The Roman Secret Service

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2023

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When you think of spies, images of suave men in suits sipping martinis tend to come to mind - not, well, the Romans. But espionage has been used throughout Rome's history, from it's enemies using intelligence gathering techniques against the empire, through to even the most pragmatic of Emperor's recruiting secret agents. But what do we actually know about the Roman Secret Service, and how was it used across the empire?

In this episode Tristan welcomes back Dr Simon Elliot to the podcast to delve into the world of Roman Espionage. Looking at it's uses in the Punic Wars, how different Emperors employed different tactics, and the archaeological evidence we have of their actions today - what did it take to be a Roman Spy, and how many of them were there actually?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the ancients from History Hit. For ad-free episodes, regular bonus content and hundreds of history
0:06.8	documentaries, download the History Hit app or visit History Hit.com. This is a paid partnership with Aviva.
0:18.0	Picture the scene.
0:19.0	You're driving off on holiday with your friends in the passenger seats.
0:22.0	Soon enough, your friend in the passenger seats. Soon enough your friend in the front
0:23.4	has elected themselves master DJ. Not the end of the world, they've got a good music
0:28.1	taste. Until they decide that it was their life mission to sing out nostalgic hits from the 90s and early 2000
0:35.2	getting every lyric wrong on repeat, ignoring the GPS completely and
0:40.8	resulting in us having a three- hour detour stuck in heavy traffic.
0:45.3	Let's just say friendships were put to the test that day.
0:48.4	Whilst Aviva can't help solve your passenger problems, they can help solve your car insurance puzzles. If you're in an accident or your car is damaged or
0:57.2	stolen, Aviva can help with 24-7 support for new claims 365 days a year.
1:05.0	Search Aviva Car Insurance today and get a quote in minutes. It's the
1:24.0	the Enchants on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and in today's
1:28.6	episode, well it's a very fun episode. It's an exciting episode because we're
1:32.0	talking about a very mysterious part of
1:34.8	Roman history, all to do with spies and intelligence gathering. We are talking
1:40.9	about the Roman Secret Service.
1:43.8	What do we know about the gathering of state-level intelligence by the Romans?
1:49.8	Joining us to talk through it.
1:51.8	Well, I was delighted to get back on the podcast,
1:54.3	a good friend of the podcast,
	...

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