As our 50th episode approaches, we thought that any podcasters who are partial to our brand of history might like a bit of insight into the show.
Dr G and Dr Radness started the show oh so many years ago because they felt that there was room out there for a more light-hearted take on Rome that was aimed at people with an interest in history – but not necessarily the desire to wade through academic jargon and footnotes. We like to marvel at the strange happenings of the past and celebrate the funny or the all-too human side of history as well as analyse it.
The method to our madness? We do use academic sources, as well as our own know-how, to help us prepare for our shows. Depending on the topic, we may be using only a few. At this point in time, when we are recording shows about early Rome, we do tend to run with the primary source accounts – because a lot of the academia surrounding these tales is speculative anyway! We like to enjoy the originals.
Our preparation does also depend upon how much time that we have available. Both the doctors have full time jobs that are quite time-consuming, but we do what we can! The focus of our show is to introduce people to Roman history and entertain them; to be a sort of middle ground between academic and popular history – not to be the most comprehensive account available.
We always welcome your comments and input, so please don’t be shy! Hope to see you all around the Forum.
I came across this podcast by accident when looking for information about Caligula for a blog post (which I eventually abandoned).
I think that this is the only podcast that I listen to where the words “dudes” and “douche” are used on a semi-regular basis.
We do strike a rather colloquial tone at times, this is true! But we’re so glad you found us, Dude 🙂