Being Roman In the episode What We Lost in the Fire, Mary Beard tells of the physician, polymath and writer Galen’s loss of his papers and equipment in the Great Fire of Rome, when his lockup at the Spice Warehouse went up in flames. His first medical-type job was looking after the gladiators in Pergamon, which was a source of on-the-spot dissection and much learning about injuries, fat and muscle. He moved to Rome where he undertook public dissections and made a name for himself as physician to emperors. His autobiography ‘On Not Grieving’ was re-discovered in 2005, and despite the title, it shows that he really did grieve the loss of his writing for the rest of his life. Nonetheless, 10% of all the classical Greek writing that we have today was written by Galen.
The Rest is History Titanic: Kings of the World Part 2 Of course, the Titanic was made of stuff that sinks, part of a suite of liners called Olympic, Brittanic and then the rather hubristic Titanic. It was designed by Thomas Andrews, Pirie’s nephew. White Star was famous for luxury and safety, as distinct from Cunard, which concentrated on speed. It catered for enormous wealth, with the best quality berths costing 400,000 pounds at the peak of the season. (Did I hear that right?) But it also accommodated second and third class passengers in good conditions and it had the best safety features of any ship built until then. It had a double hull with 15 bulkheads, and although the number of lifeboats was insufficient, with a capacity of 1/3 of the passengers, it was compliant with standards at the time. After the standard 12 hours of sea trial, it left Belfast for Southhampton, which was the new port for London although it was still overwhelmingly manned by Liverpool shipworkers. However, in an ominous sign, the Captain had been involved in two accidents in the six months prior to the sinking of the Titanic.
Global Story BBC Curse of the World’s Fastest Growing Economy I don’t often hear news from Guyana, the location for part of my PhD’s topic John Walpole Willis’ colonial career. And I don’t often hear from Steven Sachur except as part of his rather verbally aggressive Hard Talk interview quiz on BBC. He has just returned from Guyana with its population of about 800,000 people where oil and gas were discovered 200 km off the coast in 2015. Exxon-Mobil are doing the drilling, and although some is going to government, it is still very profitable for the company. But is it a blessing or a curse? It has led to an increased security threat for the small nation, especially from its neighbour Venezuela which has mounted a large claim on Essequibo. Guyana is especially vulnerable to climate change, with heavy reliance on its sea walls and Dutch-built canals (from Judge Willis’ time). An off-shore spill would be disastrous for eco-tourism. Sackur spoke of his bruising (for him) interview with Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali who made a strong argument for it being Guyana’s turn to reap benefits from its resources.
I Survived Las Vegas Shooting, then was convinced it was staged In 2017, Stuart McCormick survived the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in US history, while visiting Las Vegas. He was there, he saw it, and yet he came to believe that it was orchestrated by the US government. How could that be? The BBC’s disinformation correspondent, Marianna Spring, suggests that there is a conspiracy theory blueprint, that she saw at work in Stuart’s case. First, conspiracy theories build on a grain of truth, with legitimate fear and worry leading to anxiety. Second, conspiracy theories have their own vocabulary which is recognized by adherents. Third, people then start to wonder what else is staged? Fourth, people holding conspiracy theories become isolated, largely because of the shame and stigma that surrounds them. She notes that Finland includes a study of social media conspiracies in its curriculum, in the hope of fortifying students against them.
Emperors of Rome podcast Episode CVI The Third Servile War After escaping from gladiator school, Spartacus and his fellow escapees fled to Mt Vesuvius, which hadn’t erupted at this time, heading for Gaul and the Alps. Whatever Spartacus was, he wasn’t a freedom fighter, but on the other hand, his followers had increased from 70 to 70,000 men. It was decided to send in two consuls with two legions, and Spartacus defeated them both, taking 300 Roman soldiers and sacrificing them, striking further terror into the Romans.
Episode CVII The Legacy of Spartacus There was no mucking around now: the Senate sent in Crassus, who had had success during the civil war. He was a tough leader, who punished the whole army (not just a legion) with decimation after a defeat- a harsh and ultimately self-sabotaging action. Spartacus was now heading south with 120,000 fighters but got trapped in the toe of Italy. There was no final confrontation: he just kept fighting and his body was never found. It was a big victory for Crassus but he couldn’t claim a ‘triumph’ because he defeated an internal enemy. The film depiction of Spartacus being crucified is untrue (they never found his body), but there were 6000 crucifixions among his other troops. Spartacus has become a symbol of resistance for other generations, especially through the Spartacus movie, filmed during the 1960s in the midst of the civil rights campaign.
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 