General ancient history

The Spartan king Leonidas at the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The conflict has become the archetype for the courageous last stand, pitting around 200,000 Persians against 7,000 Spartans.

Your guide to the battle of Thermopylae

Ornate water gardens of the ancient fortress of Sigiriya in Sri Lanka

General ancient history

From Nan Madol to Karakorum: 7 cities that history forgot

The Byzantines and a flamethrower

General ancient history

Q&A What was Greek fire?

Illustration representing various empires across history

General ancient history

Have empires ever been a force for good?

Professor Matthew Restall tackles listener questions and popular search queries about the central American civilisation. (Image by Getty Images)

General ancient history

The Maya: everything you wanted to know

The Resurrection of Jesus

Eggs, bunnies and Jesus Christ: the history and origins of Easter

Dr Melanie Giles unravels some of the mysteries around amazingly preserved human remains found in bogs – and reveals what we can learn from them. (Image by Getty Images)

General ancient history

Bog bodies: what can they teach us?

John Withington discusses history’s most notorious political killings – from the first known assassination to the plots to kill Franz Ferdinand and JFK. (Image by Getty Images)

General ancient history

Assassinations: from the ancient world to JFK

In this lecture, Michael Wood uses the stories of five individuals from across the centuries to cast light on China’s rich and varied history

General ancient history

Voices of China

The assassination of Julius Caesar

What if… Julius Caesar had not been assassinated?

An Athenian red-figure kylix (cup) dating from around 510–500 BC depicts a young pentathlete pulling his older lover towards him for a kiss. In many of the city-states of ancient Greece, sex between a man and a youth was an accepted – even idealised – form of love, its virtues extolled in works by writers including Plato. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

General ancient history

Pride and prejudice: same-sex relations through history

View of a gay pride parade in Boston, Massachusetts, c1977. (Photo by Spencer Grant/Getty Images)

From the ancient world to the 1969 Stonewall Riots: a brief guide to LGBT+ history

Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley responds to listener questions about everyday life in ancient Egypt, from governance to dental care and cat mummies. (Image by Getty Images)

Daily life in ancient Egypt: everything you wanted to know

This second-century AD column shows Romans beheading German nobles. Armed with the lethal gladius (short sword), Roman soldiers were feared throughout the empire. (Image by Bridgeman)

A guide to the Roman army, plus 10 facts about life in the legions

origins of the werewolf legend in stories from ancient Greece and Rome. (Image by Getty Images)

General ancient history

Werewolves of the ancient world