We are very excited to be back after the latest lockdown kept us from being able to meet up and record. Fortunately we had our materials ready to go and once lockdowns lifted we were able to record two episodes with one dropping today, and the second in two weeks.
Episode 9: Poplicola
As usual a excerpt is below of our ninth Episode, Poplicola, A New Day
With the Monarchy in retreat, several Roman aristocrats would see to it that the Monarchy would die with the overthrow of Tarquin Superbus, the last of the Roman Kings, with Poplicola becoming the leading man in the first decade of the new Republic.
Hope you enjoy the episode
Little Preview of the episode is below.
Chris: Welcome back everyone and thanks for listening. Last episode we were in Greece, where Xerxes dark cloud of tyranny threatened all Greeks on a scale never seen before, but a determined Greek population led by Athenian heroes sent the Persians packing.
Chris: For today’s episode, we head to the western Mediterranean and back to the Italian Peninsula, where the Romans were purging tyranny of their own, ushering in the classical Roman Republic that we all know and love.
Chris: So, lets get to it.
Chris: After the unstoppable force of Romulus who founded the city of Rome, gave her, her laws and military tradition, and the wise administration of Numa, Rome’s second King, providing the Romans with moral and religious tradition, the quality of Rome’s kings seems to have declined until we reach the reign of Tarquin, the seventh King of Rome who would rule for the good of himself, while the people suffered, marking the end of the Romans love affair with autocracy for the next 500 years.
Chris: The Roman people, desperate and distraught, turned to prominent Romans such as Lucius Brutus, here in called Brutus, Tarquinius Collatinus, here in called Collatinus and Publius Valerius, or Poplicola, who is today’s subject for help in deposing King Tarquinius Superbus, or in English, Tarquinius the Arrogant, here in referred simply as Superbus.
Chris: So, what were the Romans goals in incorporating the ruling class into their budding rebellion against the Tyrant Superbus?
Chris: To understand their goals, we must understand the terrible conditions the Roman State was in at the time.
Chris: Plutarch provides an image of a King so ill tempered, violent, and greedy whom illegally and brutally ascended to the throne and made no attempt to repent or better Rome for the average citizen for 25 long years, inspired an entire generation of hate for his reign and naturally the idea of a King soured on the Romans.
Chris: Everything Superbus stood for was the opposite of past great Kings like Romulus and Numa, and the people were simply at their wits ends hoping for a better future without Superbus.
Chris: However, how could common citizens with no political or economic power stand up to the mighty Superbus and the entrenched system of monarchy hope to make meaningful changes?
Chris: Of course, the senatorial class, some of whom likely were disenchanted with Superbus and had parallel complaints, though likely less credible than the regular citizens, had the resources both economically, politically and militarily to help dispose Superbus and institute a fair, just, and equitable system for all Romans, where the senate, elected by the people, would become the political system which the Romans would call the Republic and would build the first democracy of the ancient world.
Check out the podcast for the full episode!
Plutarch's Greeks and Romans Podcast 