Rome Before the Fall

About Rome Before the Fall

The Forum is waking up at dawn, and the men gathering on the steps of the Senate house speak in low voices, as if every word could cost them. Rome Before the Fall is a history podcast about ancient Rome, from the early days of the Roman Republic to the last years of the Roman Empire in the West. How did a small city on the Tiber come to rule the Mediterranean, and what drove the people who fought to control it? You will follow the ambitious and the powerful, and the people who found themselves standing in their way. In every episode you will feel the tension of not knowing what comes next, even when the world around them seemed settled. Each one is a real story told from the first decision to the final cost, with suspense, dry humor and honesty about what the ancient sources say. Every episode is complete on its own, so you can start with any one of them. The show also follows the ordinary people of Rome, the soldiers, the families and the crowds in the streets. Their side of history is often the one the old writers left out, and the show goes looking for it. Most of what we know about ancient Rome comes from a small number of writers, many of them working generations after the events they describe, and this show tells you where the record is solid and where it gets shaky. New episodes arrive every Monday and Thursday at 5 AM. Follow Rome Before the Fall so you never miss the next story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

Creators Obomedia

Category

education · history · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Nov 2026

Latest episode

5 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

11 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   5 Nov 2026

   The Night Nobody Was Supposed to Be There

   In sixty two BC, a young patrician named Clodius sneaks into the women-only rites of the Bona Dea at Caesar's house and survives the scandal that follows through jury bribery and political maneuvering. What is at stake is nothing less than the legal machinery of the Republic, which Clodius then bends to exile Rome's most famous orator. The dress fit well enough to get him in, just not quite well enough to keep him out of court.Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-6aeb398d024b9dcc82588226© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.This episode was created with artificial intelligence: AI-assisted script and AI-generated (synthetic) voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

2. 

   4 Nov 2026

   The Secessionist Who Saved Gaul

   In AD 260, a Roman general named Postumus seizes power on the Rhine and builds a rival empire covering three western provinces while the reigning emperor Gallienus fights to hold Italy. The breakaway state holds its own frontier for nine years, forcing Rome to watch the West govern itself without permission.Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-6aeb398d024b9dcc82588226© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.This episode was created with artificial intelligence: AI-assisted script and AI-generated (synthetic) voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

3. 

   4 Nov 2026

   The Last Man on the Aventine

   Gaius Gracchus, tribune of the plebs, builds a sweeping reform program in the one hundreds BC that threatens the Senate's grip on land, courts, and grain. The Senate, outmaneuvered in the Forum, reaches for a new and untested emergency decree to stop him. Rome is about to learn whether a legal instrument can do what a mob did to his brother.Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-6aeb398d024b9dcc82588226© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.This episode was created with artificial intelligence: AI-assisted script and AI-generated (synthetic) voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

4. 

   4 Nov 2026

   The Man Who Asked If Anybody Was Left

   In AD 68, Emperor Nero faces a revolt in Gaul that his own Rhine legions crush before he can respond, while the Praetorian Guard negotiates its loyalty to the highest bidder. Galba, the old governor of Hispania, marches toward a throne built on promises nobody authorized him to make. The gap between an emperor's image of himself and the machinery that kept him in power turns out to be very small and very final.Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-6aeb398d024b9dcc82588226© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.This episode was created with artificial intelligence: AI-assisted script and AI-generated (synthetic) voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

5. 

   4 Nov 2026

   The Consul Who Watched the Sky

   In fifty nine BC, Julius Caesar holds the consulship alongside Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, and he intends to use every tool the office offers to push through land reform, ratify Pompey's eastern conquests, and secure a military command. Bibulus responds by retreating to his house and declaring the sky unfit for legislation, leaving Rome to decide whether law or raw political will governs the republic.Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-6aeb398d024b9dcc82588226© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.This episode was created with artificial intelligence: AI-assisted script and AI-generated (synthetic) voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

6. 

   4 Nov 2026

   The Legions Decide

   In AD one ninety three, Septimius Severus commands the Pannonian legions and moves fast against two rival emperors, Pescennius Niger in the east and Clodius Albinus in the west, each backed by armies and provincial wealth. The throne of Rome is the prize, and the city's grain supply, its Senate, and its definition of legitimate power are all at stake. Three men want the same job, and only one of them seems to understand that the interview process involves marching.Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-6aeb398d024b9dcc82588226© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.This episode was created with artificial intelligence: AI-assisted script and AI-generated (synthetic) voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

7. 

   4 Nov 2026

   The Emperor Who Went Too Far East

   In AD 283, the emperor Carus leads a Roman army deeper into Persian territory than any commander since Trajan, reaching the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon without a battle. What follows is a succession crisis that moves at the speed of a closed litter and ends at swordpoint on a Bithynian shore.Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-6aeb398d024b9dcc82588226© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.This episode was created with artificial intelligence: AI-assisted script and AI-generated (synthetic) voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

8. 

   4 Nov 2026

   The Man Who Came With the Army

   In AD 456, patrician Ricimer holds the only army left in the western empire while a series of emperors sit on the throne he controls. As the Vandals strangle Africa and Constantinople watches from a careful distance, the question of whether any western emperor can survive Ricimer's management grows harder to avoid. The purple robe, it turns out, is easier to give than to keep.Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-6aeb398d024b9dcc82588226© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.This episode was created with artificial intelligence: AI-assisted script and AI-generated (synthetic) voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

9. 

   4 Nov 2026

   The Old Man Kept the Whole Thing Running

   Augustus has ruled Rome for forty years when his health fails in AD 14, leaving the Principate, a system built entirely around one man, facing its first real test of survival. His cautious heir Tiberius must claim power without appearing to want it, while a sealed will and an unexplained execution shape what the transfer actually costs. The paperwork was all in order, which is one way to describe it.Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-6aeb398d024b9dcc82588226© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.This episode was created with artificial intelligence: AI-assisted script and AI-generated (synthetic) voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

10. 

    4 Nov 2026

    Bread, Beasts and a Thousand Years of Nothing Fixed

    In AD 248, Philip the Arab stages Rome's thousandth birthday with exotic animals and three days of spectacle, hoping a magnificent public moment can cement a reign that began under suspicious circumstances. The Danubian frontier is already fraying, and the general he sends north to restore order may present a greater danger than the army he was meant to suppress.Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-6aeb398d024b9dcc82588226© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.This episode was created with artificial intelligence: AI-assisted script and AI-generated (synthetic) voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

11. 

    4 Nov 2026

    The City That Was Always Going to Win

    In AD 324, Constantine becomes sole ruler of the Roman world and fixes his eyes on a small Greek peninsula at the meeting of two seas. Over six years he strips temples, reroutes grain fleets, and conscripts provincial labor to raise a city that will rival Rome itself. Whether one peninsula could hold an empire already pulling apart is the question the Bosporus wind keeps asking.Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-6aeb398d024b9dcc82588226© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.This episode was created with artificial intelligence: AI-assisted script and AI-generated (synthetic) voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Contact Rome Before the Fall

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.