The Medici

In Our Time: History

12/26/13

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42m

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Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Medici family, who dominated Florence's political and cultural life for three centuries. The House of Medici came to prominence in Italy in the fifteenth century as a result of the wealth they had built up through banking. With the rise of Cosimo de' Medici, they became Florence's most powerful and influential dynasty, effectively controlling the city's government. Their patronage of the arts turned Florence into a leading centre of the Renaissance and the Medici Bank was one of the most successful institutions of its day. As well as producing four popes, members of the House of Medici married into various European royal families.

With:

Evelyn Welch Professor of Renaissance Studies at King's College, University of London

Robert Black Professor of Renaissance History at the University of Leeds

Catherine Fletcher Lecturer in Public History at the University of Sheffield

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Previous Episode

Pliny the Younger

December 12, 2013

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41m

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Pliny the Younger, famous for his letters. A prominent lawyer in Rome in the first century AD, Pliny later became governor of the province of Bithynia, on the Black Sea coast of modern Turkey. Throughout his career he was a prolific letter-writer, sharing his thoughts with great contemporaries including the historian Tacitus, and asking the advice of the Emperor Trajan. Pliny's letters offer fascinating insights into life in ancient Rome and its empire, from the mundane details of irrigation schemes to his vivid eyewitness account of the eruption of Vesuvius. With: Catharine Edwards Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London Roy Gibson Professor of Latin at the University of Manchester Alice König Lecturer in Latin and Classical Studies at the University of St Andrews Producer: Thomas Morris.

Next Episode

Plato's Symposium

January 2, 2014

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42m

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Plato's Symposium, one of the Greek philosopher's most celebrated works. Written in the 4th century BC, it is a dialogue set at a dinner party attended by a number of prominent ancient Athenians, including the philosopher Socrates and the playwright Aristophanes. Each of the guests speaks of Eros, or erotic love. This fictional discussion of the nature of love, how and why it arises and what it means to be in love, has had a significant influence on later thinkers, and is the origin of the modern notion of Platonic love.

With:

Angie Hobbs Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

Richard Hunter Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge

Frisbee Sheffield Director of Studies in Philosophy at Christ's College, University of Cambridge.

Producer: Thomas Morris.