Tom Holland

Tom Holland is an award-winning historian, biographer and broadcaster. He is the author of a series of books on ancient and early medieval history, including Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, Athelstan (Penguin Monarchs): The Making of England and Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic. He also presents BBC Radio 4’s Making History, has written and presented several TV documentaries, for the BBC and Channel 4, on subjects ranging from ISIS to dinosaurs, and he has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides and Virgil for the BBC. He also co-hosts The Rest Is History podcast with Dominic Sandbrook.

Trajan statue

Tom Holland on Trajan"He is vastly overrated"

A relief on Trajan's Column shows Roman troops crossing the Danube during the war against the Dacians. Victory was the framework upon which Pax Romana was built (Photo by akg-images/Erich Lessing)

The Pax Romana: how the Romans maintained peace at the point of a sword. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Stained glass in Exeter Cathedral depicting King Æthelstan. (Dreamstime)

The astonishing Æthelstan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Baron Franz Nopcsa in Albanian uniform.

15 minutes of fameTom Holland chooses Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Franz NopcsaHungarian adventurer and palaeontologist. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tom Holland by Helen Atkinson

Tom Holland on Christianity’s enduring legacy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jan Žižka, the general whose peasant army defied the Holy Roman Empire in the 1420s.

Christ’s communists: the radical religious sect that challenged the Holy Roman Empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.