In the Roman Republic, one officeholder was considered sacrosanct, his body legally inviolable: the Tribune of the Plebs. Created during the early struggles between the plebeians and patricians, the Tribune's primary power was the veto, the ability to block any act of a magistrate or the Senate. To ensure he could perform this duty without fear, the plebeians took a sacred oath to kill any person who harmed a Tribune.

This episode examines the unique legal and religious status of the Tribunes. Their power of sacrosanctitas meant that anyone who laid hands on them was declared an outlaw, who could be killed without trial. This power made the Tribunes the ultimate protectors of the common people, but it also made their office a volatile flashpoint in Roman politics. We explore how ambitious Tribunes like the Gracchi brothers used their authority to challenge the senatorial elite, with tragic and bloody consequences.

The principle of sacrosanctity was a cornerstone of the Roman constitution, a legal fiction that held the state together. However, when political violence eventually breached this sacred protection, it signaled the beginning of the end for the Republic. The story of the Tribune is the story of the struggle for power between the people and the aristocracy.

While we often focus on violent crime, the Roman world was also rife with the kinds of white-collar offenses that are still familiar today. Forgery, fraud, and false accounting were common in the bustling marketplaces and boardrooms of the empire. To combat this, the Roman Republic passed the Lex Cornelia de Falsis, a comprehensive law that became the foundation of Roman criminal law on forgery.

This episode delves into the world of Roman financial crime. We explore the specifics of the Lex Cornelia, which punished everything from forging a last will and testament to counterfeiting coins and making false statements in court. The punishments were severe, ranging from exile for the upper classes to execution for the lower classes. We examine real cases of inheritance fraud and business scams that reveal the complexities of Roman commercial life.

The Roman economy depended on a high degree of trust, particularly in written documents like contracts, wills, and public records. The laws against forgery were therefore essential for maintaining social and economic stability. This exploration of white-collar crime reveals a surprisingly modern side of the Roman legal system and its struggle to regulate a complex economy.

In 330 BCE, the greatest courtroom battle in Athenian history took place, pitting the two most famous orators of the age against each other. The case, On the Crown, was ostensibly about a minor procedural issue: whether the statesman Demosthenes had been illegally awarded a golden crown for his service to the city. In reality, it was a dramatic trial over the entire political soul of Athens.

This episode reconstructs this epic legal showdown. Demosthenes, the fiery patriot, used his defense to justify his entire career of resisting the Macedonian king, Philip II. His rival, Aeschines, argued that Demosthenes's policies had been a catastrophic failure that led directly to Athens's subjugation. We dissect the brilliant legal arguments, soaring rhetoric, and venomous personal attacks that both men deployed in a high-stakes fight for their political lives and legacies.

The speeches from this trial are considered the masterpieces of Greek oratory. Demosthenes's defense was so powerful that Aeschines not only lost the case but failed to win even a fifth of the jury's votes, forcing him into permanent exile. The trial serves as the final, dramatic act in the history of Athenian democracy and its vibrant legal culture.