This week’s pod is with the acclaimed classicist and historian, Peter Stothard. In his return to the show after our chat on The Ides of March, Peter discusses Marcus Licinius Crassus – the fabulously wealthy politician and commander who came a cropper at Carrhae up against the Persian Empire, after having defeated Spartacus.

Crass was a rival to Caesar and Pompey, and was of course played by Laurence Olivier in the Kubrick film. Peter’s new book is out, it’s super short, and I raced through it – it’s always entertaining listening to Peter, and he knows the subject so well, and speaks with real flair.