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Hi everybody, welcome to Dan Snow's History Hits. Today I'm talking about Rome.

Rome, the Empire, but Rome, also the idea. The idea that's haunted us ever since its disappearance, which

happened in the western part of Europe in the fifth century. A subject of lively debate.

We also talk about on this podcast on other episodes. Rome has proved to be an irresistible force.

It's drawn in. It's like a tractor beam for would-be Caesar's, whether it's England's

Plantagenet kings, Charlemagne of course, who set himself up as an emperor,

holy Roman emperor, the Ottomans in the east, and even up to the more recently the caizers and the

zars, both of those words derived from Caesar. There's been something about their military might.

Something about the universality of their empire, the conformity, I think of their bureaucracy,

of their religion, their roads, their fortifications, that led subsequent generations of empire builders

to sort of hanker for Rome. And they always saw themselves by the way, needless to say,

as that ruling dominant Roman class, rather than feeling an empathy for the conquered

peoples of the empire. Our Roman past here in Britain is very visible, it's visible that our

road layout, the way we still move around this country, our cities where we live, our language of

course, but also the fault lines that run through our aisles. I think the fact that Ireland and

Scotland whenever conquered remains very important even in the 21st century. And the same is true

...