logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2021
48m 14s

Mavia: Arabia's Warrior Queen

History Hit
About this episode
To fight against the Roman empire and then make an alliance with them took a certain courage and tenacity. In this episode we are introduced to Mavia, the warrior queen of the semi-nomadic Tanukhids, who did just that. Dr. Emran El-Badawi, associate professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Houston, takes us through the things we know and the things that are speculated about Mavia. Emran also places her within the context of the 4th and 5th centuries CE, and discusses her legacy and connections to a closely-connected bishop Moses of Sinai.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
The Age of Dinosaurs with Henry Gee
Before Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, Earth was rebuilding from catastrophe. Out of the ashes of the Great Dying rose a new prehistoric world and with it came the age of the dinosaurs.In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Henry Gee to explore the full sw ... Show More
1h 17m
Mar 1
Ramesses the Great: Death of a Dynasty
“Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.” Ramesses II reigned as Egypt's unchallenged champion for more than sixty years. But within decades the dynasty of Egypt’s greatest pharaoh had fallen apart. Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Campbell Price to chart how the reign of Ramesse ... Show More
56m 33s
Feb 26
Alexander the Great | Lord of Asia
As friendships fracture and old alliances break, Tristan Hughes and Dr Adrian Goldsworthy chronicle the epic downfall of Alexander the Great. Alexander’s relentless campaigns from Bactria to Babylon push his empire, army and inner circle to breaking point, hear the battles, betra ... Show More
1h 16m
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2019
Antarah ibn Shaddad
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, works, context and legacy of Antarah (525-608AD), the great poet and warrior. According to legend, he was born a slave; his mother was an Ethiopian slave, his father an elite Arab cavalryman. Antarah won his freedom in battle and loved a ... Show More
49m 59s
Feb 2019
Antarah ibn Shaddad
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, works, context and legacy of Antarah (525-608AD), the great poet and warrior. According to legend, he was born a slave; his mother was an Ethiopian slave, his father an elite Arab cavalryman. Antarah won his freedom in battle and loved a ... Show More
49m 59s
Jul 2021
Saladin and the Crusades
Saladin was one of the greatest Sultans of the middle ages, and the first sultan of Egypt and Syria. He famously defeated the Crusader army at the Battle of Hattin, and recaptured Jerusalem. The Christian armies of the west never recaptured the Holy City. Saladin's legacy still h ... Show More
25m 30s
May 2018
The Almoravid Empire
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Berber people who grew to dominate the western Maghreb, founded Marrakesh and took control of Al-Andalus. They were desert people, wearing veils over their faces to keep out the sand, and they wanted a simpler form of Islam. They called themsel ... Show More
49m 26s
Jul 2025
M’hamed Oualdi, "A Slave between Empires: A Transimperial History of North Africa" (Columbia UP, 2020)
In light of the profound physical and mental traumas of colonization endured by North Africans, historians of recent decades have primarily concentrated their studies of North Africa on colonial violence, domination, and shock. The choice is an understandable one. But in his new ... Show More
41m 41s
Sep 2020
Episode 6: Omar ibn il Khattab
The reign of Abu Bakr lasted a little over two years, and he kept Omar close in order to prepare him for the role of caliph. But the leadership of the community Omar inherited came with the burden of waging two simultaneous wars against empires that had bordered the Arabs for as ... Show More
24m 50s
Mar 2022
EVE TROUTT POWELL | History of Colonialism in Egypt | Conversations
<p>Eve Troutt Powell talked her research on modern Middle East and the history of slavery in the Nile Valley and the Ottoman Empire.</p><p><strong>Eve M. Troutt Powell</strong> emphasizes the exploration of literature and film in her courses. She is the author of <i>A Different S ... Show More
28m 14s
Dec 2021
The Hittites
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the empire that flourished in the Late Bronze Age in what is now Turkey, and which, like others at that time, mysteriously collapsed. For the next three thousand years these people of the Land of Hatti, as they called themselves, were known only by ... Show More
52m 19s
Dec 2021
The Hittites
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the empire that flourished in the Late Bronze Age in what is now Turkey, and which, like others at that time, mysteriously collapsed. For the next three thousand years these people of the Land of Hatti, as they called themselves, were known only by ... Show More
52m 19s
Nov 2018
Holy War and the Rise of the Ottomans
<p>The Ottoman Empire rose from humble beginnings in Anatolia to dominate a vast swathe of territory. Holy war, <em>gaza,</em> was a powerful driving force behind that expansion. At the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, Ottoman holy war clashed directly with its Christian equivalent: ... Show More
54m 56s