Sweat, blood, sex, slaves, celebrities and legends - was a gladiator's real life anything like Russell Crowe's in Gladiator?

Step into the roaring arena of ancient Rome, where every sunrise could be a gladiator's last... From brutal training and hard-won fame to the thunderous spectacle that c...

The story of Achilles, Odysseus and the siege of Troy has captivated audiences for millennia, but behind the legends lies a deeper mystery. Was this epic war a myth, a memory of a real Bronze Age conflict, or something in between?

Today Tristan Hughes is joined by Eric Cline to explore the reali...

We explore one of history’s most influential documents - The Declaration of Independence. To mark the 250th anniversary of America's creation, we dig into its powerful language, the ideas behind it, and the debates surrounding its foundational claims.

Joining us is Gary Gerstle, Emeritus Profess...

For more than a thousand years, Delphi was considered the centre of the ancient world. Every year a throng of pilgrims climbed the slopes of Mount Parnassus to seek the words of Apollo through the famous Oracle of Delphi.

Today Tristan Hughes is joined by Michael Scott to uncover Delphi's story,...

What was life really like in the trenches of the First World War? In this episode, we step into the mud of the Western Front to hear about the horrors that soldiers faced; from artillery bombardments and sniper fire to disease, rats and relentless weather.

Joining us is Joshua Levine, author of ...

Dr. Kate Lister is on the podcast to talk about the Affair of the Poisons, the women who were poisoners in French society and their deadly consequences.

In 17th-century France, Louis XIV's court sparkled with luxury. It also teemed with poison, occult rituals and aristocrats trying to murder th...

How did the Huns, Goths, and Vandals help bring down the Roman Empire - and sack the city of Rome itself, not once but twice?

Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Peter Heather to explore the dramatic wave of invasions that shook Rome in the late 4th and early 5th centuries. From the arrival of...

How does an empire spanning three continents and half a millennium fall apart?

In the final episode of our series on the Roman Empire, we're joined by Professor Peter Heather to unravel Rome's collapse - from the chaos of the third-century crisis to the deposition of the last Western emperor. Wh...

538 million years ago, life on Earth changed forever. In an evolutionary burst known as the Cambrian Explosion, complex animals rapidly appeared in the oceans, laying the foundations for almost every major animal group alive today.

Tristan Hughes is joined by the mighty Henry Gee to explore biol...

What did it take to rule an empire that was never meant to have an emperor?

In this second episode of our series on the Roman Empire, we're joined by classicist Mary Beard to trace how Roman leadership evolved over a thousand years - from the competitive power-sharing of the Republic, to the car...

Deep beneath the sunny streets of Palermo, Sicily, the Capuchin Catacombs are home to over a thousand people, most of them still standing in their Sunday best.

Warning: this episode contains discussions of child death

Why did the residents of the catacombs want to be buried standing up? And how...

One of the most famous and recognisable Persian kings of antiquity, Darius the Great was an Achaemenid superstar, ruling the Achaemenid Persian Empire some 2,500 years ago. His tale is preserved in the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus; Darius’ story stretches from India to Ukraine and th...

How did a cluster of Iron Age huts grow into one of history's greatest civilisations?

In the first episode of our series on the Roman Empire, we're joined by Dr. Simon Elliott to trace Rome's rise - from its humble origins on the banks of the Tiber to the moment Augustus became the first Empero...

Gonorrhea and syphilis are no laughing matter, especially in a time before antibiotics. How were symptoms first recorded, and what were the disturbing treatments people endured?

Joining Anthony today as a special guest co-host is Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator at Surgeons’ Hall in Edinbu...

In 73 BC, a gladiator escaped slavery and launched a rebellion that shook the Roman Republic to its core. His name was Spartacus, and his uprising became one of the greatest threats Rome had ever faced from within.

Tristan Hughes is joined by Ben Kane to explore the dramatic story of Spartacus a...

Today, we uncover a forgotten SAS mission straight out of a war thriller: an elite unit jumps the chain of command and hijacks a 'pirate train', turning it into a weapon against fascist Italy. Their goal? To launch a surprise attack deep behind enemy lines on an Italian concentration camp and fre...

What if Iron Age Britain was never a land of barbarians at all, but a world of skilled farmers, powerful women, trade, ritual, and spectacle? Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Tom Moore to reveal a far richer pre-Roman Britain, from roundhouses and hillforts to chariots, feasts, and buried of...

Dan explains the Battle of Brunanburh, an epic clash that decided the fate of the British Isles. On one side, the forces of King Æthelstan, fighting for his vision for a unified England; on the other, a massive ‘anti-Wessex’ coalition of Vikings, Scots and Celts, determined to stop the English pr...

What lurks behind the door of Dr. Kahn's Grand Anatomical Museum in Victorian London?

Step inside and find out what shocked the public (and medical establishment) of 19th-century Britain so much that it was eventually forced to close.

To take you there today, Anthony is joined by guest co-hos...

For most of human history, we were not alone. Human evolution was shaped by multiple human species living side by side, from Neanderthals in Europe to Denisovans in Asia, before all but one disappeared.

In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Ella Al-Shamahi to explore the s...

Artemisia Gentileschi's paintings personify female rage against men. She paints women beheading men, hammering nails into their skulls, brandishing their dead faces. In her personal life, Artemisia was the victim of sexual abuse, torture and public shaming. Can we read her traumatic personal life...

Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, Envy, Wrath! You might be surprised to learn the true history of the Seven Deadly Sins doesn't start in the bible. Rather, they were first thought up by a Greek monk in the 4th century who'd fled to the desert after becoming embroiled in a scandal with a marri...

Armageddon is more than just a biblical prophecy hailing the end of days. It is a real place: Megiddo, an ancient city that for thousands of years stood at the crossroads of empires, trade routes and wars in the ancient Near East.

In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by frie...

In the 19th century, Japan's samurai era ended, and the country transformed from a secluded feudal society into a modern industrial superpower. From sweeping political reforms to rapid industrialisation, this is the story of how Japan reinvented itself in just decades and emerged as a formidable ...