Beste Ancient History Podcasts (2024)

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AHFG Book Club: Metal Death Goddesses, Ravens, and Bears (Oh My!) With Emily Rath 1:00:18

3d ago1:00:18

1:00:18

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! You may recognize Dr. Emily Rath from our series on Project 2025. Today, we’ve invited her on to discuss her most recent project—North is the Night, a historical fantasy story with a strong, sapphic romantic thread. Join us as Emily introduces us to a world of terrifying metal death goddes…

1
Minisode: Gifts. 14:21

5d ago14:21

14:21

(please note that there is reference to suicide and murder as per the myths involved). In this minisode I pick out some examples of gifts in ancient Mesopotamia and Greece where the outcome wasn't as planned or it just went plain wrong. Let me know what you think by leaving a review or getting in touch. You can find me as @ancientblogger on social …

1
Leyla Ozgur Alhassen, "Qur'ānic Stories: God, Revelation, and the Audience" (Edinburgh UP, 2022) 51:03

6d ago51:03

51:03

Leyla Ozgur Alhassen’s book Qur’anic Stories: God, Revelation and the Audience (Edinburgh University Press, 2021) provides excellent analyses of several Qur’anic surahs, or chapters, to explore how Qur’anic stories function as narratives – but not just any kind of narratives: narratives with a theological purpose behind them. The specific stories s…

1
RE-RELEASE: St. Nicholas and the Christmas Cannibals 1:24:15

5d ago1:24:15

1:24:15

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Ah, Christmas—it's a time of cheer, of gift-giving and generosity; and a time to eat yer babies. This year, we’re focusing on two different cannibalistic monsters from Christmas folklore: Père Fouettard and Hans Trapp. Because it turns out that child cannibalism really is the reason for th…

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The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: Part 3 1:37:53

10d ago1:37:53

1:37:53

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In our last two episodes we discussed what worship looked like at the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. How the goddess was worshipped, who worshipped her, and what they believed. Now, we’re going talk about what the temple looked like, who built it, who burned it to the ground, who rebuilt it…

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Nick Posegay and Melonie Schmierer-Lee, "The Illustrated Cairo Genizah" (Gorgias Press, 2024) 1:03:57

11d ago1:03:57

1:03:57

Starting nearly a thousand years ago at the Ben Ezra Synagogue of Old Cairo, worn-out books and scrolls were put in the genizah, a storage area for sacred texts. In The Illustrated Cairo Genizah: A Visual Tour of Cairo Genizah Manuscripts at Cambridge Univertity Library (Gorgias Press, 2024), Nick Posegay and Melonie Schmierer-Lee tell the story of…

1
RE-RELEASE: You Don't Know Yule 1:29:19

12d ago1:29:19

1:29:19

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! What do you know about Yule? Maybe a lot. The holiday is widely celebrated in Scandinavian countries, and it's an important part of Wiccan and Pagan tradition. But for many of us, the version that's come down through history is strongly associated with Christmas--and heavily sanitized. Whe…

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A. J. Berkovitz, "A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2023) 1:11:23

13d ago1:11:23

1:11:23

The Bible shaped nearly every aspect of Jewish life in the ancient world, from activities as obvious as attending synagogue to those which have lost their scriptural resonance in modernity, such as drinking water and uttering one’s last words. And within a scriptural universe, no work exerted more force than the Psalter, the most cherished text amo…

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Ancient Sicily (pt6). Dionysius I: Countering Carthage. 37:00

14d ago37:00

37:00

It's time for Dionysius I to face Carthage. How would he deal with an unstoppable force coming his way? Lots to talk about including a surprise wedding (or two). Please rate and review where you can! Episode notes at www.ancientblogger.com Music by Brakhage (Le Vrai Instrumental).

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Persistent Pastoralism: Monuments and Settlements in the Archaeology of Dhofar 51:15

15d ago51:15

51:15

Today I talked to Joy McCorriston about Persistent Pastoralism: Monuments and Settlements in the Archaeology of Dhofar (Archaeopress Publishing, 2023). In the Dhofar region of southern Oman, pastoralists have constructed monuments in discrete pulses over the past 7,500 years. From small-scale stone burial markers to platforms to settlements, these …

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RE-RELEASE: Krampus: The Goat Knows What You Did 49:37

17d ago49:37

49:37

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This year, we decided that the holiday season wouldn’t be complete without a mythological foray into one of the most famous characters of the season: The Krampus. And some of you might be saying: wait a minute, Krampus isn’t ancient; he’s modern. Also, everyone knows about Krampus, the fes…

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Ibn al-Muqaffaʿs "Kalīlah and Dimnah: Fables of Virtue and Vice" 1:13:51

20d ago1:13:51

1:13:51

Kalīlah and Dimnah: Fables of Virtue and Vice by Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ, translated by Michael Fishbein and James E. Montgomery, with a foreword by Marina Warner (Library of Arabic Literature, NYU Press, 2022), is a vibrant new rendition of a literary classic that has captivated readers for centuries. Rooted in ancient Indian storytelling and adapted into…

1
Zsuszanna Szanto, "The Jews of Ptolemaic Egypt: The History of a Diaspora Community in Light of the Papyri (De Gruyter, 2024) 46:04

23d ago46:04

46:04

The Jews of Ptolemaic Egypt: The History of a Diaspora Community in Light of the Papyri (De Gruyter, 2024) offers a comprehensive and nuanced history of the Jews of Egypt, who constituted an important ethnic minority ever since they first appeared in the country. As part of the Greek-speaking ruling class, the Jews played an active role in the poli…

1
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: Part 2 1:11:19

24d ago1:11:19

1:11:19

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Last week, we discussed the history of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus—and just who served here, and why. This week, we delve into the mythology of the temple and the goddess worshipped there. The Artemis at Ephesus was a far more ancient goddess than her Classical Greek counterpart. She …

1
RE-RELEASE: How to Train Your Gladiator 1:23:00

26d ago1:23:00

1:23:00

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! What did it take to be a gladiator? Who ended up in the arena, and why? And how did the gladiatorial games—one of the bloodiest sporting events known in the ancient world—come to be? From the ancient roots of Etruscan funeral games to the height of Roman spectacle, we examine the history o…

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Julia Kelto Lillis, "Virgin Territory: Configuring Female Virginity in Early Christianity" (U California Press, 2022) 1:04:03

27d ago1:04:03

1:04:03

Women's virginity held tremendous significance in early Christianity and the Mediterranean world. Early Christian thinkers developed diverse definitions of virginity and understood its bodily aspects in surprising, often nonanatomical ways. Eventually Christians took part in a cross-cultural shift toward viewing virginity as something that could be…

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Phillip Lieberman, "The Fate of the Jews in the Early Islamic Near East: Tracing the Demographic Shift from East to West" (Cambridge UP, 2022) 1:28:30

29d ago1:28:30

1:28:30

In The Fate of the Jews in the Early Islamic Near East: Tracing the Demographic Shift from East to West (Cambridge UP, 2022), Phillip Lieberman revisits one of the foundational narratives of medieval Jewish history--that the rise of Islam led the Jews of Babylonia, the largest Jewish community prior to the rise of Islam, to abandon a livelihood bas…

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AHFG Book Club: Hot Mess Heroines and the Alarics Who Love Them (With Thea Guanzon) 58:32

1M ago58:32

58:32

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This week, we welcome internationally bestselling author and noted enemies-to-lovers enthusiast Thea Guanzon to the podcast. Thea’s debut novel, the Hurricane Wars, is an enemies-to-lovers romantasy with complex layers of worldbuilding and intrigue, rich with mythic resonance, airships, el…

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The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: Part 1 1:19:45

1M ago1:19:45

1:19:45

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This week, we’re covering the final Wonder on our list of Seven Wonders: and this may be the one that broke us. It’s a Wonder located at the nexus of seawater and freshwater on the brackish headwaters of an epic river; a biodiversity hotspot. It was in this primal land that legend of a div…

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Matthew Elia, "The Problem of the Christian Master: Augustine in the Afterlife of Slavery" (Yale UP, 2024) 1:18:15

1M ago1:18:15

1:18:15

The Problem of the Christian Master: Augustine in the Afterlife of Slavery (Yale UP, 2024) offers a bold rereading of Augustinian thought for a world still haunted by slavery. Over the last two decades, scholars have made a striking return to the resources of the Augustinian tradition to theorize citizenship, virtue, and the place of religion in pu…

1
Naomi S. S. Jacobs, "Delicious Prose: Reading the Tale of Tobit with Food and Drink: A Commentary" (Brill, 2018) 1:00:47

1M ago1:00:47

1:00:47

In Delicious Prose: Reading the Tale of Tobit with Food and Drink (Brill, 2018), Naomi S.S. Jacobs explores how the numerous references to food, drink, and their consumption within The Book of Tobit help tell its story, promote righteous deeds and encourage resistance against a hostile dominant culture. Jacobs' commentary includes up-to-date analys…

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Roberto Morales-Harley, "The Embassy, the Ambush, and the Ogre: Greco-Roman Influence in Sanskrit Theater” (Open Book, 2024) 38:53

2M ago38:53

38:53

The Embassy, the Ambush, and the Ogre: Greco-Roman Influence in Sanskrit Theater (Open Book, 2024) presents a sophisticated and intricate examination of the parallels between Sanskrit and Greco-Roman literature. By means of a philological and literary analysis, Morales-Harley hypothesizes that Greco-Roman literature was known, understood, and recre…

1
RE-RELEASE: Gender Rebels of Greek Mythology: Artemis 53:45

2M ago53:45

53:45

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! When you think of Artemis, what springs to mind? Perhaps it’s a fierce huntress with a bow and arrow, a sort of female Peter Pan—wild and untamed, haunting forests drenched in moonlight—a goddess who’s taken a stern vow of chastity, and refuses all company save that of her nymphs. That’s o…

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RE-RELEASE: Amazons, Part 2: Warrior Women of the Ancient Steppe 1:04:25

2M ago1:04:25

1:04:25

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Think the Amazons of Greek myth were mythical? Think again. The Greeks based their Amazons on the real-life warrior women next door. Centuries ago, ancient writers claimed that Scythian women of the Eurasian Steppe fought in battle alongside their men. Now, with modern bioarchaeology, the …

1
Curse tablets and figurines. 38:35

2M ago38:35

38:35

In this Night of the Livy Dead Halloween special I discuss the types of curses which made it onto tablets and figurines from antiquity. Starting with ancient Egypt and ending in the later Roman period I look into what they were used for, who they were used against and what it tells us about how people were living. As you might imagine it can get ve…

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EP 90: Inside The Cilician Kingdom: 140 Years of Armenian Royalty 1:35:08

2M ago1:35:08

1:35:08

Send us a text Explore the fascinating history of the Armenian Cilician Kingdom and its powerful kings who reigned from 1200 to 1340. In this episode, we dive into the Golden Age of Armenian sovereignty, examining the leaders who defended their lands, built a thriving culture, and left an indelible legacy. From diplomatic triumphs to legendary batt…

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This Episode is Full of Lies: Lucian's A True History (With Liv Albert from Let's Talk About Myths, Baby!) 1:30:41

2M ago1:30:41

1:30:41

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Lucian’s A True History has been called the world’s first work of science fiction—but above all, Lucian of Samosata was a satirist. And he had a bone to pick with the famous historians of his time—guys like Herodotus and Ctesias of Knidos. They were Lying Liars who Lied, you see, and Lucia…

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RE-RELEASE: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Ancient World Edition (With Liv Albert from Myths Baby!) 1:14:44

2M ago1:14:44

1:14:44

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! What tales kept people from thousands of years ago up at night? This Halloween, Ancient History Fangirl teams up with Liv Albert from Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby! to delve into spooky stories from the ancient world that will send a shiver up your spine—tales of shrieking Banshees, deathly…

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Toni Alimi, "Slaves of God: Augustine and Other Romans on Religion and Politics" (Princeton UP, 2024) 1:06:58

2M ago1:06:58

1:06:58

Augustine believed that slavery is permissible, but to understand why, we must situate him in his late antique Roman intellectual context. Slaves of God: Augustine and Other Romans on Religion and Politics (Princeton UP, 2024) provides a major reassessment of this monumental figure in the Western religious and political tradition, tracing the remar…

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Vicente Dobroruka, "Second Temple Pseudepigraphy: A Cross-cultural Comparison of Apocalyptic Texts and Related Jewish Literature" (de Gruyter, 2014) 1:21:28

2M ago1:21:28

1:21:28

At this point of the scholarly debate on the nature of Second Temple pseudepigraphy, one may ask why another look at the problem is needed. Second Temple Pseudepigraphy: A Cross-cultural Comparison of Apocalyptic Texts and Related Jewish Literature (de Gruyter, 2014) is not the definitive answer to that problem but it proposes different paths - or …

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Dominick Hernández, "The Prosperity of the Wicked: A Theological Challenge in the Book of Job and in Ancient Near Eastern Literature" (Gorgias Press, 2022) 23:05

2M ago23:05

23:05

Does Job convincingly argue against a fixed system of just retribution by proclaiming the prosperity of the wicked, an argument that runs contrary to traditional biblical and ancient Near Eastern wisdom? Addressing this question, Dominick Hernández gives careful consideration to the rhetoric, imagery, and literary devices used to treat the issue of…

1
RE-RELEASE: Catholic Werewolves 1:17:44

2M ago1:17:44

1:17:44

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! We’ve covered werewolves in the ancient world before—and their connection to the Berserker myth. But wait til you hear what happened to werewolf mythology when the Catholics got their hands on it. This episode is a wild ride, taking you from the ancient Greek and Roman werewolves to a Medi…

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RE-RELEASE: Werewolves of Wolf Mountain: Terrors of Ancient Greece 1:24:20

2M ago1:24:20

1:24:20

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! The werewolf myth as we know it today generally involves getting bitten by a werewolf, transforming during the full moon, and being very susceptible to silver bullets. But werewolves in ancient Greece and Rome were a little different. Join us for a spooky-season deep dive into ancient were…

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Bruce Gordon, "The Bible: A Global History" (Basic Books, 2024) 1:16:58

2M ago1:16:58

1:16:58

A “wonderful…highly comprehensive” (John Barton, author of A History of the Bible) global history of the world’s best-known and most influential book For Christians, the Bible is a book inspired by God. Its eternal words are transmitted across the world by fallible human hands. Following Jesus’s departing instruction to go out into the world, the B…

1
William T. Taylor, "Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History" (U California Press, 2024) 50:13

2M ago50:13

50:13

Which society was the first to domesticate the horse? It’s a difficult question. The archaeological record is spotty, with only very recent advancements in genetics and carbon dating allowing scientists to really test centuries-old legends about where horses came from. For example, historians argued that the Botai civilization in Kazakhstan provide…

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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon: Part 2 49:46

2M ago49:46

49:46

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In the last episode we discussed why the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are the only Wonder that historians don’t believe existed. There’s no archaeological evidence for it, and archaeologists have been scouring the ruins of Babylon since the 1800s. Also, Nebuchadnezzar himself—who could not s…

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Simcha Gross, "Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 1:14:22

2M ago1:14:22

1:14:22

From the image offered by the Babylonian Talmud, Jewish elites were deeply embedded within the Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE). The Talmud is replete with stories and discussions that feature Sasanian kings, Zoroastrian magi, fire temples, imperial administrators, Sasanian laws, Persian customs, and more quotidian details of Jewish life. Yet, in the s…

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Helena Taylor, "Women Writing Antiquity: Gender and Learning in Early Modern France" (Oxford UP, 2024) 1:01:25

2M ago1:01:25

1:01:25

Women Writing Antiquity: Gender and Learning in Early Modern France (Oxford UP, 2024) recounts women authors' struggle to define the female intellectual through their engagement with the classical world in early modern France. Bringing together the fields of classical reception and women writers, Helena Taylor looks at various female novelists, tra…

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AHFG Book Club: Smouldering Hellscapes and Sexy Vamps with Carissa Broadbent 1:03:16

2M ago1:03:16

1:03:16

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! What is it that makes the grimdark so sexy? NYTimes bestselling author Carissa Broadbent would know. She has been, in her own words, “concerning teachers and parents with mercilessly grim tales since she was roughly nine years old.” Today, her worlds are dark, gritty, war-blasted magical r…

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The Ideology of Democratic Athens 1:16:20

3M ago1:16:20

1:16:20

We are Clavis Aurea: a dynamic team constantly looking for ways to make the academic publishing industry grow and to promote groundbreaking academic publications to scholars, students and enthusiasts globally. Based in the renowned publishing city of Leiden, we eat, sleep and breathe publishing! Matteo Barbato’s The Ideology of Democratic Athens: I…

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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon: Part 1 1:03:09

3M ago1:03:09

1:03:09

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This week, we’re going to cover what may be the most mysterious of the Seven Wonders: a wonder that rose from the desert like a mirage, one whose name suggests it defied gravity itself; a wonder that may not have been a wonder at all: that may, in fact, never have existed. Join us as we ex…

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A Cheeky Preview: With a Rebel Yell (an Excerpt from the Partial Historians' New Book!) 37:51

3M ago37:51

37:51

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! The hosts of the Partial Historians Podcast—Dr. Rad and Dr. G—have written a book! Your Cheeky Guide to the Roman Empire takes you from the regal period through to the so-called 'fall' in the 5th century, covering topics such as: We Built This City on Rock and Roads - learn about the walls…

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James A. Anderson, "The Dong World and Imperial China's Southwest Silk Road: Trade, Security, and State Formation" (U Washington Press, 2024) 31:05

3M ago31:05

31:05

From the eighth to thirteenth centuries along China’s rugged southern periphery, trade in tribute articles and an interregional horse market thrived. These ties dramatically affected imperial China’s relations with the emerging kingdoms in its borderlands. Local chiefs before the tenth century had considered the control of such contacts an importan…

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Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom, "Desert Ascetics of Egypt" (ARC Humanities Press, 2020) 1:01:37

3M ago1:01:37

1:01:37

Egypt is revered as the home of the famous Desert Ascetics, who first embraced a monastic life and established homosocial communities on the borders of their urban centres in the Nile Valley. Regarded as angels and warriors, the wisdom of the Desert Ascetics formed part of the oral and literary tradition of wonder-working saints whose commitment to…

1
William T. Taylor, "Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History" (U California Press, 2024) 1:03:56

3M ago1:03:56

1:03:56

From the Rockies to the Himalayas, the bond between horses and humans has spanned across time and civilizations. In this archaeological journey, William T. Taylor explores how momentous events in the story of humans and horses helped create the world we live in today. Tracing the horse's origins and spread from the western Eurasian steppes to the i…

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Enemy of My Dreams: Jenny Tells All About Her Spicy Historical Romantasy 44:42

3M ago44:42

44:42

Preorder Enemy of my Dreams here! Epic news alert! We're so thrilled that the cover for Jenny's Alaric historical romantasy, Enemy of My Dreams is here! As many of you know, the research for this book was her inspiration for this podcast, and our listeners have been with her every step of the way. We are so excited for you to continue following her…

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Rafal K. Stepien, "Buddhism Between Religion and Philosophy: Nāgārjuna and the Ethics of Emptiness" (Oxford UP, 2024) 1:20:20

3M ago1:20:20

1:20:20

Nāgārjuna (c. 150-250), founder of the Madhyamaka or Middle Way school of Buddhist philosophy and the most influential of all Buddhist thinkers aside from the Buddha himself, concludes his masterpiece, Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, with these baffling verses: For the abandonment of all views He taught the true teaching By means of compassio…

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William H. F. Altman, "Plato the Teacher: The Crisis of the Republic" (Lexington, 2012) 1:39:30

3M ago1:39:30

1:39:30

In Plato the Teacher: The Crisis of the Republic (Lexington, 2012), William Altman shines a light on the pedagogical technique of the playful Plato, especially his ability to create living discourses that directly address the student. Reviving an ancient concern with reconstructing the order in which Plato intended his dialogues to be taught as opp…

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Guest Episode - The Partial Historians on Spartacus. 27:56

3M ago27:56

27:56

This is a guest episode which features the Partial Historians and is all about Spartacus. To celebrate their upcoming book, Your Cheeky Guide to the Roman Empire, Dr Radford recorded an episode on that famous gladiator turned rebel. Here it is and I hope you enjoy. I was on their podcast earlier this year, a two parter all about Regal Rome and some…

1
The Colossus of Rhodes 1:33:48

3M ago1:33:48

1:33:48

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Today we’re going to talk about yet another giant statue in the Seven Wonders lexicon—one that was once pictured straddling the harbor at Rhodes, holding aloft a torch. He was supposed to depict the god Helios, although some said it looked more like Alexander the Great. Rhodes was an islan…

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Ancient History Podcasts

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