Episode 265 - The 10 Greatest Emperors with Anthony Kaldellis
The History of Byzantium
Robin Pierson
4.8 • 4.9K Ratings
🗓️ 14 April 2023
⏱️ 123 minutes
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Summary
Professor Anthony Kaldellis has just completed a new history of Byzantium which will be published in October 2023. So I cheekily asked him if he would list his 10 greatest Emperors. Graciously he agreed to apply his immense knowledge to this frivolous topic.
He is a Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Chicago. This is his third interview on the History of Byzantium. I talked to him about two of his books 'The Byzantine Republic' and 'Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade.' But he is the author of over a dozen books on Byzantium along with translations of texts and many articles. Find out more here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ever wondered what it's like to win big on the national lottery? |
| 0:06.7 | Are you somewhere you're able to pull at the moment? |
| 0:09.7 | Yes, we're at home. Lovely. |
| 0:12.8 | I've just checked the ticket and I can confirm you are now millionaires. |
| 0:17.7 | No! |
| 0:18.8 | Yes! |
| 0:20.0 | Imagine if it was you making that call next. |
| 0:23.1 | The national lottery. Your numbers make amazing happen. |
| 0:27.1 | Rules and procedures apply. Players must be 18 or over. |
| 0:40.7 | Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium. |
| 0:44.5 | Episode 265. |
| 0:47.4 | The 10 Greatest Emperors with Anthony Codellus. |
| 0:51.6 | Like many of you, I do think about top 10 Roman Emperor lists from time to time and I really enjoy reading other people's on the internet, usually because I so strongly disagree. |
| 1:09.6 | And I do plan when this podcast reaches 1453 of coming up with my own top 10 list. |
| 1:18.6 | And it was running through my mind recently since having the baby. |
| 1:24.7 | There's a lot of time when you're just holding a sleeping child or a feeding child and you think, what can I do with my time? |
| 1:34.4 | And yeah, I was thinking about top 10 lists and then I was thinking about Professor Anthony Codellus, who of course has been on this podcast twice before, |
| 1:44.1 | because he is writing a new history of Byzantium. |
| 1:47.4 | He has actually finished that book, The New Roman Empire, which is going to be published in October 2023. |
| 1:55.4 | And of course, I will be inviting him onto the podcast to talk about that new book. |
| 2:01.4 | And, oh, I wish this book had existed when I started the podcast because it would have been incredibly helpful. |
| 2:09.0 | Anyway, it occurred to me who could do much, much better top 10 list than I could, Anthony Codellus, even if he hadn't written this book. |
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