Herodotus Talk

The Olympics are now a global sporting event, but they began as a religious festival in ancient Greece. This episode, traces the Games from Olympia and the worship of Zeus to their modern revival, exploring how the Olympics changed while still remaining about honor, competition, and pride.

In this episode of Herodotus Talk, we trace the history of pizza from the streets of Naples to tables around the world. We’ll look at how pizza began as a cheap food for workers, how Italian unification and migration helped spread it, and how tourism, American tastes, frozen pizza, and delivery turned it into one of the world’s most popular foods.

In this episode of Herodotus Talk, we explore the Black Death, one of the deadliest pandemics in history. Starting with the trade networks of Genoa and the wider Old World, we look at how plague spread, how people in the 1300s tried to explain it, and how fear, religion, and early medical ideas shaped their response. Then, we examine how the Black Death changed society, weakened old institutions, and helped push Europe toward a new era.

In this episode of Herodotus Talk, we head to 1066, where a succession crisis pushed England into one of the most important battles in its history. We’ll cover William of Normandy’s claim to the throne, Harold Godwinson’s fight to keep it, and how the Battle of Hastings reshaped England for centuries.

Two titans of the Hellenic world collide, as Athens and Sparta descend into a war that will reshape the ancient world.