I want to analyse the contradiction in this description sinc…
1 month, 3 weeks ago
The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 127 "The Rise and Fall of the Umayyads"
Season 1 Episode 127
First, let me wish you a Happy New Year and I hope you had a good break if you took time off. This episode tells the story of one of the greatest emp…
2 months, 1 week ago
The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 126 "Eirene: The Monstrous Empress of Byzantium?"
Season 1 Episode 126
In this episode, we’ll hear about one of the most chilling rulers of Byzantium – the empress Eirene. She was Byzantium’s only empress to take on the …
2 months, 2 weeks ago
The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 125 "The Forgotten Heroes of Byzantium"
Season 1 Episode 125
In the first half of the eighth century, Byzantium stemmed the Arab advance into Europe. Critical to this achievement were two emperors: Leo III and …
3 months ago
The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 124 "Byzantium: The Empire That Refused To Die"
Season 1 Episode 124
In this episode we turn east to consider Byzantium. We last spoke about the eastern Romans, or the Byzantines, in episode 113 when I described the em…
3 months, 2 weeks ago
The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 123 "The Holy Roman Empire"
Season 1 Episode 123
The final political legacy of the Roman Empire in western Europe was the Holy Roman Empire.
Amazingly, this curious political institution lasted unti…
4 months ago
The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 122 "The Vikings"
Season 1 Episode 122
The Vikings transformed European history, impacted the worlds of both Byzantium and the Abbasid Caliphate, and even, some 500 years before Christophe…
4 months, 2 weeks ago
The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 121 "The Fall of the Frankish Empire"
Episode 121
Charlemagne created the largest empire in western Europe since the Romans. But it didn’t last. Within only a few decades of his death, it had broken …
5 months ago