Classicist Mary Beard explores how Roman leadership evolved from the competitive power-sharing of the Republic to Augustus's carefully constructed one-man rule. The conversation traces why the republican system collapsed under its own success and how the empire set itself on a path toward fragmentation.
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Highlights
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The Republic's Collapse Under Its Own Success
The Roman Republican system, designed for a city-state, buckled when it had to govern a vast empire.
Augustus's Invention of 'One-Man Rule' Without the Title
Augustus solved the empire's governance crisis not by declaring himself emperor, but by carefully constructing a power structure that preserved republican forms while concentrating authority.