The Ancients

History Hit

A podcast for all ancient history fans! The Ancients is dedicated to discussing our distant past. Featuring interviews with historians and archaeologists, each episode covers a specific theme from antiquity. From Neolithic Britain to the Fall of Rome. Hosted by Tristan Hughes.

New episodes every Sunday and Thursday.

From History Hit, the world's best history channel and creators of award-winning podcasts Dan Snow's History Hit, Gone Medieval, and Betwixt the Sheets.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

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645 episodes
Updated Sunday

Episodes645

Newest first

Dec 23, 2021 · 42 min
Hannibal's Winter War
It’s fair to say that winter battles weren’t commonplace in the ancient Mediterranean world. There is, however, one striking exception. A clash that occurred in mid/late December 218 BC, in northern Italy very close to the Po River. This clash was the ...
Dec 19, 2021 · 56 min
King Herod
Thanks largely to his feature in the Gospel of Matthew, King Herod ‘the Great’ of Judaea is one of the most infamous figures from the whole of history. So what do we know about this ancient near eastern ruler, who in his lifetime had contacts with a se...
Dec 16, 2021 · 45 min
How to Party Like a Roman
Contrary to popular belief, parties in Ancient Rome were not all depraved wine-fuelled orgies. In fact, Roman get-togethers were relatively tame by the standards of today. They often consisted of noble families sharing elaborate food dishes and enterta...
Dec 12, 2021 · 56 min
Songlines: Australia's Book of Genesis
What the Book of Genesis is to the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, songlines are to Indigenous Australians. Epic tales of desire, pursuit, shape-shifting spirits, strength and family ties, these are stories of the land, communicated only ...
Dec 9, 2021 · 47 min
Homosexuality & Ancient Greece
Frederick the Great, Marie Antoinette and Oscar Wilde. Each of them have talked about, or been talked about in terms of, Ancient Greek ideas of homosexual love. From men taking on young apprentices, to Sappho’s yearning poetry, the Ancient Greek tradit...
Dec 5, 2021 · 39 min
The Bronze Age Burials at Stonehenge
Today we’re talking all about science, Stonehenge and what we know about a massive migration into Britain at the start of the Bronze Age some 4,500 years ago: the Steppe migration. For years the details of this incredibly important event have been hotl...
Dec 2, 2021 · 1 hr 24 min
The Origins of Life on Earth
From the rise of the earliest microscopic membranes to the arrival of the dinosaurs.
Nov 28, 2021 · 42 min
Vindolanda's 2021 Excavation
Situated roughly one mile south of Hadrian’s Wall is one of the great jewels of Roman and early medieval archaeology: Vindolanda. Over the past 50 years, annual excavations at this site have revealed incredible amounts of new information. Information t...
Nov 25, 2021 · 1 hr 2 min
Menka: Village of the Breadfruit Goddess
It is one of the most remote ancient sites in the world. Situated on the isolated Micronesian island of Kosrae are the ruins of an ancient religious centre called Menka, also known as the Village of the Breadfruit Goddess. From temples to monumental st...
Nov 21, 2021 · 26 min
Caracalla's Macedonian Phalanx
Alexander the Great and Caracalla. One often considered among the most successful military commanders of all time, the other, one of the worst emperors of Ancient Rome. So is it possible that the latter modelled himself and his army on the former. In t...
Nov 18, 2021 · 1 hr 3 min
The Legacy of the Minoans
Minoan Crete has kept people captivated for millennia, appearing in countless modern cultural practices till this very day. But who are the Minoans? In this episode, Tristan travels down to Oxford to talk to Professor Nico Momigliano, a leading expert ...
Nov 14, 2021 · 1 hr 3 min
The Rise of the Praetorian Guard
From Gladiator to Rome Total War to I, Claudius, today the Cohortēs praetōriae are one of the most distinctive military units of Imperial Rome. It was their job to protect the Roman Emperor and his household, a task for which they hold a somewhat ‘cheq...
Nov 11, 2021 · 30 min
Ancient Globalisation? Life and Death at Ai Khanum
For decades the discovery of Ai Khanum, ‘the City of Lady Moon’, in Eastern Afghanistan has fascinated archaeologists and historians alike: from its ‘Greek’ theatre and gymnasium to the literary fragments preserved in the palatial complex to the everyd...
Nov 7, 2021 · 47 min
The First Astronomers
For thousands of years indigenous Australians, the longest living culture on Earth, have been fascinated by the stars. In this episode, Gamilaraay man and ANU astrophysics graduate Peter Swanton shines a light on Australian Indigenous Astronomy and the...
Nov 4, 2021 · 25 min
Glasgow's Roman Remains & Hadrian's Wall
To align with the COP26 conference in Glasgow, this episode features legendary Roman Britain archaeologist Dr David Breeze talking about his many years excavating the Roman site of Bearsden near Glasgow. We also chat about his long, star studded career...
Oct 31, 2021 · 37 min
The Truth About the Roman Orgy (And More!)
Was Ancient Rome truly as sexually liberated as we think? How did the Greeks feel about nude statues? And how did these ideas vary across the Ancient Mediterranean? In this episode, Alastair Blanshard is back on The Ancients to compare our misconceptio...
Oct 28, 2021 · 47 min
The End of the Severan Dynasty
Following two assassinations and two executions, the title of Roman Emperor fell to Alexander Severus. He was one of the youngest to ever hold this title, and he was to be the final emperor of the Severan Dynasty. But who was making the decisions? In t...
Oct 24, 2021 · 48 min
Mavia: Arabia's Warrior Queen
To fight against the Roman empire and then make an alliance with them took a certain courage and tenacity. In this episode we are introduced to Mavia, the warrior queen of the semi-nomadic Tanukhids, who did just that. Dr. Emran El-Badawi, associate pr...
Oct 21, 2021 · 49 min
Ancient Kazakhstan: Gold of the Great Steppe
Gold and horses! 2,500 years ago, in the area of the Great Steppe that is now Eastern Kazakhstan, an extraordinary ancient Scythian culture reigned supreme. They were called the Saka, renowned for their skill as horse archers and for their elaborate el...
Oct 17, 2021 · 51 min
Caracalla: The Common Enemy of Mankind?
Often up there in the upper echelons of most articles listing Rome's worst emperors, it's fair to say that history has not been kind to Caracalla. Whether it was contemporary sources depicting him as a deranged Heracles and...