The Ancients
History Hit
A podcast for all ancient history fans! The Ancients is dedicated to discussing our distant past. Featuring interviews with historians and archaeologists, each episode covers a specific theme from antiquity. From Neolithic Britain to the Fall of Rome. Hosted by Tristan Hughes. New episodes every Sunday and Thursday.From History Hit, the world's best history channel and creators of award-winning podcasts Dan Snow's History Hit, Gone Medieval, and Betwixt the Sheets.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.
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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
20 snips
May 10, 2026 • 59min
The Real Armageddon
Eric Cline, archaeologist and GWU professor who specializes in the ancient Near East, guides listeners through Megiddo’s long, layered history. He explains why this crossroads city became linked to the final battle, recounts the famous Thutmose III campaign, and describes major digs, palaces, hoards and the mysteries still buried under the mound.
17 snips
May 7, 2026 • 60min
Ancient China: The Warring States
Andrew Meyer, historian and author specializing in classical China and the Warring States, guides listeners through collapsing Zhou power, ruthless coups, and the rise of seven rival states. He highlights a military revolution of mass infantry and crossbows, the brutal Battle of Changping, and Qin’s climb from regional backwater to imperial unifier. Philosophical ferment and the birth of imperial institutions are also explored.
39 snips
May 3, 2026 • 49min
The Prehistoric Plague
Laura Spinney, science journalist and author who studies pandemics, discusses ancient DNA evidence of Yersinia pestis over 5,000 years ago. She outlines how prehistoric plague was detected, its spread across Eurasia, possible links to Neolithic population shifts, transmission routes without flea adaptation, and how pathogens may have shaped early societies and cultural change.
23 snips
Apr 30, 2026 • 59min
The Persian Gulf
Dr Lloyd Weeks, archaeology professor specializing in southeastern Arabian Bronze Age sites, and Dr Steffen Laursen, Bronze Age curator expert on Dilmun and Gulf trade, explore the Persian Gulf as a Bronze Age maritime superhighway. They trace sea-level changes, shipping and copper trade, Dilmun’s role as a transshipment hub, coastal economies and tomb cultures, and why the Gulf’s trade networks mattered across millennia.
26 snips
Apr 26, 2026 • 1h 6min
The Last Days of Pompeii
Dr. Jessica Venner, a Pompeii social historian and author, brings ordinary Roman lives to the foreground. She explores Pompeii’s trades like garum, the 62 AD quake and rebuilding, debates over the eruption date, vivid personal stories from slaves to business owners, the eruption’s ash, pumice and pyroclastic flows, and how survivors and society responded in the aftermath.
34 snips
Apr 23, 2026 • 46min
The First Tools
Dr Emma Finestone, Associate Curator of Human Origins and early stone tool specialist, walks through the dawn of stone technology. She contrasts Lomekwian and Oldowan tool types and techniques. She explains how sites are dated, how geochemistry traces stone sources, and why material choice and landscape shaped early tool use. She considers who might have made the first tools and how tool use became a lasting cultural practice.
20 snips
Apr 19, 2026 • 54min
Athens vs Persia: The Legend of Themistocles
Michael Scott, professor of Classics and ancient history, offers expert commentary on Themistocles. Short bursts cover his rise from obscurity, the building of Athens' fleet and Long Walls, the politics and rivalries that led to ostracism, the cunning at Salamis, and his exile and service in Persia.
26 snips
Apr 16, 2026 • 59min
The Hittites
Dr Elena Devecchi, Associate Professor at the University of Turin and Hittite specialist, guides listeners through royal intrigue and palace succession dramas. She explores Hattusha’s lion and sphinx gates, the Thousand Gods pantheon, ritual festivals and divination, the archive-rich cuneiform records, and dramatic moments like the sack of Babylon and Hittite diplomacy with other Bronze Age powers.
59 snips
Apr 12, 2026 • 59min
Homo Sapiens vs Neanderthals
Ella Al-Shamahi, paleoanthropologist and presenter who studies Neanderthals, guides listeners through revised views of Neanderthal life. She highlights surprising finds about art and ornaments. She traces where and when meetings with early Homo sapiens occurred. She examines interbreeding, hybrid children, and the demographic and cultural factors behind Neanderthal disappearance.
27 snips
Apr 9, 2026 • 59min
The Romans and China
Barry Cunliffe, renowned British archaeologist of ancient maritime networks, guides a voyage across the Indian Ocean. He traces Roman silver, glass and silk via Sri Lanka, Indian ports, the Kra Isthmus and Funan. Short vivid scenes of monsoon navigation, bustling entrepôts, middlemen and coastal archaeology bring this vast trade web to life.
