Siege of Rome map from Ancient Warfare Magazine Volume IV, Issue 3 (www.ancient-warfare.com)
When Athalaric, Prince of the Goths dies in 534 his mother has to choose whether to flee East or try to cling to power. Amalasuntha makes the wrong choice and calls in her cousin Theodahad. When he has her killed he hands Justinian the pretext for an invasion of Italy. Mundus leads the Army of Illyricum into Dalmatia and Belisarius sails to Sicily. Theodahad enters negotiations to surrender Italy in exchange for a fat pension. Could Italy be about to fall as quickly as Africa did?
Period: 534-38
Download: Episode 23 – The Siege of Rome
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The Aurelian Walls
The History of Byzantium 
Hey, Robin, I don’t know if this was an intentional change in your approach, or if it had something to do with the subject material, but this episode seemed very lively, very fluid and vivid and engaging and just all-around top-notch. Good work!
I’m curious, maybe you’ve answered this elsewhere, but how far in advance do you research? Are you reading just a few steps ahead of the podcast, or are you already compiling material about far-future episodes?
Hi Bill, that’s very kind of you to say. My natural style is more lively and so I guess I’ve speeded up verbally as I’ve gone on 🙂 Essentially I’m flying by the seat of my pants at the moment. In the sense that I have to make notes and write the podcast in the 2 weeks between each episode. In my spare time I am reading around the subject. Occasionally I make notes from a library book because I will need to give it back soon. But for most of the time I finished the notes a day or two before you hear the podcast.
Hi Robin, I’ve just caught up after discovering your podcast a few days ago. I was a big fan of THOR, and I understand why you saw a great opportunity to carry on where Mike left off. I feel that you have been getting into your rhythm, just as Mike had to do in the early stages, but its going really well now. The episodes since Justin have been very good. Thank you for taking up the challenge, and I hope you persist. Mike did about 1000 years worth, and you have 1000 or so to play with. Good luck!
Thanks Michael. That’s an interesting coincidence as I do plan on doing something similar. Announcement coming soon.
I started catching up with the podcast. I got to Episode 10, and i realized you tried to give me a shout out for the artwork. HA!
https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/2012/08/31/episode-8-italy-and-africa/#comment-134
Keep ’em coming. You’ve replaced the void Mike Duncan’s podcast filled making my workday go by much more smoothly.
Only very recently discovered your podcast after listening to THOR, i’m only up to episode 5 but so far its brilliant so keep up the great work and I look forward to catching up on the episode.
Hi Christopher! Thank you so much. No wonder I couldn’t find you, I just assumed it had been on an email 🙂 I really appreciate it and if you ever need a plug or proper shout out just let me know.
Phew, it feels good to be back in Rome! We are still Roman after all, kinda, for the meantime, right? Robin, Rome seems like it was a shell or a mere shadow of it’s former self just before the reconquest. Still just as symbolic as it was for Justinian to recapture the city, it feels good for us to return to Rome in your podcast. I enjoy your podcast as much as I enjoyed THOR. Thank you!
Hello, Robin. The podcast is wonderful and immensely educational. But did you realize that in episode 23 you mentioned corn mills several times? Corn wasn’t introduced to Europe until after the discovery of the New World. I’m sure you meant grain mills, but I never heard anyone question it.
You are right of course but corn is sometimes used to refer to wheat and barley crops in general https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/corn#:~:text=Corn%20is%20used%20to%20refer,the%20seeds%20from%20these%20plants.