Tag: Ravenna

  • 2-2. The Usurper

    2-2. The Usurper

    Odoacer is a name that is little known and little celebrated. This episode illuminates the career of the soldier who closed the book on the Roman empire, who he was, and why don’t we know him better?

  • 17. The Phantom Kingdom

    17. The Phantom Kingdom

    456 to 464 CE Emperor Majorian and his Right-Hand man Ricimer attempt to pull the empire back from the brink after the departure of Avitus. But there’s a snake in the grass, a fly in the ointment, and a bad apple in the barrel. It all leads to the creation of a new entity called…

  • 15. Unmitigated Gaul

    15. Unmitigated Gaul

    418 CE to 456 CE A senator by the name of Eparchius Avitus is dragooned into filling the imperial shoes left behind by the well-aimed brick that took out Petronius Maximus. His life gives a framework for discussing the place of southern Gaul within the Roman empire, and how the Visigoths were settling in. And…

  • 14. More Serpent than Dove

    14. More Serpent than Dove

    The Vandals Part III 439 to 455 CE “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be therefore as wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Matthew, 10:16 Gaiseric weathers Roman attempts to recover the African provinces, and begins to set his house in order. Marriage deals are made and broken,…

  • 13. The Apostle of Noricum

    13. The Apostle of Noricum

    The life and times of Saint Severinus c. 450 to c. 482 CE “At the time of the death of Attila, confusion reigned in the two Pannonias and the other borderlands of the Danube. Then Severinus, the most holy servant of God, came from the east to the marches of Noricum, and tarried in a…

  • 10. King of Africa

    The Vandals Part II 408 to 439 CE The Vandals, along with their allies, the Alans and Suevi, ravage Spain before moving into Africa.  There, under the leadership of their king Gaiseric, they will achieve something no other Barbarian tribe has yet accomplished. The city sits at the west end of the bay, looking out…

  • 5. Five Kings and a Reckoning

    The Goths Part V 410 to 451 CE The Visigoths move out of Italy, into more years of privation. Along the way there’s a royal marriage, long marches, sieges and naval blockades. Ultimatehttps://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/r3j854/episode005_fivekings_edit.mp3ly the Goths find what they’ve been looking for for nearly half a century – a home. But there’s another, even greater test…

  • 4. The Sack of Rome

    The Goths Part IV 408 to 410 CE The death of Stilicho leaves Alaric and the Visigoths high and dry.  Negotiations break down, and Alaric takes drastic action.  The Sack of Rome of 410 is pointed to as one of the points where the Roman Empire fell, and the resonance of the event would be…

  • 3. Alaric the Bold

    The Goths Part III 378 to 408 CE The Gothic Wars end in stalemate as Goths and Romans try to come to terms with new realities.  A new leader appears to push for dignity and power for his people, who will take the fight into the heartland of the Roman world. Map of Alaric’s invasion…