So I have advanced formal instruction.
That means nothing. I left school with huge holes in my knowledge. Over the years I have tried to fill these gaps.
Recently, I really got into the nitty gritty involved with WWI.
Couple decades ago it was shoring up my colonial and ante-bellum North America knowledge.
Recently, I have availed myself of the History of Rome podcast to put the ancient world together in some modicum of sense in my head. Like history lectures when I drive.
I can keep better track of the first few emperors, now. Before it was dribs and drabs. Before the emperors? Gah! That's still hard.
Lessee, from recent memory (so there still could be errors)
- Julius Caesar. I know lots about him already
- Octavius Augustus. LONG reign despite being sickly, horrible at raising up heirs.
- Tiberius. Paranoid kiddie diddler, was the emperor when Jesus got it. 20 years or so. Awful
- Caligula. Know about him too. Only around for 4 years. AWFULLER. Assassinated
- Claudius. Starred in a PBS miniseries. Stutterer. Assumed a imbecile and thought 'uh, here we go again...' but, much better than his pre-elevation reputation
- Nero. You know about him, too.
- 69 AD, the year of the 4 emperors. Galba, the humorless governor from Spain, Otho, the apple polisher in Rome, Vitellius, the gluttonous governor in the Rhineland, and Vespacian, the governor from Syria.
- Vespacian was a mild and generous emperor
- Titus, was a milder and more generous, but only around a couple years. The Coliseum was dedicated, Mt Vesuvius buried Pompeii, and the Jewish revolt finally put down in Judea.
- Domitian. Horrible reputation because he hated the Senate and the Senate hated him right back
- Nerva. 2 years and assassinated by the Praetorian guard, but the first of the Five Good Emperors
- Trajan. Knew about him
- Hadrian. Knew about him
- Anonius Pius. Adopted son of Hadrian
- Marcus Aurelius, the last great Stoic. Knew about him.
- Joaquin Phoenix. Made the Joker movie.
And it would hurt me to memorize that short list. It gets me from before 48 BC to 180 AD.
The Republican era is harder to keep track of because Consuls did their thing for a year, then a new guy. But you get the interesting Punic War, there. It's Legendary city state of Rime, slowly gobbles up the Italian peninsula against the Etruscsans, the Latins, the Samnites, then over the Sicily, then butting heads with the Carthaginians, and finally against what Alexander left behind in the east, with Greece, Syria, and Egypt.
Do you know any other really good history podcasts as good as this that you really like?
The Republican era is harder to keep track of because Consuls did their thing for a year, then a new guy. But you get the interesting Punic War, there. It's Legendary city state of Rime, slowly gobbles up the Italian peninsula against the Etruscsans, the Latins, the Samnites, then over the Sicily, then butting heads with the Carthaginians, and finally against what Alexander left behind in the east, with Greece, Syria, and Egypt.
Do you know any other really good history podcasts as good as this that you really like?
3 comments:
Have you seen this? It is an interesting look at what we know about European history. The Golden Horde incursion from the east looks like an interesting story, and a many years back I did a once over on the history of the Ottoman Empire, since it did influence SE Europe in a big way.
The video both takes too long (almost 20 minutes) and goes by too fast. It does get all of the leaders of the Republic as well as the emperors.
https://youtu.be/IpKqCu6RcdI
I should have said... that shows the rulers of Europe every year from 400 BC to 2017.
If you ever get to Arlington, VA there is a fellow named John who will freely fill your head with more knowledge of Colonial history than you can shake a stick at. It was with John that I had a running online conversation measured in years. He has been busy with restoring his 1748 home to be period correct. The several additions and remodels over the centuries have presented obstacles of this or that. Yet it was those remodels which hid from time fabulous treasures only to be rediscovered as John made his improvements to the property.
Dear old John drives a cab for Blue Top. I think it is Blue Top. Anyway, it is Blue something. I know, not much to go on. Suffice to say I greatly enjoyed his conversation. Not only for the subject of history but the work and acquiring authentic furniture and wall coverings, and firearms. And the plentiful pictures of his progress.
Rick
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