HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2026-01-28T16:10:02.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Long before Cleopatra, another female pharaoh redefined ancient Egyptian power
items: Long before the ancient Roman empire, a rival superpower looked set for supremacy
items: Did the ancient Egyptians really love cats? The dark truth might break your heart
items: He was ancient Rome’s mightiest figure – and rumours said he had a secret affair with Julius Caesar
items: Step inside a Roman home, and you might be surprised by what you find
items: Nero's doomed love affair: did a failed romance trigger his descent into madness?
items: Paint a pot like an ancient Etruscan
items: Don’t worry, be Babylonian
items: Did the ancient Romans wear underwear? The truth is surprisingly complicated
items: Ancient Roman culture would be baffling to modern eyes – and their toilet habits prove it

Long before Cleopatra, another female pharaoh redefined ancient Egyptian power
type: item
date: 2026-01-28T16:10:02.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: Ancient Egypt
subject: General ancient history
subject: Period
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: More than a millennium before Cleopatra, the female ruler Hatshepsut blazed a trail for powerful women in the ancient civilisation
encoded: Cleopatra’s story is often seen through a prism of great drama, romance and spectacle, her rule coming at the very end of pharaonic history. But her position as the definitive image of the ‘female pharaoh’ obscures a much earlier ancient Egyptian experiment in female power – one that is arguably much more revealing. More than 1,400 years before Cleopatra, another woman ruled ancient Egypt as pharaoh, operating within one of the most conservative political systems the ancient world produced. She was Hatshepsut. Speaking about her life on the HistoryExtra podcast, Egyptologist Campbell Price explains what her period of rule means for how power in ancient Egypt has been understood, and how she paved the way for the rulers who followed. An ancient civilisation with a long history Hatshepsut ruled Egypt from around 1479 to 1458 BC, nearly fifteen centuries before Cleopatra’s death in 30 BC. Her power base was the city of Thebes in southern Egypt, which at the time served as the religious and political heart of the kingdom. From there, she governed a state that stretched from the Nile Delta in the north, deep into Nubia in the south, overseeing one of the most expansive and stable empires Egypt had yet known. Read more | Cleopatra: what is the real legacy of the last pharaoh? “With Hatshepsut, we’re talking about the Eighteenth Dynasty, and that is the first of several dynasties in what Egyptologists call the New Kingdom,” explains Campbell Price. Egypt, at this point was anything but new, and had already transitioned through distinct phases of cultural transformation, including the Old Kingdom. “The Old Kingdom is the time of the pyramids,” Price notes. “The pyramids are already a thousand years old by this point.” So, Hatshepsut inherited a civilisation that was already ancient. In its long history, it had already survived periods of war, collapse, fragmentation and foreign rule during the Second Intermediate Period. The role of kingship was to maintain a cosmic order i…

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Long before the ancient Roman empire, a rival superpower looked set for supremacy
type: item
date: 2026-01-24T11:15:13.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: General ancient history
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: Before the Punic Wars, as Rome and Carthage edged towards conflict in the third century BC, the balance of power in the Mediterranean favoured the Carthaginians. But it was the upstart Romans who would be victorious
encoded: The ancient Romans would come to build one of the world’s mightiest empires, spanning continents and moulding the trajectory of much of Europe and the spaces around it. But that wasn’t an outcome that always seemed likely. In the years before the start of the Punic Wars, which would eventually see the Romans emerge as the Mediterranean’s dominant force, it was a different power that seemed to hold the keys to the future: Carthage. “In the middle of the third century BC, when the Punic Wars began, if you were going to take a bet on who was going to control the Mediterranean, you probably would not have bet on Rome.” That’s the view of Professor Philip Freeman, stressing that the world Rome was emerging into was already crowded with established powers. How, then, did it take advantage of the situation? Speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast, Freeman set out the rivalry between Carthage and Rome and revealed how Rome’s imperial ambitions meant the Punic Wars were inevitable. Ancient Carthage before Rome “Carthage has a fascinating history,” explains Freeman. “It was one of many different colonies that were founded by the Phoenicians, starting in about the year 1000 BC.” The Phoenicians were expert sailors and merchants, and one of the earliest European powers. Rather than conquering large inland territories, they established a network of coastal settlements specifically designed to facilitate trade and spur commercial opportunities. Read more | The overshadowed ancient empire that rivalled Rome with maritime might and an iron fist As Freeman emphasises, “they were not an empire in the sense of the Romans, or other empires. What they wanted to do was found trading posts.” Over time, that strategy would go on to produce extraordinary wealth. Phoenician settlements spread along the north African coast, across southern Spain, and even beyond the Strait of Gibraltar. Their great cities included Rhodes, Leptis Magna, Tyre and Sidon. But it was Carthage that eclipsed its peers,…

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Did the ancient Egyptians really love cats? The dark truth might break your heart
type: item
date: 2026-01-20T16:42:53.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: Ancient Egypt
subject: General ancient history
subject: Period
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: Cats might have been sacred in ancient Egypt, but they were far from cherished pets. Discover why our assumptions about their treatment draw far more on modern sensibilities than historical reality
encoded: A sleek Egyptian cat is an ancient image immortalised in bronze statues and painted on tomb walls. They also don’t just exist in art; cats from this period are preserved today in museums across the world in tiny sarcophaguses or swaddled in linen. These remarkable traces have left many assumptions that cultures across the vast span of ancient Egyptian history adored cats, treated them as beloved companions and elevated them above other animals as uniquely sacred beings. But according to Campbell Price, speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast series Ancient Egypt: The Big Questions, that picture rests on a total misunderstanding. It reflects our modern attitudes towards animals whilst, in reality, cats were viewed in ways many would find alien – and brutal. The evidence, when examined more closely, is much more unsettling, and far more revealing about how ancient Egyptian belief actually functioned. What did that belief really look like? The system of belief in ancient Egypt “The ancient Egyptian belief system was polytheistic,” Price says. “There are lots of ancient Egyptian gods and they are in a hierarchy. But divinity is in lots of different things, and you can encounter the gods in different places.” The ancient Egyptians believed that deities could be encountered in dreams, in natural forces, in the landscape, in the afterlife and, crucially, in living beings. Read more | 10 things you (probably) didn't know about ancient Egypt For that reason, Price says that addressing ancient Egyptian faith as a “belief system” is often more accurate than calling it a religion. It was flexible, and capable of absorbing new deities and practices over time. This flexibility meant that religious experience varied by region and was shaped by local cults and traditions. What unified these variations was a shared understanding that divine power was infused within the material world, and that humans could interact with it through physical acts. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk…

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He was ancient Rome’s mightiest figure – and rumours said he had a secret affair with Julius Caesar
type: item
date: 2026-01-13T15:51:16.000Z
creator: Serafina Kenny
subject: General ancient history
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: Did Octavian, later known as the Roman emperor Augustus, have an affair with Julius Caesar? That’s precisely what Mark Antony’s propaganda wanted you to think
encoded: Politicians’ intimate lives have been used against them as far back as antiquity. In the first century BC, in the midst of a power struggle between Julius Caesar’s potential successors, the suggestion of a salacious scandal was wielded as a potent weapon. Caesar had unexpectedly named his 18-year-old great-nephew Octavian as his heir in his will – much to the chagrin of the older, more experienced, and much more powerful Mark Antony. And, as Octavian and Antony men fought for public approval and political power, theories about why Caesar had chosen Octavian ahead of all others were spread with great interest. One was the “slanderous” rumour, says Edward J Watts – professor of history at the University of California, San Dieg, who was speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast, that suggested Caesar and Octavian had been in a sexual relationship. The rumour was started by Mark Antony. Although it’s not true, it illustrates the length to which he was willing to go to discredit his rival, as well as contemporary attitudes towards homosexuality. How Octavian being named heir sparked a slanderous Roman rumour “When Caesar is assassinated, everybody in Rome assumes that his heir is going to be Mark Antony,” says Watts. “So, when they open the will, they're shocked that Octavian – this kid that nobody's aware of – has been named the heir of Caesar. “Caesar had been preparing him and giving him training in Roman politics, probably because he recognised how naturally talented Octavian was. Read more | Step inside a Roman home, and you might be surprised by what you find “We don't have any idea about when or what it was that tipped Caesar off to the fact that his nephew would be a world class historical figure of incredible significance. But something did.” Octavian would later go on to become Augustus, the founder of the Roman empire, one of the most powerful Roman emperors in history, and the namesake of the month of August. While Caesar likely wasn’t expecting Octavian to take h…

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Step inside a Roman home, and you might be surprised by what you find
type: item
date: 2026-01-06T10:45:21.000Z
creator: Serafina Kenny
subject: General ancient history
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: What did Roman houses look like, and how did they vary depending on a person's social status? Even with some considerable archaeological biases, there's a lot that historians have pieced together
encoded: The people of ancient Rome lived in a wide range of housing, from grand urban mansions to crowded flats and makeshift dwellings attached to shops. Where and how someone lived depended on geography, social status and wealth – but Roman housing across the social spectrum looked very different from anything built to modern regulations. On an episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, Hannah Platts, a senior lecturer in ancient history and material culture at Royal Holloway, University of London, explained what ancient Roman homes would have been like for different members of society. However, as with many things in history, there’s one big bias: historians know the most about the wealthy when it comes to Roman houses. Large and better-build homes survive far better in the archaeological record than modest dwellings, but that’s not the only reason. “Archaeologists were very keen to dig out the big and the lavish – or indeed to dig out the urban – because that’s where they would find the mosaics, the big structures and the statues,” Platts explains. But that doesn’t mean that historians haven’t learned plenty about Roman homes. Here are three essential facts you need to know about Roman housing, with expert insight from Platts. The houses of wealthier Romans had lots of different rooms A wealthy Roman’s house could have 50 rooms or more. They tended to be multifunctional, but there were certain rooms that were found in most of the bigger houses. On first walking into a Roman house, you’d be greeted by an atrium. Read more | He was ancient Rome’s mightiest figure – and rumours said he had a secret affair with Julius Caesar “An atrium is like a front hall today – it's where you would walk in and receive guests,” Platts says. “It had a very important architectural feature within it: a hole in the ceiling.” This hole allowed natural light in as well as rain, which would collect in a basin on the floor of the atrium, called an impluvium. This was designed to help to cool the buildi…

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Nero's doomed love affair: did a failed romance trigger his descent into madness?
type: item
date: 2025-12-29T16:00:12.000Z
subject: General ancient history
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Historical people
subject: Life in ancient Rome
subject: Roman rulers
description: He’s reviled as a cruel tyrant who killed his own mother and fiddled while Rome burned. But was Nero’s descent into madness triggered by his failed romance with a former slave? Edward J Watts tells a story of murder, incest and political intrigue
encoded: It is difficult to feel empathy for the emperor Nero, a man who did such unquestionably terrible things that he has become a prototype for the monstrous Roman ruler. During his lifetime he was labelled a matricide, an arsonist and a persecutor of Christians who also killed his pregnant wife by kicking her in the stomach. After his death, these stories grew into terrifying legends about his cruel madness. By the Middle Ages, chroniclers even detailed a tale in which Nero commanded doctors to make him give birth. Fearing for their lives, the terrified doctors “made up a potion in which they put a frog and gave it to the emperor to drink”, while prescribing him a special diet that would cause his stomach to expand. When Nero vomited the animal out, he “commanded that the foetus be fed and kept in a domed chamber” as his imperial heir. Some manuscripts even featured an image of Nero on a birthing chair beside his frog-child to illustrate his “evil madness”. And yet it is not hard to imagine a different life for Nero. This is because, before Nero became a monster, he was a heartbroken boy prohibited from marrying Acte – his one true love. Family trauma The tragic history of Nero’s family made it all the more surprising that he found such a romantic partner. His mother, Agrippina, was the daughter of Germanicus – the man whom Rome’s second emperor, Tiberius, hoped would assume imperial power following his planned retirement. When Germanicus predeceased Tiberius, however, his wife and children became potential rivals and were ultimately arrested. Agrippina’s mother starved to death in captivity, while her brother took his own life by eating the mattress in his cell. Their fates taught the princess that real financial and political security came only from a strong connection to some devoted, powerful male figure. She married thrice, each time to a rich and powerful suitor. Her first marriage, which was celebrated in AD 28 when she was just 13 years old, joined Agrippina to …

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Paint a pot like an ancient Etruscan
type: item
date: 2025-12-23T13:47:35.000Z
creator: Dr David Musgrove, FSA
subject: General ancient history
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: Dr Lucy Shipley shares a life lesson that we can take from the approach to life of the ancient Etruscans
encoded: Be yourself and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. That’s one of the lessons that archaeologist Dr Lucy Shipley says we can take from the approach to life of the ancient Etruscans. These historical inhabitants of the Italian peninsula seem to have had a very self-confident attitude – one which we could learn from today.

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Don’t worry, be Babylonian
type: item
date: 2025-12-23T13:41:55.000Z
creator: Dr David Musgrove, FSA
subject: General ancient history
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: If you find yourself in a state of worry, Selena Wisnom argues that you could take a leaf out of the book of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians
encoded: Do you wake up in the middle of the night worrying? If so, you’re definitely not alone. But if you want to manage the anxieties of modern life, Selena Wisnom argues that you could take a leaf out of the book of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians.

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Did the ancient Romans wear underwear? The truth is surprisingly complicated
type: item
date: 2025-12-18T11:22:44.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: General ancient history
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: A seemingly simple question opens up difficult debates about ancient Roman beauty ideals and social hierarchy, and reveals how differently the Romans thought about their bodies
encoded: At first glance, it seems like a question with an obvious answer. Surely the Romans, famed for the complexity of their social culture, engineering prowess, elaborate fashions and careful etiquette, must have worn underwear? It’s hard to imagine that members of the civilisation that built aqueducts and amphitheatres wandered along their famously straight roads without anything beneath their tunics. Yet as professor Ursula Rothe explains on the HistoryExtra podcast, the reality of Roman underwear is very ambiguous, and exceptionally tricky to pin down. “This is quite a controversial topic,” she says. The debate begins with what the people of the Roman empire wore (or didn’t), but morphs into more complex questions about how they viewed the body, beauty, modesty and status. Roman writers left detailed descriptions of clothing, hairstyles, jewellery and elite fashion, but almost nothing about underwear. “On the whole it’s not really something Romans talk about,” Rothe notes. “It’s not something that is depicted.” Most organic Roman textiles have vanished from the archaeological record, not being something that preserves over two millennia. The few surviving garments and images that have survived are often inconclusive. This scarcity of evidence has led to competing interpretations of Roman underwear. But what’s the answer? As Rothe explains, looking at the clues reveals as much about Roman values, as it does about Roman clothing – or lack thereof. Roman Britain | A short course from HistoryExtra Academy Member exclusive | In this four-week course, discover everything you need to know about Roman Britain, guided by Rob Collins, professor of frontier archaeology at Newcastle University. Explore the course now Roman fashion and the purpose of the strophium There is one thing we can say with relative certainty about underwear: there was something like a bra. “We do know that women wore a band around their bust called a strophium,” Rothe says. This was a simple cloth band th…

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Ancient Roman culture would be baffling to modern eyes – and their toilet habits prove it
type: item
date: 2025-12-09T14:24:45.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: General ancient history
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: Ancient Roman ideas of privacy differed radically from our own, and their communal toilets reveal a mindset almost impossible for modern people to imagine
encoded: The right to privacy is a pillar of modern human rights. It’s a concept so deeply ingrained in our society that it can feel universal. We assume that certain spaces like our homes – especially their bedrooms and bathrooms – are inherently private while streets, workplaces and public buildings are for communal life. But these distinctions haven’t always existed. And in the culture of the ancient Roman world, the definition of privacy was entirely different. How, then, did the people across the Roman empire conceive of privacy if not through physical seclusion? Why were communal latrines the norm? And what does this reveal about Roman values? Speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast, Dr Hannah Platts explains how understanding those answers requires stepping into a cultural world where the individual was less important than the collective, and where privacy meant something very different from what it does today. What “public” and “private” meant to the Romans “It is really important not to conflate the urban realm of the city and the domestic realm of the house with our modern notions of urban as public and domestic as private,” she says. Today, closing a door marks out a sphere of personal privacy. In Rome, that wasn’t the case. Instead, Romans distinguished between the private and the public based on the activity itself, rather than the place where the activity was happening. Read more | If ancient Romans didn't understand calories, how was their theory of nutrition so accurate? Confused? You’re right to be. It’s a tricky distinction, but Platts thinks a lesson in Latin can help illuminate what’s going on. “The Latin word privatus translates as ‘of or belonging to an individual’, apart from the state or the community.” By contrast, publicus meant “belonging to the people, belonging to the state, belonging to the community.” So whether something was public or private depended on whether it affected the civic body, not where it happened. A legal consultation in someone’s …

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