Dan Snow's History Hit
Lost tombs buried beneath desert sands, enchanting hieroglyphs, mysterious mummies, great rulers and kingdoms- Egypt has it all. Since antiquity, tourists have ventured to Egypt to see for themselves the great remnants of its ancient civilisation. Archaeologists have since found graffiti from Ancient Greek scholars and 18th century French explorers in the tombs of the Valley of the Kings.
But what is it about Ancient Egypt that captures us in childhood and adulthood, more so than any other period in history? Well, Dan joins Dr Campbell Price, curator of Egypt and Sudan at the Manchester Museum, to get to the bottom of it. They tell the stories of their own obsession with Egypt, which pharaohs they think are overrated and the impact mass documentary-making is having on archaeological discoveries in places like Saqqara and Luxor.
Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.
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- Update frequency
- every 2 days
- Average duration
- 33 minutes
- Episodes
- 1438
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
How and Why History: The Philosophers of Ancient Greece
From the 6th century BCE, philosophy was used to make sense of the world – including astronomy, mathematics, politics, ethics, metaphysics and aesthetics. But why did philosophy flourish in Greek cul…
The Neanderthals
Rebecca Wragg Sykes joined me on the pod to discuss our perception of the Neanderthals, which has undergone a metamorphosis since their discovery 150 years ago, from the losers of the human family tr…
Assassination and Coverups in The Cold War Congo
I was joined by an award-winning investigative journalist, Ravi Somaiya, to discuss the mysterious death in 1961 of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld. Although Dag Hammarskjöld was called ‘the gr…
Magic and Witchcraft
Suzannah Lipscomb joined me on the pod to discuss the history of magic, witchcraft and the occult. Examining the beliefs and suspicions from the ancient era to the modern world, we discussed everythi…
Charles I Reconsidered
On 22nd August 1642, Charles I raised his standard at Nottingham marking the start of the English Civil War. It was the result of years of ongoing tensions which could no longer be resolved with dipl…
The Spartans
I was thrilled to be joined by Andrew Bayliss, a Senior Lecturer in Greek History at the University of Birmingham. He's an expert on Sparta and Ancient Greece, and he joined me on the pod to mark the…
Freemasonry
John Dickie joined me on the pod to discuss the international story of an organisation which now has 6 million members across the globe. Tracing the origins from local fraternities of stonemasons at …
How and Why History: Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, the Holy Land, as well as sites in Europe and around Britain became popular sites for pilgrimage. It was believed that praying at shrines or in front of holy relics could absolve …
Stealing from the Saracens: Islam and European Architecture
From Notre-Dame Cathedral to the Houses of Parliament, European architecture is indebted to the Muslim world. Diana Darke joined me on the pod to discuss how medieval crusaders, pilgrims and merchant…
Britain in The Great War
I was thrilled to be joined by Simon Heffer, author of biographies on the historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and of the British politician Enoch Powell. He's a…
VJ Day: 75 Years
75 years ago today, on 15 August 1945, Victory over Japan Day marked the end of one of the most devastating episodes in British military history, and the final end of the Second World War. It's estim…
Chinese Philosophy
Michael Puett is Professor of Chinese History at Harvard and has lectured widely at the world's leading universities. His course in Chinese philosophy is among the most popular at Harvard and in 2013…
The Korean War: An American Perspective
I was thrilled to be joined by H. W. Brands. He's authored 30 books on American history and his works have twice been selected as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. On the 70 year anniversary since th…
Vindolanda
Dan finds out what's going on with recent excavations at Vindolanda, one of the largest Roman forts near Hadrian's Wall. All manner of discoveries have been made, including the largest collection of …
How and Why History: Europe's Witch Craze
History's Documents
In this pod I was joined by two people who have played quite an important part in my life: my mum and dad (known to the rest of the world as Peter Snow and Ann MacMillan). Their latest book is a bold…
Nagasaki
The second atomic strike on the city of Nagasaki is less well known than the one a few days earlier on Hiroshima, but was it more influential in forcing the Japanese to surrender? To find out who exa…
Refugees, Sexual Violence and the Fall of the Third Reich
In this episode, Dan speaks to award-winning political correspondent and commentator, Svenja O'Donnell, about her remarkable grandmother's personal story of migration, sexual violence and murder duri…
Pertinax. Son of a Slave to Emperor of Rome.
The son of a former slave, Pertinax was the Roman Emperor who proved that no matter how lowly your birth, you could rise to the very top through hard work, grit and determination.This previously unto…
How and Why History: America, Japan and the Atomic Bomb
On 6 August 1945, an American B29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Three days later, Nagasaki was at the receiving end of a second American A-bomb. Why did Americ…