Murder in the Roman World

Nearly 100 years ago, films in Hollywood were so much sexier and shocking than you might think they were.One of the most shocking things was how empowered and sexual women were in those films.Who were these women? And what are the scandalous reasons behind the censorship that cam ...  Show more

The Roman Emperor Tiberius has a harrowing reputation based on stories surrounding his latter years on the island of Capri. Stories of debauchery and abuse of the worst kind. But who was Tiberius and where does the truth lie?Kate Lister is joined by is Rome-based historian and to ...  Show more

In this episode of The Ancients, host Tristan Hughes speaks with historian Honor Cargill-Martin about the notorious Empress Messalina, third wife of Emperor Claudius. A lot has been said about Messalina over two millennia: that she was a nymphomaniac who organised orgies and e ...

We’ve covered bloody battles, we’ve covered stunning cities, we’ve covered civilisations far away from the ancient Mediterranean. But in some 120 episodes of The Ancients we hadn’t covered one of the most popular topics in the world: sex. That is, until now. In today’s episode, s ...  Show more

The legacies of the Ides of March stretch from that very afternoon on March 14th 44BC to the modern day. From Roman times to the Medieval period, from Dante to Shakespeare, and from Brutus to the other infamous assassin he inspired in John Wilkes Booth, the echoes of Julius Ca ...

How do you surface the stories of women in the Roman empire, when the majority of ancient texts were written by men, telling of military victories and losses, or intrigues in the political arena? Speaking to Elinor Evans, Emma Southon chronicles the Roman empire through the stori ...  Show more