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Articles by Josiah Osgood
The Rule of Law and the Fate of Rome – Michael C. Hawley
A confident, hegemonic republic somehow begins to careen into chaos and civil strife. Its ruling class has been steadily concentrating the republic’s immense wealth in its own hands, ignoring the growing precarity of the less well-off. As instability rises, this class, which had also largely monopolized political offices, begins to lose credibility in the eyes of the rest of the populace. Demagogues, arising out of the ruling class but exploiting the popular hatred against it, flourish.
Lawless Republic: The Rise of Cicero and the Decline of Rome
Reading current headlines in the United States, some may wonder what life would be like in the final days of a collapsing republic. What happens if the rule of law becomes more procedural than real, if the legislature can no longer constrain a powerful executive, if rhetoric loses any connection with reality, and if oligarchs, politicians, and special interests use money and violence to compete for primacy?
Notable Nonfiction Books of Early 2025
In recent weeks, having talked to Kate Summerscale about nonfiction books that read like thrillers, and to former MI-6 operative Charles Beaumont about spy thrillers based on real events, I’ve found the difference between fiction and nonfiction blurring in my mind. What is it that I value in a traditional nonfiction book that page-turners can’t deliver? I suppose, at the end of the day, for me, it’s about the argument.
Lawless Republic: The Rise of Cicero and the Decline of Rome
Quite often, biographies and histories have as much to say about the times in which they are written as they do about the periods and people with which they are concerned. This certainly applies to Josiah Osgood’s recounting of the legal and political career of Cicero, one of history’s greatest orators. He presents it as a cautionary tale of how republics can be corrupted and overthrown with the unwitting (or witting) cooperation of those entrusted with preserving and protecting them.
La República en peligro
Ayuda Buscar en la ayuda Buscar en la ayuda La República en peligro Autores: Josiah Osgood Localización: Desperta Ferro: Antigua y medieval, ISSN 2171-9276, Nº. 87, 2025, págs. 6-11 Idioma: español Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...) Resumen A principios del año 46 a. C. César se hallaba –al igual que otras tantas veces en su vida– luchando por su propia supervivencia.
Caesar, Cato and the Fall of the Roman Republic: Josiah Osgood (46bc)
The historian Sallust once characterised the Fall of the Roman Empire a tragedy with two heroes. Julius Caesar and his rival Cato the Younger were figures of immense talent. And yet their bitter feuding drove the republic they loved to the very brink. In this episode the award-winning historian Josiah Osgood takes us back to the climatic year of their quarrel: 46 BC.
The Romans Destroyed Their Republic in Partisan Warfare. We Might Too
Donald Trump’s unleashing of an armed mob on the Capitol to overturn an election on January 6, 2021 was a stark warning of the fragility of democracy. And there have been other signs of strain. At a rally outside the Supreme Court in March of 2020, then Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, “You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price,” earning a rebuke from Chief Justice Roberts.
How to Stop a Conspiracy
Catiline was born into one of Rome’s exclusive patrician families, a group in power from the earliest days of the city’s history. But the family’s fortunes had decayed. For generations they had been shut out of the high office of consul, held by just two men each year. In Rome, reputation meant everything, and Catiline was determined to reverse the family’s decline in prestige.
How to Be a Better Liar
To get good at bending the truth, you have to first know why most people are terrible at it Photo: skynesher/Getty Images In theory, lying isn’t good — it can breed distrust, harm your family, and infuse your life with chaos. But in practice, there are times when it would be convenient to be good at lying. Like when your boss wants you to give up a whole weekend for a conference, but you reallyneed a break. Or when that not-really-a-friend asks you to be in their bridal party.
To Be a Better Leader, Don't Be Like Caesar
What Caligula, Julius Caesar, and the bad Roman emperors can teach us The Roman biographer Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus believed power doesn’t corrupt so much as it allows one’s worst, preexisting instincts to go unchecked. His epic biography, Lives of the Caesars, showed how power made the emperors of Rome feel free to indulge their own passions and pursuits, no matter how weird or reckless — often, to their own demise.
Donald Caesar | by Josiah Osgood
Now that US President Donald Trump has avoided any punishment for his brazen abuse of power, he should be compared not to other democratic leaders, but to the notorious tyrants of the past. As it happens, the similarities between Trump and the most notorious Roman caesars are striking – and should give all Americans pause. WASHINGTON, DC – The outcome of the US Senate’s trial of Donald Trump, following his impeachment by the House of Representatives, was a foregone conclusion.
How to Be a Bad Emperor
Publisher Description What would Caligula do? What the worst Roman emperors can teach us about how not to lead If recent history has taught us anything, it's that sometimes the best guide to leadership is the negative example. But that insight is hardly new. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Suetonius wrote Lives of the Caesars, perhaps the greatest negative leadership book of all time.
What’s in a Nickname? From Caligula to Sleepy Joe
Donald Trump’s habit of bestowing nicknames on his rivals in politics and the media is by now notorious. Wikipedia has a helpful page listing well over a hundred of them. Lyin’ Ted, Little Marco, Rocketman, and Pocohontas: they’re all there. Why does Trump do this? We may think it is a way to grab attention, sort of like suddenly announcing that you want to buy Greenland. But my study of politics in ancient Rome – which was rife with nicknames – suggests something more.
Rome and making world state 150 bce20 ce | Ancient history
In the century following 150 BCE, the Romans developed a coherent vision of empire and a more systematic provincial administration. The city of Rome itself became a cultural and intellectual center that eclipsed other Mediterranean cities, while ideas and practices of citizenship underwent radical change. In this book, Josiah Osgood offers a new survey of this most vivid period of Roman history, the Late Republic.
History
This week in 1981: Cats “A prodigious number of Americans have become smitten with cats. Garfield and his top-selling feline pals are but one example of the cat boom in the U.S., which now goes well beyond book and comic pages. There is, for example, Cats, an opulent, energetic rock musical adapted from T.S. Eliot’s volume of poems Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. The production has been a smash hit in London for nine months and will stalk onto Broadway early next year.” (Dec.
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