Experts on History
Claim This Podcastby World History Encyclopedia
Podcast Overview
<p>We'll meet historians, archaeologists and curators who are experts in their field and hear about the lives of people who have made history their jobs, learn fascinating facts about the past, and go on a journey through world history.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
10/25/2021
1 verified contact email on file for Experts on History
Pitch yourself as a guest, propose sponsorships, or reach out directly to the host.
Recent Episodes
February 6, 2026
The Ancient Lyre and Kithara | Michael Levy
<p>Michael Levy, a prolific composer of the ancient lyre and kithara, shares his inspiration and deep knowledge of these remarkable instruments.</p> <p>A few tortoiseshell lyres have survived—most famously the Elgin Lyre in the British Museum—and several ancient Egyptian lyres remain as well. Michael plays a replica of the Leiden Lyre, crafted by Luthieros, based on the original preserved in Leiden and dating to around 1500 BCE. Among ancient Greek lyres, only the tortoiseshell chelys lyres have survived; unfortunately, no examples of the wooden kithara remain due to the material’s fragility.</p> <p>Michael explains how his playing techniques come from studying ancient images of lyre players. On Greek pottery and paintings, musicians are shown using the left hand to block specific strings while striking others with a chunky plectrum. Unlike a harp, where strings are muted to stop unwanted sustain, lyre players block only the strings they <i>don’t</i> want to sound, keeping the needed ones open to create chords.</p> <p>He also describes the tonal and social differences between the instruments. The kithara has a deeper tone and, in antiquity, was played only by professionals. The chelys lyre, by contrast, was used in domestic settings—such as symposia, the famous Greek drinking parties. Plato even recommends in the <i>Republic</i> that young boys learn musical theory on the lyre because of its clear, pure notes.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>— MICHAEL'S LINKS —</p> <p>Michael Website <a href="https://www.ancientlyre.com" target="_blank">https://www.ancientlyre.com</a></p> <p>Find Michael on Spotify! <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9" target="_blank">https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9</a></p> <p>Find Michael on Youtube! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>Luthieros, whose wonderfully recreated ancient Greek lyres & kithara has made Michael's ongoing musical mission possible for so long. They are reintroducing the recreated ancient Greek lyres & kithara back into the hands of modern musicians to 'continue where the ancients left off. <a href="https://www.luthieros.com" target="_blank">https://www.luthieros.com </a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>The specialist musician who performs the replica of the aulos Barnaby Brown https://barnabybrown.info/</p> <p><br /></p> <p>— SUPPORT US VIA OUR PATREON —</p> <p><a href="https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>— BUY OUR MERCH —</p> <p><a href="https://www.worldhistory.store/%E2%80%8B" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.store/</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>— CHAPTERS —</p> <p>0:00 Introduction</p> <p>0:45 Why the lyre? Why did you start playing the lyre?</p> <p>5:55 Do the different lyres and kitharas need different playing techniques?</p> <p>10:20 Everything that you know about the lyre, is that all from surviving images?</p> <p>12:17 How do you go about learning the lyre?</p> <p>13:43 Performance of The Cave of Hermes</p> <p>16:19 Ancient Tuning Methods</p> <p>31:57 Is it meant to be played alone or with other instruments?</p> <p>34:06 Performance of Hymn to the Stars</p> <p>37:35 Tell us about the track, Hymn to the Stars!</p> <p>41:43 Do you have a favourite song that you have composed?</p> <p>43:47 Outro</p> <p><br /></p> <p>— WANT TO KNOW MORE? —</p> <p>Lyre <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Lyre/" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/Lyre/</a></p> <p>Ancient Greek Music <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Greek_Music/" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/Greek_Music/</a></p> <p>Aulos <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Aulos/" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/Aulos/</a></p> <p>Kithara <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Kithara/" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/Kithara/</a></p> <p>Hermes <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Hermes/" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/Hermes/</a></p> <p>Pythagoras <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Pythagoras/" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/Pythagoras/</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>— ATTRIBUTIONS —</p> <p>The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:</p> <p><a href="https://www.ancientlyre.com" target="_blank">https://www.ancientlyre.com</a></p> <p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9" target="_blank">https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>World History Encyclopedia</p> <p><a href="www.worldhistory.org" target="_blank">www.worldhistory.org</a></p>
January 23, 2026
The Roman Invasion of Britain | Richard Hingley
<p>In our interview with Richard Hingley, we chat all about his new book Conquering The Ocean: The Roman Invasion of Britain. What's the book about? It's about the Roman conquest of Britain, but that takes some explaining because I suppose in the mind of the public, sometimes the Roman conquest is quite a short term thing, you know, perhaps it occurs over a few years, in reality, it goes on for a long period of time. And really, the first significant episode is when Julius Caesar comes to Britain. Now Julius Caesar, who's campaigning in Gaul, which is largely modern-day France, and he decides to go over the ocean to Britain in 55 and 54 BCE. He travels twice with armed forces, but he doesn't actually conquer anything. He ends up leaving again with some agreements with leading peoples in Britain, and they have to pay Rome tribute, but he doesn't actually conquer anything.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>— FROM THE BACK OF THE BOOK —</p> <p>Why did Julius Caesar come to Britain? His own account suggests that he invaded to quell a resistance of Gallic sympathizers in the region of modern-day Kent -- but there must have been personal and divine aspirations behind the expeditions in 55 and 54 BCE. To the ancients, the Ocean was a body of water that circumscribed the known world, separating places like Britain from terra cognita, and no one, not even Alexander the Great, had crossed it. While Caesar came and saw, he did not conquer. In the words of the historian Tacitus, "he revealed, rather than bequeathed, Britain to Rome." For the next five hundred years, Caesar's revelation was Rome's remotest imperial bequest.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>Conquering the Ocean provides a new narrative of the Roman conquest of Britain, from the two campaigns of Caesar up until the construction of Hadrian's Wall across the Tyne-Solway isthmus during the 120s CE. Much of the ancient literary record portrays this period as a long march of Roman progress but recent archaeological discoveries reveal that there existed a strong resistance in Britain, Boudica's short lived revolt being the most celebrated of them, and that Roman success was by no means inevitable. Richard Hingley here draws upon an impressive array of new information from archaeological research and recent scholarship on the classical sources to provide a balanced picture of the military activities and strategies that led to the conquest and subjugation of Britain. Conquering the Ocean is the fullest picture to date of a chapter in Roman military history that continues to captivate the public.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>— BUY CONQUERING THE OCEAN: THE ROMAN INVASION OF BRITAIN —</p> <p><a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0190937416" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0190937416</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>— SUPPORT US VIA OUR PATREON—</p> <p><a href="https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>— BUY OUR MERCH —</p> <p><a href="https://www.worldhistory.store/%E2%80%8B" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.store/</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>— CHAPTERS —</p> <p>0:00 Introduction</p> <p>0:39 What is the book all about?</p> <p>8:47 Why did you decide to write this book?</p> <p>17:17 What did you find the most interesting when researching the book?</p> <p>24:28 What do you think people should really know about the conquering of Britain?</p> <p><br /></p> <p>— WANT TO KNOW MORE? —</p> <p>Roman Britain <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Britain/" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Britain/</a></p> <p>Claudius <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/claudius/" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/claudius/</a></p> <p>Julius Caesar <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Julius_Caesar/" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/Julius_Caesar/</a></p> <p>Hadrian's Wall <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Hadrians_Wall/" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/Hadrians_Wall/</a></p> <p>Legions of Britain <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1753/legions-of-britain/" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1753/legions-of-britain/</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>— ATTRIBUTIONS —</p> <p>The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:</p> <p><a href="https://www.ancientlyre.com" target="_blank">https://www.ancientlyre.com</a></p> <p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9" target="_blank">https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>World History Encyclopedia</p> <p><a href="www.worldhistory.org" target="_blank">www.worldhistory.org</a></p>
January 9, 2026
The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert | John Lee
<p>The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert by John Lee is a story of a boy who grows up in poverty, facing racism and violence, a boy who seemed like he would have no opportunities. But thanks to dedicated teachers – both black and white –, his unceasing drive to learn, and the opportunities that unexpectedly presented themselves, he was able to rise from those humble beginnings and achieve in a lot of different areas. My book takes this story from his boyhood in Augusta, Georgia, through his early education in Georgia. It takes him to his years at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was only the third African American graduate. Then it takes him to Athens, Greece, where he was one of the very first students of the new American School of Classical Studies at Athens. It was the first research institution that the United States had ever planted overseas. He became one of the first 50 Americans of any race, ethnicity, or background to do professional archaeological work in Greece.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>— FROM THE BACK OF THE BOOK —</p> <p>The First Black Archaeologist reveals the untold story of a pioneering African American classical scholar, teacher, community leader, and missionary. Born into slavery in rural Georgia, John Wesley Gilbert (1863-1923) gained national prominence in the early 1900s, but his accomplishments are little known today. Using evidence from archives across the U.S. and Europe, from contemporary publications, and from newly discovered documents, this book chronicles, for the first time, Gilbert's remarkable journey. As we follow Gilbert from the segregated public schools of Augusta, Georgia, to the lecture halls of Brown University, to his hiring as the first black faculty member of Augusta's Paine Institute, and through his travels in Greece, western Europe, and the Belgian Congo, we learn about the development of African American intellectual and religious culture, and about the enormous achievements of an entire generation of black students and educators.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>— BUY THE FIRST BLACK ARHCAEOLOGUST: A LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY GILBERT —</p> <p><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-first-black-archaeologist-9780197578995?utm_campaign=oupac-campaign:1350568266611279117&utm_source=third%20party&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=web+banner+link&utm_term=world+history+encyclopedia" target="_blank">https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-first-black-archaeologist-9780197578995?utm_campaign=oupac-campaign:1350568266611279117&utm_source=third%20party&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=web+banner+link&utm_term=world+history+encyclopedia</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>— LEARN MORE! —</p> <p>John Wesley Gilbert <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/John_Wesley_Gilbert/" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.org/John_Wesley_Gilbert/</a></p> <p>John's UCSB web page <a href="https://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/john-w-i-lee/" target="_blank">https://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/john-w-i-lee/</a></p> <p>Paine University <a href="https://www.paine.edu/web/mycampus/home" target="_blank">https://www.paine.edu/web/mycampus/home</a></p> <p>American School of Classical Studies at Athens <a href="https://www.ascsa.edu.gr" target="_blank">https://www.ascsa.edu.gr</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>— SUPPORT US VIA OUR PATREON—</p> <p><a href="https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>— BUY OUR MERCH —</p> <p><a href="https://www.worldhistory.store/%E2%80%8B" target="_blank">https://www.worldhistory.store/</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>— CHAPTERS —</p> <p>0:00 Introduction </p> <p>0:39 What is the book about and who is John Wesley Gilbert? </p> <p>5:28 Why did John write the book? </p> <p>12:13 What was the most interesting thing you learned during your research?</p> <p>16:12 What is something that everyone should know about Professor Gilbert and your book?</p> <p>22:20 Did you have any involvement with the community in Augusta, Georgia while researching and working on this book?</p> <p>27:51 Outro </p> <p><br /></p> <p>— ATTRIBUTIONS —</p> <p>The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:</p> <p><a href="https://www.ancientlyre.com" target="_blank">https://www.ancientlyre.com</a></p> <p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9" target="_blank">https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>World History Encyclopedia</p> <p><a href="www.worldhistory.org" target="_blank">www.worldhistory.org</a></p>
28 total episodes available
Recent guests on Experts on History
Guests from recent episodes — sign up to see every guest that has ever appeared on this show.
Gordon Campbell
Guest
Garry Shaw
Guest
Nancy Marie Brown
Guest
Elodie Harper
Guest
Jennifer Saint
Guest
Leyla Johnson
Guest
Soren Johnson
Guest
Wendy Orr
Guest
Daniel Ogden
Guest
Daniel Voshart
Guest
Joshua J Mark
Guest
Greg Woolf
Guest
Similar Podcasts
Discover related shows you might enjoy
Deep-dive analytics for Experts on History
Frequently asked questions
Have a different question and can't find the answer you're looking for? Reach out to our support team by sending us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
- What is Experts on History?
<p>We'll meet historians, archaeologists and curators who are experts in their field and hear about the lives of people who have made history their jobs, learn fascinating facts about the past, and go on a journey through world history.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
Legal Disclaimer
Pod Engine is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected with any of the podcasts displayed on this platform. We operate independently as a podcast discovery and analytics service.
All podcast artwork, thumbnails, and content displayed on this page are the property of their respective owners and are protected by applicable copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to, podcast cover art, episode artwork, show descriptions, episode titles, transcripts, audio snippets, and any other content originating from the podcast creators or their licensors.
We display this content under fair use principles and/or implied license for the purpose of podcast discovery, information, and commentary. We make no claim of ownership over any podcast content, artwork, or related materials shown on this platform. All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are the property of their respective owners.
While we strive to ensure all content usage is properly authorized, if you are a rights holder and believe your content is being used inappropriately or without proper authorization, please contact us immediately at hey@podengine.ai for prompt review and appropriate action, which may include content removal or proper attribution.
By accessing and using this platform, you acknowledge and agree to respect all applicable copyright laws and intellectual property rights of content owners. Any unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or commercial use of the content displayed on this platform is strictly prohibited.