Is Trump a new Nero, Caligula, Caesar? Can the Roman Empire help us make sense of today's chaos? And other burning questions

Is President Trump a new Nero, or a contemporary Caligula? The Roman Empire was full of merchants of chaos, power-hungry emperors, epic wars, backstabbing, betrayals — the whole horror show. And it was a time of civilisational scale change. As we grapple with a rewriting of the world order, does Ancient Rome have lessons for us today — about the building and breaking of empires, or the rise and fall of autocrats? Or are these sorts of comparisons with the past fraught with complication?

Join Natasha Mitchell and guests at this Melbourne Museum event to coincide with the opening of the ROME: Empire, Power, People exhibition.

Speakers

Rhiannon EvansCo-host of the Emperors of Rome podcastAuthor, Utopia Antiqua: Readings of the Golden Age and decline at Rome (Routledge, 2007)Adjunct Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient HistoryLa Trobe University

Nick BisleyAuthor, Asian Crucible: Globalization, Geopolitics and the Contest for the Future (Bristol University Press, 2026); The Belt and Road Initiative and the Future of Regional Order in the Indo-Pacific (Rowman and Littlefield, 2020), Issues in 21st Century World Politics, 3rd Edition (Palgrave, 2017) and Great Powers in the Changing International Order (Lynne Rienner, 2012)Professor of International RelationsPro Vice-Chancellor ResearchLa Trobe University

Thanks to event producer Jennifer Brookings, Nick Marchand (Director of Global Engagement at Museums Victoria), and team the Melbourne Museum.