{"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":"Stilicho and the Failing Western Roman Empire - The Pax Romana Podcast 102","slug":"stilicho-and-the-failing-western-roman-empire-the-pax-romana-podcast-102","published_at":"2026-05-06T04:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-pax-romana-podcast-6582386/stilicho-and-the-failing-western-roman-empire-the-pax-romana-podcast-102","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-pax-romana-podcast-6582386","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paxromanapodcast/episodes/Stilicho-and-the-Failing-Western-Roman-Empire---The-Pax-Romana-Podcast-102-e3iuhsf","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/e76256a0/podcast/play/119539023/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-4-5%2Fc23e50c0-22c0-2c5c-26a6-e3b824f140fc.mp3","summary":"What does it take to hold an empire together when the emperor is a child? Who really rules— the man with the title, or the man with the army? And how long can that arrangement last before it begins to crack? In the early fifth century AD, the western Roman Empire faced precisely this problem. A boy, Honorius, sat on the throne, while a general, Stilicho, governed in his name, winning wars, managing crises, and shaping policy. For a time, it worked. The empire held together, threats were contained, and order seemed restored. But beneath that stability lay tensions—between appearance and reality, authority and power—that would eventually prove impossible to sustain. Donate: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFC⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube Channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Buy Professor Elliott's book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ .","meta_description":"What does it take to hold an empire together when the emperor is a child? Who really rules— the man with the title, or the man with the army? And how long…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1454,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-pax-romana-podcast-6582386/episodes/stilicho-and-the-failing-western-roman-empire-the-pax-romana-podcast-102/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/stilicho-and-the-failing-western-roman-empire-the-pax-romana-podcast-102.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}