075- The Forgotten Son

Become a patron and get the entire History of Rome backcatalog ad-fre, plus bonus content, behind the scenes peeks at the new book, plus a chat community where you can talk to me directly. Join today! Patreon: patreon.com/thehistoryofrome Merch Store: cottonbureau.com/mikeduncan 

Audio excerpt from The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic by Mike Duncan. Forthcoming Oct. 24, 2017. Pre-order a copy today!  Amazon Powells Barnes & Noble Indibound Books-a-Million Or visit us at: revolutionspodcast.com thehistoryofrome.com 

Available at revolutionspodcast.com, iTunes, or anywhere else fine podcasts can be found. 

Mu’awiya’s thorough preparations before his death left little doubt as to who would succeed him. His mastery over the umma’s various social forces must have made his job look easy when it was anything but, and Yazid made it his first priority to snuff out all resistance in order ... Show More

The same skills which propelled Mu’awiya along his relentless rise to the top of the caliphate helped him rule the Arabs unlike any man had managed to until then. Our sources contrast his reign to what came before it sharply, and it is worth reflecting on how they began to recogn ... Show More

Just because Mu’awiya held supreme power within the caliphate didn’t mean he thought his will was absolute. He had displayed a keen understanding of tribal politics during his rise to power, painstakingly building a strong network of support to challenge for and win the title of ... Show More

The Abbasid revolution showed what it took to overthrow a dynasty; establishing a new one brought a whole other set of challenges. The clan’s first caliph, al Saffah, took an aggressive posture to scare off any would-be challengers to his power. Legitimacy was his chief concern, ... Show More

Two decades of al Ma’mun’s capable administration led the caliphate to an extraordinary recovery. His return to Baghdad put an end to the chaotic aftermath of the great fitna and his enduring success helped the umma reach new heights militarily, commercially, and even intellectua ... Show More

Al Mu’tamid’s reign lasted from 870 to 892. The Abbasid Caliphate was reborn during these decades, midwifed by the caliph’s brother Talha, better known in history by his title al Muwaffaq. The new Abbasid state understood its limits and adopted a pragmatic but uncompromising appr ... Show More

The sudden passing of Mohammad al Mahdi led his son Musa al Hadi to become the umma’s next leader sooner than anyone would have expected. With a wild disposition and little actual experience in administration, the twenty one year old became the youngest Abbasid to wield power. He ... Show More

After all our recent foreshadowing, we’ve finally arrived at the period of Abbasid collapse. It’s a relatively long period, stretching from the start of al Muqtadir’s reign in 908 until around the middle of that century, when the Abbasids were reduced to figureheads by a more com ... Show More

Before you even hit play it should already be clear to you that the caliphate is only going to get stronger over the course of our discussion today. Al Mu’tadid seems to have been incapable of doing any wrong; his decisive leadership reinvigorated the state far beyond what his pr ... Show More

Despite the general unpopularity of al Mu’tasim’s Turkish inner-circle, the paradigm he established proved so stable that it endured throughout the reign of his son and successor, Haoon al Watheq. The new caliph wasn’t very keen on administration: he left his father’s loyalists i ... Show More