Entirely Unofficial Rest is History Catalogue and Interrogator

Ancient Civilisations & Classical Antiquity

128 Episodes 29 Series 173 Figures 70 Events 345 Books 1 Authors

Spanning the Bronze Age through the Roman Empire, episodes examine political, military, religious and cultural developments across the Mediterranean and Near East. Series include "Afghanistan" (Achaemenids, Alexander‑era campaigns and later regional history), "Alexander" (Macedonian origins, Aristotle’s education, campaigns and legacy), "Atlantis" (Plato and later receptions), "Beards" (symbolic roles of facial hair), and bonus interviews with Mary Beard on Caesar, the Trojan War, Alexander and Spartacus. Episodes cover Uruk, Greco‑Persian battles (Artemisium, Salamis), the Bronze Age collapse, Hadrian’s Wall, Carthage’s founding, the Bar Kokhba revolt and Roman Britain. Discussed figures and texts include Helen of Sparta, Antipater, Germanicus, Herod, Aulus Plautius, Spendius, Plutarch, Alexander to Actium, Moses and Monotheism and the Gospel of Mark.

Timeline Subway

Episodes Series Figures Events Books Authors

Episodes by year

Showing 12 of 128

2026

1 episode

RIHC: The Discovery of Fire, Ancient Cannibals, and British Neanderthals

This bonus episode features host Tom Holland interviewing Nick Ashton, Curator of Palaeolithic Collections at the Briti…

2025

11 episodes

RIHC: Historical Love Affairs, Totemic History Books, and the Naming of Wars

This New Year’s Eve Rest Is History bonus episode is a members' Q&A in which Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook recap th…

Spartacus and Gladiators, with Mary Beard - FULL EPISODE

Bonus Interviews with Mary Beard · Part 4

Tom Holland interviews classicist Mary Beard about gladiators and the rebellion led by Spartacus. They discuss Spartacu…

Julius Caesar, with Mary Beard - FULL EPISODE

Bonus Interviews with Mary Beard · Part 3

This members-only interview (the third in a short series with Mary Beard) focuses on Julius Caesar. Mary and the hosts …

Alexander the Great, with Mary Beard - FULL EPISODE

Bonus Interviews with Mary Beard · Part 2

Tom Holland interviews Mary Beard about Alexander the Great, probing the line between the historical man and the myth t…

RIHC: Shakespeare, Roman Slavery, and the Tudors

This Rest Is History Club bonus episode is a wide-ranging Q&A between hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook for club …

The Trojan War, with Mary Beard - FULL EPISODE

Bonus Interviews with Mary Beard · Part 1

Tom Holland interviews classicist Mary Beard at Leighton House about the Trojan War and its place between myth and hist…

RIHC: How Real Were The Greek Myths?

In this bonus episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the possible historical substratum behind Greek myths, …

Greek Myths: Jason & The Quest for the Golden Fleece (Part 4)

Greek Myths · Part 4

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the myth of Jason and the Argonauts and its literary afterlife, especially Ap…

Greek Myths: The Riddle of the Sphinx (Part 2)

Greek Myths · Part 2

This episode of The Rest Is History examines the myth of Oedipus and its cultural afterlife. Holland and Sandbrook rete…

Greek Myths: Sex, Drugs & Tragedy (Part 3)

Greek Myths · Part 3

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss Euripides' The Bacchae and the strange, violent cult of Dionysus. They open w…

RIHC: Romans in Britain, the Language of Boudicca, and Celtic Mysteries

Tom Holland hosts a bonus episode interviewing archaeologist Daphne Nash Briggs about what ancient British coins reveal…

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Series in this era

29 series

Bonus Interviews with Mary Beard

4 episodes Aired: 2025-10-09 – 2025-10-31

Carthage

4 episodes Aired: 2024-02-19

Cleopatra

4 episodes Aired: 2022-06-13

Emperors of Rome

4 episodes Aired: 2025-01-27

Hannibal

4 episodes Aired: 2025-05-25 – 2025-05-26

The Roman Conquest of Britain

4 episodes Aired: 2024-09-29

Greek Myths

3 episodes Aired: 2025-09-21

Persian Wars

3 episodes Aired: 2021-11-27

World Cup of Gods

3 episodes Aired: 2021-11-27

Alexander

2 episodes Aired: 2021-11-27

Historical figures

173 tagged

Julius Caesar (Gaius Julius Caesar)

47 episodes

Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon)

44 episodes

Augustus (Gaius Octavius Thurinus)

41 episodes

Herodotus

28 episodes

Nero

26 episodes

Cleopatra VII Philopator of Egypt

24 episodes

Marcus Tullius Cicero (Cicero)

23 episodes

Claudius (Roman Emperor)

20 episodes

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great)

20 episodes

Hadrian (Publius Aelius Hadrianus)

18 episodes

Historical events

70 tagged

Trojan War

15 episodes

Year of the Four Emperors (69 AD, Roman Empire)

15 episodes

First Punic War (264–241 BC, Mediterranean)

13 episodes

Greco-Persian Wars (499–449 BC)

13 episodes

Roman conquest of Britain (from AD 43)

13 episodes

First Judean–Roman War (66–73 CE) / Destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE)

12 episodes

Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC)

11 episodes

Assassination of Julius Caesar (44 BC)

10 episodes

Battle of Marathon (c. 490 BC)

10 episodes

Battle of Salamis (480 BC)

9 episodes

Books

345 tagged

Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

Author: Tom Holland

16 episodes

Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic

Author: Tom Holland

16 episodes

The Iliad

Author: Homer

13 episodes

I, Claudius

Author: Robert Graves

10 episodes

Pax: War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age

Author: Tom Holland

9 episodes

The Odyssey

Author: Homer

9 episodes

Dominion

Author: Tom Holland

8 episodes

The Histories

Author: Herodotus

8 episodes

The Aeneid (standardized)

Author: Virgil

6 episodes

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (standardized)

Author: Edward Gibbon

6 episodes

Authors

1 tagged

Homer

13 episodes