The story of Achilles, Odysseus and the siege of Troy has captivated audiences for millennia, but behind the legends lies a deeper mystery. Was this epic war a myth, a memory of a real Bronze Age conflict, or something in between?

Today Tristan Hughes is joined by Eric Cline to explore the reality behind Homer’s greatest tale. From the legendary heroes of The Iliad to the ruins of Troy, discover what archaeology and ancient texts reveal about the Trojan War, and whether the story of Helen, Paris and the fall of Troy truly has a historical foundation.

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Troy

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The Bronze Age Collapse

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We're going on *TOUR* to Australia and New Zealand! - grab your tickets here.

The Ancients is now on YouTube! Watch here: @TheAncientsPodcast

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thousands of years before the story of Noah and the Ark, people in ancient Mesopotamia were already telling tales of a devastating divine flood. Written into the Epic of Atrahasis, this ancient story describes a man chosen to survive catastrophe by building a great boat and preserving life from destruction.

Today, Tristan Hughes is joined by Sophus Helle to explore this legend from ancient Babylonian folklore. What does the story of Atrahasis reveal about ancient Babylonian beliefs? How similar is it to the biblical account of Noah? And why did the memory of a great flood become one of humanity’s most enduring stories?

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Epic of Gilgamesh: Rise of Enkidu

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Babylon's Epic of Creation

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We're going on *TOUR* to Australia and New Zealand! - grab your tickets here.

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week PLUS early access, ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For more than a thousand years, Delphi was considered a cultural centre of the ancient world. Every year a throng of pilgrims climbed the slopes of Mount Parnassus to seek the words of Apollo through the famous Oracle of Delphi.

Today Tristan Hughes is joined by Michael Scott to uncover Delphi's story, the sanctuary that shaped the ancient Mediterranean. How did the Pythia become the most famous oracle of antiquity? Why did rulers travel from across the Greek world to seek its guidance? And what can Delphi’s temples, monuments and Olympic-like festivals reveal about the power and influence of this extraordinary sacred site?

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Athens vs Persia: The Legend of Themistocles

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Keros: Bronze Age Mystery

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We're going on *TOUR* to Australia and New Zealand! - grab your tickets here.

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the secrets of Stonehenge lie not just in the stones, but in the people who hauled them there?

Tristan Hughes sits down with best-selling novelist Ken Follett to uncover and imagine the lives of the Stone Age builders, the rival communities around Salisbury Plain, and the extraordinary teamwork needed to raise one of the most famous monuments in the world.

They reveal fascinating details about flint mines, giant Sarsen stones, ancient trade, communal festivals, and the breathtaking ingenuity behind moving and lifting blocks that weighed 25 tons or more.

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The World of Stonehenge

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Stonehenge

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We're going on *TOUR* to Australia and New Zealand! - grab your tickets here.

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor and producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week, PLUS early access, ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Library of Alexandria was one of the most important and most celebrated buildings of the ancient Mediterranean. It was a great hub of learning and literature and made Alexandria one of the ancient world’s foremost centres of knowledge and culture. But when was it built? And where did all the books come from?

Tristan Hughes speaks to Dr. Islam Issa about the story behind one of histories greatest libraries. Together they explore why Alexandria’s reigning dynasty - the Ptolemies - were so obsessed with acquiring knowledge and uncover whether it really did burn down in a great fire.

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The Lighthouse of Alexandria

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Ptolemy I: The First Greek Pharaoh

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We're going on *TOUR* to Australia and New Zealand! - grab your tickets here.

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week, PLUS early access, ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 60 AD Roman Britain was very nearly brought to the brink. Cities burned, authority crumbled, and for a brief moment one woman challenged the might of the Roman Empire. Her name was Boudica.

Today, Tristan Hughes is joined by novelist and historian Elodie Harper to explore the life and legend of Boudica, the Iceni queen responsible for such rebellious devastation. They discuss the brutal events that sparked her uprising, the role played by her daughters and their wider Iceni world, and how Roman power was shaken by her campaign, revealing a story of resistance, vengeance, and the limits of empire.

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Boudica's Battle of Britain

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Colchester: From Bronze Age to Boudica

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We're going on *TOUR* to Australia and New Zealand! - grab your tickets here.

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week PLUS early access, ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

538 million years ago, life on Earth changed forever. In an evolutionary burst known as the Cambrian Explosion, complex animals rapidly appeared in the oceans, laying the foundations for almost every major animal group alive today.

Tristan Hughes is joined by the mighty Henry Gee to explore biology’s 'Big Bang'. What triggered this extraordinary leap in evolutionary complexity? Why did creatures with eyes, shells and limbs emerge so suddenly in the fossil record? And what can the Cambrian Explosion reveal about the origins of animal life and the history of our planet?

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Rise of Humans

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The Age of Dinosaurs

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We're going on *TOUR* to Australia and New Zealand! - grab your tickets here.

The Ancients is now on YouTube! Watch here: @TheAncientsPodcast

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week, PLUS early access, ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Pharisees are one of the most familiar names in the ancient world, but are they also one of the most misunderstood?

Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Helen Bond to step back into first-century Judea, where the Pharisees were debating law, purity and resurrection under foreign rule. They look at how much power the Pharisees really had, their debates with Jesus in the Gospels, and how focussed they were on the idea of a 'messiah'.

We're going on *TOUR* to Australia and New Zealand! - grab your tickets here.

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John the Baptist

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Pontius Pilate

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Presented by Tristan Hughes. Edited and produced by Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week, PLUS early access ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.