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Christmas history myths DEBUNKED | The origins you never knew. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A marble bust of a man

Julius Caesar's hellraising youth: did he really defy tyrants and crucify pirates?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

WW2's Tunisian campaign: the Stalingrad of Africa. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This 4th-century AD mosaic from Terranova near Tuscolo depicts gladiators locked in combat, capturing the drama and choreography of the arena in late Roman Italy. Even as public spectacles waned in some parts of the empire, scenes like this show how gladiatorial fighting remained a potent form of popular entertainment.

Female gladiators shocked the ancient Roman world — but not for the reason you think

Episode 4How William the Conqueror brutally secured rule of England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Empress Matilda: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How warhorses transformed medieval England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A woman wearing a black dress and white hood, praying in front of a Bible

Married three times by the age of 15: Margaret Beaufort, the woman who birthed the Tudor Dynasty. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A pink flower with various contraptions in the background

From goat eyelids to bread: history's 12 strangest sex toys. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This illustration shows the chief of the Taensa people receiving the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle on 20 March 1682. Set in what is now Louisiana, the scene reflects the early encounters between Indigenous nations of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Europeans

Step inside the lost Native American city that rivalled medieval London

A collage of a man in Nazi uniform in front of a large building

I've just been inside a Nazi monster's mansion – and what I found there was deeply haunting. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An image of Roman ruins, including tall structures with 6 columns in the background. There is a large curved wall in the foreground

Think you know everything about ancient Rome? These 25 facts will prove otherwise. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Cinemagoes look at a screen out of shot, a projector behind them shines overhead

Recent HistoryExtra videos. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A painting of two men, dressed in colourful robes, hug each other. One man is standing on top of a lamb, the other on a lion

Michael Wood on the rise and fall of Asian empires. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Forgotten female secret agents of WW2. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This 2nd-century AD mosaic from La Chebba, part of a larger scene showing the Triumph of Neptune, includes a boy gathering fruit — a small detail that reflects broader Roman ideas about health and diet. Fresh fruit played an important role in Roman nutrition, valued for its balance, seasonality, and association with natural well-being.

If ancient Romans didn't understand calories, how was their theory of nutrition so accurate?

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Ukraine peace deal: what are the lessons from history?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

What Was Life REALLY like in a Medieval Castle? The truth about castle living. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Painting of the first Thanksgiving

Think you know everything about the history of Thanksgiving? Here’s 21 facts that will prove you wrong

Habsburg royals displaying the distinctive jaw that became a hallmark of their intermarrying to stay in power. (Images by Getty)

What was the Habsburg jaw?

Star witness: how the Royal Observatory transformed our understanding of astronomy and time. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

What causes cultures to decline and fall?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A statue of an ancient Mesopotamian demon stands before a backdrop of cuneiform text, evoking the richly layered world of ancient Near Eastern religion.

General ancient history

Long before Dracula, an ancient Mesopotamian civilisation raised the world's oldest vampires

Episode 3How 1066 altered England’s fate FOREVER. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Christopher Marlowe: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This late 15th-century illustration shows crusader forces besieging Damascus during the ill-fated Second Crusade in 1148. The armies of King Baldwin III of Jerusalem, Emperor Conrad III of Germany, and King Louis VII of France converge on the city, only for the campaign to collapse in defeat. Likely produced in Bruges for a chronicle of the Crusades, the image reflects how later medieval artists interpreted one of the crusading movement’s most damaging failures.

Who won the crusades? The causes, death toll, and number of medieval holy wars explained

Beyond the podcast: Jane Austen

Fake news and the Dreyfus affair: the media-fuelled scandal that divided France. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Uprising: the Civil Wars untangled. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Did Hitler have a secret Jewish grandfather? Our DNA research has solved the mystery. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.