Today's episode is brought to you by audible.com.

I know you've heard about audible services many times before,

so let me get straight to the recommendation.

For hardcore history of Rome and Byzantium fans,

why don't you check out in the shadow of the sword by Tom Holland?

I'm sure you've heard of Tom Holland by now.

He's written books about the fall of the Roman Republic

and the Great War between Greece and Persia.

And this book is about the birth of Islam.

Yes, it's ultra relevant to where we are in our story.

And it's been a great source of information for this podcast.

You'll meet some very familiar characters

as Justinian, Kusro and Yassinia,

along with Heraclius and all the rest,

Cross Holland's path as he searches for the origins

of the Muslim religion.

I'll be talking about all this myself

when we reach the end of the century,

but if you want to get ahead,

then you can get it now for free from audible.com.

Tom Holland's style has to be seen or heard to be believed.

He has an amazing ability to bring the ancient world

...