In this episode I host Anya Leonard who is one of the founders of Classical Wisdom which is an online platform that specializes in educating the public involving ancient history, art, philosophy, culture and so much more. We talk about why she started the organization, how far they have come and what do they have planned for us in the future. She excitedly tells us about an upcoming symposium that we can all attend with an awesome list of scholars titled End of Empires and Fall of Nations. Get y...
Aug 13, 2021•40 min
Does Facebook have a war on history? The answer is a simple no but the story is complicated. In this episode I am joined by author and reporter Peter Suciu on his article '"On Facebook, History Can Violate Community Standards." To quote the article * One thing that is often taught to students of history is that "history" didn't happen. Events happened in the past, but history is just our way of chronicling those events. There is also a saying that history is written by the winners, but that too ...
Aug 13, 2021•24 min
In this episode we are joined by Dr. Eric Singleton who is the Curator of Ethnology at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum to talk about religion and tradition in the Ancient Mississippian World. We explore a variety of topics but first we define the geographic boundaries of the ancient Mississippians which covered large portions of the Midwest, South and South-East of what is now the USA. We go back into history into a time of Native American migration and cultural expansion and p...
Aug 13, 2021•46 min
In this episode I host Megan Lewis and Dr. Joshua Bowen from Digital Hammurabi on Dr. Bowens latest work "The Atheist Handbook to the Old Testament" and I'd add to that by saying it is also a handbook to the ancient Near East itself in general. The Old Testament is a fierce battleground for atheists and Christian apologists, with each side accusing the other of taking challenging and troubling passages out of context. In this handbook, Joshua Bowen not only provides the background to the Old Tes...
Jul 04, 2021•33 min
On May 9, 1865, the American Civil War ended, or did it? Historians acknowledge that exact starting and ending dates of wars are open to debate, and likewise, so are the causes and reasons those wars were fought. In the case of the American Civil War, April 1861 to May 1865, the “cause” of Southern independence is a controversial and contentious subject even to this day. The main debate centers on whether or not slavery, that “peculiar institution,” was the main cause of the war and the reason f...
Jul 04, 2021•11 min
In this episode we are joined by the awesome YouTube channel host from Tipsyfish history to walk us through a complicated and controversial topic involving modern history and that is why did non slave owners support and fight for the Confederacy? It is easy to understand and see why slave owners would be concerned about the threat, real or imagined, that Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement posed to slavery. But what about those Southerners who did not own slaves? What about the lower c...
Jul 04, 2021•28 min
This is the second episode of a long series that we have titled "On the Fringe" where we host controversial guests and as the host play the "Devils Advocate" where we ask critical questions about their work, theories and etc. In this episode I host fringe archaeologist | theorist involving his claims of ancient advanced civilizations and technology. To begin I ask him to explain his views on ancient advanced technology and he goes into what he considers to be "machine" markings and drill holes a...
Jul 04, 2021•22 min
This is the first episode of a long series that we have titled "On the Fringe" where we host controversial guests and as the host play the "Devils Advocate" where we ask critical questions about their work, theories and etc. In this episode we host Brien Foerster who has starred in Ancient Aliens on the History Channel and we explore the elongated skulls of Paracas Peru, the DNA of these skulls and the controversy surrounding his work and theories. For those not familiar with the subject elongat...
Jul 04, 2021•25 min
In this episode Spencer McDaniel from the Tales of Times Forgotten Blog joins us for a rebuttal of sorts aimed towards a controversial work by Catherine Nixey titled "The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World." We begin with Spencer explaining how his religious and educational background differs from Nixey’s and how this might be influencing this perspective. Spencer continues with where, on a general level, they disagree with Nixey’s framing. We explore if it’s true th...
Jul 04, 2021•32 min
In a long series that explores the ancient Aegean cultures, peoples and civilizations of the Bronze Age we host PhD student Theodore Nash on a fascinating topic and that is the history, development and archaeology relating to ancient Aegean scripts and their writing systems. From exploring the complexity of Linear A, Linear B and Cretan hieroglyphs to looking at the archaeology surrounding this subject we are taken on a journey into an obscure and complicated subject. Though studying ancient wri...
Jul 04, 2021•37 min
The Wolf King of Murcia: Ibn Mardanish and the Second Taifa Period in Eastern Al-Andalus. Before Game of Thrones was a thought in our imagination, literature and television there was man in medieval Iberia who would reshape trade, the borders of Kingdoms and would forever define the complicated relationship of Medieval Christians, Muslims and Jews in the Medieval World. That man commonly known as El Rey Lobo or the Wolf King was officially known as Abu ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Mardanīš. Surrounde...
Jul 04, 2021•43 min
More than 150 years after the end of the Civil War, scores of websites, articles, and organizations repeat claims that anywhere between 500 and 100,000 free and enslaved African Americans fought willingly as soldiers in the Confederate army. But as Kevin M. Levin argues in this carefully researched book, such claims would have shocked anyone who served in the army during the war itself. Levin explains that imprecise contemporary accounts, poorly understood primary-source material, and other misr...
Jun 10, 2021•10 min
In this episode Historian Kevin M. Levin the author of Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth takes us into a fascinating discussion of the roots and causes of the American Civil War, the decline and collapse of the Confederacy and more importantly the origins, development and manifestation of the Confederate Lost Cause Movement. At the beginning he talks about what he thinks about when pondering the American Civil War before moving on into the very heart of the e...
Jun 10, 2021•32 min
In this episode Medievalist Matias Vanhanen takes us into a fascinating subject that is really obscure and one that provides immense challenges to researchers and that is slavery in the "Viking World." We explore archaeology such as Slavic pottery and what it tells us about slavery in Northern Europe as we move to Iceland and see the prominence of "Celtic" surnames that appear throughout Icelandic history as slaves, concubines and hostages are transported throughout the area. We take a look at w...
Jun 10, 2021•49 min
In this episode Dr. Andrew Traver takes us into the very heart and genesis of the future Roman Emperor Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. From exploring his childhood in a world of uncertainty to his coming of age in the early Roman Empire, this story covers a variety of topics from his personal ailments that caused him to be scorned and oftentimes mocked by family members to his love of researching and studying the past and beyond to him being noticed by Emperor Augustus as someone w...
Jun 05, 2021•26 min
In this episode Dr. Florin Curta takes into a fascinating and controversial topic and that is the origins and history of the Bogomils and Bogomilism that originated and spread rapidly in the Medieval Balkans. Before starting off Dr. Curta takes us into an introduction to Gnosticism and different Gnostic Sects and beliefs such as the Paulicianism, Manichaeism, Marcionism and etc, to set the foundation for this episode and different responses to these sects and those that came after. We explore th...
Jun 05, 2021•1 hr 27 min
Alfonso I “the Battler” of Aragon: Hero, Villain, or Both? This episode explores a series known as "Heroes or Villains in Medieval Iberia where the audience decides if a certain historical character is a hero, a villain or if it is more complicated than one over the other. Alfonso was the son of Sancho V Ramírez. He was persuaded by Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile to marry the latter’s heiress, Urraca, widow of Raymond of Burgundy. In consequence, when Alfonso VI died (1109) the four Christian ki...
Jun 05, 2021•40 min
The Muslim Conquest of Medieval Iberia has been framed as this massive expansion of Islam and a vicious Holy War to seize lands from the defensive Christian Kingdoms of Europe and Asia and no other conquest comes to mind such as the Muslim Conquest of Medieval Iberia that is modern day Spain and Portugal. But what if..... that isn't entirely true? What if rather than it being an "invasion" we find out that it is way more complicated than that? What if we told you that they were invited in by Vis...
May 21, 2021•13 min
In this episode PhD student takes us into a fascinating and obscure topic relating to ancient history, maritime history and military history, and that is the development and use of the battery ram in ancient naval warfare with a focus on the Greeks and Romans. From discussing their origin and apparent unsuccessful proto rams we watch as craftsmen and experts perfect their work over time through trial and error to create a piece that would come to play a crucial war in warfare on the ancient seas...
May 21, 2021•29 min
In this video award winning Medievalist Dr. Kyle C. Lincoln a Medieval Iberian Historian guides us through an introduction to his upcoming series titled "Heroes or Villains of Medieval Iberia" he will examine historical figures and explore their world that we know as Medieval Iberia. The medieval figures that this series will cover in totem: (1) Alfonso I “the Battler” of Aragon: Hero, Villain, or Both? (2) The Wolf King: the Life, Legend, and Legacy of Ibn Mardanish of Murcia. (3) Gerardo sem P...
May 21, 2021•14 min
In this episode geneticist Razib Khan takes us into a topic that remains controversial to this day and that is the origins of the Huns. He starts off by describing how the Huns were seen in Late Antiquity and how they were described by ancient historians while acknowledging that we have to be careful with these sources due to their bias - after all these sources are from their enemies. We discuss historiography on the origins of the Huns and what the traditional views have been and how they chan...
May 15, 2021•18 min
The Kingdom of Spiro | A Forgotten Civilization The Spiro people, and their Mississippian peers, are nearly forgotten in the pages of North American history, yet they created one of the most exceptional societies in all of the Americas. The Mississippian culture was a Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was known for building large, earthen platform mounds,...
May 09, 2021•35 min
Were the Nazis Socialists? A talk by Dr. Eric Kurlander and YouTube Historians Dr. Zar of History and Headlines, Tipsyfish History and the Cynical Historian. Today in a variety of formats from history groups to political commentaries and beyond to blogs and academic research, we see debates constantly appear involving the National Socialist German Workers' Party otherwise known as the NSDAP (Nazi Party,) and whether or not they were actually socialists? We see constant claims from "It's in the n...
May 04, 2021•1 hr 22 min
In this episode I am joined by Spencer McDaniel from Tales of Times Forgotten on a controversial episode that revolves around race, ethnicity and the ancient world. Most people assume that everyone who lived in ancient Greece and Rome was white. This is a notion that has been continually reinforced through modern films and television shows. This is especially obvious in the egregiously historically inaccurate film 300, which portrays all the Greek characters as white and all the Persian characte...
May 03, 2021•31 min
In this episode I am joined by Dr. Gerrard who brilliantly guides us into the origins and establishment of the Seleucid Kingdom and its armies. We explore the cavalry of the Seleucid Empire but more importantly we explore its Cataphracts from a variety of topics such as what was the general ethnic makeup of these units? What weapons did the typically fight with? What does archaeology and primary sources tell us about these troops? What would it have been like to fight with and against these moun...
Apr 29, 2021•49 min
In this episode Dr. Rebecca Futo Kennedy talks about the Netflix mini series titled "Troy: Fall of a City." The show retells the mythical story of the 10 year siege of Troy, which occurred in the 12 or 13th century BC. However though a mere spin on historical fiction and mythology the show drew major controversy and backlash due to it casting black actors and actresses as major figures in the story line from Zeus to Achilles. In this talk Dr. Kennedy goes through the various viewpoints that crit...
Apr 24, 2021•23 min
In this episode I host Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele on a complicated and fascinating subject and that is "Were the Byzantines actually Roman?" Was the Byzantine Empire Greek? Or was it Roman? We explore the very origins of "Byzantine" and "Byzantium" by starting off in the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium and then we watch as the Roman Empire expands while asking ourselves, what did it mean to be "Roman?" We take a journey into Byzantine studies and historiography as we ask "why did some in the ...
Apr 24, 2021•34 min
From the Spanish and French valleys of the Western Pyrenees to the Atlantic coast of the Bay of Biscay, the historically isolated Basque people have lived for millennia. In this diverse and fertile region, the Basque have retained their unique non-Indo-European language and dialects, Euskara, as well as their own cultural and regional identities. As the surrounding populations of Europe have shifted over the ages again and again, the Basque people remain. Known today by its inhabitants as Euskad...
Apr 24, 2021•31 min
In this episode Dr. Kontny guides us into the heart of ancient Central Europe and explores warfare and military customs of various peoples and cultures from the earliest times to the very height of the expansion of the Roman Empire. From what the sources tell us to the insights given by the advances of modern archaeology we dive into a violent history wrapped in customs and spirituality. We take you into the very basics from pre battle customs, to what they wore and typically fought with to the ...
Apr 24, 2021•33 min
In this presentation Dr. Florin Curta guides us thoroughly and intensely into not just the history of the early Slavs but into the very heart of the origins of the Slavic Peoples themselves. He draws from archaeology, primary sources, material culture, DNA and so very much more to show the foundations of the Slavic world in the Early Middle Ages. He explores a variety of issues and topics such as did they have their own origin stories? Was there actually Slavic migrations? Who were the Slavs bef...
Apr 10, 2021•1 hr 14 min
