As the Roman Empire rapidly Christianized, violence increased in Alexandria. In the center of this brewing storm stood Hypatia: a philosopher, mathematician and political power-broker. How did she thrive and command respect under an aggressively Christian regime?Donate: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFCYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPEBuy Professor Elliott's book:Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World.
Sep 11
19 min
How did the daughter of a mathematician acquire enough authority to teach Plato, edit difficult astronomical texts, advise powerful men and attract students from across the Mediterranean? What did elite education actually look like in the fourth century, especially for a woman? What kind of mathematics did Hypatia practice, and what can we really say about her lost writings? Why did Christian students seek out a pagan teacher? And how did her classroom become a place where mathematics, philosophy, religion and politics met This lecture follows Hypatia from Theon’s scholarly household to public prominence—and ends at the moment when that prominence began to carry new risks.Donate: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFCYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPEBuy Professor Elliott's book:Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World.
Aug 26
22 min
This episode begins a short series on Hypatia of Alexandria--famous philosopher, and some say martyr for science, who died in Alexandria in the early 5th century AD. This series will explore Alexandria’s transformation, Hypatia’s education and philosophical school, the religious and political conflicts surrounding her and the circumstances of her death.Before we meet Hypatia, we must first meet her city. Alexandria was one of the largest and most prosperous cities of the ancient Mediterranean: a densely populated port where Egyptian grain, African goods, Mediterranean merchants, imperial officials, philosophers, priests, Jews, Christians and pagans converged. Yet Alexandria’s wealth and cultural diversity also produced inequality, competition and recurring tension. Why did Alexandria become so wealthy? Why did religion matter so deeply to the city’s identity? And how did this extraordinary metropolis shape Hypatia’s life—and ultimately her fate?Donate: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFCYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPEBuy Professor Elliott's book:Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World.
Jul 23
19 min
Rome was sacked in AD 410, but the western empire did not end. What did the Roman Empire Honorius do after this disaster? This episode argues that Honorius failed to preserve the Empire because he confused the survival of his court with the survival of the Empire. Donate: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFCYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPEBuy Professor Elliott's book:Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World.
Jul 3
23 min
In AD 410, the emperor Honorius told the British communities to look to their own defense—a moment often treated as the official end of Roman rule in Britain. But by then, how much Roman power was really left? This episode traces the crisis from the late fourth century to the years just after 410: from usurpers like Magnus Maximus and Constantine III, to raids by Saxons, Picts, and Scots, to the collapse of coinage, administration and elite Roman life. Did Roman Britain really "fall" or was it abandoned, militarized, and then actively remade by the Britons themselves?Donate: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFCYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPEBuy Professor Elliott's book:Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World.
Jun 17
23 min
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/WZTWCMWCJJYFCYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPEBuy Professor Elliott's book:Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World.
May 20
26 min
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/WZTWCMWCJJYFCYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPEBuy Professor Elliott's book:Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World.
May 6
24 min
In 395, the Roman Empire did not collapse, but it lost the ability to act as a single, coordinated system. Two emperors inherited the empire—Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West—but neither truly governed. Power lay with the men around them. Among those men, one stood out: Stilicho, the western general who claimed to act for the unity of the empire itself.Donate: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFCYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPEBuy Professor Elliott's book:Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World.
Apr 15
20 min
On January 19, AD 379, at Sirmium, a Latin-speaking westerner from Spain named Flavius Theodosius was invested with the imperial purple. He was a man for the times but, in many ways, a man out of place; he was expected to rule a Greek-speaking East and a church deeply fractured by doctrinal disputes. His reign, spanning nearly sixteen years, would see him outlive his imperial colleagues and briefly, yet significantly, unify the Roman Empire under his sole rule for the last time in history. Donate: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFCYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPEBuy Professor Elliott's book:Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World.
Apr 1
23 min
After the disaster of Adrianople, the Roman Empire struggled to rebuild its army and restore order. But in AD 390, a riot in the city of Thessalonica spiraled into one of the most infamous episodes of late Roman history. How did the arrest of a single charioteer lead to the death of a Roman general? Why did imperial troops suddenly turn on a crowd in the city’s hippodrome? And how did the aftermath bring a powerful bishop into conflict with the emperor himself?Donate: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFCYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPEBuy Professor Elliott's book:Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World.
Mar 13
19 min
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