The Senate and People of Rome

SPQR stands for the Latin phrase meaning the Senate and People of Rome. Mary Beard, a Cambridge classicist, tells Rome’s story over about a thousand years, from its legendary founding to AD 212.

She opens in 63 BC, when the statesman Cicero exposed a plot by Catiline to overthrow the government. The episode shows Romans arguing over questions we still ask, such as how far a government may go to protect itself.