#346: The Fall of the Roman Republic

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 October 2017

⏱️ 56 minutes

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Summary

There’s been a lot written and said about the fall of the Roman Empire. But what often gets overlooked is that before Rome became an empire with what was effectively a king, it was a kingless republic. What was that republic like and why did it fall into an empire, before the empire itself fell? My guest today explores this question in his book, "The Storm Before the Storm." His name is Mike Duncan and he’s the host of the Revolutions and the History of Rome podcasts. Today on the show, Mike walks us through the formation of the Roman Republic and why it was so unique amongst ancient governments. He then explains the unwritten code of behavior that governed Romans and how it enabled the Republic to last for nearly 500 years. Mike then walks us through how the breakdown of that code led to the breakdown of the Republic, and how reformers seeking to take Rome back to its good ol’ days only sped up its fall. We then discuss if we can see any similarities between Rome’s republic and America. This is a fascinating episode on an oft-overlooked part of Roman history.

Transcript

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0:00.0	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:13.9	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:17.7	Well, there's been a lot written about the fall of the Roman Empire.
0:21.4	What often gets overlooked is that before Rome became an empire with what was effectively a king,
0:26.4	it was a kingless republic.
0:28.6	What was that republic like and why did it fall into an empire before the empire itself fell?
0:33.8	Well, my guest day explores this question in his book, The Storm Before The Storm,
0:37.3	his name is Mike Duncan, and he's the host of the Revolutions and the History of Rome podcast.
0:42.2	Today on the show, Mike walks us through the formation of the Roman Republic,
0:45.3	and why was so unique amongst ancient governments?
0:47.8	He then explains the unwritten code of behavior that govern Romans and how to enable the Republic
0:52.3	to last for nearly 500 years. He then walks us through how the breakdown of that code led to the
0:56.9	breakdown of the Republic and how reformers seeking to take Rome back to the good old days of
1:01.5	the Republic only sped up its fall. We then discuss if we can see any similarities to
1:05.7	the Roman Republic and the American Republic. It's a fascinating episode, but an off-overloat
1:09.8	part of Roman history. If you want to check out the show notes, for more resources, go to
1:13.7	aawim.is slash Duncan.
1:19.2	Mike Duncan, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me.
1:22.4	So you're the host of the History of Rome podcast, which ran from 2007. Man, you were like
1:28.6	one of the pioneers of podcast, and if you started your podcast 2007 to 2012.
1:34.6	What was the impetus behind starting a podcast, particularly one about the history of Rome?
1:39.3	Yeah, I have now officially been around for a very long time. When I started in 2007,
	...

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