Podcast

So you’re the Roman emperor… now what?, with Olivier Hekster

A conversation with Olivier Hekster about the position of Roman emperor, from the beginning to the sixth century. We talk a little bit about titles and mostly about the expectations that subjects had of their emperors and how the latter navigated these demands and tried, or failed, to play their roles properly.

Olivier Hekster is a Professor of Ancient History at Radboud University Nijmegen. Click here to view his Academia.edu page. The conversation is based on Olivier’s recent book Caesar Rules: The Emperor in the Changing Roman World (c. 50 BC – AD 565), published by Cambridge University Press in 2023.

Byzantium & Friends is hosted by Anthony Kaldellis, a Professor at the University of Chicago. You can follow him on his personal website. You can listen to more episodes of Byzantium & Friends through Podbean, Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Top Image: Portrait Head of Emperor Vespasian, Recut from Head of Nero, AD 64–79 – photo courtesy the Cleveland Museum of Art