What podcasts say about Anthony Kaldellis
Every statement, with the speaker, the exact quote and the moment it was said.
What Anthony Kaldellis has said on podcasts
35 statements · 16 positive · 7 negative · 1 mixed · 11 neutral
The Eastern Roman Empire directly continued the ancient Roman Empire in the East.
“the Eastern Roman Empire, this is the direct continuation of the ancient Roman Empire in the East”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 9:41
The Roman state lasted an extraordinarily long and historically unusual period.
“the history of the Roman state, the Roman polity, is something that lasts an extraordinarily long time. Very unique almost in history”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 10:38
Major historical dates often represent longer processes rather than discrete events.
“those are conventional dates that we use to actually capture what is in fact, a much longer process”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 19:47
Roman history is fundamentally the history of a state and political community.
“Roman history is very specifically the history of a state or a political community”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 22:03
Roman soldiers swore oaths throughout the empire’s history.
“we know that Roman soldiers swore an oath throughout all of the centuries of the empire”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 31:02
Roman law gave Jewish women greater legal rights than they had elsewhere.
“Jewish women have more rights than Jewish women do elsewhere, because where Roman law is not operative”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 32:42
East Roman emperors generally acted consistently with their stated intentions.
“my research suggests that the emperors and the authorities were generally sincere in what they said. In other words, I have found that they generally did what they said they were going to do overall”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 38:25
The Roman imperial system lacked an established hereditary right to the throne.
“ultimately it is that there is no right to the throne”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 39:47
About 46% of Constantinople’s emperors were violently overthrown.
“Something like 46% of the emperors of Constantinople are overthrown through violence”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 44:10
Emperors reduced coup risk by governing in ways that maintained popular goodwill.
“the best way to avoid that fate is to actually do the things that will make people happy so that they don't support a rebel”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 44:43
Public gatherings functioned as popular consultation and tests of political consensus.
“it is definitely a form of popular consultation and a testing of consensus”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 49:21
Caracalla’s 212 edict extended Roman citizenship to everybody in the empire.
“extended citizenship to everybody”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 57:31
Ordinary Egyptians largely did not appear to experience the third-century crisis as an everyday catastrophe.
“if you go to Egypt, for example, which is kind of out of the right. What's going on there? How are people living there? And we can see how people are living in Egypt because we have all these papyrus documents from Egypt and for the most part they don't seem to be experiencing a crisis”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 1:06:34
Diocletian successfully stabilized revenue, armies, and rebellions through administrative reforms.
“He was mostly successful. So in terms of generating revenue from a much more troubled and kind of precarious situation, sustaining large armies and putting down these rebellions and usurpations. And he was generally successful at doing that”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 1:14:26
Taxation was central to the functioning of the East Roman state.
“Taxation is the heart of it”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 1:16:02
Diocletian’s political stability enabled renewed economic and demographic growth.
“if you provide that context of stability, the economic growth, the demographic growth will return. And Diocletian created that context”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 1:21:14
Constantinople was conceived as a new eastern Rome.
“Constantinople, AKA New Rome”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 1:24:12
Constantinople’s location enabled emperors to operate between the Danube and Euphrates frontiers.
“Constantinople is right between the Danube and the Euphrates. These are two major frontiers. And so it allows emperors to move between the two”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 1:26:58
Christianity was incorporated into the Roman imperial system.
“that the religion was co opted by the imperial system”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 1:34:59
The Roman Empire likely became majority Christian in the fifth century and solidly Christian by the sixth.
“We probably can't talk about a majority Christian society until maybe the fifth century or early fifths, mid fifths. We don't have data, obviously. And we can't talk about, like a solidly Christian society until early 6th century”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 1:44:42
Christianity’s diverse forms made it highly adaptable across Roman society.
“it has this kind of manifold diversity, right, that makes it very adaptable”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 1:48:31
Christianity simultaneously intensified polarization and strengthened social unity.
“Christianity, in contrast to say, the ancient religions, is both far more polarizing but also far more powerful as a unifying force at the same time”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 1:49:12
Western Roman decline became self-reinforcing as invasions reduced tax revenue and military capacity.
“This created this kind of vicious cycle because then the Roman state lost access to the resources from those provinces, that is the taxes. And without those resources they couldn't, you know, maintain, mobilize, pay for their armies”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 2:05:06
Local communities’ continued allegiance helped the Eastern Roman Empire survive invasions.
“Ultimately, I think it's the decision made by local communities to stick with the Roman state”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 2:09:06
Justinian’s codification became the principal surviving source for Roman law.
“this is a massive work of codification and it is our main source for Roman law”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 2:41:06
Justinian’s conquests overstretched resources and weakened the empire’s subsequent defenses.
“he overstretched his resources, leaving his successors with a much more dangerous situation to defend”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 2:47:15
The Justinianic Plague’s impact was likely substantially below a 50% mortality scenario.
“I think that would have brought this society to a halt, just logistically speaking. And so I believe in a much more moderate impact”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 2:52:05
The eleventh-century crisis mainly resulted from simultaneous external attacks, not internal decay.
“I think that's what happened. I think that's the main narrative. Not that there weren't problems. There were. But no state can, medieval or ancient, can realistically survive the simultaneous attack of three very different kinds of enemies”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 3:18:59
East Roman crises were discrete, short-lived external shocks.
“the crises that this polity, this state, this society that it undergoes are a discrete number of them. I can tell you what they are, and we've talked about most of them so far. They don't last very long, and they are all sudden challenges that appear from the outside”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 3:22:01
The Eastern Roman Empire’s irreversible decline began between 1300 and 1350.
“I would say early 14th century, somewhere between 1300 and 1350, the sources of resilience begin to dry up”
Open the episode · #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of EmpiresListen at 3:28:58
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.