The History of Rome Podcast ~ My Companion for the Daily Commute

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About July/August last year I began to grow tired of my usual song playlists on my commute to work and the radio stations were no help to busting my boredom. Now my commute unlike may other is only 15 minutes nothing I know compared to a lot of people who can have upwards of an hour to pass the time, but I found myself just going through the motions and then being completely demotivated on my arrival at work which then lead to a less than productive day.

It was following a conversation with a colleague that I discovered the History of Rome Podcast. I am a massive history nerd and I particularly have an interest in Ancient Rome so I knew this Podcast would be right up my street! My colleague said that he had downloaded it from ITunes, but me being an android user I didn't have access to that on my phone, what I would be using to listen to the Podcast. Luckily a quick search on Spotify and there it was so I mediately followed and downloaded the playlist and began to listen.

The podcast is a series that traces the rise and fall of the Roman Empire from the days of Romulus and Remus to the very end dealing with why the Empire fell when it did. There are 179+ episodes to this series so I knew that it would keep me busy for a good while. I had a brief idea of what happened during the reign of the Roman Empire but I didn't have a definitive timeline of which emperor was ruling and at what time and also what each emperors strengths and weaknesses were as some Emperors were more effective than others. 

As well as charting the comings and goings of each Emperor and their successes and failures in battle the podcast looked at a variety of different topics that encompass the Roman Empire from the daily life of a Roman citizen, to how the Romans celebrated 'Christmas'. It covers everything you could possibly want to know about Ancient Rome and my inner history nerd was more than satisfied. The podcast finished recording in 2012 and the podcast producer Mike Duncan is now recording a similar series based on the Revolutions of American history.

As mentioned I started listening to this podcast around July/August 2016 and I still haven't finished yet, it usually takes me my journey to and from work to listen to one episode give or take and I have had a few breaks for times when I have not been in work etc. It has had a massive impact on my concentration I find my mid is engaged by the time I reach work and I'm more alert ready to start the day and has had an impact on my productivity at work. So if you have an interest in Ancient Rome like me or you are just looking for a new podcast to listen to to broaden your knowledge base then i cant recommend The History of Rome enough!

Check out the Podcast accompanying website for more info here