The Western Traditions Podcast

The Roman Republic enters the last century before Christ weakened not only by external warfare but also by internal struggles. Marcus Livius Drusus, after proposing some radical changes is assassinated. Yet Rome survives the Social War, the war with Mithridates and the First Civil War all in succession. Marius serves his last consulship. His former lieutenant, Sulla, seizes power and restores Roman solidity briefly before dying himself. We are introduced to names like Pompey, Crassus and Julius Caesar.

From outside the aristocracy, Marius comes to power in an endangered Roman Republic. As he rises through the ranks, the Gracchis are slain, the Numidians rebel, the Germans invade and the slaves revolt. We first hear of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and the Servile Wars.

Caius Gracchus works his way through the Roman ranks until, following in his older brother's footsteps, he is elected as a young tribune of the people. Immediately, he begins to propose legislation that will both avenge his brother's death and return land and prosperity to the common people. The Senate, fearing any strong man in public power, moves against him. In the end, his corpse follows his brother's into the Tiber river, and it will be the task of another man to rattle the Senate's Republican cage. 

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus returns home from war to find his nation in decline. The rich have imported immigrants and slaves into Italy to displace the native citizens. The rise of plantations drives free Romans into urban zones to seek a living through labor and to live in property-less poverty. When elected tribune, he sets out on a martyr's road to right the wrongs of class warfare in Rome.

How the process of optimization ultimately ruins everything. Beginning with examples from Mexican politics and President Gustavo Diaz, the podcast goes on to consider business, sports, diet, religion, marriage and technology as well as the US health care system. Finally, the episode closes with Dr. Richard Feynman's elaboration on the theory of entropy. 

The speaker explores the dark theology of Cormac McCarthy. The sources of influence include William Faulkner, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, ancient gnosticism. Cited works include The Orchard Keeper, The Outer Dark, Suttree, Blood Meridian, The Border Trilogy, No Country for Old Men, The Road, The Passenger and Stella Maris.

A reflection on the post-apocalyptic trend in modern fiction, starting with an epiphany experienced while rereading Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. The speaker explores technological trends in history, prehistory and the future, from Gobekli Tepe to the present and beyond. Archaeology, history, literature, mathematics and the Technological Singularity all find their way into the thread of the monologue. 

Jacob returns to the Promised Land, after surviving the reunion with his brother Esau. He meets a mysterious stranger and earns a new name at the river Yabbok. His daughter, Dinah, is violated near Shechem. His sons stir up trouble for him as they try to settle in the land. 

Jacob reaches the middle of his life and comes into conflict with Laban, his father-in-law. He gathers his wives and household and returns to the Promised Land. Digressions on repetition in Scripture and the flexible morality of the Patriarchs. 

Jacob begins his odyssey, traveling to the lands of the East, where his uncle Laban and his cousins live. The fragile youth becomes a man. He marries Leah and Rachel, and has numerous children through them and their handmaids. 

Carthago delenda est. Marcus Cato dies before he can see his apocalyptic dream come true. Scipio Aemilianus rises to the office of consul and leads the Roman legions in their final assault on the city of Carthage. 

Marcus Cato makes memorable observations on the decline of Roman traditions. Wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer men. The author reflects on the changing nature of the Roman upper and lower classes and on the decline of the moral order in Republican Rome after the Second Punic War. 

The victors of the Macedonian wars bring back more than treasure and tribute. Greek culture flows into Roman society. Men like Flamininus and Aemilius Paulus embrace it. Marcus Cato reviles this Greek immigration of values and ideas. 

The scriptures transition from the grand story of Abraham to the very human, realistic story of a family torn, a dying father, a scheming mother and two brothers in conflict. The tale of Jacob and Esau begins.

Scipio and Hannibal finally come face to face in Africa. Carthage is totally defeated. The Roman Senate takes another step to becoming the governing body of the known world.

Publius Cornelius Scipio the Younger, someday to be known as Scipio Africanus, engages and defeats the Carthaginians in Spain. He stands for election to the consulship, demanding the right to carry the war into Africa. The charismatic young hero is elevated to high command. Hannibal, worn down, lingers on in Italy. Fabius Maximus and Marcellus both die before they can see the war to its end.

In which the speaker meanders from topic to topic, skirts dangerously close to misogyny, espouses various unorthodox viewpoints and talks a lot about sex. Mostly, though, he rages against the walls of the prison that he built around himself.

The Second Punic War spreads into Greece, Sicily, Africa and Spain. The Illyrian Wars and the Macedonian Wars break out. Fabius and Marcellus are not alone among the men who come forward to serve Rome in this moment of need. Publius Cornelius Scipio dies fighting deep in Carthaginian territory in Spain. His son, who will someday become known simply as Scipio Africanus, is sent to salvage Roman security in the region. 

Rome commits to the war, raising more troops than ever before and pushing the limits of their constitution. Hannibal is victorious over Rome again and again. Fabius Maximus manages to slow the destruction, until Carthage's greatest general finally obliterates Rome's largest army at the battle of Cannae.

Hannibal sacks the Roman-allied city of Saguntum. Rome and Carthage officially declare war. The Gauls rebel in northern Italy. Hannibal marches eastward to glory or defeat.

Hannibal sacks the Roman-allied city of Saguntum. Rome and Carthage officially declare war. The Gauls rebel in northern Italy. Hannibal marches eastward to glory or defeat.

This episode covers the fragile peace after the First Punic War, focusing on Carthage’s internal rebellions, Hamilcar Barca’s campaigns in Spain, and Rome’s expansion in northern Italy. It introduces key figures like Hamilcar, young Hannibal, Fabius Maximus, and Marcus Claudius Marcellus, and explains how political, military, and social changes set the stage for the Second Punic War.

Abraham and Isaac as types of God the Father and His son, Jesus. The love story of Isaac and Rebecca. The death of Abraham and Sarah.

Isaac is finally born to Sarah. Almost immediately, Abraham‘s legacy is threatened when God commands him to sacrifice his newborn son.

Abraham meets the Holy Trinity by the sacred trees of Mamre. Lot is saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Abram deepens his relationship with God. Rituals of animal sacrifice and human circumcision seal the covenant. Abram becomes Abraham, the father of nations.

Rome fights on until Carthage must beg for peace. Catullus and Hamilcar Barca.

Rome and Carthage come face-to-face for the first time. Carthage sees the war in terms of profit and loss. Rome sees only the matter of honor. The Romans dare to build a fleet to cross the ocean that belongs to their enemy and to bring the war to Carthage.

Hiero of Syracuse is the unknowing third-wheel in an increasingly vicious relationship between two superpowers. By 264 BC, he is already lost in the background, as Rome and Carthage finally square off to decide, not just who controls the Mediterranean, but who owns the future. Every man thinks of Rome at least once per day but once-great Carthage is less than a memory.

A look at the great counterpart of the Roman Republic: Carthage. How the Phoenicians colonized the Western Mediterranean and what little else we can learn about this ancient culture that the Romans destroyed completely by the end of the Punic Wars. A meditation on child-sacrifice in ancient cultures.

The Romans expand beyond their central Italian limits. In the 4th and 3rd century BC, they conquer their enemies and allies in central and southern Italy. They are led by consuls like Publius Decius Mus, who sacrificed his own life to give Rome victory. But every Roman soldier shows himself to be both valiant and indomitable.

The stories of three heroes of the early Roman Republic: Coriolanus, Cincinnatus and Camillus. The struggle between the social classes is known as the Conflict of Orders. 

Abram rescues Lot. Melchizedek celebrates a type of the Eucharist. A look at Jewish, pagan and Christian ceremonies. The identity of Melchizedek. The long life of Shem, son of Noah.

A look at the great counterpart of the Roman Republic: Carthage. How the Phoenicians colonized the Western Mediterranean and what little else we can learn about this ancient culture that the Romans destroyed completely by the end of the Punic Wars. A meditation on child-sacrifice in ancient cultures.

The history before history. For most of human existence, there was no such thing as writing. Yet our ancestors did leave records and remains that we can study to learn more about the human past.

History and prehistory. Before the dawn of writing, the human past is shrouded in darkness. The episodes of the Ancient World explore events before and just after the rise of civilization.

The Romans expand beyond their central Italian limits. In the 4th and 3rd century BC, they conquer their enemies and allies in central and southern Italy. They are led by consuls like Publius Decius Mus, who sacrificed his own life to give Rome victory. But every Roman soldier shows himself to be both valiant and indomitable.

The stories of three heroes of the early Roman Republic: Coriolanus, Cincinnatus and Camillus. The struggle between the social classes is known as the Conflict of Orders. 

God establishes a covenant with Abram. The journey to Egypt. Altars in Canaan.

In the eighth episode of the Roman series of the Western Traditions Podcast, we embark on a journey back to 509 BC when the Roman Republic was born from the ashes of monarchy. Discover how the Senate, patricians, and consuls shaped the nascent Republic amid a tumultuous landscape of political intrigue and warfare. We delve into the military might of early Rome, its societal structure, and the legislative foundation laid by the Twelve Tables. Brimming with tales of valor, justice, and social evolution, this episode unveils the resilience and strategies that propelled a small city-state toward greatness.

How to teach the first lesson of the Western Traditions curriculum.

The introduction to the Western Traditions podcast. The Great Books of the Western World and the Bible. The great men and women of western civilization.

The seven kings of Rome. Numa Pompilius succeeds Romulus. The line of kings ends with Tarquinius Superbus. Some background on Roman institutions, practices and vocabulary.

The story of Romulus and Remus. With the capture of the Sabine women, Rome expands territorially and biologically. The birth of the glory of Rome.

The Table of Nations. The Tower of Babel. Introduction to Abram. Genealogy and numerology in the Bible. God brings diversity to humanity.

Using outlines to enhance study.

Our souls are deathless, but nothing retains its own form. Thus speaks Pythagoras in this long and winding tale that combines ancient myth and history. Through a Roman lens, we read of Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Hercules, Ulysses and more, coming right down to the advent of the Roman Empire.

The gods through the eyes of the earliest Romans. The Indo-European religious inheritance. Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Minerva. The precision and discipline of Roman religious practice. The ties to early Christianity.

God chastises the world with the Flood. Only Noah and his family are spared. A breakdown of symbols and morality in the flood narrative.

Pyrrhus, Greek king and general, fights the Roman tide that threatens to wash over the entire Greek world. The Seleucid Empire and Ptolemaic Egypt flourish and endure. The Maccabees revolt in Judea and start the Hasmonean dynasty of kings in Jerusalem.