Podcast Episodes

The Defeat of Pyrrhus and the Road to the Punic Wars

Season 5 Episode 114

Pyrrhus of Epirus won costly but clear victories over the Romans in their first battlefield meetings, but couldn't win the war. Rome's dogged determination eventually won the war for them and placed …

Published on 10 months, 2 weeks ago

Duels, Violence, and Conflict in Early Modern Europe: Interview with Professor Stuart Carroll

Season 5 Episode 113

Early modern Europe was a violent place, full of duels, bloody encounters, and decades-long feuds. In many ways, it was more fractious and dangerous than it had been during the Middle Ages. Professor…

Published on 10 months, 3 weeks ago

The Pyrrhic War

Season 5 Episode 112

By 281 BC, Rome controlled much of Italy, but the city was still a minor player on the larger Mediterranean scene. That changed when King Pyrrhus of Epirus crossed the Adriatic with a powerful army o…

Published on 11 months ago

Listen Now: We Came to the Forest

Vienna is working a delivery job when she hears about Cop City, a massive police training facility planned for Atlanta. She decides to join the activists trying to stop construction. When Vienna arri…

Published on 11 months ago

King Pyrrhus of Epirus and a New Age of Mediterranean Politics

Season 5 Episode 111

While the Punic Wars mark the stage of Roman history with which most people are familiar, Rome's entrance onto the stage of Mediterranean power politics actually came a decade earlier, with a bloody,…

Published on 11 months, 1 week ago

The Tyrants of Syracuse and the Wars with Carthage

Season 5 Episode 110

As the fourth century drew to a close, Rome wasn't the only rising power in the central Mediterranean; Syracuse and Carthage were battling for dominance in Sicily and beyond, fighting devastating war…

Published on 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Excavating a Scythian Royal Burial Mound: Interview with Dr. Gino Caspari

Season 5 Episode 109

Dr. Gino Caspari returns to discuss the extraordinary finds at his most recent excavation of an early (maybe the earliest) Scythian royal burial mound in Siberia! We discuss horse sacrifice, state fo…

Published on 11 months, 3 weeks ago

What If: Alexander the Great had Died at the Granicus River?

Season 5 Episode 108

How would history look different if Alexander the Great had died in 334 BC? Would Macedonia still have conquered most of Asia?

Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance,…

Published on 11 months, 4 weeks ago

The Birth of the Carthaginian Empire

Season 5 Episode 107

Carthage spent most of the fifth century BC building up its economy, but in the aftermath of the disastrous Athenian expedition to Sicily, the Carthaginians decided that the time was ripe to create a…

Published on 1 year ago

The Fall of the Carolingian Empire: Interview with Dr. David Perry

Season 5 Episode 106

Much of what we take for granted about the European Middle Ages was a product of the Carolingian dynasty, particularly its most notable member, Charlemagne. But before long, the empire Charlemagne bu…

Published on 1 year ago