Boudica has become a hero of British folklore. Her leadership of the Iceni in an uprising against the forces of the Roman Empire in around 60 AD is echoed around school classrooms. But what evidence do we have for her actions, appearance and eventual defeat? Caitlin Gillespie is the author of ‘Boudica: Warrior Woman of Roman Britain.’ In this first of two episodes, she speaks to Tristan about the sources that have helped us to find out more about this legendary woman.
Mar 07, 2021•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Popular discussions of human history are punctuated with conflict, but when did warfare begin? To discuss this massive question, Professor Nam Kim has returned to the Ancients. Taking in examples from Ancient Germany, Britain, Kenya and Vietnam, Nam uses Anthropological Archaeology to decipher whether Ancient societies were involved in warfare before the birth of nation states, and to explore the question of why humans have been prone to violence between groups.
Mar 04, 2021•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Cheddar Man is the oldest almost complete skeleton of a Homo sapien ever found in Britain and, for this fantastic episode, Tristan spoke to the scientist who has drilled a (very small) hole in him. Dr Selina Brace is a biologist who works with ancient and degraded DNA. At the Natural History Museum in London, where Cheddar Man currently resides, Selina and her team have been able to examine this iconic skeleton’s genetic makeup and deduce from it more information about the evolution of our speci...
Feb 28, 2021•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast The assumption had once been that they were nomads until the Romans came. But more recent archaeological work in modern day Jordan is dispelling this myth about the ancient Nabataeans. In this first episode in another two part podcast, Tristan was joined by Professor David Graf from the University of Miami to talk about the early history of the Nabataeans and their close links to the extraordinary ancient city of Petra. A leading expert on the history and archaeology of Petra and its people, Dav...
Feb 25, 2021•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 197 AD, the armies of Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus met at Lugdunum, on the site of present day Lyon. If we believe the numbers given in Cassius Dio, this was the greatest and bloodiest clash between two Roman armies in history. 300,000 soldiers were present in total, according to Dio. The numbers are debated, but nevertheless the titanic scale of this clash in ancient history is clear to see. In this episode Tristan speaks to Dr Jonathan Eaton about the lead up to the battle, how Sev...
Feb 21, 2021•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Palmyra features in headlines today as a casualty of IS destruction, but during its heyday it was a monumental city set on an oasis in the Syrian desert. First mentioned in the second millennium BC, it gained wealth from the caravan trade which moved goods across the desert. What makes it unique, however, is not its wealth but its multicultural, multilingual nature. Buildings in Palmyra featured inscriptions in Greek and Palmyrene and, after becoming a subject of the Roman Empire in the first ce...
Feb 18, 2021•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 73 AD, 967 Jewish rebels against the Romans committed mass suicide atop the Masada Fortress. Or did they? In this second part of Tristan’s interview with Jodi Magness from the University of North Carolina, who co-directed the 1995 excavations of the Roman siege works at Masada, we separate myth from mystery. Jodi weighs the question of Josephus’ sole account of this event against the archaeological evidence, and the external forces which may have influenced the mythologising of Masada. Jodi i...
Feb 14, 2021•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rome. The Eternal City. One of the most recognisable names that many associate with the Ancient Mediterranean World. To provide a detailed run down of this ancient city, Tristan was delighted to be joined by Dr Greg Woolf, Director of the Institute of Classical Studies in London. From its humble beginnings as a group of villages to the infamous slave labour that we must never forget remained at the heart of this city throughout antiquity, Greg covers all these topics in this eye opening chat. Gr...
Feb 11, 2021•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dramatically placed on a plateau with drops of 400m to the east and 90m to the west, Masada translates from Hebrew as fortress. It became just that when Herod the Great built a magnificent palace complex upon it between 37 and 31 BC, the remains of which are in fantastic shape today. But the site isn’t only notable for its connection to the bible-famed King of Judaea. Masada was also the stronghold of some of the survivors of a Jewish revolt and, in response, the locus of a Roman siege in the ea...
Feb 07, 2021•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast The four components of the Ancient Indian battlefield: infantry, cavalry, chariots … and elephants. These magnificent creatures were dominant in conflicts to the east of India, in South-East Asia, but also to the west, in Greece and Africa. For this episode, Anirudh Kanisetti and Tristan discussed the role of Indian war elephants, their strengths, weaknesses and training; and what they tell us about Ancient India. Anirudh’s own podcasts, Yuddha, which is dedicated to Indian Military history, and...
Feb 04, 2021•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Roughly two miles south of Hadrian’s Wall lie the remains of Roman Corbridge, the northernmost town of the Roman Empire. The site’s archaeology is unique. The remains highlight what was once a bustling town. As its centre was the high street. Covered walkways, street side shops and an ornate fountain are just a few of the structures that we know were present along this central road, now known as the Stanegate. Metres away, however, you have the remains of very different structures surviving. Mil...
Jan 31, 2021•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast From Northern Britain to the Near East, Roman tombstones have been uncovered on various far flung frontiers of the Roman Empire. Dedicated to those auxiliaries and legionaries that perished far from home, guarding a distant border of this ancient empire. These objects provide an extraordinary insight into the lives of these fallen soldiers and how they were honoured. But these memorials don’t just provide information about the tomb’s deceased occupant. They can tell us so much more. About variat...
Jan 28, 2021•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast The legions of Rome were the nucleus of Rome’s military might for centuries. From campaigning in northern Scotland to the Persian Gulf, these devastating battalions extended and cemented Roman power. Yet of these legions there was one whose end is shrouded in mystery: the Ninth Legion. So what might have happened to this legion? Joining me to talk through the theories surrounding the Ninth's disappearance is Dr Simon Elliott. Simon has recently written a book all about the Ninth's disappearance,...
Jan 24, 2021•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast For centuries, arguably the greatest external threat the Roman Empire faced came from the East. From the Sasanian Persian Empire. With its nucleus situated in Iran, at its height the Sasanian Empire was one of antiquity’s most formidable kingdoms, controlling lands that stretched from the Hindu Kush to the River Euphrates. Like the Romans, the Sasanians had to deal with various potential threats. From the north, from the lands of the steppe east and west of the Caspian Sea, nomadic peoples such ...
Jan 21, 2021•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s a paradox for the ages, breaking news about people who lived and died thousands of years ago. This discovery is no different, because Adam Brumm and his team in Sulawesi have released their discovery of the oldest known figurative art made by modern humans. And the oldest known cave art depicting the animal kingdom. The paintings on the Indonesian island are over 45,500 years old, and feature three pigs alongside the stencilled outlines of the hands of their prehistoric painter (perhaps). L...
Jan 17, 2021•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Her legend afforded her a place alongside Eve, Cleopatra and Venus, to name just a few of the famous women whose biographies were collected by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1361-2. Though not a household name as the others may be, Tomyris’ story contains all of the hallmarks of an epic. Tomyris was Queen of the Massagetae people, from present day Central Asia, in the 6th century BC. She is remembered in Herodotus’ first book for her vengeful challenge to the bloodthirsty Cyrus the Great. To talk about T...
Jan 14, 2021•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast The deep blue sea is the subject of speculation to this day but, in this episode, we have access to the mysteries, myths and misgivings that were associated with the ocean in the 2nd century AD. The Halieutica was written in Hexameter by the Greek poet Oppian, and dedicated to the then Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus. Emily Kneebone from the University of Nottingham has recently completed a monograph on this overlooked Epic, and she is here to tell us about the sea and its oft...
Jan 10, 2021•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s 218 BC, and Hannibal has made the mammoth journey across the Alps en route to Italy, accompanied by his army, their horses, and their elephants. But the real battle is yet to come, and in this fantastic second episode with Louis Rawlings, he takes us onto the battlefield with the Carthaginian army and into the fight against their Roman and Allied opposition. Louis and Tristan discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each side, and the tactics deployed under Hannibal’s remarkable leadership.
Jan 07, 2021•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast The length of time between the rule of Cleopatra and the erection of the Pyramids is the same as that between now and the birth of Jesus Christ. With that in mind, it is perhaps no surprise that some periods of Ancient Egypt fall beneath the radar. The Late Period of Ancient Egypt, however, is not without drama. These final centuries are characterised by repeated invasions and leadership by foreign rulers. Chris Naunton is an Egyptologist, writer and broadcaster. He spoke to Tristan about the in...
Jan 03, 2021•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Ancient Egypt was ruled by an extraordinary dynasty. This was the 25th Dynasty, also known as the Nubian Dynasty because of their Kushite roots. They maintained their Nubian identity, with one of the most striking examples of this being the site of El-Kurru. Situated in what is today Northern Sudan, this was one of the key cemeteries for the 25th Dynasty. Complete with unique-styled pyramids, beautifully-preserved wall paintings and tumuli, ar...
Dec 31, 2020•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 powers and oversaw extended periods of peace. Hatshepsut's legacy in the history of Ancient Egypt is remarkable and the fact that her story has been largely-forgotten is one of the great tragedies of an...
Dec 27, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast The clichéd Christmas: white snow, hot fires, mulled wine and a feast. This might not be the case were the holiday not to fall on 25 December and, although many things have been missed in 2020, the usual questions of whether this is the right date arrived reliably on time. So, for this episode, Tristan spoke to Professor Matthew McCarty to find out whether Christmas Day was really placed in December to supplant non-Christian worship, in particular that of Mithras. Matthew is Assistant Professor ...
Dec 24, 2020•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode from the History Hit archive, Dan talks to Kevin Butcher about the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Held between the 17 and 23 December, Saturnalia invloved plenty of drinking, gift-giving, and a sense of a world turned upside-down.
Dec 22, 2020•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 218 BCE, Hannibal Barca's Carthaginian army, accompanied by horses and elephants, completed one of the most audacious military marches of ancient Mediterranean history. Setting off from southeast Spain, on their way they overcame a number of hostile Celtic tribes and traversed two major mountain ranges: the Pyrenees and then, most famously, the Alps. Battered and bruised Hannibal and his men eventually descended from the Alpine passes and arrived in Northern Italy at the end of 218 BC, where ...
Dec 20, 2020•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast From 478 BCE until 404 BCE, a collection of Greek city-states were united under the leadership of Athens. Beyond inscriptions and a few minor sources, there is very little to tell us about life within this empire … that is, except the works of Thucydides, an Athenian historian and general who wrote a history of the Peloponnesian War. Professor Polly Low from Durham University spoke to Tristan about what we can learn from Thucydides work about this Athenian empire. How did Athens come to have thi...
Dec 17, 2020•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Greco-Roman historians including Herodotus, Tacitus and Pliny the Elder would have us believe that the Garamantes were simple uncivilized cattle herders, living in sporadic camp dwellings. Until archaeological excavations began in the 1960s, this categorisation remained in place. Luckily, archaeologists like David Mattingly have dedicated years of research to sifting the fact from the fiction in the story of these residents of present day Libya. In this episode, David provides us with the revise...
Dec 13, 2020•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Brochs. Early archaeologists believed that they must have been built by the Danish, that the indigenous population could never have managed it. More recent suggestions have been that architects travelled Scotland, spreading the plans for these Iron Age ‘round houses on steroids’. Iain Maclean came on The Ancients to shed a little light on the truth of the stone buildings found across Scotland, particularly on the coastline. Whilst mentions of Romans, Egyptians and Greeks are familiar to our ears...
Dec 10, 2020•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s probably the most famous book in the world, and it’s also essentially the only literary source which covers the genesis of warfare and the nation state. Simon Elliott is an archaeologist, historian and broadcaster. He came onto the podcast to talk to Tristan about 7,500 years of history - in under an hour. Using the Bible as a jumping off point, Simon takes us through the technological developments and innovation of warfare, bringing in other archaeological findings to support the singular ...
Dec 06, 2020•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast ‘I’m Spartacus!’ In the field of epic film making, the 1960 historical drama ‘Spartacus’, is legendary. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, adapted from the Howard Fast novel by Red Scare blacklisted screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, and starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov and Jean Simmons; it is a classic. But how much of the plot has emerged from the true story of a Thracian gladiator and slave who escaped his Roman captors and led an unsuccessful but impressive rebellion against their ...
Dec 03, 2020•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast When we think of Pompeii, we remember the city which became frozen in time after a natural catastrophe. Well, in 1920, exactly 100 years ago, another 'frozen city' was rediscovered. This time it was Dura-Europos, and rather than falling victim to a volcano, this city was destroyed after a bloody siege in 256 AD. Whilst there is no historical record of life in the Hellenistic, Parthian and Roman border city and garrison, its remains have proven to be a rich source for archaeologists since the 192...
Nov 29, 2020•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
