Against the Lore

In which we play a game of smash or pass on the celebrities of antiquity...from actors to priests to kings to politicians, there's a whole range of ancient celebs on whom we dish the dirt...

In which we welcome Jerry Toner to talk about natural disasters in the ancient world! Jerry goes against the lore to tell us that the Romans weren't actually that fussed about Vesuvius; Meg and Barney both share flood myths from Greek and Mesopotamian traditions; Flo wonders whether Pliny was the original storm chaser...

In which we welcome Professor Michael Scott, who has co-presented several series of the BBC's Invisible Cities, to talk to us about buildings! We each present our favourite buildings from the ancient world: Michael votes for the Parthenon, Zenia proposes Hadrian's Wall, Barney shares his admiration for the pyramids and Meg of course likes the building named after her (not really but sort of).&nbsp...

In which we welcome Dr Valerie Smitherman to talk about the connections between ancient and modern poetry. Valerie tells us about her research on Bedouin poetic traditions and the modern-day X-factor style TV poetry contest in the UAE. Barney, Zenia and Meg each share their favourite poems from the ancient world.

In which we try to purge our January blues by getting all our pet peeves out in one go. Zenia objects to the objectification of Cleopatra; Meg goes against the lore on some assumptions about Homer, and Barney points a finger at orientalist attitudes to the Ancient Near East. 

In which we celebrate the festive season with drinks from each of our periods in history. Barney chugs beer, Zenia sips white wine, while Meg glugs Greek grog. 

In which we welcome Iszi Lawrence to talk about the Scythians and their love of tattoos! Barney shares that the ancient Mesopotamians were very into piercings but across the ancient world, there were negative associations with tattoos, which were seen as a mark of punishment or ownership. Zenia reveals the etymology of the word 'stigma', and the whole Against the Lore team share what tattoos they...

In which we dive into history to find out the origins of how we write the way we do! The origins of the word 'alphabet' lie in Meg's territory, but she tag teams across to Barney to find out where the letters themselves came from. Meanwhile, Zenia reveals an unusual root to the Latin alphabet. 

In which we welcome Rebecca Bradshaw to tell us about how the Ancient Near East commemorated conflict, and how the communities from that same area today value, preserve or even destroy ancient heritage. Meg shares stories about how the ancient Greeks remembered their war dead, while Zenia tells us that the Romans did their best to ignore theirs...

In which Barney, Zenia and Meg each share a ghost story from their respective historical periods. Meg tells us that Socrates believed in reincarnation, Zenia shares that mosquitos can come back to haunt you, and Barney reveals that leeks are the scariest vegetable...

In which Zenia reveals that there is no year zero, Barney takes us back to the future, and Meg is stuck in Ancient Greece's Groundhog Month.

In which Caroline Lawrence joins us again to talk about her favourite topic, superstition in the ancient world! Meg reveals a spell to turn you invisible, Barney takes us through Babylonian omens and Caroline tells us about the power of the evil eye...

In which we welcome Scott Gray to talk about colours in the ancient world! Meg and Scott discuss whether the ancient Greeks were colour-blind, Zenia tells us about how statues in the ancient world were painted in bright colours, and the colours of the rainbow confuse everyone, from Homer to Aristotle...

In which Against the Lore goes Against the Law with an episode on crime in the ancient world! Tune in for tales of heinous crimes (committed by hardened criminals like stale bread) and the trailer for a new series of Brooklyn 99 but set in ancient Babylonia...

In which Meg tells us about how the Olympics really started, Zenia tells us about how Nero messed them up, and Barney shares stories of ancient Near Eastern ultra runners.

In which we are joined by Salima Ikram, Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo! She tells us about Egyptian police baboons, Meg shares the story of Odysseus' loyal dog Argos, and Zenia goes against the lore on the rumour that Caligula made his horse a consul...

Happy birthday Zenia! And what better way to celebrate than to find out what people did for their birthdays in ancient times. Flo is disappointed to find out that people didn't eat their own birthday cakes, and Barney tells us the truth about horoscopes...

In which we find out what waste disposal methods were used in the ancient world. Zenia tells us the story of the Roman toilet octopus, and there's a unanimous vote to 'Bring Back Sulak', the Mesopotamian dirty hands demon...

In which Dr Jeremy Swist joins us again to talk about what music was like in the ancient world, and Meg tells us where the word 'guitar' comes from...

In which we welcome Dr Jeremy Swist as our special guest, and discover how ancient history features in metal music!

In which we welcome Caroline Lawrence as our special guest, and find out about smelly Romans, fly Mesopotamian hairstyles, deadly accessories and a shocking lack of pockets in the ancient world!

Look out for Season 2 of Against the Lore! 

In which we talk about how neurodiversity might have been seen in the ancient world. Zenia and Flo discuss the Emperor Claudius and his potentially neurodiverse behaviour, and Barney shares a description of what could be OCD from a Babylonian text.

In which we compare ancient globetrotters from ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and the ancient near east! Zenia reveals that Hadrian's Wall was not just in Britain, and Barney makes the case for Babylonian king Nabonidus and his staycation. 

In which we discover that there were no hospitals in the pre-Christian ancient world; Meg tells us about surgery in the Temples of Asclepius, and Barney describes the multiple uses for a goat in Babylonian medicine...