Who Was Ancient Rome's Darkest Emperor?

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

History Hit

Myths, Folklore, Mystery, History, Ghosts, Society & Culture, Murder, Ufos, True Crime, Paranormal, Supernatural, Serial Killers

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

There are a disturbingly high number of contenders for the title of Rome's Darkest Emperor - so as you can imagine, things get extremely disturbing in this episode.

Joining Anthony and Maddy to introduce you to a couple of them, is Rome-based historian and tour guide, Alexander Meddings.

Edited by Tom Delargy. Produced by Stuart Beckwith. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Meet the world differently with Intrepid travel,
0:03.0	like cooking Tejinn in a Moroccan Riyadh,
0:07.0	or spotting lions on an early morning safari with new friends.
0:12.0	Intrepid brings you the real, the rare and the remarkable
0:16.0	on small group trips with like-minded travellers and a locally based leader.
0:20.0	Thousands of experiences over 100 countries.
0:24.6	Go where the joy takes you at intrepidtrapal.com.
0:28.6	Only Intrepid.
0:30.6	Every parent has the key to unlock their child's potential.
0:34.6	A future where they learn the skills they need to succeed. Whether that's
0:38.5	getting a job or further study. But the key isn't a key. It's the support you give them.
0:45.2	All right, Dad. Fancy a prune, isn't that a son? I've been reading about technical education
0:49.0	and it looks the business. Technical education opens doors for your child. Search talking futures to find out how T-levels,
0:56.5	apprenticeships and HTQs can unlock their full potential. Hello and welcome to After Dark,
1:04.2	I'm Maddie. And I'm Anthony. And in today's episode, we'll be asking the question,
1:08.5	who was Ancient Rome's darkest emperor? Now, there are,
1:12.5	of course, a few candidates, but today we're jumping straight to that depraved megalomaniac,
1:17.6	Caligula.
1:24.9	Under the heat of the Roman sun and the shopped hush of onlookers, once noblemen, robed in
1:31.3	senatorial purple, now knelt on all fours, stripped of dignity, confined in iron cages barely
1:37.9	large enough to allow them draw breath.
1:41.2	They are reduced to quivering animals.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.