Topic
Roman Empire
The ancient imperial state whose eastern half survived for centuries after the fall of Rome in the West.
Lex Fridman Podcast·Culture
Anthony Kaldellis says Rome’s three biggest disasters were the Arab conquests, the Seljuk conquest of Asia Minor, and the Fourth Crusade
The Byzantine historian’s Roman Empire is not a marble statue collapsing in 476, but a long-running state repeatedly injured by three fast, brutal shocks.
Lex Fridman Podcast·Culture
Anthony Kaldellis says the Plague of Justinian probably did not kill half the Roman Empire
The historian's case is brutally practical: if half the empire died, why did Justinian's wars, taxes, and courts keep running?
Lex Fridman Podcast·Culture
Anthony Kaldellis says Roman families voluntarily castrated their sons to place them at the emperor's court
The Byzantine historian explains how castration was sometimes a family's smartest power move, not just a cruelty imposed on slaves.