Owain Williams
29 episodes listed below
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The Ancient History podcast is the companion podcast of Ancient History Magazine, a publication dedicated to exploring the ancient world. Each episode will feature a new guest to discuss their research, a new book, or talk about ancient history, from Greece and Rome to Mesopotamia and China, and everything in between.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Book-led interviews make ancient evidence, scholarly disputes, and the modern uses of antiquity accessible without flattening the arguments.
Owen Williams turns author interviews into careful examinations of how historians build an argument. Conversations begin with a new book, then move quickly to the question driving it, the evidence available, and the assumptions that shape interpretation.
An Athenian mother's proud inscription makes you wonder who else got left out of ancient history.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A close look at how classical Athens defined women's work, and how the conversation pushes back against that framing.
This episode uses a loaded phrase to open out a wider question: what it means to reclaim the women of classical Athens, and why that framing matters.
A clear, uneasy look at how Greco-Roman prestige can be used to justify hate.
Curtis Dozier, a Vassar Greek and Roman studies scholar, makes a firm case that white nationalists draw on Greco-Roman antiquity to dress up hate, and that the ancient world should not be treated as a neutral shelf of admirable things.
A precise look at Roman theatre as religion, place, and a debated cultural expansion.
Ancient Roman theatre comes into focus as both religious practice and performance tradition. Jessica Clark traces how theatres could be tied to specific gods and local sanctuaries, while treating Rome's role in the spread of theatrical culture as a question to be weighed, not…
Pilate, kingship, and the politics behind Jesus's trial.
Ancient History Podcast turns to Killing the Messiah, The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, with Owen Williams speaking to Nathaniel Andrade, a professor of history at Binghamton University.
A compact, idea-rich tour of Greek myth as creation story, ritual, and afterlife thinking.
Carolina Lopez Ruiz treats Greek mythology less like a parade of famous stories and more like a way of thinking about creation, ritual, and the afterlife.
Greek myth told with fatal momentum.
Ancient empire told in old public-domain voices.
Peak: Compelling content
Ancient History Podcast host Owen Williams interviews Catherine Backler, lecturer in ancient history at the University of Leeds, about Athena's Sisters, Reclaiming the Women of Classical Athens, published by Cambridge University Press.
Ancient History Podcast host Owen Williams talks with Curtis Dozier about White Pedestal, a book on how white nationalists use ancient Greece and Rome to justify hate.
Ancient History Podcast host Owen Williams interviews Jessica Clark about A New History of Ancient Roman Theatre, a book based on her PhD and her work at the Institute of Classical Studies and the British School at Rome.
["Nathaniel Andrade argues in Ancient History Podcast's \"Killing the Messiah\" that Pontius Pilate's decision to crucify Jesus of Nazareth makes more sense as Roman legal and political calculation than as simple execution of an innocent man.", "He says the New Testament Gospels increasingly soften Pilate, especially after 70 CE, while Mark remains his earliest and most historically useful starting point.", "Andrade places Jesus inside a Judea marked by Roman occupation, Herod-backed chief priests, brigands, rival kings, and disputes over who truly ruled Jerusalem and the temple.", "He connects Jesus' final Passover preaching at the temple with crowd volatility, public arrest risk, and the Roman charge of sedition."]
An interview with archaeologist Michael Kosmopoulos about his new book on Homer and the ancient Greek world.
Host Owen Williams interviews Professor Anna Shillian about her new book critiquing ancient DNA research and its sensationalist media coverage.
Host Owain Williams reviews Jessica L.
An interview with James Ford about his book on atheism in ancient Greece.
Host Owen Williams interviews historical advisor Justin Pollard about his career and role in the upcoming series Those About to Die.
Interview with Eric Klein about his new book 'After 1177 BC' on the survival of civilizations after the Bronze Age collapse.