It was actually India, not China, that was the greatest trading partner of the Roman Empire. During this era, it’s clear that sea travel was the fastest, most economical and safest way to move people and goods in the pre-modern world, costing about a fifth of the price of equivalent land transport. The Golden Road of early east–west commerce, in other words, ... Show More
Aug 9
385. Saint Patrick: Slave, Rebel, & Ireland’s Patron Saint (Ep 3)
Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated all over the world every year by the Irish diaspora, but what is the real history behind the patron saint of Ireland? How is the traditional story of his life almost entirely incorrect? And why were Irish people in Rome considered to be the most ... Show More
55m 12s
Sep 2024
Ancient India and China: from golden to silk roads
The best-selling historian William Dalrymple presents India as the great superpower of ancient times in The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World. He argues that for more than a millennium India art, religions, technology, astronomy, music and mathematics spread fa ... Show More
42m 10s
Jul 2023
Tom Holland on Rome’s golden age
As history shows, ruling a vast empire is no mean feat. But in the second century AD the Romans seemed to be able to manage it with relative ease. This was the golden age of Ancient Rome, or “Pax Romana”, where peace and prosperity was said to have prevailed across the Mediterran ... Show More
37m 17s
Jan 2024
The Silk Road: everything you wanted to know
The Silk Road is one of the most famous trade routes in history, a vast interconnected network along which not only goods but ideas, knowledge and culture flowed. Sam Willis joins Rebecca Franks to discuss its remarkable history and answer listener questions on the subject, spotl ... Show More
32m 14s