Hatshepsut – whose name means “foremost of noblewomen” – was an exceptional figure in the history of Ancient Egypt. Only the second woman in history to assume the title of pharaoh, during her reign she oversaw the building of monumental temples, established trade connections with far away African...

Characterised as super soldiers, formidable fighters who would rather perish than surrender - their reputation truly did proceed them.

But how accurate is this image - and does it correlate with what the ancient sources actually tell us?

In this filmed episode of The Ancients podcast Sparta mi...

2,500 years ago groups of formidable warriors roamed the vast open plains of Siberia. Ferocious nomads, they roamed from Southern Russia down into Iran – a whole region that makes up the middle portion of the Silk Roads. Feared, loathed, admired – but over time forgotten… until now. A new major e...

In the East Meets West season, this is the starting point. Frankopan's rightly lauded book has done what it said on the cover: created a new history of the world. For way too long we Westerners have been espying history through the lens of our own success. But truth is, Britain only had its momen...

In the second and final episode of this series, Tristan Hughes explores the numerous theories regarding the eventual fate of the Ninth Legion. Was it lost on the northern frontier of Britain, by the Rhine, or massacred in the East? Featuring Dr Miles Russell, Dr Rebecca Jones, Dr Simon Elliott, L...

Chris Naunton is an Egyptologist, writer, broadcaster and public speaker. Chris has a PhD in Egyptology and is currently writing a book with the provisional title Search for the Missing Tombs of Egypt for Thames & Hudson.

The story of ancient Italy is so much more than just Rome. Tristan Hughes visits the extraordinary site of Paestum in southern Italy, home to some of the greatest ancient Greek temples from anywhere in the world.

From majestic temples to pristine wall paintings more that 2,500 years old, he exp...

Tristan Hughes explores the destruction of Pompeii, using extraordinary eyewitness testimony and the revelations of archaeology to understand what really happened here nearly 2000 years ago.

In 79 AD, one of the greatest natural disasters in Roman history occurred in southern Italy, when Mount V...

Who was Tutankhamun? How did he die? Was Tutankhamun's tomb cursed? In this video we attempt to answer all these questions and more with Prof Joyce Tyldesley from the University of Manchester.

Tutankhamun, 'The Boy King' of Ancient Egypt, is one of history's most famous names. Though his short r...

The deepening political divide in the U.S. and an apparent realignment of the world order through President Trump’s foreign policy have prompted many comparisons to the fall of the Roman Empire. But can we really look back at ancient civilisations and draw parallels with those that exist today? A...

The Roman Empire was one of the greatest in history. At its height it stretched from northern Britain to the Persian Gulf, its might epitomised by the effectiveness of its core military unit: the Roman legion. The aqueduct, sanitation, irrigation, medicine, education, wine, public baths – all thi...

We've asked ancient historian and archaeologist Dr. Simon Elliott to answer the most googled questions about the roman empire.

In 1974, 29 years after the end of the Second World War, Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda finally surrendered after almost three decades of fighting a guerilla campaign on a remote island in the Philippines.

Described as the "most important piece of prehistoric art to be found in Britain in the last 100 years", an elaborately decorated 5000 year-old chalk cylinder, discovered buried with 3 child skeletons in Yorkshire and as old as the first phase of Stonehenge, is going on display at the British Mus...

In 60/61 AD turmoil seized southern Britain. A massive anti-Roman revolt reared its ugly head in East Anglia, as tens of thousands of Britons attempted to evict the recently-arrived Romans from the island by the spear. At its head was one of the most famous figures in the whole of British history...

Human evolution can’t help but fascinate us - the story of where we came from. Today we, Homo sapiens, are the only human species left. But that wasn’t always the case….

For millions of years, there thrived a great range of early human species. From small-brained island dwellers in Indonesia to ...

Rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans, the Minoan Civilization, whose earliest beginnings were from c. 3500 BC on the island of Crete, became one of the most developed, complex urban civilizations in antiquity. Yet we still kn...

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 that has not only shone more light on the site...

Dan and Kate explore working lives in Pompeii, from the very rich to the very poor.

12,000 years ago, Britain entered a new chapter in its long history. By this point, hunting tools had evolved, from hefty spears to the slick and stealthy bow and arrow. This revolution in technology would change the way humans hunted forever.

In a period in which Britain was also thawing and e...

15 March - 'The Ides of March'. It is arguably the most well known date in ancient history. On that day in 44 BC the Roman statesman Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senatorial conspirators in the heart of Rome. But why was this political giant of ancient Rome assassinated? How did th...

Tristan Hughes visits two must see sites, situated near Hadrian's Wall. South Shields Roman Fort, at the mouth of the River Tyne, and Corbridge, the northernmost town in the Roman Empire.

Professor Paul Cartledge is Professor of Greek Culture emeritus University of Cambridge and author of many books, most recently, Democracy: A Life.