The Tale Of Rome

Partial Transcripthttp://www.thetaleofrome.com/rome-014 Two weeks ago we found ourselves in the middle of the battle of the Arsian forest.On one side, we had the forces of former King Tarquin, together with forces of the Etruscan city of Veii, and on the side there were the forces of Rome, directed by Junius Brutus and Publius Valerius.When Arruns saw that the army of Rome being commanded by Brutus, he exclaimed“That’s the man who kicked us out of Rome!”Watch how he proudly advances, adorned with our flag!O Gods, Avengers of Kings, help me!As was custom and honor at that time, both Arruns and Junius Brutus threw their horses at full gallop, one towards the other, knowing that if they could just hurt the other, the entire battle would shift to a side, just like crooked salt vendor’s scale in a Roman forum.But, they both managed to sink the spears and penetrate the other’s shield, and both fell off their horses in the very same instant.They died the next instant, spears deeply nailed in their torsos.Historicall

Partial Transcripthttp://www.thetaleofrome.com/rome-010 Hello, this is Abel, in Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast.The Tale of Rome, Episode 10 — The Tyrant and the Sibyl.Last week we saw the end of Servius Tullius’ life, and how his son-in-law usurped the throne of Rome. And luckily, I already gave you guys a brief description of this kings’ character, so let’s go ahead and see the first part of his reign.[…]The king was the law. His power over life and death, war and peace, rich and poor, were all undisputed.The Roman Senate, utterly ignored and completely laughed at by the king himself, became a bunch of old men who just went to work, and looked forward to going back home, having survived another day.They walked around the forum and their city in total fear when the king was around, and in total shame when the king was elsewhere, busy tormenting people outside of Rome.To put it in one sentence, Tarquin rendered the Senate totally anemic, and too weak to fight his power.Well, while the king’s reign progr

Partial Transcripthttp://www.thetaleofrome.com/rome-009 Hello, this is Abel, in Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast.The Tale of Rome, Episode 9 — Killed by his own Daughter.Last week we saw the end of Tarquin the Elder, and how Servius Tullius became the sixth king of Rome.This week, we’ll see how this Tale continues.The one thing we need to highlight again, is that the last three kings were the father—Tarquin the Elder, followed by his adoptive son—Servius Tullius, and then followed by his true blood son, Tarquin the Proud.[…]The tale goes, that—and this is according to Livy himself, the very own daughter of Servius, took a chariot and drove over the dying body of her father, effectively finishing his reign.That’s right, Tullia, wife of Lucius, and daughter of Servius Tullius, carefully maneuvered the chariot so that the wheels sliced the old man’s body in two.[…]

Partial Transcripthttp://www.thetaleofrome.com/rome-008 Hello, this is Abel, in Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast.The Tale of Rome, Episode 8 — Tarquin the Elder.Last week we saw the life of Ancus Marcius and Rome’s expansion to the Mediterranean Sea.This week we’ll see the life of Tarquin, aptly nicknamed “the Elder” –after he managed to send away the two sons of Ancus Marcius away from Rome, and have himself elected king of Rome by a more-than-willing-to-oblige bunch of Senators.And here I’d like to add that the tale of the Kings of Rome can be roughly divided into two big sections.The first one consisted of Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, and Ancus Marcius.So, first a fighter. Then a pacifist. Then another fighter, and finally another pacifist who saw himself forced to wage wars, and ultimately did just that.And so, today we are officially starting the second part of the tale of the Kings, because the three kings we haven’t seen yet, they all belong to one—the same family. The Tarquins.And f

Hello all. Abel here, and I’d like to let you know about my podcast of ancient Rome, written with a novel-type-approach. From its first days, until the end of the Western Roman Empire.

Partial Transcripthttp://www.thetaleofrome.com/rome-006 Hello, this is Abel, in Beijing, China. Welcome to my podcast.The Tale of Rome, Episode 6 — Tullus Hostilius’ Holy Cow.Last week we saw how—after forty years of peace, Rome went back to its martial virtues. By the hand of King Tullus Hostilius, Rome went back to war, and it doesn’t seem strange to me, that the English word “hostile” or “hostilities” come from this king’s last name.Before we really dive into the rest of the life of Tullus Hostilius, I want to add a very short anecdote here.When the Sabines attacked Rome in the year 752 BC, because of the issue of their kidnapped women, Romulus organized a counterattack, as you might remember from Episode 3 of this podcast.You also might remember that the counterattack did not really bring any results, and that the Sabine women themselves solved the issue, at the end of the day.Finally, you also might remember how those Sabines took their time to carry out their attack, and so, almost a whole year had pass

Hello all. Abel here, and I’d like to let you know about my podcast of ancient Rome, written with a novel-type-approach. From its first days, until the end of the Western Roman Empire.

Hello all. Abel here, and I’d like to let you know about my podcast of ancient Rome, written with a novel-type-approach. From its first days, until the end of the Western Roman Empire.

Partial Transcripthttp://www.thetaleofrome.com/rome-003Hello, this is Abel, speaking from Beijing, China.Welcome to the Tale of Rome, Episode 3 — Roman M Seeking F.Last week we saw how, after many generations, Rome was established at the edge of the river Tiber, and we also saw how Romulus, Numitor’s grandson—and son of Rhea Silvia and god Mars, became the first King of Rome.I think if for a common man there is nothing as sweet as having a home of his own, for a man the size of Romulus, there couldn’t have been anything sweeter than having a city of his own.The only tiny problem for the moment was that his city was still not able to defend itself, and it also couldn’t grow.So, we are going to see how Romulus addressed these two issues of high priority.[…]After Romulus founded his city, it became pretty obvious that it would be necessary to attract people to the city.Rome needed new inhabitants.To that end, Romulus opened the gates of his city, but what happened next was that the first immigrants to the new ci