{"podcast":{"title":"The Pax Romana Podcast","slug":"the-pax-romana-podcast-6582386","podcast_index_feed_id":6582386,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/e76256a0/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://paxromanapodcast.com","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/38719816/38719816-1729179050701-aec544dacce82.jpg","author":"Professor Colin Elliott","episode_count":115,"summary":"The assassination of Julius Caesar 2,000 years ago unleashed a wild era of Roman emperors, dark conspiracies, intense battles, economic booms and busts and profound religious shifts. Was this truly the Roman Empire's golden age? On the weekly Pax Romana Podcast, Historian Colin Elliott brings gripping stories from Roman history to life. Dive into history starting in episode 1 , or pick your poison from our catalogue: the birth of the empire in the Age of Augustus, Nero's Great Fire, the rise of Christianity, the wisdom and wars of Marcus Aurelius or the military chaos of the third century AD.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-pax-romana-podcast-6582386"},"episode":{"title":"Ammianus Marcellinus, Forged Letters and a Conspiracy under Constantius II - The Pax Romana Podcast 91","slug":"ammianus-marcellinus-forged-letters-and-a-conspiracy-under-constantius-ii-the-pax-romana-podcast-91","published_at":"2025-10-17T04:45:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-pax-romana-podcast-6582386/ammianus-marcellinus-forged-letters-and-a-conspiracy-under-constantius-ii-the-pax-romana-podcast-91","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-pax-romana-podcast-6582386","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paxromanapodcast/episodes/Ammianus-Marcellinus--Forged-Letters-and-a-Conspiracy-under-Constantius-II---The-Pax-Romana-Podcast-91-e39kouo","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/e76256a0/podcast/play/109781400/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-9-16%2F39080e1d-1194-40b3-9b7d-fd6ef5dde130.mp3","summary":"In 355 AD, Silvanus, a high-ranking officer in the Roman Empire faced treason charges from forged letters. The emperor, Constantius II had him executed. But also, after learning that the letters were forged, the emperor pardoned the conspirators. Why else would he do all this unless he was either gullible or cruel? Well, the ancient historian who wrote about this episode, Ammianus Marcellinus, may have lied about what happened. He also happened to have bene in the party that ultimately assassinated Silvanus. Something very fishy happened--and a recent article offers a new theory for sorting it all out. Read "Fraud and Forgery in the Reign of Constantius II: The Silvanus Affair of 355 CE" by Katherine Lagenfeld: https://biblioscout.net/article/10.25162/historia-2025-0020 Donate: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFC⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube Channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Buy Professor Elliott's newest book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ .","meta_description":"In 355 AD, Silvanus, a high-ranking officer in the Roman Empire faced treason charges from forged letters. The emperor, Constantius II had him executed. B…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1061,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-pax-romana-podcast-6582386/episodes/ammianus-marcellinus-forged-letters-and-a-conspiracy-under-constantius-ii-the-pax-romana-podcast-91/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-pax-romana-podcast-6582386/ammianus-marcellinus-forged-letters-and-a-conspiracy-under-constantius-ii-the-pax-romana-podcast-91.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}