Red Széll

who was born in the second century AD, was the African emperor, the black emperor.

And everything led back to this central pillar, the spine of the book, if you like.

And I came away thinking, well, I've really learned something without being led down endless side passages.

Exactly.

Now, the why is because the richest part of the Roman emperor at that time in 150 AD, 160 AD, was what we now call the Maghreb, the north of Africa.

Septimius Severus was born in Libya.

He came from rich and powerful people.

I'm paraphrasing here, but Rome was not a racist place.

Rome looked at Romans and barbarians, yes, but it also looked at, if you were part of the Roman Empire, you could rise up.

It was a meritocracy as well as a power base system.

And if you were rich and well-connected, you and good at your job, you could rise up.

And some of the richest, best connected and most determined people in 180 AD were the North Africans, the Libyans, like Septimius Severus.

In fact, you look at a lot of his contemporaries and certainly the majority of the people who were

in charge when he was an emperor, and they were North Africans.

Huh.

Fascinating.

Man, this book sounds awesome.

What's the name of the author again?

It's called The African Emperor by Simon Elliott, and it was the episode that broadcast in the first week of January.

So it's still there on every podcast provider that you might want to care looking at.