Decline & Fall of the Ancient World
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 16 November 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tristan Hughes invites Matt Lewis, host The Ancients's sister podcast Gone Medieval, for a lively debate with about the blurred boundary between the ancient and medieval worlds. Can Tristan champion Roman Emperor Justinian as an Ancient? What about Charlemagne? Which period can lay claim to the worst year in history? And was there a single moment when people woke up and realised they'd entered a new era?
Watch this episode on our NEW YouTube channel: @TheAncientsPodcast
MORE:
541 AD: The Worst Year in History
The Fall of Rome: Origins
Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editors are Rob Weinberg and Aidan Lonergan, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ever wondered why the Romans were defeated in the Tudorburg forest? |
| 0:04.0 | What secrets lie buried in prehistoric Ireland? |
| 0:07.0 | Or what made Alexander truly great? |
| 0:10.0 | With a subscription to history hit, you can explore our ancient past alongside the world's leading historians and archaeologists. |
| 0:17.0 | You'll also unlock hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a brand new release every single week |
| 0:22.5 | covering everything from the ancient world to World War II. |
| 0:26.5 | Just visit historyhit.com slash subscribe. |
| 0:30.0 | Hello everyone, I hope you're doing well and welcome to this latest episode of the ancients. |
| 0:34.8 | And it's a special one because it is a crossover episode with my fellow |
| 0:39.3 | history hit host Matthew Lewis. Matt Lewis, one of the hosts of the Gone Medieval podcast. |
| 0:45.3 | And it's fitting because the topic is we're exploring where the medieval world begins and the ancient world ends. |
| 0:52.3 | This was really fun to do with Matt. We did it in our studio. |
| 0:56.4 | It's also going out on YouTube. We had little cards with dates on. We had to debate whether we say |
| 1:01.6 | they are medieval in date or whether they're ancient. What do we mean by the beginning of the |
| 1:05.7 | medieval world? How long a process is it? And so much more. This is also an episode where I really encourage you |
| 1:13.2 | to comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts about it. Where do you agree with what Matt and I said? |
| 1:17.6 | What you think about the end of ancient and the beginning of medieval, how you would define it. |
| 1:22.6 | We'd love to hear from you. So definitely leave some comments as well all about this special episode today. |
| 1:29.1 | Right. Without further ado, let's go. |
| 1:42.9 | Welcome to the ancients. Today we have a special treat because I am joined by my esteemed, |
| 1:48.4 | but sometimes confused when it comes to dates, colleague Matt Lewis, historian and host of the gone |
| 1:53.8 | medieval podcast, to have a frank discussion on the most awkward period in Western history. |
... |
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