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

2023

12 episodes

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Ep 1)

Indiana Jones double bill · Part 1

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook explore the history, biblical traditions, and later mythologies surrounding the…

Hadrian and Antinous

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the life, death and posthumous cult of Antinous, the exceptionally beau…

Athens and the Birth of Democracy

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the origins and character of Athenian democracy. Using myth (Athena, Er…

RIHC: Roman Scotland, Humanities, and Herodotus

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook preview their upcoming Dublin recordings and live show focused on Irish history…

Herodotus: The Birth of History

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss Herodotus — his life, methods and enduring appeal — drawing on Tom Holl…

RIHC: The Death of Napoleon, South Vietnamese agency, and tent evangelists

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook open by reflecting on recent live shows in London, Edinburgh and Salford, then …

RIHC: Tom's top books, historical guilt, and trigger warnings (livestream)

This live Rest Is History episode is a wide-ranging conversation between hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook center…

Atlantis: The Legend (Ep 1)

Atlantis · Part 1

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine the origins and afterlife of the Atlantis story, contrasting Graham Hancock’s…

Atlantis: Legacy of the Lost Empire (Ep 2)

Atlantis · Part 2

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook continue a multi-part exploration of the Atlantis myth, tracing its origins in …

RIHC: Reagan & Thatcher, Roman Britain, and -sleazy hacks-

This is a Rest Is History bonus episode in which Tom Holland recounts a three-day tour of Kent—visiting Roman lighthous…

RIHC: Roald Dahl, Scottish politics, and regal Reagan

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook conduct an informal episode covering reading notes, news and listener questions…

The Murder of Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar · Part 1

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook narrate the rise and fall of Gaius Julius Caesar, focusing on the political ten…

Page 6 of 11 (page size 12)

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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