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Experts on History

Experts on History

Written by: World History Encyclopedia
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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.

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Episodes
  • The Story of Tutankhamun with Garry Shaw

    The Story of Tutankhamun with Garry Shaw
    Oct 2 2026

    Join World History Encyclopedia as they sit down with author and Egyptologist Garry Shaw to hear all about his new book The Story of Tutankhamun: An Intimate Life of the Boy who Became King

    The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 sparked imaginations across the globe. While Howard Carter emptied its treasures, Tut-mania gripped the world—and in many ways, never left. But who was the “boy king,” and what was his life really like?

    Garry J. Shaw tells the full story of Tutankhamun’s reign and his modern rediscovery. As pharaoh, Tutankhamun had to manage an empire, navigate influential courtiers, and suffer the pain of losing at least two children—all before his nineteenth birthday. Shaw explores the boy king’s treasures and possessions, from a lock of his grandmother’s hair to a reed cut with his own hands. He looks too at Ankhesenamun, Tutankhamun’s wife, and the power queens held. This is a compelling new biography that weaves together intriguing details about ancient Egyptian culture, its beliefs, and its place in the wider world.


    — BUY THE BOOK —

    The Story of Tutankhamun: An Intimate Life of the Boy who Became King

    https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0300267436

    — SUPPORT US VIA OUR PATREON—

    https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia

    — BUY OUR MERCH —

    https://www.worldhistory.store​/​


    — ATTRIBUTIONS —

    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:

    https://www.ancientlyre.com

    https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A


    World History Encyclopedia

    www.worldhistory.org


    #tutankhamun #kingtut #authorinterview #ancientegypt
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    22 mins
  • Rome: An Empire's Story with Greg Woolf

    Rome: An Empire's Story with Greg Woolf
    Sep 18 2026
    In our interview with Greg Woolf, we chat all about the second edition of his book Rome: An Empire's Story. What's the book about? Well, It's a total history of Rome. It starts with the 8th century BCE, when it's just a scatter of villages, which we only know through archaeology, and it ends up at the 8th century CE, when Arab armies have conquered Egypt and Syria and swept along North Africa and plunged into Spain. For some hundreds of years, the northwest has been ruled by German Kings and so on. I start from a tiny city on the river and end up with a tiny city on the Bosporus and in between, it sort of expands and contracts, just not back to the same point. We know quite a lot more about very, very early Rome and quite a lot more about late Rome. For early Rome, there have been some studies on how Rome in the centuries before there's any local writing or local history writing, how it interacts with other Italian people. Again, naturally, that's the story that also owes a lot to archaeology. So, we have new accounts of that which are not just the Legends of Romulus and Remus and Aeneas and so on, but it's also stories about how different communities up and down the Italian Peninsula come together, form alliances. You can, if you like, see some of early Rome, not so much as one plucky little people conquering all their neighbours, but actually almost as a sort of process by which different groups of local allies sort of pull it together. And, of course, Rome still reigns at the centre, but you see how the vested interests of landowners and chiefs and warlords all come together to create a kind of, Italy wide project — BUY THE BOOK — Rome: An Empire's Story by Greg Woold https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0190687452 — FURTHER READING, SUGGESTED BY GREG — Archaeologists keep producing more information about the Roman World. Look at http://pompeiisites.org/en/comunicati/the-room-of-the-slaves-the-latest-discovery-at-civita-giuliana/ for a stunning example, the first slave-quarters found at Pompeii. Natural science is changing the way we think about the past. This multidisciplinary team from Yale link massive eruptions of Alaskan volcanoes to traumatic change in the Roman Mediterranean https://news.yale.edu/2020/06/22/climate-change-and-rise-roman-empire Roman historians now understand migration better than ever before and relate it to modern experience. https://theconversation.com/immigration-how-ancient-rome-dealt-with-the-barbarians-at-the-gate-109933 — SUPPORT US VIA OUR PATREON — https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia — BUY OUR MERCH — https://www.worldhistory.store​/​ — ATTRIBUTIONS — 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: https://www.ancientlyre.com https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A World History Encyclopedia www.worldhistory.org #ancientrome #romanempire #romempire
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    22 mins
  • The Ancient Lyre and Kithara | Michael Levy

    The Ancient Lyre and Kithara | Michael Levy
    Feb 6 2026
    Michael Levy, a prolific composer of the ancient lyre and kithara, shares his inspiration and deep knowledge of these remarkable instruments. 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. 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 don’t want to sound, keeping the needed ones open to create chords. 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 Republic that young boys learn musical theory on the lyre because of its clear, pure notes. — MICHAEL'S LINKS — Michael Website https://www.ancientlyre.com Find Michael on Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9 Find Michael on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A 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. https://www.luthieros.com The specialist musician who performs the replica of the aulos Barnaby Brown https://barnabybrown.info/ — SUPPORT US VIA OUR PATREON — https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia — BUY OUR MERCH — https://www.worldhistory.store​/​ — CHAPTERS — 0:00​ Introduction 0:45 Why the lyre? Why did you start playing the lyre? 5:55 Do the different lyres and kitharas need different playing techniques? 10:20 Everything that you know about the lyre, is that all from surviving images? 12:17 How do you go about learning the lyre? 13:43 Performance of The Cave of Hermes 16:19 Ancient Tuning Methods 31:57 Is it meant to be played alone or with other instruments? 34:06 Performance of Hymn to the Stars 37:35 Tell us about the track, Hymn to the Stars! 41:43 Do you have a favourite song that you have composed? 43:47 Outro — WANT TO KNOW MORE? — Lyre https://www.worldhistory.org/Lyre/ Ancient Greek Music https://www.worldhistory.org/Greek_Music/ Aulos https://www.worldhistory.org/Aulos/ Kithara https://www.worldhistory.org/Kithara/ Hermes https://www.worldhistory.org/Hermes/ Pythagoras https://www.worldhistory.org/Pythagoras/ — ATTRIBUTIONS — 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: https://www.ancientlyre.com https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A World History Encyclopedia www.worldhistory.org
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    44 mins
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