Mesopotamia

Step into the cradle of civilization and discover the secrets of ancient Mesopotamia. This podcast delves deep into the rich history, groundbreaking innovations, and profound cultural legacies of the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. From the rise of Sumer and the grandeur of Babylon to the enigmatic stories of Assyria and Akkad, *Mysteries of Mesopotamia* explores how this ancient region shaped the world as we know it. Discover how the Mesopotamians revolutionized human progress with writing, laws, astronomy, and monumental architecture. Unravel the myths of gods and heroes, from Gilgamesh’s epic journey to the divine wisdom of Enki. Gain insights into the lives of ordinary people—farmers, artisans, and scribes—whose contributions made Mesopotamia a thriving civilization. Each episode brings to life the fascinating narratives and groundbreaking archaeological discoveries that continue to reveal the secrets of this ancient world. Whether you’re intrigued by ancient technology, captivated by mythologies, or curious about the origins of urban life, this podcast offers a compelling journey into humanity’s distant past. Perfect for history enthusiasts, students, and curious minds alike, *Mysteries of Mesopotamia* bridges the gap between the ancient and the modern, showcasing how this forgotten civilization still influences our lives today. With expert interviews, engaging storytelling, and vivid imagery, this podcast breathes new life into a world that existed thousands of years ago. Tune in and let the echoes of Mesopotamia’s history captivate your imagination.

The Big Dig

There is a cynicism that hangs over the topic of American infrastructure – whether it’s high-speed rail or off-shore wind – it feels like this country can’t build big things anymore. No one project embodies that cynicism quite like what Bostonians call ‘The Big Dig.’ Infamous for its ever-increasing price tag, this massive highway tunneling effort was once ridiculed as the Big Mess, the Big Hole, the Big Pig, the Big Lie. But now, decades later the story looks more complicated. So how did the narrative around this project go so horribly wrong? And what lessons can it offer for the ambitious projects of today?

The nine episode series is produced by GBH News in partnership with PRX.

Universe

The macrocosm is a vast, admiration- inspiring breadth filled with prodigies beyond imagination. From the fiery birth of stars in nebulae to the haunting beauty of black holes that bend space and time, it offers casts into the most extreme conditions of actuality. worlds swirl in elegant gyrations or collide in cosmic balls, while globes route stars in quiet meter, some conceivably harboring life. smashes explode with stirring brilliance, scattering rudiments that put in unborn worlds. The northern lights glimmer with solar magic, and quasars blaze with the power of a trillion suns. Pulsars tick like elysian timepieces, while dark matter and dark energy hint at mystifications still unsolved. Across billions of light- times, light peregrination to tell stories of ancient times, painting the night sky with stardust and silence. Indeed our bitsy blue Earth, suspended in the black ocean of space, is a phenomenon — bulging with life, allowed
, and wonder. The macrocosm is n’t just a place; it’s a living narrative of creation, destruction, and endless metamorphosis. Its hugeness humbles us, its beauty inspires us, and its mystifications gesture us to explore further. In its majesty, we find a glass of our curiosity, our dreams, and our place among the stars.

Mattie On The Homefront

Mattie on the Homefront is a podcast about a father and a son discovering their family. After finding wartime letters from my great-grandmother to my grandfather, I get to read them aloud to my dad, bringing together four generations of our family, week-by-week, in an almost daily look at life in the Twin Cities during WWII.

Only If You Get Caught

Only If You Get Caught is about how we can better understand sports and culture by appreciating the ways humans cheat in ways big and small. 

Hosted by Patrick Redford and produced by Alex Sujong Laughlin, each episode will dive into the history and methodologies behind cheating scandals to explore what bending or breaking the rules tells us about ourselves. 

Created by Patrick Redford, Alex Sujong Laughlin, and Defector Media.  

Lavender Ranks

lavender

noun /ˈlæv.ən.dər/

A symbolic colour associated with LGBTQ2S+ identity, queer culture, and queer resistance.

ranks

noun / ræŋks /

The members of a military force considered collectively.

When you picture the First World War, you probably think of barbed wire, artillery fire, and mud. What you probably don’t think of: drag shows, love letters passed between soldiers, and queer lives hiding in plain sight.

Hosted by Queer Collective’s Emily and Karbon, Lavender Ranks explores the stories that didn’t make it into the official record because they were too tender, too queer, or too dangerous to preserve. From Canadian soldiers performing in drag at the front, to forbidden love in the trenches, to nurses whose lifelong relationship was dismissed as mere “friendship,” the series uncovers a hidden history buried beneath the mythology of war.

If you’re interested in queer history, Canadian history, the First World War, or military history, follow Lavender Ranks now and discover the stories history tried to leave behind.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

History For Sleep with the Drowsy Historian

Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

History For Sleep delivers slow, calm, and slightly unsettling historical storytelling that makes dozing off educationally depressing.

Brought to you by the Drowsy Historian, each episode is 1–2 hours of immersive bedtime history with just enough absurd detail to keep you listening — until you aren’t.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Past Lives

History is built by people like you, and Past Lives is here to bring their stories to life. Every week, we’ll focus on the lived experiences of real people in the past, from the Stone Age to the near-present. Peasants, laborers, artisans, merchants, soldiers, and the enslaved are far too often overlooked in favor of kings, generals, and politicians; not here. On Past Lives, we keep the focus where it belongs: on the real people who populate our shared past. By understanding them, we can strive to better understand ourselves. These people were us, and we are them. They mattered, and so do you.

About That Life

To fully understand what we’re living through right now, we need to dig deeper into our history. Hosted by award-winning journalist Garrison Hayes, About That Life uncovers unsung and overlooked figures from Black history who challenged the status quo — from Gloria Richardson to George Washington Williams. Each episode traces the defiant, strategic and deeply human choices they made and sits down with people whose life and work connects to their legacy. The fight for justice has always had a playbook. And these stories provide the blueprint for a better future.

Trust Forward

Trust is one of the strangest things about being human. It's completely invisible, entirely made up, and yet it holds all of society together.

Every time you hand over cash, cross the road, or click "buy," you're taking a small leap of faith that the whole system will hold. These are systems we've quietly built to make life with strangers possible. But trust is fragile, it has to be maintained or it breaks, and throughout history we've repeatedly had to rebuild it.

That's what this series is about: trust, making it and breaking it.

Over six episodes, anthropologist and archaeologist Mary-Ann Ochota talks to some of the world's sharpest minds, from poker players and astrophysicists to mafia experts and cryptographers, tracing how trust has evolved from the invention of money and the Scientific Revolution, through conmen, pirates and spies, to gossip and today's digital world.

Beneath every story sits the same question: how do we build the invisible agreements that hold society together, and how do we decide what, and who, to believe?

Trust Forward is a podcast from Sumsub, AI powered trust infrastructure for compliance operations at scale, made in collaboration with This is Distorted. Every story here is a version of the same problem playing out in a different era. Today it plays out online, in the moment a business decides whether to trust a stranger on the other side of a screen. That's the problem Sumsub exists to solve.

CREDITS

From Sumsub and This Is Distorted

Presented by Mary-Ann Ochota

Written, produced, and sound designed by Anna Staufenberg, This Is Distorted

Assistant Producer is Sian Heron, This Is Distorted

Additional Mixing by Amy Thomson

Executive Producer is Alex Jungius, This Is Distorted

Executive Producer is Anna Brusnik, Sumsub

Visual identity and launch creative – Zhanna Stegalina and Georgy Slavin-Rudakov, Sumsub

Trust Forward Homepage: https://trustforward.sumsub.com/


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.