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PODCAST

Tides of History

Audible / Patrick Wyman

Everywhere around us are echoes of the past. Those echoes define the boundaries of states and countries, how we pray and how we fight. They determine what money we spend and how we earn it at work, what language we speak and how we raise our children. From Wondery, host Patrick Wyman, PhD (“Fall Of Rome”) helps us understand our world and how it got to be the way it is.Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Tides of History ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the

history documentary

All Episodes

00:33:56

What I've Learned From Tides of History

Tides of History ·

2026/04/09

Does history repeat itself? Not really, but that's not the reason it's worth studying: Our past is nothing more or less than the collective record of our species' achievements and failures, and it contains a variety of lessons, few of them easy and straightforward. In this episode, we explore how history helps us in the present, and how it doesn't.Patrick has a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe

en

00:44:44

Gladiators and the Roman Psyche: Interview with Dr....

Tides of History ·

2026/04/02

Gladiators are one of the most instantly recognizable yet alien aspects of Roman society, and Dr. Harry Sidebottom's new book - Those Who Are About to Die - offers a cutting-edge view of these fascinating entertainers based on the most recent research. We discuss what recent research has revealed about their lives, why the Romans were so intrigued by them, and why they matter today.Patrick has a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person

en

00:38:28

Babylon, a City for the Ages: Interview with...

Tides of History ·

2026/03/26

The city of Babylon has appeared in our episodes time and again over the past several years: as the center of empires, a victim of vicious conquest, a wealthy center of economic innovation, and even the place where Alexander the Great drew his last breath. Professor Lloyd Llewelyn-Jones joins me to discuss his new, comprehensive, and fascinating new book on Babylon's long and engaging history.Patrick has a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a

en

00:33:20

Popular History and Academic History

Tides of History ·

2026/03/19

Academic history and popular history are very different things, but what is their purpose? And how should we, as people who like and consume history, understand and use them?Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/PWPLA And don't forget, you can still Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read

en

00:35:04

Migration in Human History

Tides of History ·

2026/03/12

If we want to understand how and why the human story has unfolded in the way it has, then we have to understand migration: large numbers of people moving long distances. It's a surprisingly difficult topic to understand, but in the past couple of decades, we've developed better ideas and more tools for making sense of migration, past and present. Follow along for an overview of the topic, how it's been studied in the past, and how we understand it now.Patrick launched a brand-new history show

en

00:50:21

The Last Mailbag!

Tides of History ·

2026/03/05

It's time for one last mailbag! I cover everything from which historical figure would be the best Poster on social media to how ancient authors collected their letters for publication to how making Tides has shaped my interests in the past.Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/PWPLA And don't forget, you can still Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty

en

00:35:03

Ancient DNA and the Future of the Past

Tides of History ·

2026/02/26

The ability to recover ancient DNA from archaeological remains is one of the greatest scientific innovations of our time, but how has it impacted archaeology and ancient history? And where is the study of ancient DNA going? We explore in this week's episode.Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/PWPLA And don't forget, you can still Get The Verge: Reformation,

en

00:33:18

A Voyage Through the Mediterranean at the Fall of...

Tides of History ·

2026/02/19

What did the Mediterranean look like at the moment of Rome's triumph in 146 BC? Join me as we go on one final trip around the wine-dark sea, checking in with each major region and seeing how they changed as Roman armies triumphed everywhere from Iberia to Anatolia.Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/PWPLA And don't forget, you can still Get The Verge:

en

00:51:09

What is the Atlantic World? Interview with Professor...

Tides of History ·

2026/02/12

he Atlantic World is one of the major concepts in academic history, a way of linking together all the various places around the fringes of the great ocean during a time of extraordinary change, the early modern period. Professor Keith Pluymers joins me once more to discuss the Atlantic World and how the concept is useful to us in trying to make sense of a massively important time in human history.Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the

en

00:30:09

The Life of Publius Afer (Rome, 200 BC)

Tides of History ·

2026/02/05

The best way to understand the impact slavery had on a person's life is to follow their journey through the institution, but the ancient world provides few examples that we can use. Instead, we have to assemble a composite character from bits and pieces. We'll call him Publius, and watch him as he's abducted, enslaved, and lives out his life in a new, Roman, world.Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in

en

00:35:42

Ancient Slaveries

Tides of History ·

2026/01/29

Slavery was foundational to ancient societies, but it was never a single thing: The experiences of the enslaved varied dramatically depending on when and where they lived, who owned them, and most of all, the jobs they had to do. Slavery was never good, but there were better and worse versions, and in this episode, we'll explore some of the variation that shaped the lives of enslaved people.Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a

en

00:26:49

Past Lives: Saint Patrick, Slavery, and the Fall of...

Tides of History ·

2026/01/26

Check out Patrick's new show, Past Lives! You can listen on your platform of choice through the links here, and be sure to subscribe to the Patreon for tons of bonus content - Q and As, interviews with fantastic historians, and much more.Saint Patrick is one of the most famous individuals who lived in the late Roman Empire, but long before he became the apostle of the Irish, he was a Romano-British teenager who was abducted from his home and enslaved for six years. See Privacy Policy at

en

00:47:30

Mailbag!

Tides of History ·

2026/01/22

It's been quite a while since I've answered listener questions, so here are a bunch on everything from the best depictions of siege warfare in movies to the pre-Indo-European languages of Europe. Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/PWPLA And don't forget, you can still Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy,

en

00:52:41

Recent Discoveries in the Ancient Americas: Professor...

Tides of History ·

2026/01/15

Every year, new archaeological discoveries claim to rewrite what we think we knew about the ancient Americas, but how much can we trust the initial reports we see? Professor Shane Miller, now of the University of Alabama, joins me again to place the White Sands footprints and other key sites in their proper context.Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/PWPLA And

en

00:33:24

Doing Business in Mid-Republican Rome

Tides of History ·

2026/01/08

The rise of the Roman Republic was built on conquest and war, but also on the massively expanding economy of Italy as a whole and Rome in particular. What was it like to live through that, and what did an expanding economy actually mean?Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/PWPLA And don't forget, you can still get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty

en

00:42:48

Interview with Professor Tom Birkett on "Runes: A...

Tides of History ·

2026/01/01

Runic writing carries connotations of magic and fantasy, but it was a widespread, useful, and long-lasting system of writing. Professor Tom Birkett has written a fantastic overview of runic writing that returns it to the real time and place in which it existed - Runes: A Concise History.Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/PWPLA And don't forget, you can still

en

00:33:55

How Alexander the Great's Soldiers Spent Their Money

Tides of History ·

2025/12/25

Let's imagine a Macedonian soldier during the time of Alexander the Great. How did this man, whom we'll call Red Cleitus, spend the vast amounts of coin he plundered and earned as he and his comrades fought their way across Asia?Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/PWPLA And don't forget, you can still get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that

en

00:27:07

Two Murders at the Dawn of History (Lost Worlds...

Tides of History ·

2025/12/18

Patrick's new book, Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World, launches May 5th, 2026! Check out this audiobook preview chapter on two murders around 5,300 years ago, hear about everything we can learn from Otzi the Iceman in the Alps and Gebelein Man in Egypt, and be sure to preorder the book in your medium of choice through the link here: https://bit.ly/PWLostWorlds.Patrick launched a brand-new history show on December 3rd! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode

en

00:24:21

Past Lives: Nanaya'ila'i and the Bleeding Edge of the...

Tides of History ·

2025/12/15

Check out a scripted episode of Patrick's new show, Past Lives!Nearly 2,700 years ago, a woman and her daughter were ripped away from their homes in what is now Iran by the soldiers of the Assyrian Empire. Nanaya'ila'i was one of thousands upon thousands of people to experience the violence that accompanied conquest, but she's one of the very few whose name we know and life we can reconstruct. Subscribe to Past Lives on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or the podcast platform of your choice. Become a

en

00:35:40

The Economic Life of Megakles, Farmer of Classical...

Tides of History ·

2025/12/11

We've talked about how rich classical Athens was, but what did that mean for an average person living at the time? In this episode, we follow the life of a composite character, an Athenian citizen farmer named Megakles, to see how the economic developments of the classical age shaped daily life in Athens.Patrick launched a brand-new history show on December 3rd! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe now:

en

411 results

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