Socrates in the City Tom Holland and Mary Harrington: The Rise and Reach of Rome
15 snips
May 1, 2026 
Tom Holland, historian and bestselling author of Pax, joins Mary Harrington; Holland is known for books on ancient and medieval history. They roam from Rome’s imperial power and the Pax Romana to why Americans idolize Roman models. Conversations touch on citizenship, Christianity as imperial glue, Persia’s influence, medieval institutions, and how media revolutions shape revolts and memory.
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Christianity Held Late Antiquity Together
- Christianity provided a universal religio that could ideologically cement a diverse empire in late antiquity.
- Holland contends Constantine adopted Christianity to offer a single God for a universal empire amid third-century crises.
Persia's Deep Influence On Monotheisms
- Persian thought contributed foundational concepts like linear history and moralized cosmic dualism that shaped Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
- Holland cites Darius' Behistun inscription and the Persian idea of time as an arrow influencing the book of Daniel and later faiths.
The 11th Century Made Religion And Secularism
- The 11th-century papal revolution forged the modern categories of religion and the secular and is a foundational turning point for Western civilization.
- Holland explains this revolution institutionalized reformatio, creating subsequent cycles of reform and counter-reform up to modernity.
