Messalina: Empress of Rome

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 rul ...  Show more

In July 1799, French soldiers unearthed a stone that would transform our understanding of the ancient world. Discovered in a fort at Rashid, the Rosetta Stone became the key to deciphering Egypt’s long-lost hieroglyphs. Within two decades, scholars began unlocking its secrets. Bu ...  Show more

"I came. I saw. I conquered".

Perhaps the most famous Julius Caesar quote of all time. But after hearing all about his bedroom antics, it takes on a slightly...different meaning.

From Cleopatra, to his three wives, to male lovers, to mistresses -&n ...

All this month on the History Hit family of podcasts, we've been marking LGBT+ History Month. To round off the month, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb investigates an extraordinary episode, long denied by scholars. In 1578, a same-sex community that gathered in a ...

With Julius Caesar dead, Cleopatra turned to another of Rome’s dominant figures. She became entwined with Mark Antony, the ruler of the eastern half of the Roman Empire, but even with their enormous combined power the destructive tendrils of Roman politics were inescapable. Just ...  Show more

What happens at a Roman emperor's dinner party? Why would you be lucky to get out alive? And how are emperors even chosen?

Joining Kate today is the one, the only Mary Beard, to take us back to Ancient Rome and help separate the facts from the myths.

Mary's ...