02 / observation

30 Jun 2026

If he did what you said, which he in theory could have done, but that would’ve just led to more wars, right? So the problem is that the emperors, even those who come to power through violence, they can’t prevent other people from trying to come to power through violence because like I said, no one has a right to the throne.

“If he did what you said, which he in theory could have done, but that would’ve just led to more wars, right? So the problem is that the emperors, even those who come to power through violence, they can’t prevent other people from trying to come to power through violence because like I said, no one has a right to the throne.”

Speaker: Anthony Kaldellis
Episode: #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires
Publisher: Lex Fridman Podcast

Anthony Kaldellis

What Anthony said.

The problem is that the emperors are discovering every once in a while that their officials are granting these exemptions sort of on their own.