LOST ROMAN HEROES
Exploring the lives and times of lost Roman heroes, from Aeneas to Constantine the XI, the Marble Emperor, and ranking them for their cool hero-ness….
Episodes
August 3, 2025 • 94 mins
Anastasius Dicorus - a finance dude - saw a wildly complex world very clearly through one blue eye and one black, steering the empire through perilous years after the Fall of the West. When the finance dude died an ancient man he had earned Rome's thanks, leaving behind a stable government and full coffers.
Mark as Played
July 20, 2025 • 72 mins
Called down from the mountainous badlands of Isauria to Constantinople by the Emperor Leo, Tarasis son of Kodissa, later known as Zeno, would have to preserve the independence of the emperors of the East. Later he would serve as one of those emperors, and as the West fell, he would be challenged to chart a path for the East, so it would not share the same fate.
Mark as Played
July 6, 2025 • 61 mins
Emperor Honorius told Britannia to see to its own defenses and the darkness fell on the island. With the Picts and Saxons overrunning Rome's forgotten province, one man, whose name would become inextricably linked with Arthurian lore, stood against the barbarian tide to protect what was left of Roman Britannia: Ambrosius Aurelianus.
Mark as Played
June 22, 2025 • 72 mins
Born of humble stock, elevated to the purple to be a puppet of Aspar, the barbarian power behind the Eastern Empire's throne, Leo had other thoughts in mind. He had watched as other barbarian strongmen had brought the Western Empire to the brink of extinction, and he was determined that the East would not suffer the same fate. But how could you counter the men who controlled the army and the purse strings to save the Roman state?
Mark as Played
June 8, 2025 • 100 mins
Aegidius and Syagrius, father and son warriors, born of an ancient Roman-Gaul senatorial lineage, would keep the dream of Rome alive in Gaul long after the Western Empire fell. In the baddest of bad neighborhoods, for three decades they reminded the world what Rome stood for, with no help from an emperor in Ravenna or Constantinople. It wasn't about fame for these two, it was about principle! Prepare to be blown away....
Mark as Played
May 25, 2025 • 76 mins
Join Lost Roman Heroes for Part 2 of our Honorable Mentions series, and meet some of the most remarkable Romans you never heard of: Pope Leo I (stood up to Attila), Anthemius the Prefect (built the Theodosian Walls), Constantine III (Britannia's last hope), Flavius Constantius (one of the West's last magister militums), and our favorite, Marcellinus (THE LAST JEDI)!
Mark as Played
May 11, 2025 • 72 mins
Lost Roman Heroes get their own episode, true, but as Season 2 draws to close we admit that we made some mistakes. We missed some guys, sad but true, and some genuinely heroic characters had the great misfortune of not appearing in the historical record. It's OK, these are our misfits, the extra-lost, Lost Roman Heroes, that we believe deserve an HONORABLE MENTION (PART 1). Tune in and meet Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo (Nero's nemes...
Mark as Played
April 27, 2025 • 75 mins
A special episode in which we @lostromanheroes get to the heart of the question that has vexed proper, professional historians for centuries - 'why exactly did the Empire of the West fall'? Search no further, here we reveal the truth!
Mark as Played
April 13, 2025 • 86 mins
Having inherited a bankrupt Western Empire, with no treasury, no army, no popular support, and no civitas, Majorian sets about achieving the impossible, knitting the West back together again. Never before has a Western Emperor started in such dire straits, with such ambitious objectives, and with such exceptional talents. We cannot help but wish him the very best (as we shed a tear for him, and Rome)...
Mark as Played
March 30, 2025 • 56 mins
Majorian was a young Italian commander who served with distinction under Aetius as the great general tried to piece the West back together again. When Aetius is assassinated, Majorian survives the bloodbath, and the murder of three emperors in rapid succession, leaving him on the cusp of the worst job in the world.
Mark as Played
March 16, 2025 • 112 mins
Aetius maneuvers himself to the top of the power structure in the West, only to be brought low by Galla Placidia and loyal Bonfatius. After suffering his first and only real defeat, there is no one left to oppose him, but rather than seeking the throne for himself, he dedicates himself to piecing Rome back together, taking on his greatest nemesis, Attila himself!
Mark as Played
March 2, 2025 • 78 mins
This is the man that even contemporaries referred to as THE LAST ROMAN. Only son of General Gaudentius, born in Durostorum, a frontier fortress on the Danube, Aetius, he wound up in the West after his father fought under Emperor Theodosius at the Frigidus. From there he found himself on a fast track that would send him as a hostage to Alaric and the Goths, and from there to Uldin and the Huns where he would grow up amongst Rome's...
Mark as Played
February 16, 2025 • 102 mins
Granddaughter of bear-loving Emperor Valentinian I, granddaughter of last-of-the-mohicans Count Theodosius, and daughter of Emperor Theodosius who salvaged the Empire after Adrianople, Galla Placidia had the bluest blue running through her veins. One might be tempted to think, that after having been born in this most privileged of positions, she had an easy life? Yet that could not be farther from the truth. Orphaned at the age ...
Mark as Played
February 2, 2025 • 125 mins
Just one year after the Emperor Theodosius died in 395AD, Stilicho, his son in law and the man he trusted to carry the Empire forward, is struggling with an impossible situation. The frontiers are overrun by an unholy coaltion of barbarian tribes, pushed inexorably towards Rome by the approaching Hun menace. Meanwhile, Alaric and his Goths, the most powerful military force in the Empire, rampage through the Roman homeland, demand...
Mark as Played
January 19, 2025 • 107 mins
Meet Stilicho, the half Vandal, half Roman soldier who joins Emperor Theodosius' bodyguard in his late teens, catches the eye of the emperor's niece, marries into the imperial family, and rises to the highest military ranks in the Empire! A devoutly loyal and honest man, Stilicho makes a plethora of enemies along the way, but never loses sight of his loyalties, to Emperor and nation. Amongst those enemies are Rufinus the Prefect,...
Mark as Played
January 5, 2025 • 100 mins
Born in Trier in 339AD, Ambrose was the privileged son of the praetorian prefect of Gaul. As a young man, he entered the Roman civil service and rose quickly to the role of governor in north Italy during the reign of Emperor Valentinian. Though he was not a Christian and did not seek the honor, Ambrose was elected Bishop of Mediolanum in 374AD, making him one of the most important leaders of the church at a time that the Christia...
Mark as Played
December 22, 2024 • 111 mins
Theodosius, son of the legendary Count Theodosius, was thrust into one of the most desperate situations in Rome's history, in the wake of the utter bloodbath at Adrianople in 378AD. Inheriting the mantle of the East, with no army to call upon, and with the Goths rampaging in the Roman heartland, for some reason, Theodosius answered the call, in somehow, he would find a way to put the pieces together again.
Mark as Played
December 8, 2024 • 98 mins
Count Theodosius, born in Hispania to a military family, he rose through the ranks and accomplished remarkable things lost in the mists of time. When he emerges into the spotlight he is the Emperor Valentinian's fixer, who recovers Britannia, settles the Rhine, and recovers Africa for the Empire without breaking a sweat, with humility and grace. But no good deed ever goes unpunished, and so it is with Theodosius, but that cannot ...
Mark as Played
November 24, 2024 • 97 mins
Valentinian, son of the Rope Man, emerged from dad's shadow, paid his dues in the army, and was in the right place at the right time when Julian's short-lived successor Jovian died somewhere outside Ancyra. Rising to the purple with his brother Valens (Adrianople anyone?) by his side, Valentinian would go on to rule from the west, holding the Rhine, recovering Britannia, and quashing rebelling in Africaa. He would be the last tru...
Mark as Played
November 10, 2024 • 112 mins
Julian, nephew of Constantine the Great, cousin of Constantius the Murderous, aspiring philosopher, Emperor almost against his will, unfortunate soul! He would be the last pagan emperor of Rome, though the Empire would last for another 1100 years, trying in vain to turn back to the clock to a simpler world that no longer existed.
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.