212. Who Were The Three Wise Men?

What drove the Dutch to employ samurai mercenaries to commit horrifying genocides in the Banda Islands? Why were European powers willing to torture and kill just to control the global supply of a dried seed? How did a peace treaty trade a spice island for Manhattan, giving birth ...  Show more

Who was the last Viceroy of India and why was his marriage so unconventional? How many affairs did Edwina Mountbatten have? Why was Lord Mountbatten known as the “Master of Disaster” by senior Navy officials? In Episode 2 of Empire’s first members’ miniseries, Anita is joined onc ...  Show more

The Three Wise Men were kings, magicians, more than three, on camels, walking across deserts and the men who tricked Herod. How can they be all these things?

Tristan Hughes is joined by Reverend Professor Lloyd Llewellyn Jones discuss the fascinating history and evol ...

In the highlands of the Iranian Plateau, a collection of enormous pillars reach up to the sky...In this episode, we tell the story of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Find out how this remarkable ancient power sprung up from the rubble of a ruined world to become the most powerful ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic which is regarded as one of the greatest works of world literature. Its importance in Indian culture has been compared to that of the Iliad and Odyssey in the West, and it’s still seen as a sacred text by Hindus ...  Show more

Did Herod really order the massacre of thousands of infants? Tristan Hughes revisits the scandalous and captivating story of the discovery of King Herod's Tomb.

He's joined by Professor Jodi Magnus as they delve into the archaeological and literary significance of on ...