Exposed to public view like slabs of meat hung from a market stall, troublesome slaves were nailed to crosses.

Even as seedlings imported from exotic lands began to be planted across the emerging parkland of the Eskwaline,

these bear trees remained as a token of its sinister past. No death was more excruciating, more contemptible than crucifixion.

To be hung naked, long in agony, swelling with ugly wheels on shoulders and chest, helpless to beat away the clamorous birds.

Such a fate Roman intellectuals agreed was the worst imaginable.

This in turn was what rendered it so suitable a punishment for slaves. Lacking such a sanction, the entire order of the city might fall apart.

Luxury and splendor such as Rome could boast were dependent in the final reckoning on keeping those who sustained it in their place.

Welcome back to Young Heretics. Today I am super excited because we're having on a guest of whom I am an enormous fan.

I have been a fan of Tom Holland's work for a while now. I reviewed his latest book, Dominion in the Claremont Review of Books.

It is very exciting to get to talk to him and I think you're going to like to hear what he has to say for a number of reasons.

There are a bunch of reasons why he is somebody you want to hear from.

One major reason why is because we've talked so much on this show about how to get into classics if you're not maybe used to reading ancient texts or you feel like it's all a bit daunting and maybe you get excited about reading an ancient author but then it's kind of a snoozefest.

Tom Holland has the remarkable gift of vivifying history, making it narrative and exciting without sacrificing accuracy.

He is one of the best popular historians to live and his work is relevant to a lot of stuff that we've been talking about on this show.

He wrote a book called Persian Fire, a few years back, which is all about the Persian Wars. We've talked a bunch on this show about this.

We are going to talk also with Tom about it. His latest book is called Dominion, how the Christian Revolution remade the world.

And that too is a topic of tremendous interest to us, the way in which Christianity, even for those that openly disavow it, even for people who don't think of themselves as Christians and maybe even hostile to Christianity, Christianity shaped the view of the West and the heart of the West.

Here is just a passage from the opening of Dominion to give you a sense of Holland's skills and where they lie. Exposed to public view like slabs of meat hung from a market stall, troublesome slaves were nailed to crosses.

Even as seedlings imported from exotic lands began to be planted across the emerging parkland of the Eskwaline, these bear trees remained as a token of its sinister past.

No death was more excruciating, more contemptible than crucifixion. To be hung naked, long in agony, swelling with ugly wheels on shoulders and chest, helpless to beat away the clamorous birds.

Such a fate Roman intellectuals agreed was the worst imaginable. This in turn was what rendered it so suitable punishment for slaves.

Lacking such a sanction, the entire order of the city might fall apart. Luxury and splendor such as Rome could boast were dependent in the final reckoning on keeping those who sustained it in their place.

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