Silk and Islam

Justinian catches a big break after a certain textile secret gets out, while Belisarius' reputation undergoes a brief revamp. A succession competition heats up and another great love story emerges, as we say goodbye to Procopius and this cast of characters in order to introduce the Middle Ages and, in many respects, Europe as we know it. All 12 of T&J's original, end-of-episode songs are also available in one album! Buy T&J: A Roman Empire Love Story (Original Podcast Soundtrack) on Apple Music and iTunes and/or stream on Spotify, Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and wherever you listen!  

Designed to be an experimental compliment to the Trailer, as the podcast series nears its finale, I wanted to collect the mnemonic tags, parodies, sound effects, foley and quotes (most but not all) from the proverbial T&J storytelling garden — to show how much it's grown. All 12 of T&J's original, end-of-episode songs are also available in one album! Buy T&J: A Roman Empire Love Story (Original Podcast Soundtrack) on Apple Music and iTunes and/or stream on Spotify, Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and wherever you listen!  

Eunuchs were prominent figures in T&J era Byzantium, and the most notable by far was the general, Narses. But for those whose only touchstone for eunuch representation has been the character, Varys, from the HBO hit series 'Game of Thrones,' consider this a masterclass in eunuch culture and physiology. All 12 of T&J's original, end-of-episode songs are also available in one album! Buy T&J: A Roman Empire Love Story (Original Podcast Soundtrack) on Apple Music and iTunes and/or stream on Spotify, Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and wherever you listen! 

In a total antique PR disaster, the Justinianic Plague a.k.a. the bubonic plague a.k.a. the world's very first pandemic reduces the Roman Empire's population by about half and reverses some pretty ossified norms — sound familiar? We meet three Johns (and thanks to Theodora, lose one) along with an OG sea monster. All 12 of T&J's original, end-of-episode songs are also available in one album! Buy T&J: A Roman Empire Love Story (Original Podcast Soundtrack) on Apple Music and iTunes and/or stream on Spotify, Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and wherever you listen!  

A huge swath of the world goes dim for a year and a half after a mysterious haze covers Eurasia's skies. The abrupt dip in climate creates some pretty ideal conditions for the bubonic plague. Meanwhile, T&J set out to restore the Roman Empire with less-than-desirable results. All 12 of T&J's original, end-of-episode songs are also available in one album! Buy T&J: A Roman Empire Love Story (Original Podcast Soundtrack) on Apple Music and iTunes and/or stream on Spotify, Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and wherever you listen!  

The Nika Riots leave Constantinople a tabula rasa for Justinian's masterpiece cathedral, the Hagia Sophia. Although, not without petty rivalries, starchitects and a shrewd Hebrew king's influence along the way. All 12 of T&J's original, end-of-episode songs are also available in one album! Buy T&J: A Roman Empire Love Story (Original Podcast Soundtrack) on Apple Music and iTunes and/or stream on Spotify, Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and wherever you listen!  

To move forward, we must first look back ... to the early days of T&J's being crowned empress and emperor, where a confluence of unfortunate policies — plus, a flawed hanging — cause the couple to come scarily close to losing everything. Thankfully, generally speaking, they have just the crew on-hand to turn things around. All 12 of T&J's original, end-of-episode songs are also available in one album! Buy T&J: A Roman Empire Love Story (Original Podcast Soundtrack) on Apple Music and iTunes and/or stream on Spotify, Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and wherever you listen!  

Bonus episode courtesy of my new South African and Articles of Interest fans! What was the Birkin bag of the T&J era? Could someone tell the difference between a Roman and a Persian based on dress alone? Were couches and bedding like what we have today? This episode we go deep into the color purple, marriage belts and baby tunics in a conversation all about sixth century Byzantine bling and threads thanks to the expertise of Dr. Elizabeth Dospěl Williams. Betsy is the Curator of the Byzantine Collection at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C. Her work includes programs, publications and exhibitions exploring Byzantine dress practice, gender and aesthetics.

T&J themselves owned enslaved human beings, and they were far from alone. Enslavement in the Roman Empire was the practice of both prostitutes and priests, even rabbis. Justinian hires some VIP jurists to Marie Kondo centuries of Roman law. All 12 of T&J's original, end-of-episode songs are also available in one album! Buy T&J: A Roman Empire Love Story (Original Podcast Soundtrack) on Apple Music and iTunes and/or stream on Spotify, Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and wherever you listen! 

One thing we can definitively say is that the Goths weren’t dressing in all-black and ornamenting their buildings with gargoyles. So how did the name of a single barbarian people make it to the 21st century and still mean so much? All 12 of T&J's original, end-of-episode songs are also available in one album! Buy T&J: A Roman Empire Love Story (Original Podcast Soundtrack) on Apple Music and iTunes and/or stream on Spotify, Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and wherever you listen!