Review: The History of Rome

I was stuck in the dorm for most of the Winter Break. One of the few good things amidst all that cold, and gout, and boredom is that I was finally able to 1) get some thesis writing done and 2) finish The History of Rome podcast. 

Mike Duncan's award winning podcast is an ambitious and entertaining journey through a thousand years - from the legendary founding of Rome to the fall of the Western Empire. It covers a very, very long arc of history. School courses tend to cover only the comparatively brief rise of current nation-states. Everything is condensed into a story of "great men" (and it is mostly men, unfortunately). It ignores the slow but massive socio-economic undercurrents that  build through time. 

It is dangerous to make instant parallels between Roman history and the troubles of a young struggling democracy, like my country. But I've just listened through the times of Julius Caesar to Aurelius to Constantine and beyond, so I feel somewhat cocky. What makes Roman history, and Roman law, still relevant is the universality of the human condition. "All of this has happened before, and will happen again."

So. Some lessons:

1. Hereditary succession is almost always a bad idea.  

2. There is nothing more essential, and more fragile, than a rule of law.

3. Nobody really ever wins wars.

4. Naked populism without discourse is asking for tyranny.

5. Empires fall.