What causes thriving democracies to unravel from within? Drawing from Mary Beard's scholarship, Tom Holland's insights, and cutting-edge climate research from ice cores, this episode reveals how Rome's republic collapsed through norm-breaking, polarization, and elite competition-offering urgent lessons for modern democracies facing similar pressures.

The Republic didn't collapse overnight—it unwound over decades as each side escalated tactics. Once your constitution becomes a to-do list of exceptions, you're living on borrowed time.
What warning signs from ancient Rome can teach us about modern democracy's fragility?








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