Tristan Hughes

Now the Romans never fought Alexander in battle, but many certainly thought about it.

Intellectuals pondered what would have happened if Alexander had not died that fateful day in Babylon, aged just 32, and had instead headed west with his all-conquering army, crossing over into southern Italy, intent on expanding his empire even further.

Would the Romans have had enough to stop him?

It's a scenario that one Roman historian in particular thought at length about.

His name was Titus Livius, better known as Livy, who concluded that the Romans would have won, that they would have beaten Alexander even back then.

Welcome to the Ancients.

I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and in this episode we're going to delve into this much discussed and debated hypothetical scenario.

What if Alexander the Great had invaded Italy?

What if he had fought Rome?

Is Livy's argument credible?

To discuss this with me is Dr. Stuart Brandt, professor of history at Cairn University and an expert on the Roman Republic and its military.

Steele, welcome back to the show.

It has been too long and it's great to have you back.

It has been too long and it's marvellous to be back.

We could have talked to you about so many different things, but I love this idea that you put forward, which is this question of what would have happened if Alexander the Great had invaded Italy and fought the Romans?

And this is something that people love discussing even today, this hypothetical scenario that sadly never came to be.

Maybe not sadly, but yes, neither came to me.

No, I can't either.

And yes, by doing it this way, it means that I'm going to be chatting a little bit more than usual.

So thank you very much for that, Steele.