Superb podcast, one of the best ones I've listened to yet - informative, funny, warm, entertaining. Mike takes us through 175 episodes of Rome from it's legendary beginnings to the fall of Romulus Augustus. His jokes are occasionally corny but always engaging and he has a strong speaking voice. I don't know if I'd agree with his claim that Diocletian was among the top three emperors - the guy was an idiot ("hey let's share being emperor", "let's make everyone do what their father did whether they want to or not") but that's just my opinion, and since all I really know about Diocletian is from this podcast, it's a tribute to Duncan's ingenuity.
For the record, my own top ten emperors
1) Augustus - not that great in war but didn't have to be as he had Marcus Agrippa, and magnificent in peace
2) Aurelian - reunited the Empire (with a nod to Probus)
3) Trajan - all round brilliance
4) Constantine - magnificent general, a real prick to his family though
5) Marcus Aurelius - smart, great Emperor, lousy son
6) Hadrian - smart, well-travelled, obsessed with his pretty lover
7) Vespasian - solid, sensible, professional - qualities incredibly rare at the top
8) Titus - like Vespasian only shorter
9) Antoninus Pius - you can rule for 20 years in peace
10) Claudius - intelligent, well-read, invaded Britain, perhaps the most inspirational personal story
And the ten worst:
1) Caligula - nutter who amazingly escaped assassination as long as he did
2) Elagabulus - cross dressing murderous Syrian who should be better known
3) Commodus - deranged fanatic and gladiator fan par excellence
4) Caracalla - Septimus Severus' son whose deranged killings outpaced Nero's and died urinating - great star quality, should be better known
5) Nero - he just wanted to be in a band but that didn't mean he had to kill his wives, mother and hundreds of strangers - his reputation has been rehabilitated a little lately but still stands as a great argument to keep power away from teenagers
6) Tiberius - started off okay but wound up a neglectful pedophiliac tyrant
7) Diocletian - a great survivor and fighter but his stupid Tetrarchy system, micro management and restrictive employee practices helped usher in the dark ages
8) Valens - didn't sound like a bad guy but dumb enough to lose the Battle of Adrianople which he should have won
9) Honorious - perhaps the most mediocre emperor but managed to hang on for years
10) Ricimer - the emperor in all but name who kept killing emperors when they looked competent
Honorable mentions for wackiness
1) Vitellius - for being joyously fat
2) Domitian - for nagging people so much about being assassinated they assassinated him
3) Nerva - for being grouped in the "five good emperors" even though he wasn't that good
4) Septimus Severus - for his military greatness and concise advice to his sons which was accurate and ignored
5) Macrinus - killed for being too chicken to fight
6) Severus Alexander - pussywhipped by his mum, actually not a bad ruler for a while considering he was a teen
7) Gordian I - rose to being Emperor because he held great games
8) Julian - a nerd becomes a great general
9) Valentian I - died because he got so angry at subordinates he had a stroke
10) Vetranio - emperor for a short time but managed to retire on a pension with his life
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