Podcast Episodes

Interview with Professor Tom Birkett on "Runes: A Concise History"

Season 5 Episode 161

Runic writing carries connotations of magic and fantasy, but it was a widespread, useful, and long-lasting system of writing. Professor Tom Birkett has written a fantastic overview of runic writing t…

Published on 10 hours ago

How Alexander the Great's Soldiers Spent Their Money

Season 5 Episode 160

Let's imagine a Macedonian soldier during the time of Alexander the Great. How did this man, whom we'll call Red Cleitus, spend the vast amounts of coin he plundered and earned as he and his comrades…

Published on 1 week ago

Two Murders at the Dawn of History (Lost Worlds Audiobook Preview)

Season 5 Episode 159

Patrick's new book, Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World, launches May 5th, 2026! Check out this audiobook preview chapter on two murders around 5,300 years ago, hear…

Published on 2 weeks ago

Past Lives: Nanaya'ila'i and the Bleeding Edge of the Assyrian Empire

Season 5 Episode 43

Check out a scripted episode of Patrick's new show, Past Lives!

Nearly 2,700 years ago, a woman and her daughter were ripped away from their homes in what is now Iran by the soldiers of the Assyrian E…

Published on 2 weeks, 3 days ago

The Economic Life of Megakles, Farmer of Classical Athens

Season 5 Episode 158

We've talked about how rich classical Athens was, but what did that mean for an average person living at the time? In this episode, we follow the life of a composite character, an Athenian citizen fa…

Published on 3 weeks ago

Doing History through Movies: Interview with Dr. Jason Herbert

Season 5 Episode 157

Like many of you, I first fell in love with history through the movies. Dr. Jason Herbert hosted a podcast called Historians at the Movies, now retitled Reckoning with Jason Herbert, that focuses on …

Published on 4 weeks ago

Listen to Patrick's New History Podcast, Past Lives

Season 5 Episode 43

Patrick has a new history podcast, Past Lives! It's all about the experiences of real, everyday people throughout the human past, people just like you. Listen to the first full episode, "On Historica…

Published on 4 weeks, 1 day ago

Why Was Classical Athens So Rich?

Season 5 Episode 156

Ancient Greece was rich compared to other ancient societies, and Athens was the richest place of all within ancient Greece. But why? The answer lies not just in the silver lodes of Attica or access t…

Published on 1 month ago

Listen Now: American Scandal | The West Memphis Three

On May 5, 1993, three 8-year-old boys were brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. The tiny local police department launches an investigation but finds little physical evidence to lead them to a…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

Patrick's New History Show, Past Lives, Launches December 3rd!

Episode 43

From Patrick Wyman (host of Fall of Rome and Tides of History) comes Past Lives, a brand new podcast! Every week, we’ll focus on the lived experiences of real people from the past, bringing their sto…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago