The Ancients
Episodes
The Battle of Philippi: Death of the Roman Republic
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In October 42 BC the Roman Republic committed suicide. Near the town of Philippi in northern Greece the forces of Brutus and Cassius, the famous assas...
Sophocles' Lost Plays
18 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Big Three. In antiquity it could mean a whole host of different things, the triumvirate of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus for instance. But for many, ...
69 AD: Rise of Vespasian
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
69 AD was a tumultuous year in Roman history. 4 Romans assumed the title of emperor; only one remained standing by the year’s end. His name was Vesp...
Crassus and the Battle of Carrhae: The Defeat of Rome
11 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gareth Sampson, author of Defeat of Rome in the East: Crassus, the Parthians, and the Disastrous Battle of Carrhae, 53 BC came on the podcast to ...
Septimius Severus in Scotland
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Snow talks to Simon Elliott about Septimius Severus, the first Hammer of the Scots, about his Northern Campaigns, and the true story of this savag...
Nero the Antichrist?
04 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Emperor Nero is one of antiquity's most infamous figures, having a particularly hostile relationship with the Christians. But did the early Christ...
Agrippa: Rome's Forgotten Hero
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There are few men in Roman history that can claim to have been as influential as Marcus Agrippa. The right-hand man of Octavian / Augustus, his career...
The Polynesians: Ancient Mariners of the Pacific
27 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The ancient Polynesians remain the greatest seafarers in history. Already by the time of the legendary founding of Rome on 21 April 753 BC, Polynesian...
The Battle of Salamis
24 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We've had the Battle of Thermopylae with the brilliant Paul Cartledge; we've had the Battle of Artemisium with the great Owen Rees. And I'm delighted ...
The Rise of Constantine
20 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Emperor Constantine I, better known as Constantine the Great, is one of the most significant emperors in Roman history. His later Christian biogra...
Jason and the Golden Fleece
17 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week's episode from the History Hit archive features the brilliant Tom Holland telling the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, an epic story of hono...
Alexander the Great: Through Persian Eyes
13 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Conqueror. Destroyer. Convert. Legendary king. It's fair to say that Alexander the Great's relationship with ancient Persia was complicated. Despite c...
The Roman Forum
11 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Another one from the History Hit archive! The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum (Italian: Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum (...
The Vestal Virgins
06 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Priestesses of Vesta, Goddess of hearth, home and family, the College of Vestal Virgins were Rome’s only full-time priesthood. They numbered only si...
Pax Romana
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Time for a delve into the History Hit ancient history archives! In this podcast Dan Snow sits down with the brilliant Adrian Goldsworthy to ask the bi...
Kingdom of Kush
28 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Along the banks of the River Nile, directly south of ancient Egypt and hundreds of miles away from the Mediterranean, there was a flourishing kingdom....
Battle of Artemisium
23 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Around this time 2,499 years ago the famous Battle of Thermopylae was raging. But it is important to remember that this clash was not happening on its...
Battle of Thermopylae
20 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
2,499 years ago the Persian 'Great King' Xerxes launched history's largest amphibious invasion of Europe before D-Day. Accompanied by a huge army and ...
War Elephants
16 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Move over Hannibal. More over Carthage. This podcast is all about a much BIGGER elephant power in antiquity. A power that, at its height, stretched fr...
'Killing for the Roman Republic'
13 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 281/280 BC, the Hellenistic King Pyrrhus ventured to southern Italy to aid the Italiote-Greek city of Tarentum against a rising power based in cent...
Combat Trauma
09 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From the 2000 historical blockbuster 'Gladiator' to the Total War series, brutal hand to hand warfare is something we commonly associate with antiquit...
Stone Circles
02 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From Cornwall to Orkney, stone circles are scattered throughout the length and breadth of the British Isles. Their history stretches more than 2 mille...
Agrippina the Younger
26 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Agrippina the Younger (AD 15 - 59) was one of the most prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Born during a time of radical political change i...
Horse Archery
19 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The horse archer was one of the most feared warriors of antiquity. Triumphing mobility and fluidity, these swift skirmishers came to epitomise a feare...
Antonine Wall
12 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In c.142 AD the Emperor Antoninus Pius ordered the construction of a new wall in Northern Britain. Situated between the Firth of Forth and the Firth o...
Housesteads and Hadrian's Wall
05 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Housesteads Roman Fort is one of the great, surviving treasures of Roman Britain. Once an auxiliary fort, it occupied a dominant position on Hadrian’...
Origins of Biological & Chemical Warfare
02 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The origins of biological and chemical warfare stretch far back; modern technology has not brought about these terrifying weapons. Throughout antiquit...
Fall of the Western Roman Empire
26 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the late 4th century and early 5th centuries two massive largely-Germanic confederations arrived on Roman borders, having been uprooted from their ...
Plague of Athens
24 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Plague in the ancient world was nothing unusual. Bouts of illness were common occurrences, but we do have accounts of some exceptional outbreaks: epid...