When faced with the notion of a scholarly Roman emperor, you would be forgiven for immediately thinking of the great philosopher king,...

Episode 27: While some Spartans and their king were taking their place in history, a no less important battle was occurring in the waters...

It is not just mythological, divine and actual ancient people that have inspired classical street names in Belfast. There are also some...

Published 2018 to much fanfare, with President Michael D. Higgins giving an address, the 4-volume Cambridge History of Ireland is by all...

Episode 26: After the heroic defeat came the myths and legends... Just how many Spartans/Greeks were there at Thermopylae? How did they...

The area occupied by modern Belfast has seen some form of human occupation since the Bronze Age. The Giant’s Ring is an almost...

Episode 25: A small pass in northern Greece becomes the site of a heroic stand by a small(ish) Spartan-led Greek army against the largest...

Let’s get this out of the way... Monty Python’s Life of Brian is a comedic and satirical masterpiece. There are so many scenes which...

Episode 24: Can the Greek city-states set aside their long-standing differences and come together to face the overwhelming power of the...

The appearance of three False Neros in the two decades after the emperor’s death in 68 was not the only ‘afterlife’ that Nero had. He...

Episode 23: Mad kings fall, heroes rise, court intrigue... just a few of things going on in Sparta during the interbellum......

Confronted with rebellions by Vindex in Gaul and Galba in Spain and rumours of the allegiance of Verginius Rufus’ army in Germania, the...

In 216BC, the Italian countryside played host to the Battle of Cannae between the forces of Carthage and the legions of the Roman...

Episode 22: With Persian war seemingly on the backburner, we take a look at the interbellum period of Athens, complete with political...

We saw last time that the career of Pierius must have been significant enough before his appearance in the historical record for Odoacer...

Episode 21: Between Marathon and the next Persian invasion of Greece, the Achaemenid Empire faced ten years of upheaval, with the death...

Flavius Odoacer is most famous as the man who deposed the ‘last’ western emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476, becoming the first non-Roman...

Episode 20: A break down the impact of the battle of Marathon, its fallout, and some of the incredible stories and legends told by...

The doctrinal divide that sealed the fate of Qatari’s burgeoning Azariqa statelet in Kirman was not the first instance of such internal...

Episode 19: The first great contest between a Greek army and the Persians in Greece... https://mncvgk.podbean.com/e/a-soldier-and-a-schol...