{"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":"The Sack of Rome - The Pax Romana Podcast 103","slug":"the-sack-of-rome-the-pax-romana-podcast-103","published_at":"2026-05-20T04:04:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-pax-romana-podcast-6582386/the-sack-of-rome-the-pax-romana-podcast-103","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-pax-romana-podcast-6582386","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paxromanapodcast/episodes/The-Sack-of-Rome---The-Pax-Romana-Podcast-103-e3jkbup","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/e76256a0/podcast/play/120253849/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-4-20%2Fb42b3112-b47e-66aa-3b98-5a015f811ef1.mp3","summary":"In August AD 410, something happened that many Romans believed was impossible: Rome fell. After eight centuries without a foreign conquest, the “Eternal City” was breached by the Gothic king Alaric and his army. But was this really the violent apocalypse later generations imagined? This episode follows the collapse of diplomacy after the execution of Stilicho, the sieges that brought famine to Rome, the strange alliance between Gothic soldiers and Roman senators and the three-day sack that shocked the ancient world. We’ll also explore the competing eyewitness accounts: Jerome’s vision of catastrophe, Augustine’s theological response, and Orosius’s surprising claim that Goths and Romans sang hymns together in the burning city. 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":"In August AD 410, something happened that many Romans believed was impossible: Rome fell. After eight centuries without a foreign conquest, the “Eternal C…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1560,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-pax-romana-podcast-6582386/episodes/the-sack-of-rome-the-pax-romana-podcast-103/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/the-sack-of-rome-the-pax-romana-podcast-103.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}