Alexandria (Radio Edit)

You're Dead to Me

BBC

Comedy, History

4.7 • 11.8K Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Greg Jenner is joined in Egypt by historian Professor Islam Issa and comedian Athena Kugblenu to learn all about the history of science and philosophy in the city of Alexandria.

Founded by ancient conqueror Alexander the Great, Alexandria from its earliest days was a city at the forefront of scientific discoveries, philosophical enquiry and religious debate. At its height, the city’s famous library housed nearly one million texts, and attracted thinkers like Hypatia of Alexandria, Euclid and Heron (who invented the steam engine). This episode tells the story of this incredible site of knowledge and culture, taking in its epic founding, the rise of Christianity and its impact on the city, its fate during the Crusades, the coming of Napoleon, and its role in the rise of the Arab nationalism movement.

This is a radio edit of the original podcast episode. For the full-length version, please look further back in the feed.

Hosted by: Greg Jenner Research by: Emma Bentley Written by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts.
0:05.7	Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked.
0:12.7	But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes,
0:18.2	The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and Comedy Specials
0:22.2	from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffle and Rommashranganathan.
0:25.9	However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncoaked.
0:30.3	So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds.
0:37.1	Hello and welcome to You're Dead to Me, the Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history seriously.
0:42.4	My name is Greg Jenner. I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster. And today we are packing our
0:47.2	travel guides and venturing back over 2,000 years as we trick all the way to Egypt to trace the
0:52.6	cultural and intellectual history of the city of Alexandria.
0:56.5	And to help me do that, I'm joined by two very special guests in History Corner.
1:00.6	He's a multi-award winning author, broadcaster, curator and academic.
1:04.2	He's a professor of literature and history at Birmingham City University and an expert in the cultural history of the Middle East.
1:10.3	He's also the author of
1:11.2	the award-winning book, Alexandria, The City That Changed the World. It's a brilliant book. I highly
1:15.4	recommend it. It's Professor Islam Issa. Welcome, Islam. Thank you. I'm excited. And a little
1:20.0	confused why we're not doing this recording in Alexandria. The budget... Yeah, the budget didn't
1:24.9	quite stretch. Sorry, Athena. All the money was spent on me. That's what the problem is. And in Comedy Corner, she's a comedian, writer and podcaster. You may have heard her on numerous radio four shows or on her podcasts bust or trust, a kid's mystery podcast and keeping Athena company. She's even written a funny history book for kids, history's most epic fibs.
1:44.5	But you'll know her best from past appearances on this very podcast. It's Athena Kiblernu. Welcome back, Athena. Thanks for having me back. Delighted to have you back. We've had you on many times because you're very good at this. Plus, you also write history books for kids. I do, yes. Do you know much about the history of Alexandria? I know very much like Stevenage is named after Stephen.
2:05.4	Alexandria might be named after someone called Alexander.
2:09.8	Yeah?
	...

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