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Rome Unveiled (Simple English)

Rome Unveiled (Simple English)

Written by: City Walk Guides
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About this listen

Rome Unveiled (Simple English) tells the story of ancient Rome in clear, easy English. Join traveler Sarah and local guide Giovanni as they explore how Rome began, who lived there, and how myths and history shaped the city. Each episode uses short sentences and simple vocabulary for English learners. For maps and offline walking tours, visit romeunveiled.com or use the Rome Unveiled Audio Tour Guide App.City Walk Guides Social Sciences Travel Writing & Commentary
Episodes
  • The Day Rome Fell: Geese, Gold, and Silent Gods
    Jan 5 2026

    The Rome Unveiled App is now on iOS and Android!

    Search for 'Rome Audio Tour Guide Offline' in your app store.

    The city gates are open. The army has run away. The elders sit still in special chairs.

    Rome learns what happens when gods stop listening.

    Next to the mysterious Black Stone, Sarah and Giovanni explore Rome's defining moment. On this day:

    • People ignored a god's warning because a common person shared it
    • The Capitol hill was almost lost
    • Sacred geese—not soldiers—saved the city

    This is when Roman fear and strength began:

    • Rich leaders ignored a god's message because it came from a poor person
    • Old leaders used special death rituals to curse enemies (Devotio)
    • Enemies shouted "Vae victis" (Woe to the conquered!) when taking ransom
    • Sacred geese became unexpected heroes on a dark night
    • Shame built strong walls around the city—and its memory

    This was a time of shame. It was also a new beginning. Rome learned to fear silence that day.

    The app tour takes you to:

    • The Roman Forum (where the Black Stone marks holy ground)
    • The Capitoline Hill (where geese saved Rome)

    Using GPS, you will hear:

    • Geese making noise
    • Swords scraping together
    • The scary quiet of an empty city

    Meet us at the gates of burning Rome.

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    38 mins
  • The Machine: How Rome Built a Republic That Should Not Have Worked
    Dec 28 2025

    The Rome Unveiled App is now available on iOS and Android!

    Search for “Rome Audio Tour Guide Offline” in the app store or play store.

    The king is gone. The throne is empty. The people are free.

    So why is Rome almost falling apart?

    Standing near the Tarpeian Rock, Sarah and Giovanni show what really happened in the Republic’s most dangerous ten years, not with big battles, but with money records, bronze scales, and one torn tunic.

    This is the story movies skip. It is the chaos *after* the revolution. A city with no food, surrounded by enemies, and fighting itself from the inside. To stay alive, Rome did not just create democracy… it built a machine, a noisy, patched-together system made of:

    • Two rival Consuls, like a king split in two, each with a time limit
    • Armies that voted before they fought, rich men voted first, while poor men waited in the heat
    • The Nexum, a law that let citizens become slaves if they could not pay debts
    • A starving veteran’s protest, he tore open his tunic to show battle scars on his chest… and whip scars on his back
    • The world’s first labor strike, when the whole army left the city and sat on a hill
    • The first “human shield” of democracy, the Tribune of the Plebs, whose body gave him the power to stop any law
    • Ritual tricks, like calling a small patch of Roman ground “Macedonia” so a priest could throw a spear and begin a war

    It was messy. It was violent. It was smart.

    The app tour for this episode takes you to the Temple of Saturn (Rome’s first treasury), the Rostra (where Tribunes stood up to the Senate), and the Temple of Bellona (where Rome started wars with paperwork). With GPS-triggered audio, you will hear the veteran’s shout, the crowd’s shock, and the sound of bronze scales, right where it all happened.

    Next time: the day the machine failed. When enemies stood at the city gates, the sky turned red, and Rome faced its worst moment, the Gallic Sack.

    The Republic did not start with peace or agreement. It began in fear, held together by guilt, and ran on a story Rome believed so deeply, it changed the world.

    See you at the edge of the cliff.

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    40 mins
  • Myth, Tyranny, and the Birth of the Roman Republic
    Dec 18 2025

    The Rome Unveiled App is now available on iOS & Android!

    Search for 'Rome Audio Tour Guide Offline' in your app store.

    Join Sarah and Giovanni on the Capitoline Hill for an easy-to-understand story about how Rome stopped having kings and started the Republic.

    One bad king. One terrible crime. One brave woman’s death. And suddenly – no more kings.

    In this Simple English episode, we tell the famous story that every Roman knew:

    • The proud king Tarquinius Superbus who treated people badly
    • His son’s awful crime against a good woman named Lucretia
    • Lucretia’s sad choice to end her life to protect her honour
    • Brutus raising the dagger and promising to fight for freedom
    • The angry people driving the king out forever

    We also explain the truth behind the story:

    • It probably did not happen in one night – it was slower
    • Archaeology shows no big destruction, just slow change
    • How the Romans split the king’s power between two leaders (Consuls) so no one could become a tyrant again

    This story taught Romans to hate kings and love freedom. It even helped inspire people much later, like the founders of the United States.

    The app has a special tour for this episode. Walk through the Roman Forum and hear the story at the real places where it happened – all offline, no internet needed.

    Next time: the exciting early years of the new Republic and how Rome survived many dangers.

    See you in the Forum!

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    39 mins
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