The History of Byzantium Podcast
https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/Current page with first podacsts:
https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/page/15/First Post:
https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/2012/05/09/hello-world/Almost up to date episode index:
http://www.sal.wisc.edu/~jwp/thob/thob-episode-index.htmlI have been listening to this podcast for the last couple of weeks. I listen to/from work in the truck via the Stitcher App on Android.
To sum up:
Well worth your time. Mr. Pierson is an enthusiastic layman who does his homework and presents in a neutral manner. Execution-wise, he is much superior to Dan Carlin's Hardcore history and has gotten better since podcast #1. I am currently on #16, and there exist (as of 20161212) 121 episodes covering up to around 900AD. Pierson is still making it happen and has a ways to go to get to 1453, the true end of the Roman Empire. Pierson may not be a professional historian, but then most professional historians are focused on super-important topics like cross dressing in the Mayan empire. Pierson's bibliography is excellent and I am also ploughing through Warren Treadgold's _A History of the Byzantine State and Society_ since I misplaced Maurice's _Strategikon_ over Thanksgiving.
My motivation:
Trying to fill in the blanks. Heck, I majored in history (OK, it was a second major chosen to decompress from my STEM coursework) and have a life-long interest. Frankly, most survey courses suck rocks and barely cover truly significant topics while promulgating baloney. The Roman Empire after the fall of the western provinces is one of those topics that are skimmed over in most survey courses, as its existence is an affront to The Narrative and lesser narratives. I have read on the later (post 476AD) Roman empire, usually with an emphasis on the military, but have not tried to take in the entirety of its history.
Suggestions if you plunge into THoB:
https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/maps/For the love of all that is holy, click the "Maps" link and take a gander. If you can listen with a map in front of you, so much the better. For my own part, I am good at geography, both contemporary and ancient. I can follow his narrative through the land, maps not needed except when he goes into minutia. Most will need the aid of these maps at first
. (Minutia example: I learned much new data about the _interior_ of Constantinople during one podcast and the linked map was invaluable. Up to then, I had a grasp of the geography of the external bits of Constantinople, but not the inner guts.)
But what if I never learned about Rome up to 476AD?
Not a problem, really. Sure, it would help, but Pierson gives a good summary of how the Roman Empire lost the western provinces in episodes 1-3 or so. Think concentrated Edward Gibbon, without the bluster.
