Gregory Aldrete on Rome, War and the Power of the Past

Aldrete compares ancient and modern life through childhood mortality, human nature and everyday sources such as tombstones, graffiti and financial records. He emphasizes that most ancient people were farmers, whose lives are less visible in conventional histories.

The conversation considers Rome’s influence on Western language and institutions, and its dual image as a Republic and an Empire. Aldrete notes that later societies adopted different Roman models.

Aldrete explains how Roman families preserved ancestors’ images and achievements, and how tradition could both guide and constrain people. He tells how Marcus Junius Brutus was prompted by his ancestor’s legacy to join the conspiracy against Caesar, and compares the power of the past in other societies.

The discussion covers the Roman term *novus homo* for a newcomer to high office and the barriers faced by people without notable ancestors. Aldrete outlines the monarchy, Republic and Empire, including the Republic’s expansion and the disputed endpoint of the Empire.

Aldrete describes Greek civilization’s influence on Rome after conquest, and Rome’s earlier borrowings from the Etruscans, including the toga, gladiatorial games and religious practices. He connects cultural integration with Rome’s capacity to absorb ideas and people.

Aldrete explains how Rome incorporated conquered Italian communities, often granting partial or full citizenship in exchange for troops. He illustrates Rome’s ability to raise successive armies against Pyrrhus, then describes the later use of auxiliaries and citizenship to integrate conquered peoples into the Empire.

The conversation follows Rome’s expansion beyond Italy and contrasts its citizen-farmer army with Carthage’s maritime trade and reliance on mercenaries. Aldrete explains how competition for Sicily and then territory in Spain brought the two powers into conflict.

Aldrete describes Hannibal’s strategy of invading Italy to turn Rome’s allies against it, including the crossing of the Alps and the devastating Roman defeat at Cannae. Rome avoided further direct battles with Hannibal while attacking Carthaginian territory; Scipio’s campaign in Spain and North Africa ended with Carthage’s defeat at Zama. Rome then turned toward the Greek world.

Aldrete explains Hannibal’s use of terrain at Lake Trasimene and the double-envelopment tactic at Cannae: weaker troops held the Roman center while cavalry and stronger forces attacked from the sides and rear. He describes the tactic’s later influence on military planning.

Aldrete compares Greek hoplites and Alexander’s long-spear phalanx with Roman short-sword infantry. He explains how the Romans’ smaller, more flexible army units helped them defeat a Macedonian force at Cynoscephalae.

Aldrete describes the changing equipment of Roman soldiers and his research project reconstructing the linen *linothorax*. The project combined ancient literary and visual sources with reconstruction using ancient materials, followed by tests with arrows. He discusses its likely protection, weight and possible construction methods.

Aldrete explains his interest in how things worked in practice and how he combines historical study with scientific methods. He discusses why the *linothorax* became less useful as weapons changed and how it could still serve as protection outside frontline combat.

Aldrete attributes Alexander’s success to personal qualities, the army reforms of Philip II, tactical flexibility and ambition. He discusses Alexander’s efforts to blend Greek, Macedonian and Persian elements, and the conflicting interpretations of that project.

Aldrete contrasts Alexander’s empire, held together by personal loyalty and lacking a settled succession, with Rome’s more durable system of incorporation. He notes that Roman power could also be oppressive and destructive.

The conversation traces Roman law from the Twelve Tables to Justinian’s compilation, using everyday legal questions to show the scope of Roman legal thinking. Aldrete discusses law courts as public performance, Cicero’s legal career, and citizenship’s associated rights and obligations, while noting that those benefits applied to a limited group.

Aldrete explains that Roman slavery was not defined by race, but by legal and economic status, and describes routes into and out of slavery. He discusses agricultural and skilled enslaved workers, manumission and the dehumanizing treatment of enslaved people, including collars identifying runaways.

Rome’s conquests created wealth but left veterans, aristocrats, Italian allies and enslaved people with grievances. Aldrete traces the resulting conflicts and the growing power of individual leaders, including Caesar’s appeal to the people and his assumption of dictatorship.

Aldrete describes how Marius, Sulla and Pompey helped weaken republican precedents before Caesar made himself dictator for life and was assassinated. He then outlines the competing claims to power, including Mark Antony, Brutus, Cassius, Lepidus and Octavian, whom Caesar adopted in his will.

Aldrete explains Octavian’s use of propaganda against Antony, his modest public image and his accumulation of powers without taking conventional offices. His ambiguous titles and the peace and stability associated with his rule helped establish the imperial system.

The discussion covers Cleopatra’s Macedonian dynasty, her identification with Egypt, and her relationships with Caesar and Antony. Aldrete considers how male-authored histories can understate women’s roles, illustrating this with Musa, who rose from enslavement to power in Parthia.

Aldrete describes Augustus’s influence on later emperors and rulers, and the political system he established: republican institutions continued formally, while Augustus held effective power. The conversation examines his language and autobiography as examples of careful political framing.

Aldrete considers whether Romans viewed Augustus as a king, noting his restraint as well as episodes of cruelty. The discussion also examines Caesar’s campaigns in Gaul and how changing political climates affected his reputation, along with Rome’s influence on later political imagery.

Aldrete describes Cicero’s rise as a *novus homo* through his skill as an orator. He explains how Cicero appealed to emotion, used personal attacks and employed visual props in court, while noting that Cicero also held political and philosophical commitments.

Aldrete explains his research into Roman oratorical gestures, which helped speakers communicate outdoors and signal emotions to audiences. The discussion compares ancient and modern speakers, considers the ethical risks of persuasive delivery, and describes how historians reconstruct gesture from texts and art.

Aldrete contrasts Roman polytheism with monotheism and explains how conflict arose when Christians would not take part in ceremonies honoring the emperor. He discusses the limited early Roman knowledge of Christianity, its appeal to people low in the social hierarchy, and the later political and social reasons for imperial conversion and support.

Aldrete describes gladiators’ conflicting status as marginalized fighters and admired celebrities, and says not every contest ended in death. He discusses prisoners of war, professional training, refusals to fight, animal spectacles and Roman interpretations of arena violence.

Aldrete explains why Vespasian built the Flavian Amphitheater on the site of Nero’s palace and discusses its political message and engineering features. The conversation broadens to Roman concrete, vaulted spaces and the influence of the Pantheon.

Aldrete describes Augustus’s failure to settle succession and the problems of hereditary rule. He explains the adoption of qualified successors and the period from Nerva to Marcus Aurelius, before Marcus Aurelius’s choice of his son renewed the succession problem.

Aldrete praises Marcus Agrippa’s military, administrative and building work alongside Augustus, and discusses Augustus as an influential but complicated ruler. The conversation considers why some emperors were cruel or unstable, including the possible effects of gaining power at a young age.

Aldrete considers what made a capable emperor and how much imperial behavior affected ordinary people. He points to distance, slow communication and provincial autonomy as limits on an emperor’s influence, while identifying war and taxation as ways rulers could affect the wider Empire.

Aldrete describes tax farming by private contractors, the reputation of publicans and the later use of payments in kind. He discusses Roman attitudes toward business, record keeping and the economy, emphasizing that ancient people were not less intelligent, though they lacked modern technology.

Aldrete describes civil wars, competing emperors, border raids, economic decline and inflation in the third century. He outlines Diocletian’s attempts to stabilize the Empire, Constantine’s conversion to Christianity and the growing division between eastern and western government.

Aldrete reviews proposed dates for Rome’s fall, including 410, 455, 476 and 1453, and explains why the distinction between Roman and barbarian was not always clear. He says the western Empire had become something different by around 500, while emphasizing the difficulty of choosing a single endpoint.

The conversation examines Roman ideas of borders and strategy, and whether Gothic movements into the Empire should be understood as invasions or migrations. Aldrete discusses the Huns, the Vandals’ capture of food-producing regions, and competing explanations for the Empire’s decline, including disease, climate and invasion.

Aldrete defines decisive battles in terms of immediate political change or longer-term effects on people and institutions. He discusses how technological change in warfare rewards armies that adapt quickly.

Aldrete explains how rivers, climate and geography shaped civilizations, and uses olive cultivation to discuss the spread of Roman culture. The conversation considers how food and farming practices reflected different ways of life and Roman ideas about civilization.

Aldrete compares Roman civil wars with modern world wars, noting how distance and travel shaped the scale of ancient conflicts. He discusses the unprecedented stakes of nuclear weapons and the repeated failures of outside powers in Afghanistan, which he links to terrain and tribal political structures.

Aldrete discusses his book with his wife about the continuing influence of Greek and Roman history on government, culture, language, law and customs. He argues that understanding the past helps people make decisions and understand others in the present.

Aldrete explains the limits of surviving ancient sources, including their incompleteness, elite authorship and transmission through copies. He uses mistaken interpretations of archaeological remains to argue for intellectual humility, careful use of evidence and empathy toward people in the past.

The speakers consider how future historians might interpret the present. Aldrete hopes they will see progress and reflects on history’s value as a store of examples; he ends by naming curiosity and the passing of knowledge between generations as important human capacities.