Autocrat- A Roman History Podcast

105- Religious Reshuffle

2026-05-10

Numa Pompilius' rule is a lot less exciting than that of Romulus in terms of warfare. Instead, we get a whole lot of religious restructuring, instilling piety into the rabble that is Roman society, and a mysterious burial with sacred texts the later Republic will never address again... That and calendar administration.

Time period: 716- 672 BCE

Relevant individuals: Numa Pompilius

Sources for this episode:

Cassius Dio (1961), Dio’s Roman History in Nine Volumes. Volume II. Translated by E. Cary. London, United Kingdom and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.Livy (1971), The Early History of Rome. Translated by A. de Selincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.Marks, A. and Tingay, G. (date unknown), Romans. London: Usborne Publishing.M's Chronicle of the Roman Republic (TBA).Plutarch (1938), Plutarch's Lives (Volume I). London and New York: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. and E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc.Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Via Sacra (online) (Accessed 27/10/2025).

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A relaxed journey through Roman history and mythology, hopefully with plenty of tangents, sidebars and interesting distractions along the way. Our goal- even if it ends up being unrealised- is to journey from the Theogony all the way to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and beyond. This show is just for fun, and we hope you have fun with it too!