Lost Roman Heroes - Episode 80: Justinian I (Part 1 - The Rise)

The Emperor Justinian had the grandest of grand dreams, but he could not achieve them alone. The resurrection of the Western Empire was such an exceptionally ambitious objective, it would not just take a great emperor, it would take the most extraordinary team that Rome had ever assembled to pull it off. It just so happens that Justinian had built such a team, filled with some of Rome's all time greats, including: John the Cappadocian, Peter the Patrician, Anthemius of Tralles, Procopius of Caesaria, Narses, Theodora the Augusta, and Belisarius! With peace on the Persia front concluded at the end of 531, Justinian called his team of superheroes to the capital to plan the next step of his grand vision, just in time for the horrific Nika Riot that would tear Rome asunder in five ferocious, bloody days...

A fresh faced boy from war torn Tauresium finds himself in Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire, adopted son of a swineherd, making his way in the world, powered by what might just be the most audacious of all dreams. RESTORATION!

How can you begin to describe one of the most remarkable women in history, let alone one of the most remarkable Roman women? Raised by two empresses, mom and grandma, descended from multiple emperors, last in line of one of republican Rome's greatest families, you could take away all of these things and still Juliana would have been a force of nature worthy of remembrance, a woman who stood toe to toe with Popes and Emperors and spoke to them as an equal.

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius was a polymath philosopher and scion of one of Rome's most ancient families. Along with his father in law Symmachus, he was one of the Senate's last lions, and one of the last keepers of the flame that was Rome in the West! Seeking higher purpose, he served in Theodoric's court, and would finish his life a prisoner in a lonely tower, in which he wrote a gift to the world, the Consolation of Philosophy.

A Goth prince raised in the Imperial Palace in Constantinople, Theodoric the Amal consolidated control of the Ostrogoths, and then journeyed west at the behest of the Emperor Zeno to punish Odoacer, and to rule Italy in the Emperor's name. Ruling from the palace in Ravenna, he would rule well, and audaciously, attempting to resurrect the Empire of the West.

A LOST ROMAN CITIES special episode on Roman Thessalonica. Founded by Cassander, named after the younger sister of Alexander the Great, this city would go on to become the second city of the Roman Empire, and just perhaps, after the city of Rome herself, the longest held of Rome's possessions. What we can say for certain, is that without Roman Thessalonica (Greek Thessaloniki), Rome's history would look very different indeed.

Anastasius Dicorus - a finance dude - saw a wildly complex world very clearly through one blue eye and one black, steering the empire through perilous years after the Fall of the West. When the finance dude died an ancient man he had earned Rome's thanks, leaving behind a stable government and full coffers.

Called down from the mountainous badlands of Isauria to Constantinople by the Emperor Leo, Tarasis son of Kodissa, later known as Zeno, would have to preserve the independence of the emperors of the East. Later he would serve as one of those emperors, and as the West fell, he would be challenged to chart a path for the East, so it would not share the same fate.

Emperor Honorius told Britannia to see to its own defenses and the darkness fell on the island. With the Picts and Saxons overrunning Rome's forgotten province, one man, whose name would become inextricably linked with Arthurian lore, stood against the barbarian tide to protect what was left of Roman Britannia: Ambrosius Aurelianus.

Born of humble stock, elevated to the purple to be a puppet of Aspar, the barbarian power behind the Eastern Empire's throne, Leo had other thoughts in mind. He had watched as other barbarian strongmen had brought the Western Empire to the brink of extinction, and he was determined that the East would not suffer the same fate. But how could you counter the men who controlled the army and the purse strings to save the Roman state?