Against the Lore

In which Barney, Zenia and Meg each share a ghost story from their respective historical periods. Meg tells us that Socrates believed in reincarnation, Zenia shares that mosquitos can come back to haunt you, and Barney reveals that leeks are the scariest vegetable...

In which Zenia reveals that there is no year zero, Barney takes us back to the future, and Meg is stuck in Ancient Greece's Groundhog Month.

In which we welcome Scott Gray to talk about colours in the ancient world! Meg and Scott discuss whether the ancient Greeks were colour-blind, Zenia tells us about how statues in the ancient world were painted in bright colours, and the colours of the rainbow confuse everyone, from Homer to Aristotle...

In which Against the Lore goes Against the Law with an episode on crime in the ancient world! Tune in for tales of heinous crimes (committed by hardened criminals like stale bread) and the trailer for a new series of Brooklyn 99 but set in ancient Babylonia...

In which Meg tells us about how the Olympics really started, Zenia tells us about how Nero messed them up, and Barney shares stories of ancient Near Eastern ultra runners.

In which we are joined by Salima Ikram, Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo! She tells us about Egyptian police baboons, Meg shares the story of Odysseus' loyal dog Argos, and Zenia goes against the lore on the rumour that Caligula made his horse a consul...

This special bonus episode is a guide to the Nero exhibition that's currently on at the British Museum. Zenia visited a few weeks ago and wanted to record a podcast that can accompany you around the exhibition, or help inform you before you visit it, or if you can't make it to the exhibition, this could serve as a long distance audio guide.

Happy birthday Zenia! And what better way to celebrate than to find out what people did for their birthdays in ancient times. Flo is disappointed to find out that people didn't eat their own birthday cakes, and Barney tells us the truth about horoscopes...

In which we find out what waste disposal methods were used in the ancient world. Zenia tells us the story of the Roman toilet octopus, and there's a unanimous vote to 'Bring Back Sulak', the Mesopotamian dirty hands demon...