Tristan Hughes

Or what made Alexander truly great?

With a subscription to History Hit, you can explore our ancient past alongside the world's leading historians and archaeologists.

You'll also unlock hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a brand new release every single week covering everything from the ancient world to World War II.

Just visit historyhit.com slash subscribe.

Hadrian's Wall, one of the most recognisable Roman monuments from anywhere in the world.

Stretching from the Tyne Estuary to the Solway Firth, in Roman eyes, this was the northern edge of their empire, the end point of civilisation.

Today, it's easy to define Hadrian's Wall by the great sites dotted along its length, forts like Halsted's and Chester's.

But what about the people themselves?

What do we know about the men, women and children who lived their lives on this border of barbaricum almost 2,000 years ago?

What clues have they left behind?

This is the Ancients.

I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and this is your guide to life at Hadrian's Wall.

Our guest today is Dr Francis McIntosh, Collections Curator for English Heritage at Hadrian's War Room.

Frances, what a pleasure to see you again.

It's great to have you back on the podcast.

It has.

The last time we saw each other in person was, as we were talking just before going live, it was almost five years ago when we did the tour around Corbridge and Chester's Roman Fortress.

It was very good fun.

Well, we're still going to really delve into the story today.

But this is what I find so interesting about Hadrian's Wall.