437 episodes listed below
Measured history after Rome did not end.
The History of Byzantium follows the Roman world after 476 with patient attention to emperors, armies, cities, churches, and succession crises. Recent episodes move from Trebizond and Crimea to Constantine XI, the fall of Constantinople, Russian memory, and carefully rated counterfactuals.
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The History of Byzantium is a long-running narrative history of the Roman Empire’s eastern continuation, tracing the world between 476 and 1453 with steady attention to politics, war, religion, geography, and memory. It moves slowly by design. The show is less interested in spectacle than in causation: who held power, who could challenge it, which institutions still worked, and which inherited assumptions had begun to fail. Recent episodes show its range clearly. Trebizond becomes a study in survival on a narrow strip of fertile land between the sea and the steppe. Crimea and Cherson become reminders that the Roman world was not always neatly Roman, even when Constantinople remained the dominant center of trade and prestige. Constantine XI receives not a simple eulogy, but a cold-case treatment. The evidence is examined witness by witness. The result is more austere than legend, and more interesting for that restraint. The show can still handle myth. Its episode on the immortal emperor follows the tradition that Constantine was taken below the earth, turned to stone or marble, and left waiting for an angelic return. That legend is treated as history too, not because it proves what happened in 1453, but because it reveals what later communities needed the fall of Constantinople to mean. Elsewhere, the show follows the shock of the city’s fall through Venice, Egypt, Russia, and the idea of a Third Rome. It also allows controlled counterfactuals, rating what might have changed if a commander had lived, a fleet had survived, or a crusading path had bent differently. The tone is measured, sometimes dry, and usually unsentimental. It trusts complexity. It is strongest when a famous event has become too polished by memory and needs to be returned to evidence, geography, and politics.
Made for: For history listeners who enjoy long-form narrative, imperial politics, source criticism, and the slow accumulation of context. It suits people comfortable with names, dynasties, campaigns, and careful argument rather than quick summaries.
What sets it apart: The show combines chronological storytelling with explicit historical judgment: it explains the evidence, marks uncertainty, and still commits to a reading. Its episodes make borderlands, legends, failed fleets, and succession crises feel structurally important rather than ornamental.
A podcast telling the story of the Roman (Byzantine) Empire from 476 AD to 1453. www.thehistoryofbyzantium.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Detailed reconstruction and close source criticism make East Roman politics, warfare, religion, and culture unusually legible.
The History of Byzantium reconstructs imperial politics with the patience to explain the ground beneath an event. Its account of Constantinople's fall maps gates, defensive positions, cannon fire, and Mehmed's strategy before following the battle into collapse.
Constantinople becomes a cold case, so you can trade heroic legend for witness-by-witness doubt.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A focused look at a palace coup shaped by taxes, church politics, military loyalty, and dynastic survival.
This single-episode review frames a Byzantine regime change through the pressures that made Phocas vulnerable: heavier taxes, church interference, soldiers lodged in Constantinople, and new walls around the palace.
A measured counterfactual look at how Byzantium's worst turns compounded.
This episode looks at the hinge points where Byzantine history might have broken differently, starting with John's death, moving through Manuel Komnenos's long effort to keep the empire tied to the wider crusading world, and ending with the loss of the Roman fleet in Cyprus.
A missing body becomes a legend of stone, angels, and a sealed gate waiting on Constantine's return.
Constantine XI's disappearance is treated less as a battlefield mystery than as a history of memory, starting with the missing body after 1453 and moving toward the later legend of an emperor turned to stone beneath Constantinople.
A cold-case look at Constantine XI's last hours, with certainty kept out of reach.
The episode treats Constantine XI's death like a cold case, and that is where it finds its edge. The host goes back over the emperor's final hours, weighs the competing accounts of what happened at the Land Walls, and keeps returning to the plain problem of what anyone could…
Constantinople's fall becomes a patient story of delayed news, Russian identity, and the contested claim to Rome.
The fall of Constantinople lands first as delayed certainty in Venice, where official confirmation depends on a written report from Euboea and the relief fleet arrives too late.
A measured look at Roman identity under Ottoman rule, from church power to palace careers.
Roman life under Ottoman rule is framed through the Church's uneasy bargain with power. The Patriarch and bishops kept some authority, but church courts could rule against them, church taxes had to be passed on in part to the state, and each new Sultan expected a donative.
A measured conquest story about legitimacy, pressure, and the making of an imperial capital.
Mehmet and Constantinople treats the conquest less as an inevitability than as a political problem: why pursue the city after the Ottomans had long managed without it?
A sharp case for why the name you use changes the history you think you know.
Leonora Neville makes a focused case for replacing Byzantium with a different way of naming the eastern Roman past, and the episode keeps circling back to what that label has obscured. The strength here is that the discussion never stays at the level of terminology alone.
Greek myth told with fatal momentum.
Ancient empire told in old public-domain voices.
Phocas had cut himself off.
This episode continues the history of Trebizond, exploring its parallels with Roman ports in Crimea like Cherson, which maintained trade connections with Constantinople while navigating steppe politics.
This episode explores the fall of Andronicus Comnenos and the rise of Isaac Angelos as Roman Emperor, setting the stage for the story of Trebizond.
In episode 346 of The History of Byzantium, host Robin walks through the major counterfactual turning points of Byzantine history, scoring each out of 10 based on how much better things would have been for the Romans if events had gone differently.
Episode 345 of The History of Byzantium examines how the mystery surrounding Emperor Constantine XI's death in 1453 gave rise to legends, prophecies, and the enduring myth of the immortal emperor waiting in a cave to return.
Constantine XI turns into a cold case.
This episode explores the aftermath of Constantinople's fall in 1453, examining Western Europe's failed crusading response and the shift toward a European identity, while detailing how Russia absorbed Byzantine legacy through the church and the marriage of Ivan III to Sophia Palaiologina, leading to the Third Rome concept.
This episode announces the Intelligent Speech Conference this Saturday, where the host will participate in panels on Roman history what-if scenarios and geography, while promoting ticket discounts and a prize draw.
Ottoman rule came with a bill.
Mehmed did not need Constantinople.
Questions cluster around the final siege.
On 29 May 1453, Constantinople falls.
Professor Leonora Neville, John W.
In this second half of an interview with Professor Anthony Kaldellis, host Robin continues through his list of ten influential East Romans outside the political narrative, covering Photius, Michael Psellos, Anna Komnene, Eustathius of Thessaloniki, and Plethon.
The narrative has moved into its looking-back phase.
Bulgaria survives by changing.
Basil II never married.
This episode provides updates on upcoming Patreon Zoom calls, recent podcast interviews about Byzantine history and content creation, and expresses gratitude to supporters.
404 AD begins in stone, not mood.
Manoel Palaiologos dies in 1425.
Manuel Paliologos bought time, and for once the clock helped him.
Constantinople nearly falls in 1402.
John Palaeologos inherited exhaustion.
The Ottomans begin as one power among many.
This episode traces the early rise of the Ottoman Empire from a small tribal confederation to a major power, examining how geopolitical chaos in Anatolia, the collapse of Seljuk and Mongol authority, and alliances with Byzantine factions enabled their rapid expansion into Europe.
The empire barely earns the name.
John Cantacuzinos had won, but only just.
This episode details the second phase of the Byzantine civil war (1341-1347), where John Cantacuzinos allies with Serbs and Turks to seize power, devastating Roman territories.
Andronicus III is dead.
Chios gave the empire somewhere to act after defeat.
Father John Strickland answers broad Orthodox questions.
Father John Strickland returns.
The host promotes his participation in the Intelligent Speech Online Conference, discussing Byzantine deception and a historical bluffing game.
After the sponsor note, the episode shifts to Istanbul.
Housekeeping first, then a run of questions.
Andronicus II gets a pretty dry verdict.
The Divine Liturgy comes first.
Host Robin interviews Marco Cappel about his graphic novel 'Ammianus, the Twilight of an Era', which explores the dramatic transformation of 6th century Italy through the lens of a single villa.
Dr.
This episode covers the Byzantine civil war between Emperor Andronicus II and his grandson Andronicus III in the early 14th century, focusing on generational conflict, political maneuvering, and the transfer of power with minimal violence.
This episode details the disastrous hiring of the Catalan Grand Company by Emperor Andronicus II to fight the Turks in Anatolia.
This episode covers the reign of Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II Palaiologos, focusing on his challenges with church union, the defense of Anatolia against Turkish invasions, and financial crises.
This episode examines the collapse of Byzantine Anatolia in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, tracing how Mongol invasions displaced Turkic tribes who migrated into the region.
This episode examines the reign of Michael Palaiologos, focusing on his efforts to save Constantinople from threats like Charles of Anjou through diplomacy, including a controversial church union with Rome.
This episode covers the Church Union efforts in the 13th century, where Byzantine Emperor Michael Palaiologos navigates threats from Charles of Anjou and the Papacy to avoid another Latin invasion, leading to internal persecution and the pivotal Sicilian Vespers uprising that ultimately saves Constantinople.
This episode covers Michael Palaiologos's rise to power, his recapture of Constantinople in 1261, and the challenges he faced in rebuilding the Byzantine Empire, including military conflicts, diplomatic tensions with Mongols, and internal religious strife.
This episode answers listener questions on the Latin Empire's relationship with Venice, the loss of Greek fire, Nicaea's military and economic advantages, and the evolving Roman identity after 1204.
This episode explores the complex aftermath of Constantinople's recapture by Michael Palaiologos in 1261, examining the anxieties of Nicaean officials about moving the capital, the geopolitical and religious challenges of reintegrating the city, and the debate over whether the Roman Empire truly survived the 1204 sack.
This episode examines the Latin occupation of Byzantine territories after the Fourth Crusade, analyzing it as an early form of European colonialism.
An interview with Professor Nicholas Morton about the Fifth Crusade and its impact on the Byzantine Empire.
The host celebrates episode 300 by ranking the ten greatest Byzantine emperors, cutting straight to the list.
This episode covers the perspective of Baldwin II, the last Latin Emperor of Constantinople, after the city's recapture by Nicaean forces.
This episode covers the aftermath of Mongol invasions and the rise of Nicaea under John Vatatzis, leading to the reign of Theodore II.
This episode covers the rise of the Empire of Nicaea after the failed siege of Constantinople, focusing on the Mongol arrival shifting the balance of power.
The episode discusses the arrival of the Mongols in the Byzantine world and their impact on Europe and the Middle East.
This episode begins with advertisements for Zin nicotine pouches, Grainger, and Acast, then promotes an Audible book on Byzantine history.
An interview with Dr.
An episode of The History of Byzantium discussing the aftermath of the sack of Constantinople and the division of the empire, featuring an interview with Dr.
An interview with a journalist about his book on people living along Istanbul's Theodosian walls and the legacy of the 1453 siege.
An interview episode discussing the popularity of the Macedonian dynasty in the Byzantine Empire.
A podcast narrating the history of the Byzantine Empire from 476 to 1453 AD.
An interview with historian Peter Sarris about his new book on Emperor Justinian, discussing his life, reign, and the wealth of sources from that period.
An interview with Professor Antony Kaldelis about his new book on Byzantine history, covering key events from Justinian to the Fourth Crusade.
Host Robin Pierson interviews Dr.
An interview with Professor Anthony Koldelis about his book covering Byzantine history, focusing on Christianity and law.
This episode discusses the government of the Byzantine Empire with guest Anthony Koldellis.
An interview with historian Tom Holland about his book 'Pax' covering Rome's golden age from the fall of the Republic to Hadrian.
This episode explores the role of climate change and plague in the 6th-century decline of the Roman Empire through an interview with author Robert Bruton.
Professor Anthony Koldellis discusses the ten worst Byzantine emperors and the nature of bad leadership.
This episode features an interview with historian Adrian Goldsworthy about his new book on the 700-year rivalry between Rome and Persia, including discussion of Heraclius and the final war.
This episode features an interview with author Catherine Pangonis about her book 'Twilight Cities', which explores the history and modern remnants of forgotten Mediterranean capitals like Tyre, Carthage, and Antioch.
This episode explores the causes and implications of provincial separatism in the Byzantine Empire, particularly after the Fourth Crusade, through an interview with historian Nathan Websdale.
This episode interviews historians Andrea de Giorgi and Katherine Pangonis about the devastating earthquakes in Antakya (Antioch), discussing the current situation, historical context of earthquakes in the region, and what might survive for the future.