Autocrat- A Roman History Podcast Vince and Cassie

Arachnaphobes, look away- this is where all your problems originate! Today's story is basically How the Spider Came to Be. And yes, we know that about 6% of the population has a fear of spiders; let's hope Arachne's presence this episode doesn't alienate that many people...



Sources for this episode:


Agnarsson, I. (2023), Grand challenges in research on arachnid diversity, conservation, and biogeography. Fontiers in Arachnid Science 2: 1101141.
Cohen, K. M., Finney, S. C., Gibbard, P. L. and Fan, J.-X. (2013, updated), The ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart. Episodes 36: 199-204.
The Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica (2024), Arachne (online) (Accessed 08/05/2024).
Olshan, Y. (2011), Arachne: The Origin. Thesis submitted to the University of Michigan.
Riley, H. T. (1889), The Metamorphoses (Ovid), Literally Translated Into English Prose, With Copious Notes and Explanations. London: George Bell & Sons.
Selden, P. A., Corronca, J. A. and Hünicken, M. A. (2005), The true identity of the supposed giant fossil spider Megarachne. Biology Letters 1: 44-48.
Young, E., The British Psychological Society (2021), Fear of Spiders May Have Its Evolutionary Roots in Aversion to Scorpions (online) (Accessed 12/05/2024).
Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Megarachne (online) (Accessed 08/05/2024).

A little break for another bonus episode today. This time, we sit around the podcast campfire with a student of Roman history and delve into the topic of the fall of the Roman Republic- as well as touching on his next realm of study in the form of the fall of the Western Roman Empire...



Sources used for our discussion this episode:


Caesar (1953), The Conquest of Gaul. Translated by S. A. Hanford. London: Penguin Books.
Cassius Dio (1961), Dio's Roman History in Nine Volumes. Volume II. Translated by E. Cary. London, United Kingdom and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press.
Duncan, M. (2017), The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic. New York City: Hachette Book Group.
Goldsworthy, A. (2023), The Eagle and the Lion: Rome, Persia and an Unwinnable Conflict. London: Head of Zeus Ltd.
Hayne, L. (1991). The Importance of the Gracchi. Ancient History Resources for Teachers, 21(2): 86-89.
Henderson, M. M. (1968), Tiberius Gracchus and the Failure of the Roman Republic. Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory 31: 51-64.
Littlewood, I. (2002), The Rough Guide: History of France. London: Rough Guides Ltd.
Marks, A. and Tingay, G. (date unknown), Romans. London: Usborne Publishing.

Task number three! The fact that we jokingly labelled it 'deer fetch-quest' in one of our thumbnails basically tells you everything you need to know. This week, we've got a deer that runs way too fast. That, and a man who has so far been way too used to hitting problems with a club having to take on a running challenge.



Sources for this episode:


Bejan, A., Gunes, U., Charles, J. D. and Sahin, B. (2018), The fastest animals and vehicles are neither the biggest nor the fastest over lifetime. Scientific Reports 8: 12925.
Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume I). London: William Heinemann.
Guerber, H. A. (1929), The Myths of Greece & Rome: Their Stories Signification and Origin. London: George G. Harrap & Company Ltd.
Hirt, M. H., Jetz, W., Rall, B. and Brose, U. (2017), A general scaling law reveals why the largest animals are not the fastest. Nature Ecology & Evolution 1: 1116-1122.
Oldfather, C. H. (1993), Diodorus of Sicily: the Library of History. Books IV.59- VIII. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Weil, S., African Wildlife Foundation (2013), Cheetahs: The World's Fastest Land Animal (online) (Accessed 06/05/2024).
Wilson, A. M., Lowe, J. C., Roskilly, K., Hudson, P. E., Golabek, K. A. and McNutt, J. W. (2013), Locomotion dynamics of hunting in wild cheetahs. Nature 498: 185-189.
Author unknown, Metric Conversions (date unknown), Meters per second to Kilometers per hour (online) (Accessed 06/05/2024).

There's a strong reptilian theme on Autocrat today! It's the episode all about Cadmus- who we last dealt with properly during Typhon's days in episode 3. Get ready to discuss adultery among the gods, yet another instance of basing city locations on bovine migration, and a very high number of snakes and dragons...



Sources for this episode:


du Toit, B. M. (1960), Some Aspects of the Soul-Concept among the Bantu-Speaking Nguni-Tribes of South Africa. Anthropological Quarterly 33(3): 134-142.
Evelyn-White, H. G. (1943), Hesiod: The Homeric Hymns and Homerica. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume I). London: William Heinemann.
Graves, R. (1981), Greek Myths: Illustrated Edition. London: Cassell Ltd.
Guerber, H. A. (1929), The Myths of Greece & Rome: Their Stories Signification and Origin. London: George G. Harrap & Company Ltd.
Hyginus (date unknown), Fabulae. Translated by Grant, M. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies 34. Accessed via Topos Text (online) (Accessed 08/05/2024).
Oldfather, C. H. (1989), Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes. Volume I: Books I and II, 1-34. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, UK: Harvard University Press.
Riley, H. T. (1889), The Metamorphoses (Ovid), Literally Translated Into English Prose, With Copious Notes and Explanations. London: George Bell & Sons.
Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Theban kings in Greek mythology (online) (Accessed 08/05/2024).

Not only is this episode yet another monster for Heracles to hit really hard with his club, it's an opportunity to sneak some maths into the podcast!



Sources for this episode:


Bianconi, E., Piovesan, A., Facchin, F., Beraudi, A., Casadei, R., Frabetti, F., Vitale, L., Pelleri, M. C., Tassani, S., Piva, F., Perez-Amodio, S., Strippoli, P. and Canaider, S. (2013), An estimation of the number of cells in the human body. Annals of Human Biology 40(6): 463-471.
Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited.Clennett, C., Locke, J. and Jackson, T. (editorial consultants) (2023), How Biology Works. LonondM Darling Kindersley Ltd.
The Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica (2016), Iolaus (online) (Accessed 05/05/2024).
Evelyn-White, H. G. (1943), Hesiod: The Homeric Hymns and Homerica. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume I). London: William Heinemann.
Guerber, H. A. (1929), The Myths of Greece & Rome: Their Stories Signification and Origin. London: George G. Harrap & Company Ltd.
Hine, R. S. (2019), Oxford Dictionary of Biology (8th edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jain, N., Kourampi, I., Umar, T. P., Almansoor, Z. R., Anand, A., Rehman, M. E. U., Jain, S. and Reinis, A. (2023), Global population surpasses eight billion: Are we ready for the next billion? AIMS Public Health 10(4): 849-866.
Jowett, B. (1892), The Dialogues of Plato, translated into English with Analyses and Introductions (Vol. I) (3rd edition). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Khoklov, A. N. (2014), On the Immortal Hydra. Again. Moscow University Biological Sciences Bulletin 69(4): 153-157.
Oldfather, C. H. (1993), Diodorus of Sicily: the Library of History. Books IV.59- VIII. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Author unknown, European Space Agency (date unknown), How many stars are there in the Universe? (online) (Accessed 22/04/2024).
Author unknown, World Population Clock (date unknown), World Population Clock: 8.1 Billion People (LIVE, 2024) (online) (Accessed 05/05/2024).

On April Fools' Day, we declared Autocrat to be the digital home of a new Roman Empire, with ourselves as co-emperors. We put up an election poll thinking it was a fun, light-hearted way to interact with the community and, well- here's the results!