Real Roman History
Hugo Prudentius
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About This Podcast
Real Roman History is a comprehensive, chronological account of Rome from its origins to its end—told with the depth the subject deserves. This is not a highlight reel. Every major figure, every turning point, and every war gets the full treatment: the stories as the Romans told them, the ancient sources and what they got right and wrong, and the historical arguments that scholars are still having today. Hugo Prudentius takes listeners from the kings of the early city through the Republic, the civil wars, the empire, and beyond—episode by episode, in sequence, without skipping the parts that made Rome what it was. If other Roman history podcasts have left you wanting more, you've found it.
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Recent Episodes
Episode 50. From Zela to Munda: Caesar Against the Republic, Part Three
SOURCE NOTES:Primary SourcesCaesar, Bellum Civile (Civil War), Book III -- Caesar's own account through Pharsalus; ends before the African and Spanish campaigns.Bellum Alexandrinum (Alexandrian War)…
Episode 49. Pharsalus and Its Aftermath: Caesar Against the Republic, Part Two
SOURCE NOTES:Primary SourcesCaesar, Bellum Civile (Civil War), Books I–III — Caesar’s own account of the civil war through Pharsalus and its immediate aftermath. Primary source; use with awareness…
Episode 48. The Rubicon and the Lightning Campaign: Caesar Against the Republic, Part One
SOURCE NOTES:Primary Sources:Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Civili — Caesar's own account, written in third person with characteristic lucidity and propagandistic purpose. Books 1–2 cover the Rubicon…
Episode 47. The Gallic Wars, Part Two: Vercingetorix and the Great Revolt
SOURCE NOTES:Caesar's Commentarii are the primary source for the entire Gallic War, and the contrast between how he treats Avaricum — flatly, without evident discomfort — and how he treats Gergovia —…
Episode 46. The Gallic Wars, Part One: Conquest Begins
SOURCE NOTES:The primary source for the Gallic Wars is the Commentarii de Bello Gallico itself: seven books by Caesar covering 58 to 52 BCE, with an eighth book written by his officer Aulus Hirtius…
Episode 45. Julius Caesar: The Man and the Road to Power
SOURCE NOTES:Caesar is the most thoroughly documented figure of the late Republic, and the documentation presents a specific problem: much of it is his own. The Commentarii de Bello Gallico and the…
Episode 44. Cato the Younger: The Man Caesar Could Not Reach
SOURCE NOTES:The primary source for Cato’s life is Plutarch’s Life of Cato the Younger, which is among the most carefully constructed Lives in the collection. Plutarch pairs him with Phocion, the…
Episode 43. Cicero and the Republic in Crisis: The Man Who Understood Everything and Could Not Stop Anything
SOURCE NOTES:Cicero is the most extensively documented figure of the ancient world after Augustus. The primary source challenge is not scarcity but selection: the sheer volume of the surviving corpus…
Episode 42. Pompey the Great, Part Two: The World in His Hands
SOURCE NOTES:The primary source for Pompey's life is Plutarch's Life of Pompey, paired with Agesilaus of Sparta. For the period covered in this episode, the Life is at its most careful and most…
Episode 41. Pompey the Great, Part One: Outside Every Precedent
SOURCE NOTES:The primary source for Pompey's life is Plutarch's Life of Pompey, which forms one of the Parallel Lives paired with Agesilaus of Sparta. Plutarch is sympathetic to Pompey — he presents…
Episode 40. Lucullus and the Eastern Wars: The General Who Won Everything and Lost His Command
SOURCE NOTES:Plutarch’s Life of Lucullus is the primary source, paired in the Parallel Lives with Cimon of Athens. It is one of Plutarch’s more structurally interesting Lives because the two-part arc…
Episode 39. Carrhae and Parthia: Rome Meets Its Match in the East
SOURCE NOTES:Plutarch’s Life of Crassus is the primary narrative source and the most detailed account of the battle. Plutarch’s account has been criticized for placing too much blame on Crassus…
Episode 38. Crassus: Wealth, Power, and the Hunger for Glory
SOURCE NOTES:Plutarch’s Life of Crassus is the primary source and it is, as the arc plan noted, as much a study in the psychology of ambition as a political biography. Plutarch structures the Life…
Episode 37. Spartacus: The Slave War and What It Revealed
SOURCE NOTES:No contemporary account of the Servile War survives. The two main sources — Plutarch’s Life of Crassus and Appian’s Civil Wars — were both written more than a century after the events,…
Episode 36. Sertorius: The Republic in Exile
SOURCE NOTES:Plutarch’s Life of Sertorius is the primary source, but it is itself a secondary source: Plutarch drew principally on Sallust’s Histories, which covered the Sertorian War in substantial…
Trailer/Preview
Introduction to Real Roman History. Start with Episode 1.
Episode 35. Sulla, Part Three: Dictatorship, Reform, and the Resignation
SOURCE NOTES:The proscriptions and the dictatorship are covered by Plutarch’s Life of Sulla and Appian’s Civil Wars. The proscription numbers — roughly ninety senators and several thousand…
Episode 34. Sulla, Part Two: The First March and Mithridates
SOURCE NOTES:Plutarch’s Life of Sulla is the primary source for this episode, and Plutarch had a particular personal investment in it: he was born at Chaeronea and his account of the battle there is…
Episode 33. The Cinnan Republic: Rome Without Sulla
SOURCE NOTES:The Cinnan period is one of the most poorly sourced stretches of the late Republic. The problem Robin Seager identified in the Cambridge Ancient History cannot be overstated: almost…
Episode 32. Marius, Part Three: The Terrible Old Man
SOURCE NOTES:The principal ancient source for this episode is Plutarch’s Life of Marius, covering the flight, exile, return, and death. Plutarch’s account of the Minturnae episode and the Carthage…
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Real Roman History has published 51 episodes since March 2026, covering topics in Documentary, History.
Real Roman History is currently highly active with new episodes hourly. Average episode length is 36m.
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