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The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire | Lex Fridman Podcast #498

Anthony Kaldellis is a historian of the Roman Empire and author of "The New Roman Empire", a comprehensive history of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).
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Comments (20)

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Next you could invite someone to talk about Holy Roman Empire.
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Speaking as a man,
I can't help but admit that I don't pass a week without thinking about the Roman Empire.
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I can hear Anthony Kaldellis talk about Roman history all day, everyday. Lex more history content pls. Thank you
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More history pods pleaseeeee
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One of the best Lex podcasts yet
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I have this guy's book on my shelf, The New Roman Empire. It's majesterial.
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@danb239 From YouTube ↗ 1 Jul 2026 95
I hope this is half as good as the Gregory Aldrete podcast
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16:26 Greek-American here, my family moved to US and shortened our long last names right before the Great War. I don’t think I could be any more proud of who I am and where my family comes from. Specifically I am very proud of being Peloponnesian from villages of Sparti and Tripoli.
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Thank you Lex, Anthony Kaldellis is my favourite historian of the ERE. I constantly relisten to his guest episodes on the History of Byzantium. So this was a great treat to listen to, I will keep coming back.
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Anthony Kaldellis is an incredible historian!
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Christmas in the dead of summer thank you Lex
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You HAVE to get Gregory Aldrete back on for a round 2, he's a wealth of knowledge.
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Anthony Kaldellis, a major source for the History of Byzantium podcast, my beloved
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Good timing. I went almost a whole day without thinking about Rome, and now this.
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I love Byzantine history and I find it sad that it often gets neglected in the wider world history narrative. Thanks for inviting Anthony on the podcast
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Anthony Kaldellis is THE man!

There is no Europe as we know it without the continuation of the Roman Empire in the east.
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Professor Kaldellis! I will always remember you. You taught me Classics at OSU in 2013-2014. My favorite professor ever. Incredible to see you on here.
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Gents, this is the one we have wanted for! 🍺
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Babe wake up a new roman empire podcast just dropped on Lex Fridman
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@lexfridman From YouTube ↗ 1 Jul 2026 117
Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep498-sa
See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.
0:00 - Episode highlight
1:24 - Introduction
1:51 - The Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire
5:49 - 2,200 Years of Roman History
26:12 - Power, violence, and civil war
47:27 - Edict of Caracalla
1:00:23 - Crisis of the Third Century
1:14:52 - Constantine and the new Roman Empire
1:26:53 - Christianity in the Roman Empire
1:52:21 - Fall of the Western Roman Empire
2:05:17 - Eunuchs, Taxes, and Power
2:30:24 - Emperor Justinian and wars of conquest
2:47:26 - The Arab conquests
3:07:01 - Why the Roman empire survived so long
3:33:08 - Lessons from history

Transcript:
lexfridman.com/anthony-kaldellis-transcript

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EPISODE LINKS:
Anthony's Books: amzn.to/49AX7Q1
Anthony's Publications: kaldellispublications.weebly.com/
Anthony's University of Chicago page: classics.uchicago.edu/p