November 21, 2009
Ancient History Podcasts
Tags:
History,
Podcasts
As long-time readers may have realised from my
various
holiday
photos,
I have an interest in ancient history. Discovering iTunesU, I was in
history podcast heaven. There are numerous history lectures from many
different institutions. In the ancient history area they mostly focus on
Greek and Roman history. There is a paucity of lectures on other
civilisations. I thought I’d start writing reviews of these podcasts.
First up are three short series.
Great Sites Of The Ancient
World
- Podcasts from a lecture series at the University of Pennsylvania
Museum.
There have been at least 8 of these lectures over the past year, but
unfortunately only three have made it online (I’m not sure if more will
become available later). Each is about an hour long. The first, on Ur
of the Chaldees, is audio only, but
makes constant reference to missing slides. Thankfully, the other two on
Troy and
Abydos include the
slideshow video. The lectures are given by archaeologists talking about
their recent field research. As such they can sometimes become quite dry
and focussed on the technical aspects of archaeology (livened with
occasional stories and holiday snaps from the dig). However, you can
still get a feel for the excitement of discovering or unearthing
something unseen for millennia. Fans of the UK TV series Time
Team should enjoy them -
although they lack an equivalent of Tony Robinson’s translation for the
layman.
World
Archaeology
- Part of an Open University course, these 12
podcasts ranging from 6 to 19 minutes in length, form an introduction to
archaeology as a subject of study. The course has a
website, as does the
series of podcasts,
where transcripts are available. The podcasts are audio only and have
been produced with this in mind - there is no mention of accompanying
images and the delivery is very clear. However, the series is very
repetitive. Many of the podcasts contain parts exactly the same as other
podcasts in the series. I suspect that the series actually contains
lectures from two versions of the same course. In general, if the names
of two podcasts in the series look similar, the shorter one can be
largely skipped without missing anything. In these podcasts history
takes a backseat to archaeological definitions and theories like what is
a city, how did agriculture start or empires form. Also, I found them
quite introductory (which is probably intentional) and light on
information. They quickly jump across so many times and civilisations
there is not time to dig deeper. Still there are some interesting
nuggets, but I won’t be keeping a copy of this series on my computer.
Culture, identity and power in the Roman
empire
- Another Open University series, the 6 video podcasts are presented
like short films (all under 9 minutes). Again the
course and
podcasts
have their own websites. One is a short introduction to the geographical
and cultural extent of the empire. Two are examinations of particular
mosaics, and the remaining three look at the emperor as a force for
unity in the empire. I have to admit to a soft spot for these podcasts
as they make special mention of the Roman remains at
Thugga (also know as Dougga) in
Tunisia. I visited this site in 2008, you can see my photos
here.
This series is worth a look. The podcasts are too short to go into much
detail but they have interesting visuals of current Roman sites and art.