New Books in Ancient History

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Ancient History

This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: newbooksnetwork.com Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to ge... more

46 ratings

Publishes	Twice weekly	Episodes	711	Founded	5 years ago
Number of Listeners		Category	History

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Latest Episodes

Katherine Krauss, "Exemplarity and Allusion in Macrobius' Saturnalia" (Oxford UP, 2026)

Exemplarity and Allusion in Macrobius' Saturnalia (Oxford UP, 2026) offers a new framework for interpreting interactions with classical source material in Macrobius’ Saturnalia. It argues that the Saturnalia, an educational dialogue from the fifth ce... more

6 Jul 2026 • 1 hr 8 min

Olivier Hein, "Mother of the World: The Remarkable History of Turkmenistan" (Hurst, 2026)

Turkmenistan rarely makes international headlines–and when it did, it was often stories that highlighted things like the strange cult of personality that surrounded Saparmurat Niyazov, its first post-Soviet president, who named months after himself a... more

2 Jul 2026 • 53 min

Laura Borghetti and Thomas Arentzen, "Ecologizing Late Ancient and Byzantine Worlds" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

How can we study the late ancient and Byzantine history from ecological perspectives? How might one grapple with the more-than-human in sources and media created by humans? Exploring the diverse ways in which pre-modern texts engaged with the broader... more

22 Jun 2026 • 1 hr 15 min • Popular

Legacy of the Ancient Greeks: On Classical and Modern Democracy with Josiah Ober

American democracy is in a period of crisis, so it seems natural to look back to its origins. So here in Episode 10 of Season 5, I interview Professor Josiah Ober.

Having previously taught at Princeton University, Ober is a professor of political sc... more

17 Jun 2026 • Most popular

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Recent Guests

Olivier Hein

Author of Mother of the World, The Remarkable History of Turkmenistan

Hurst Publishers / author of the book discussed on the episode

Episode: Olivier Hein, "Mother of the World: The Remarkable History of Turkmenistan" (Hurst, 2026)

Thomas Arentzen

Senior lecturer; co-author of Ecologizing Late Ancient and Byzantine Worlds

Sankt Ignatios College, Stockholm; Uppsala University project

Episode: Laura Borghetti and Thomas Arentzen, "Ecologizing Late Ancient and Byzantine Worlds" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

Laura Borghetti

Scholar of Byzantine studies; co-author of Ecologizing Late Ancient and Byzantine Worlds

University affiliation implied by discussion (Byzantine studies)

Episode: Laura Borghetti and Thomas Arentzen, "Ecologizing Late Ancient and Byzantine Worlds" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

Josiah Ober

Professor of political science and classics, Mitsutake Chair at Stanford, author of Rise and Fall of Classical Greece

Stanford University

Episode: Legacy of the Ancient Greeks: On Classical and Modern Democracy with Josiah Ober

Curtis Dozier

Associate Professor of Greek and Roman Studies at Vassar College

Vassar College; Pharos Doing Justice to the Classics

Episode: Curtis Dozier, "The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate" (Yale UP, 2026)

Michael Scott

Author of Themistocles, The Rise and Fall of Athens Naval Mastermind

University of Warwick

Episode: Understanding Themistocles: A Discussion with Author Michael Scott

Christopher Stanley

Author of A Ram for Mars; scholar of early Christianity

NFB Publishing / author of A Slave's Story trilogy

Episode: Christopher D. Stanley, "A Ram for Mars" (NFB Publishing, 2026)

Susanna Drake

Professor of Religious Studies

Macalester College

Episode: Susanna Drake, "Veiling in the Late Antique World" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

Dougald O'Reilly

Author, Professor of Archaeology at Australian National University

Australian National University

Episode: Dougald O’Reilly, "Empires of the Southern Ocean: Early Civilizations of Mainland and Insular Southeast Asia" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026)

Hosts

Miranda Melcher

Host of The New Books Network; frequent contributor across multiple episodes

Morteza Hajizadeh

Host/interviewer on The New Books Network; focuses on scholarly conversations

Reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars from 46 ratings

Very informative!
A great way to stay up on what’s new. I appreciate the time it must take to conduct and produce these podcasts. Thanks!
Apple Podcasts
5
zagobago
United States3 months ago
Interview with a BS artist
They interviewed an author who seriously argues that Native Americans sprung out of the ground, all while claiming that actual paleontologists and archaeologists are just imperialist pigs. I listen to these podcasts to avoid the propaganda from people who are afraid of facts. Do better
Apple Podcasts
1
Nj2348
United States7 months ago
Dreadful
Dreadful - heaps and heaps of adverts. No thank you.
Apple Podcasts
1
KVP123
United Kingdom8 months ago
Outstanding!
The authors are compelling advocates for their titles and their knowledge encompasses for more than the titles suggest. So many of these interviews are diamonds.
Apple Podcasts
5
Aethelstan972
United States2 years ago
Stunningly informative
What an extraordinary range of subjects! If you love ancient history this podcast is a must. It covers areas and subjects that I had no idea existed and gives instant access and insight to the most specialised learning.
Apple Podcasts
5
Hokeykokey
United Kingdom3 years ago

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Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Focused, book-forward conversations with scholars that illuminate complex topics.

Excellent breadth across ancient history topics and related fields; consistently insightful.

High level of scholarly rigor; great for deep-dive researchers and students.

Some episodes include heavy advertising or pacing that can distract from the interview.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts	#63	Austria/History
Apple Podcasts	#238	Denmark/History

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Legacy of the Ancient Greeks: On Classical and Modern Democracy with Josiah Ober

Q: What is the core insight about democracy from Aristotle's taxonomy and how it applies today?

The discussion highlights that Aristotle framed democracy as one form among several, with ongoing debates about the conditions under which collective self-government can function and endure.

Legacy of the Ancient Greeks: On Classical and Modern Democracy with Josiah Ober

Q: How did you get into history?

Ober describes a personal journey from studying Greek history to focusing on the elite-mass dynamics and public speech, which led to his later work on democratic Athens and civic institutions.

Dougald O’Reilly, "Empires of the Southern Ocean: Early Civilizations of Mainland and Insular Southeast Asia" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026)

Q: There is a lot of discussion about how Southeast Asia's polities formed and interacted across landscapes and water networks. Could you summarize how the transformation from chiefdoms to states took place in broader terms for listeners?

Transformation happened through a combination of globalization-era contact, integration of wealth from trade into political power, and strategic management of water and land, leading to centralized bureaucratic institutions and sophisticated governance structures—culminating in Angkor as a key mainland state.

Dougald O’Reilly, "Empires of the Southern Ocean: Early Civilizations of Mainland and Insular Southeast Asia" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026)

Q: Now, this is a very big and complex book which encompasses most of Southeast Asia. I have hundreds of years of its early history. What gave you the idea to write such an ambitious book?

The book centers on a few big ideas, framing region-wide patterns through regional case studies; it argues that early polities in Southeast Asia were rooted in indigenous chiefdoms that gradually evolved under the influence of long-distance trade, climate variability, and the adoption of Indic religious legitimization—focusing on how these forces produced a unique, decentralized form of statehood.

Susanna Drake, "Veiling in the Late Antique World" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

Q: So Susanna, hi. Can you introduce yourself? Who are you and how did you get interested in veiling?

Susanna explains her background, teaching at Macalester College since 2008, and describes how her interest in veiling grew from early work on Origen and the metaphor of unveiling in Christian allegory to contemporary feminist theory and material culture.

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Frequently Asked Questions About New Books in Ancient History

What is New Books in Ancient History about and what kind of topics does it cover?

Scholarly interviews alongside expert colleagues explore recently published work in ancient history, archaeology, classics, and religious studies. Episodes center on fresh book-length investigations—ranging from everyday life in antiquity, ancient economy and theatre, to political leadership and incarceration in the ancient Mediterranean—each conversation unpacking the author's arguments with methodological rigor and vivid historical detail. Listeners get access to interdisciplinary methods, archival sources, and wide-ranging case studies, often linking ancient contexts to contemporary debates. A notable strength is the breadth of topics and the high level of scholarly insight, making it a strong resource for researchers, students, and prof... more

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1. HistoryExtra podcast
2. In Our Time
3. Hermitix
4. The Ancients
5. Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman

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New Books in Ancient History launched 5 years ago and published 711 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on New Books in Ancient History?

Recent guests on New Books in Ancient History include:

1. Olivier Hein
2. Thomas Arentzen
3. Laura Borghetti
4. Josiah Ober
5. Curtis Dozier
6. Michael Scott
7. Christopher Stanley
8. Susanna Drake

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