A succession of remarkable individuals—statesmen, thinkers, warriors, and writers—shaped the history of the Roman Empire and, by extension, our own history and culture.
This course looks at Roman history by exploring the lives of Julius Caesar, Augustus, Nero, Claudius, Cicero, Virgil, Pompey the Great, and Marcus Aurelius, among others—all of them famous, some of them infamous. It looks at their influence on such cultural and political issues as why Romans abandoned their Republic, and why the 2nd century A.D. was one of the most creative periods in world history—a time to rival our own.
These lectures, which complement Famous Greeks, teach lessons about statesmanship, politics, liberty, and virtue that remain relevant and vital today.