Best Wondery Patrick Wyman Podcasts (2025)

1
Why Was Carthage Such a Threat to Rome? Interview with Dr. Bret Devereaux, Part 2 59:39

6d ago59:39

59:39

Dr. Bret Devereaux returns to the show to discuss why, exactly, Carthage was such a threat to the Roman Republic. The answer lies in the fact that more than any other state in the ancient world, Carthage most closely resembled Rome. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in har…

1
The Rise of Scipio Africanus and the War in Iberia 39:22

13d ago39:22

39:22

Most of Rome's generals were competent but not outstanding, which was more than enough for a power with Rome's structural advantages. Yet the Second Punic War did produce one extraordinary military leader for Rome: Scipio Africanus, a scion of one of the city's most illustrious families. Today, we follow his rise, how it reflected Rome's aristocrat…

1
Why Didn't Cannae Win the War for Hannibal? 39:16

20d ago39:16

39:16

Cannae was a crushing victory for Hannibal, but it didn't win the war for him. Why? The answer lies in the nature of the Roman political system, which prioritized resilience, manpower, and the diffusion of authority. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or…

1
Experiencing the Battle of Cannae 37:11

27d ago37:11

37:11

The Battle of Cannae was the worst defeat Rome ever suffered, and one of the worst battlefield losses in history. What was it like to be there? We explore the battle from the perspective of a common Roman soldier and try to make sense of the unexplainable. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years tha…

1
Combining Ancient DNA and History: Interview with Dr. Pontus Skoglund 47:49

1M ago47:49

47:49

Ancient DNA has completely reshaped our understanding of prehistory, but what does it offer for periods when we actually have historical texts? Dr. Pontus Skoglund, one of the world's leading aDNA researchers, joins me to talk about his recent study of Iron Age and Medieval Europe, and how genomics can reveal new things even about periods we think …

1
Hannibal Invades Italy 38:34

1M ago38:34

38:34

Hannibal accomplished a great deal during his long and illustrious life, but no feat has captured the imagination more than his crossing of the Alps. In the teeth of an Alpine fall, Hannibal took tens of thousands of men, horses, and even several dozen elephants into the peaks, then descended on Italy and brought destruction to the heart of Roman t…

1
The Carthaginian Conquest of Iberia 42:23

2M ago42:23

42:23

The disastrous ending of the First Punic War could have destroyed Carthage for good, and it nearly did. But one man had a plan for how to bring Carthage back to prosperity and power: Hamilcar Barca, the father of Hannibal, who took an army to Iberia to build a new Carthaginian empire. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Ren…

1
Rome, Carthage, and the Punic Wars: Interview with Dr. Bret Devereaux 1:07:09

2M ago1:07:09

1:07:09

Dr. Bret Devereaux is one of the world's leading experts on the military history of Rome and on the Punic Wars. We discuss Rome's advantages, what made the Republic so formidable, and why it was able to accomplish so much in such a short period. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the…

1
Rome in the Middle Republic 41:22

2M ago41:22

41:22

A century of expansion and conquest in Italy transformed Rome from a minor spot on the Tiber to the hegemonic power in the peninsula, but what did that actually mean for the Republic and the city itself? Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (r…

1
The First Punic War 41:32

2M ago41:32

41:32

The First Punic War put Rome on the map as a major power in the Mediterranean. For 23 grueling years, the war between Rome and Carthage dragged on and on, causing immense destruction and tens of thousands of deaths, but in the end the Republic emerged victorious. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Ye…

1
How and Why Rome and Carthage Went to War in 264 BC 37:28

3M ago37:28

37:28

There was no particularly pressing reason for Rome and Carthage to go to war in 264 BC over the small city of Messana, but one small incident nevertheless sparked a conflict that lasted for 23 years and caused untold devastation. Why did this happen? Was war between the two great powers actually inevitable? Patrick's book is now available! Get The …

1
Rebroadcast: Peasants' Rebellions and Resistance 51:10

3M ago51:10

51:10

The medieval world relied on peasants. They grew the food, maintained the buildings, produced the craft goods, and made up the vast bulk of the population. But they were never particularly happy with their place in society, and rebellions, revolts, and quieter forms of resistance were ubiquitous. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Refo…

1
Soldiers and Labor Markets in the Hellenistic World: Interview with Dr. Charlotte van Regenmortel 44:58

3M ago44:58

44:58

The decades after the death of Alexander the Great saw a massive increase in the scale and intensity of warfare over an area stretching from Italy to Afghanistan. Dr. Charlotte van Regenmortel joins me to talk about the enormous economic impact of that warfare, and how it created a concept of wage labor that transformed the economies of the Helleni…

1
Interview: Professor Lyndal Roper on the German Peasants' War 53:59

3M ago53:59

53:59

The German Peasants' War was the largest popular revolt in Europe before the French Revolution, but it's largely been forgotten. Why? Professor Lyndal Roper of the University of Oxford joins me to discuss her absolutely outstanding new book, Summer of Fire and Blood, and we discuss peasants, resistance, and the heady days of the early Reformation. …

1
The Defeat of Pyrrhus and the Road to the Punic Wars 40:01

3M ago40:01

40:01

Pyrrhus of Epirus won costly but clear victories over the Romans in their first battlefield meetings, but couldn't win the war. Rome's dogged determination eventually won the war for them and placed them on the path to seemingly inevitable conflict with Carthage. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Ye…

1
Duels, Violence, and Conflict in Early Modern Europe: Interview with Professor Stuart Carroll 55:05

4M ago55:05

55:05

Early modern Europe was a violent place, full of duels, bloody encounters, and decades-long feuds. In many ways, it was more fractious and dangerous than it had been during the Middle Ages. Professor Stuart Carroll is an expert on the social and cultural aspects of violence in that age, and we chat about murder, conflict resolution, and how people …

1
The Pyrrhic War 40:24

4M ago40:24

40:24

By 281 BC, Rome controlled much of Italy, but the city was still a minor player on the larger Mediterranean scene. That changed when King Pyrrhus of Epirus crossed the Adriatic with a powerful army of Macedonian pikemen and war elephants, setting in motion the toughest war the Romans had ever fought. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: …

1
King Pyrrhus of Epirus and a New Age of Mediterranean Politics 38:28

4M ago38:28

38:28

While the Punic Wars mark the stage of Roman history with which most people are familiar, Rome's entrance onto the stage of Mediterranean power politics actually came a decade earlier, with a bloody, grinding war against the Hellenistic king Pyrrhus of Epirus. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years…

1
The Tyrants of Syracuse and the Wars with Carthage 42:10

4M ago42:10

42:10

As the fourth century drew to a close, Rome wasn't the only rising power in the central Mediterranean; Syracuse and Carthage were battling for dominance in Sicily and beyond, fighting devastating wars of ever-increasing scale that led directly to the eventual conflicts we know as the Punic Wars. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Refor…

1
Excavating a Scythian Royal Burial Mound: Interview with Dr. Gino Caspari 38:46

5M ago38:46

38:46

Dr. Gino Caspari returns to discuss the extraordinary finds at his most recent excavation of an early (maybe the earliest) Scythian royal burial mound in Siberia! We discuss horse sacrifice, state formation, the earliest Scythians, and the trials of excavating in one of the more remote places on the planet. Patrick's book is now available! Get The …

1
What If: Alexander the Great had Died at the Granicus River? 32:54

5M ago32:54

32:54

How would history look different if Alexander the Great had died in 334 BC? Would Macedonia still have conquered most of Asia? Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: https://bit.ly/PWverge. And check out Patrick's new pod…

1
The Birth of the Carthaginian Empire 40:08

5M ago40:08

40:08

Carthage spent most of the fifth century BC building up its economy, but in the aftermath of the disastrous Athenian expedition to Sicily, the Carthaginians decided that the time was ripe to create a new Mediterranean empire. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, …

1
The Fall of the Carolingian Empire: Interview with Dr. David Perry 54:16

5M ago54:16

54:16

Much of what we take for granted about the European Middle Ages was a product of the Carolingian dynasty, particularly its most notable member, Charlemagne. But before long, the empire Charlemagne built splintered, thanks to the ambitions of his grandsons. Dr. David Perry is co-author, along with Professor Matthew Gabriele, of the new book Oathbrea…

1
The End of the Age of the Successors 39:55

6M ago39:55

39:55

By the 280s BC, only a few of the men who had ridden the length and breadth of Asia with Alexander were still alive, and the world they had spent decades fighting to make was ready to be born: the Hellenistic world. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or …

1
Being a Soldier During the Thirty Years War: Interview with Dr. Lucian Staiano-Daniels 1:05:28

6M ago1:05:28

1:05:28

What was it like to be a soldier during the Thirty Years War? I spoke with Dr. Lucian Staiano-Daniels, author of the upcoming book The War People: A Social History of Common Soldiers during the Era of the Thirty Years War, about what we can know of the thousands of men who fought during that extraordinarily violent and confusing period. Patrick's b…

1
The Rise of the Hellenistic World 40:11

6M ago40:11

40:11

Antigonus the One-Eyed came closer than almost any other figure in the post-Alexander world to recreating the dead king's empire, but his success aroused the ire of the other Successors, and his doom wasn't far behind. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, …

1
Ancient DNA and the Iron Age Mediterranean: Interview with Dr. Hannah Moots 40:30

6M ago40:30

40:30

Ancient DNA has transformed our understanding of the more distant reaches of the human past, but what can it tell us about more recent ages of history? Dr. Hannah Moots has extensively investigated the genomic history of the Iron Age Mediterranean, offering striking new insights into an age of mobility and interaction over huge spaces. Patrick's bo…

1
The Foundation of the Hellenistic Kingdoms 42:27

7M ago42:27

42:27

As the dust began to settle after Alexander's death, the possibility of one of his relatives truly ruling the dead king's empire grew smaller and smaller. The power lay with the generals, and as they fought it out, the outlines of a new world order began to take shape. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Fo…

1
The Successors of Alexander the Great 38:21

7M ago38:21

38:21

With mountains of treasure, huge armies, and ambitions that no amount of conquest could ever slake, Alexander's Successors spent the next 40 years after the king's death fighting over his inheritance. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read…

1
The Death of Alexander the Great 38:27

7M ago38:27

38:27

The last years of Alexander the Great's reign were a troubled time. The king wanted to keep fighting, but his soldiers were spent after years of campaigning. Then, quite suddenly, the king died, and it was up to his generals to determine the fate of the empire he'd built. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and…

1
Alexander the Great: Soldier, Priest, and God. Interview with Professor Fred Naiden 56:09

7M ago56:09

56:09

Professor Fred Naiden wrote one of my favorite books on Alexander the Great - Soldier, Priest, and God - and it provides a much different view of Alexander than the warrior king we so often see in modern treatments. Alexander was a deeply religious person, and his ideas and beliefs about religion were at the core of understanding his actions. Patri…

1
The Other Ancient Civilisations: Interview with Raven Todd DaSilva 44:14

7M ago44:14

44:14

When we think of the ancient world, we tend to think of just a few societies: Egypt, Mesopotamia, and so on. But the more distant reaches of the past contained multitudes, and Raven Todd DaSilva has written a new book - The Other Ancient Civilisations - about some of them. I chat with her about her favorite lesser-known archaeological cultures and …

1
Alexander the Great, the End of the Persian Empire, and the Descent into India 40:30

8M ago40:30

40:30

Alexander the Great's campaigns didn't end once he had defeated the Persian king Darius III and conquered the heart of his empire; he went still further, into the vastness of the Iranian Plateau and Central Asia, and then south into India. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World…

1
Henry V, the Greatest Medieval King: Interview with Dan Jones 1:01:41

8M ago1:01:41

1:01:41

Henry V of England was the archetypal medieval king, a warrior par excellence whose example inspired English kings for centuries to come, the victor at Agincourt and conqueror of much of France. Tides of History's returning champion guest, Dan Jones, joins me to talk about his new book on Henry V, the king's childhood and adolescence, and why he ma…

1
Issus, Gaugamela, and Alexander's Conquest of Persia 37:51

8M ago37:51

37:51

It took Alexander just three years to effectively conquer the Persian Empire. Two decisive battles - Issus and Gaugamela - proved his supremacy over the Persian king Darius III, and the two-century rule of the Achaemenids died on battlefields in the Fertile Crescent. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Fort…

1
The Fascinating History of Gladiators: Interview with Alexander Mariotti 58:40

8M ago58:40

58:40

Gladiators are one of the most enduring symbols of the Roman world, but what do we really know about them? Gladiator historian Alexander Mariotti joins me to discuss the logic behind gladiatorial games, the lives of real gladiators, and how the reality contrasts with the popular image we have today. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: R…

1
Alexander the Great Invades Persia 38:00

9M ago38:00

38:00

Alexander wasn't yet "The Great" when he invaded the westernmost provinces of the Persian Empire in 334 BC, but he quickly showed that he was a serious threat to the old and still-powerful state ruled by Darius III. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or …

1
The Assassination of Philip and the Rise of Alexander the Great 37:25

9M ago37:25

37:25

Philip of Macedonia was a towering figure, and if he had been succeeded by anyone other than Alexander the Great, he would be far better known today. But in 336 BC, at the peak of his powers, Philip was assassinated, and it became Alexander's kingdom to expand. He would do so beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Patrick's book is now available! Get The …

1
Elite Networks, Mafia Families, and the Rise of Rome: Interview with Professor Nicola Terrenato 53:43

9M ago53:43

53:43

When we think of the rise of Rome, our usual image is one of conquest: Roman armies marching out year after year to subdue their adversaries. But Professor Nicola Terrenato has an alternative way of understanding that process, one rooted in negotiation, the relationships and networks of elite families, and the self-interest of powerful individuals …

1
Philip the One-Eye and the Macedonian Conquest of Greece 42:04

9M ago42:04

42:04

We all know the name of Alexander the Great, but his father Philip the One-Eye was no less important a historical figure. In just 20 years, he turned Macedonia into the preeminent power in the Greek world, laying the foundation for the much better-known exploits of his son and heir. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renai…

1
Philip the One-Eye and the Rise of Macedonia 38:05

10M ago38:05

38:05

For most of the history of ancient Greece, Macedonia was a backwater: a semi-barbarian kingdom on the fringes of the Greek world, only tangentially involved in the dealings of the sophisticated city-states to the south. But with the rise of King Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, all of that began to change very quickly. Patrick's book is no…

1
Italy Before Rome: Interview with Dr. Kathryn Lomas 1:00:36

10M ago1:00:36

1:00:36

What was Italy like during the period of Rome's rise to power? Dr. Kathryn Lomas, author of The Rise of Rome: From the Iron Age to the Punic Wars, joins me to discuss the fascinating history of Italy outside and inside the city of Rome. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in…

1
Summer Mailbag! Patrick Answers Your Questions 48:32

10M ago48:32

48:32

It's time for another mailbag! Patrick answers questions about the Axial Age, the best places to see Iron Age archaeology, and how to be a discerning consumer of history. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: https://bit…

1
The Aftermath of the Peloponnesian War and the March of the 10,000 Greeks 41:30

10M ago41:30

41:30

The famous Greco-Persian Wars didn't mark the end of the relationship between Persia and Greece, but its beginning. For the next 150 years, the seemingly internal politics of the Greek world became increasingly tied to what was happening under the rule of Persia's Greek king, culminating in the Peloponnesian War and its aftermath. Patrick's book is…

1
The Samnites and the Alternative to Rome 43:48

10M ago43:48

43:48

We tend to think of Rome's rise to power in Italy as inevitable, but it was far from guaranteed. Their most fearsome enemies within the Italian peninsula were the Samnites, hill-people from the mountainous central regions. But what made the Samnites so formidable, and how were they able to hold out for so long? The answer lies in the fact that they…

1
Summer Reading Recommendations 39:42

11M ago39:42

39:42

It's summer, which means it's time for some pleasure reading! Here are seven books that Patrick is recommending for your next summer reads: 1) Svetlana Alexievich, The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II 2) Joel F. Harrington, The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century 3)…

1
The Roman Conquest of Italy 42:06

11M ago42:06

42:06

At the beginning of the 4th century BC, Rome was still not the dominant force in Latium, the small region surrounding the city; by the end of that century, Rome was the dominant power in all of Italy. How did that happen? The answer lies not so much in conquest as cooperation. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance…

1
The Great Gender Divergence: Interview with Dr. Alice Evans 51:25

11M ago51:25

51:25

Gender is one of the fundamental forces structuring our world, but its impact is uneven in time and space. Dr. Alice Evans joins me to talk about the enormous strides toward gender equality that have defined the world in the past century or so, which she terms the Great Gender Divergence. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation,…

1
Rome's Patrician Republic 44:18

11M ago44:18

44:18

By 450 BC, the Roman Republic was beginning to take on the outlines of a form we recognize, with elected magistrates, a Senate, and written laws. But these were hard times for Rome, and there was no guarantee that the city would even dominate its immediate area, much less Italy and beyond. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation…

1
The Birth of the Roman Republic 41:29

12M ago41:29

41:29

In 509 BC, the last king of Rome - Tarquinius Superbus - was expelled from the city, and the Republic was born. But what do we actually know about the early years of the Republic? Not much, and what we do know is at odds with the much later traditions on which we tend to rely. Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance…

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