If you have time, I highly recommend reading other articles in Bret's blog. His write-up of how the roman legions got paid was my favorite read for a few weeks [1]. The detail of articles like this are right up there with the History of Rome podcast.
> I find it striking that Rome’s elections happen in late summer or early fall, when it would actually be rather inconvenient for poor Romans to spend a day voting (it’s the planting season)
Fun fact: the date the US holds their federal elections used to have the opposite intent [1] - placing it in November was because by then harvest should be over and placing it on a Tuesday allowed for farmers to observe Sunday for church-going, a day of travel and for them to be back on their farm by Wednesday for market day. But today, with way fewer people observing church, new methods of transportation and polling places everywhere, it's more of a hindrance especially for low-income workers or workers who fear they might get fired for taking time off to vote.
I learned a ton about how ancient armies and wars worked just from his series exploring warfare in the LOTR books and movies -- the things Jackson got wrong (quite a bit, but not everything) and Tolkien got right (pretty much everything).
I really loved the bread and iron series too. He breaks down very important but generally overlooked day to day retirements into very digestible detail.
Fun fact: the date the US holds their federal elections used to have the opposite intent [1] - placing it in November was because by then harvest should be over and placing it on a Tuesday allowed for farmers to observe Sunday for church-going, a day of travel and for them to be back on their farm by Wednesday for market day. But today, with way fewer people observing church, new methods of transportation and polling places everywhere, it's more of a hindrance especially for low-income workers or workers who fear they might get fired for taking time off to vote.
[1] https://www.britannica.com/story/why-are-us-elections-held-o...