About this episode

The episode explores Vespasian and Titus's night in the Temple of Isis, Decius Mundus's obsession with a married woman, and the historical context of Nero's blame on Christians for the Great Fire of Rome.

This episode we're deep in the Temple of Isis - which turns out to be exactly where Vespasian and Titus had to spend the night before their joint triumph, for reasons both boring and genuinely weird. We also cover Decius Mundus, a man so obsessed with a married woman that he bribed priests to let him dress up as Anubis and have sex with her.... which Josephus drops right after his suspiciously glowing account of Jesus, purely by coincidence. And we take a hard look at whether Nero actually blamed the Christians for the Great Fire of Rome, or whether Tacitus just made that up fifty years later. The post The God in the Dog Mask – Vespasian #23 appeared first on Life Of The Caesars .

People in this episode

Hosts: Cameron Reilly, Ray Harris

Topics covered

• Vespasian
• Titus
• Decius Mundus
• Nero
• Great Fire of Rome
• Josephus
• Tacitus

Keywords

• Vespasian
• Titus
• Decius Mundus
• Nero
• Great Fire of Rome
• Josephus
• Tacitus
• Temple of Isis
• Anubis

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Temple of Isis

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• A River of Gold – Vespasian #24 · July 13, 2026 · 23 min

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