Yet how much of this is historical fact, and how much is a brilliant exercise in 19th-century branding? The truth is far more complex, and infinitely more fascinating, than the legend.

The British Museum has recently unveiled an extraordinary new exhibition, bringing together 280 objects spanning six centuries of Japanese history. History Hit was granted exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to this incredible collection as it was readied for display. In our latest documentary, Samurai: Fighting the Myth, historian Matt Lewis goes beyond the glass cases to uncover the complex, adaptable, and often surprising reality of Japan’s elite warrior class.

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From mercenaries to masters: rise of the gentry

To understand the samurai, one must first dismantle the idea that they were always a landed aristocracy. Talking to British Museum curator and Japan specialist Dr Rosina Buckland, Matt Lewis explores the humble, often brutal origins of these warriors.

“The earliest appearance of these warriors as we think of them now is the 900s,” Dr Buckland explains. “You get this emergence of a class of mercenaries, and they are proxy warriors for these factions within the Imperial Court that are fighting against each other.”

Over time, these ‘swords for hire’ gained land and influence in rural regions, evolving into a landed gentry. By the late 12th century, following a series of brutal rebellions, the samurai wrested political control away from the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Establishing a military government in Kamakura in the east, they began a reign that would endure for nearly 700 years.

Japanese woodblock prints depicting samurai warriors, specifically portraying the historical figures Morimoto Gidayū Hidetora and Horimoto Gidayū Takatoshi.

Image Credit: History Hit

The three phases of the samurai

The long history of the samurai can be broken into three distinct eras:

Warfare (1185 – 1603): An age of constant internal strife, culminating in the Sengoku (Warring States) period, where rival clans battled for total dominance.

Peace (1603 – 1868): Following unification, the Edo period transformed the samurai. This “long peace” saw them transition from frontline soldiers to the nation’s administrators, government ministers, and ceremonial guardians.

Myth (1868 – present): Following the collapse of the Shogunate, the samurai passed into legend, and the modern misconceptions we hold today began to take root.

Engineering armour

Together with Dr Buckland, Matt takes a close-up look at a full suit of samurai armour. Far from being merely decorative, every lace and plate was a masterpiece of protective engineering.

“The helmet in a suit of armour is often the oldest part” explains Rosina. The striking star helmet (kabuto) featured in the documentary dates back to 1519, an era of intense combat. Designed for a high-ranking samurai, it was meant to be distinctive on the battlefield while directing the fighting. 

Matt and Dr Buckland discuss the intricate lacing of multiple overlapping iron plates, designed to absorb the impact of a blow while remaining flexible, as well as the articulated neck guards (shikoro) that offered protection without sacrificing mobility. The helmet features a dragon – a symbol of strength in East Asia – and a face mask (men po) with a fierce battle expression, designed to intimidate the enemy.

Interestingly, the armour also reveals early ‘globalisation’. Following the arrival of Portuguese traders in the 1500s, Japanese armourers began incorporating European styles – such as the rounded breastplate – into their designs to better defend against the new technology of musket fire.

Matt Lewis and Dr Rosina Buckland discuss a suit of samurai armour at The British Museum’s Samurai exhibition

Image Credit: History Hit

Mounted archers and “The Way of the Warrior”

Contrary to the ‘lone swordsman’ trope, the early samurai were primarily mounted archers. Combat usually took place in small, chaotic skirmishes in densely vegetated uplands. It was only in later centuries, as armies grew and battlefields widened, that infantry and the iconic curved blade (katana) became the central focus of warfare.

Underpinning this martial skill was Bushido, or ‘the way of the warrior’. This principle of honour and loyalty was the strategic glue that held clan alliances together in a world where betrayal could mean the total annihilation of a family line.

Beyond the battlefield

After decades of civil war, Tokegawa Ieyasu emerged victorious in 1603, establishing the Tokegawa Shogunate. This unified Japan under a central military rule that presided over two centuries of relative peace. 

Perhaps the most surprising revelation in the exhibition is what the samurai did when they weren’t fighting. During the Edo period, warfare became an identity rather than a daily reality, leading to a deep involvement in the arts. High-ranking samurai became masters of elaborate theatrical performances (Noh Drama), formal and highly ritualised tea preparation (Chanoyu), calligraphy and painting, and interestingly the connoisseurship of Chinese antiques.

Samurai women

The documentary also challenges the male-centric view of samurai society. While men held the public roles, women were the formidable ‘heads of the household’, managing complex operations involving dozens of staff and the vital education of heirs. In times of crisis, the wife of a regional lord was often left in charge of the defence of the castle, wielding significant tactical and political power.

Reproduction of 1867 ukiyo-e woodblock print created by the artist Utagawa Yoshiiku.

Image Credit: History Hit

The birth of a legend

Why did the myth of the ‘lone swordsman’ samurai persist so strongly in the West?  Dr Buckland explains that the samurai were meticulous “image-makers” themselves – “they’re very concerned with projecting the correct image” she says.

When the West encountered Japan extensively in the late 19th century, it lapped up this visual material. There was a fashion in Europe at the time for medieval imagery, and Japan offered an ‘ideal warrior’ that was wholeheartedly imported. To the Western imagination, the myth was simply more attractive than the administrative reality.

The end of an era, the start of a legacy

By 1868, the samurai had become an expensive relic. Reorganised under a new constitutional monarchy, they were stripped of their status and stipends, forced to find work in a rapidly modernising world. For a generation, they were seen as remnants of an obsolete past.

It was only when they were safely distant in history that nostalgia bloomed. This sentiment, combined with international fascination, rehabilitated the samurai into the global icon we recognise today.

The British Museum’s exhibition is a rare opportunity to see the artefacts that survived this transition – from the mud of the warring states to the refined tea rooms of Edo.

Watch Samurai: Fighting the Myth on History Hit and discover why the truth is far more legendary than the myth.

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Across February and March, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is exploring the kings and queens of the Restoration on History Hit’s Not Just The Tudors podcast. This era represents one of the most volatile and vibrant chapters in British history, a period where the crown had to be reinvented for a new, skeptical age. This special series, Monarchs of the Restoration, peels back the velvet curtains on the Stuart kings and queens who steered Britain from the brink of collapse toward the birth of a global superpower.

How did a soot-blackened fugitive clinging to a tree become the king who triumphantly sailed home to reclaim his crown? NJTT covers Charles II’s survival, the sheer spectacle of his court, and the seismic transformation of England during the Restoration. From the return of the theatre to the birth of modern science, this series uncovers the drama of the Stuart dynasty’s final act.

Charles II: the Merry Monarch’s mask

The series begins with perhaps the most cinematic escape in royal history. Before he was the “Merry Monarch,” Charles II was a soot-blackened fugitive clinging to an oak tree, evading Roundhead patrols with a price on his head.

Charles II – Portrait by John Riley, c. 1683–1684

Image Credit: Public Domain

Professor Lipscomb traces this journey from desperate survival to the triumphant day Charles sailed home to reclaim his crown. But the Restoration was about more than just a king returning to his palace. Under Charles II, England emerged from the shadow of Puritan austerity into an age of unfettered pleasure, scientific revolution, and theatrical scandal.

Yet, as Suzannah discovers, this era of “glittering courts” was also defined by the grim realities of the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London. Was Charles a visionary who saved the monarchy, or a hedonist who nearly lost it again?

Listen to Episode 1: Charles II: Restoration of the Monarchy

James II: faith, fear, and the fall

If Charles II was a master of political pragmatism, his brother, James II, was a man of unyielding conviction. In the second episode, Suzannah is joined by Dr Breeze Barrington to uncover the man behind the myth of the “Last Catholic King.”

James II by Peter Lely, circa 1650-1675

Image Credit: Peter Lely, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

James II is often relegated to a footnote – the monarch swept aside to make room for William and Mary. However, behind the Glorious Revolution, his story is a high-stakes drama of religious devotion and political downfall. Was James a tyrant blinded by his Catholic faith, or a misunderstood visionary who genuinely sought religious toleration in an intolerant age? This episode unpicks the tensions that brought the nation once more to the brink of revolution.

Listen to Episode 2: James II: The Restoration’s Last Catholic King

Mary II: the power behind the “joint” throne

History often speaks of “William and Mary” as a singular unit, but Queen Mary II was a formidable force in her own right. In the third episode of Not Just The Tudors’ special series, Monarchs of the Restoration, Suzannah welcomes Dr Holly Marsden to discuss England’s first and only joint sovereign.

Portrait by Peter Lely, 1677

Image Credit: Peter Lely, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Far from being a passive partner to her Dutch husband, William of Orange, Mary was politically astute, deeply devout, and culturally influential. She played a pivotal role in the “Glorious Revolution” and the crafting of Britain’s constitutional monarchy – the very system that survives today. This episode reclaims Mary’s place in history, exploring her influence on gender roles and the radical political shifts of the late 17th century.

Listen to Episode 3: Queen Mary II & the Glorious Revolution

Queen Anne: the underestimated architect of Great Britain

The series concludes with the monarch who is perhaps the most unfairly caricatured of all: Queen Anne. Long dismissed as sickly, overweight, and easily manipulated by favourites like Sarah Churchill, the reality of Anne’s reign tells a vastly different story.

Queen Anne, portrait, 1705, by artist Michael Dahl

Image Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Public Domain

Joined by biographer Lady Anne Somerset, Professor Lipscomb examines the last Stuart monarch – a woman who presided over the Acts of Union that created Great Britain and who navigated a reign defined by near-constant global warfare. Anne attended cabinet meetings more faithfully than any ruler before or since, proving herself to be a conscientious and determined leader. Was she truly the “fragile” queen of legend, or was she actually one of, if not the, most hardworking monarch in British history?

Episode 4: The Last Stuart Monarch

Why the Restoration matters

The Restoration wasn’t just a “restart” for the monarchy; it was the crucible in which modern Britain was forged. It was the era that gave us the Royal Society, the professional theatre, and the legal framework that limits the power of the Crown.

Throughout the series, Not Just The Tudors offers more than just a history lesson – it provides a character study of four individuals who had to prove, against the odds, that the monarchy was still relevant in a rapidly changing world.

Listen to the Monarchs of the Restoration series now on Not Just The Tudors

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But hidden within ‘Cave 3’ was an anomaly that defied every convention of the collection. It wasn’t written on fragile papyrus or animal skin, but on pure copper. Heavily oxidised and encrusted with dirt, it contained no prayers or prophecies. Instead it was a cold, hard inventory of unimaginable wealth – recording vast quantities of gold and silver equal to millions today, buried across the Holy Land.

In History Hit’s latest documentary, The Copper Scroll: Dead Sea Scrolls Mystery, Tristan Hughes investigates one of history’s most tantalising cold cases.

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Discovery at Qumran

The story begins in 1947 with a shepherd named Muhammad edh-Dhib. While grazing sheep near Qumran, he tossed a stone into a cave and heard the distinct sound of breaking pottery. This led to the discovery of a cave containing a hidden library belonging to the Essenes. 

The Essenes were a respected ancient Jewish sect in Judea that flourished in the 1st century BC. They were known for their strict interpretation of Jewish law and their apocalyptic ‘end times’ predictions. Their theological beliefs are preserved in documents like the Testimonies, a collection of biblical quotes dating to the first century BC that prophesies the arrival of a new prophet and the destruction of the unfaithful. 

To protect their most important documents, including sacred guides and communal laws, they meticulously wrapped their scrolls in linen and sealed them inside ceramic jars, effectively transforming part of the Qumran caves into a protected archive. Today, the majority of the discovered scrolls are housed and exhibited in Jerusalem.

Qumran National Park

Image Credit: History Hit

The metal map

Tristan begins his journey at the Jordan Museum in Amman – home to the Copper Scroll. Following its discovery, researchers faced a daunting challenge: two millennia of oxidation had transformed the metal into a brittle, green crust, making it impossible to unroll without shattering the precious text within.

To solve this, the scroll was transported to Manchester University in 1955. Under the supervision of philologist John Allegro, specialist Henry Wright Baker used a modified, hair-thin circular saw to slice the scroll into 23 semi-cylindrical strips. As the layers were peeled back, they revealed a Hebrew script detailing 64 secret locations where a staggering 120 tonnes of gold and silver were purportedly hidden – a fortune valued in the hundreds of millions by modern standards.

Part of the Copper Scroll, with Hebrew text visible on the oxidised copper – on display at the Jordan Museum in Amman

Image Credit: History Hit

The scroll is now the centrepiece of a dedicated gallery in Amman. While the instructions are remarkably specific, experts such as Dr Jihad Kafafi remain divided on whether the scroll records a genuine buried treasury or represents an elaborate ancient legend.

Millions in gold?

To find out more, Tristan meets a leading expert on the Copper Scroll, Dr Joan Taylor at Manchester University to analyse a replica of one of the rolls that were contained within it. The text uses specific ancient measurements, citing distances in “cubits” and weights in “talents.”

The instructions are maddeningly specific yet geographically elusive:

In the ruin of the valley of Achor, under the stairs that ascend towards the east… at a distance of 40 cubits, there is a silver chest and its vessels, weighing 17 talents.

Dr Taylor points out a fascinating detail: although copper was a luxury material at the time, the script itself appears “rushed”, with letters bunched together, suggesting the scribe was working under extreme pressure or imminent threat.

Replica of some of the Hebrew writing found in the Copper Scroll

Image Credit: History Hit

The Temple connection

Why hide such vast wealth? The scroll mentions sacred items, including a High Priest’s ephod (a ritual garment), leading many to believe this wasn’t a private hoard, but the treasure of the nation from the Temple in Jerusalem.

Historians link this massive concealment to two major periods of crisis: the Great Revolt (70 AD), when the Temple was destroyed by Roman forces, or the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-136 AD), a final, desperate where the ‘hurried’ script suggests a scribe recording the locations as Roman soldiers closed in on the final Jewish strongholds. 

The elusive hoard

To date, no-one has definitively claimed the treasure. Did the Romans torture the locations out of survivors? Or does some of the gold still lie buried beneath the sands of Jericho and the salt-crusted shores of the Dead Sea?

From the high-tech labs of Manchester to the sun-scorched cliffs of the Holy Land, Tristan Hughes pieces together a story of ancient survival and modern obsession.

Watch The Copper Scroll: Dead Sea Scrolls Mystery to see the evidence for yourself. The greatest treasure hunt in history is far from over.

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In History Hit’s new documentary, Beijing Central Axis: China’s Medieval Wonder, Dan Snow explores this perfectly straight meridian – a World Heritage site that still dictates the architectural symmetry and urban flow of the capital today. From its Yuan Dynasty foundations to the monumental projects of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the axis connects icons like the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, revealing a city whose modern footprint still honours a centuries-old imperial plan.

Cycling the length of this historic line, Dan follows in the footsteps of the emperors and labourers who built this vast capital, uncovering clues to China’s past hidden in plain sight. Featuring special access to some of Beijing’s most exclusive locations, the film offers a fascinating look at the ancient soul surviving within a modern giant – one of the most organised and awe-inspiring cities on Earth.

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The Mongol blueprint: from Dadu to Beijing

Dan begins his journey by bicycle in northern Beijing, tracing the city’s origins back to the 13th century. While the area has been settled for 3,000 years – a full millennium longer than London – it was Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, who truly transformed the landscape.

In 1272, he established the Yuan Dynasty and renamed the city Dadu, the ‘Great Capital’. It was a staggering feat of urban planning, home to nearly a million people and enclosed by massive earthen walls that remain visible today. This was the Mongol city that mesmerised the Venetian explorer Marco Polo, whose accounts of its wealth and grid-like precision in his book ‘The Travels’ seemed like pure fantasy to medieval European ears.

The Kaogong ji: architecture as cosmology

Less than a century after Dadu’s completion, the Yuan Dynasty was overthrown by the Ming Dynasty, and Dadu was raised to the ground. However, in 1402, a new Ming Emperor seized the throne: the Yongle Emperor. Seeking a capital that reflected his absolute power, he ordered Beijing (the “Northern Capital”) to be reborn on Dadu’s foundations in 1403. 

Scale model of Beijing at the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall

Image Credit: Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall / History Hit

At the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall, Dan examines a scale model that reveals the city’s true “spinal cord”: the Central Axis. Unlike London or Paris, which evolved organically along meandering rivers, Beijing was built to a strict manual. The Kaogong ji (‘Records of Trades’), a Zhou Dynasty text over 2,000 years old, served as a technical and cosmological guide for the “correct” design of almost anything. 

Historian Jeremiah Jenne explains to Dan that the city’s layout was designed to mirror the heavens. Just as Polaris, the North Star, remains fixed in the sky, the Emperor was the fixed point on Earth – seated at the exact centre of a universal order.

The Drum and Bell

After gaining a bird’s-eye perspective of the city, Dan heads to the axis’s northern terminus: the historic Drum and Bell Towers. During the Ming Dynasty, these structures were the city’s official timekeepers. Their thunderous beats and chiming bells could be heard over 20km away, marking the vital pulses of daily life and dictating the rhythm of the imperial capital.

Dan at the Drum and Bell Towers, Beijing

Image Credit: History Hit

The heart of the Axis: The Forbidden City

Travelling south, Dan reaches Jingshan Park. This hill provides the ultimate vantage point, but is entirely man-made – constructed from the rubble of the demolished Mongol palace. According to the principles of feng shui, it was placed to protect the new Imperial headquarters from “evil spirits” drifting in from the north. 

From this height, the Forbidden City reveals its true scale. Constructed between 1406 and 1420 to be the most opulent palace on Earth, it housed 24 emperors over five centuries. Today, it is now the most visited historical site on the planet, welcoming 15 million people annually.

View of The Forbidden City from Jingshan Park

Image Credit: History Hit

Inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Dan views the Dragon Throne – the seat of the ‘Imperial Dragon’. He explains how the palace, while a masterpiece of joinery, was a nightmare for fire safety. Built largely of wood, the main halls were tragically burned by a lightning strike within a year of completion, leaving the Ming emperors in a constant state of vigilance.

Life in the shadows: The Hutongs

Beijing was never just a palace; it was a living, breathing community. To find the pulse of “Old Beijing,” Dan explores the Hutongs – tightly packed alleyways where the craftsmen, artists, and servants of the palace once lived.

The word Hutong comes from the Mongolian word for “water,” as these neighbourhoods were built around communal wells. Meeting with cultural heritage expert Matthew Hu, Dan learns more about the Courtyard Institute. These homes were built with the same feng shui rigour as the palace. Designed to foster communal life, Matthew Hu describes them as “like villages in cities.”

The Temple of Heaven

On the Winter Solstice, the Central Axis became the stage for China’s most important religious ritual. The Emperor would make a solemn procession to the Temple of Heaven. Located slightly southeast of the axis – the direction of the rising sun and “positive” energy – this temple was where the “Son of Heaven” prayed for good harvests and for the empire.

Historian Zhang Huawei explains that during this procession, the city went into lockdown. Commoners were forced to shutter their windows; to look upon the Emperor as he moved toward the temple was strictly forbidden.

Dan talks to historian Zhang Huawei

Image Credit: History Hit

Modern harmony: the Axis extends

Dan finishes his journey along the axis at the Yongdingmen Gate, the southern gateway of Beijing. Though demolished in the 1950s to make way for roads, it was meticulously reconstructed in the early 2000s.

Dan then concludes his visit at the Bird’s Nest Stadium, the centrepiece of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Strategically placed as a modern northern extension of the Central Axis, the stadium proves that Beijing’s 600-year-old “spine” is still growing. In Beijing, the ancient and the avant-garde sit in perfect harmony, balanced on a line drawn by emperors centuries ago.

Watch Beijing Central Axis: China’s Medieval Wonder now to see Dan Snow uncover the heartbeat of this magnificent city.

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Following her exploration of the Bronze Age marvels at Uffington and the atmospheric legends of Wayland’s Smithy, the second episode sees Mary-Ann Ochota complete her adventure, heading north through the Avebury World Heritage Site – a landscape so saturated with archaeology that prehistory feels palpable in every step. This is far more than a simple hike; it is a ground-level investigation into the minds of our ancestors, exploring why they spent thousands of hours moving earth and stone to create a landscape dedicated to both the dead and the divine.

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The first architecture: West Kennet Long Barrow

As the Ridgeway winds toward Overton Hill, the landscape undergoes a dramatic transformation. Here, the modern countryside recedes, and every other field seems to reveal a burial mound, an earthwork, or a weathered standing stone. Mary-Ann’s first stop is the West Kennet Long Barrow, a monumental tomb dating back to roughly 3,650 BC. To put its age in perspective, this structure was already over a millennium old by the time the iconic stone circles were raised at Stonehenge.

Mary-Ann Ochota talks to English Heritage Prehistory Curator Dr Jennifer Wexler at West Kennet Long Barrow

Image Credit: History Hit

At 100 metres long and three metres high, it is one of the largest and most impressive long barrows in Britain. Accompanied by English Heritage Prehistory Curator Dr Jennifer Wexler, Mary-Ann ventures deep into the dark, stone-lined interior.

“They’re the first architecture that we have,” Wexler explains, “they’re our first standing monuments.” Archaeologists discovered the remains of 46 individuals here, interred alongside pottery and stone tools. Remarkably, the barrow remained a site of active ritual for over 1,000 years. It was only around 2,000BC that the chambers were ceremonially filled with rubble and the entrance sealed by massive sarsen blocking stones.

Filming inside the West Kennet Long Barrow

Image Credit: History Hit

Thanks to a meticulous reconstruction in the 1950s, it is one again possible to step inside and experience the heavy, silent atmosphere of the tomb just as the barrow’s original Neolithic builders did five millennia ago. 

The mystery of Silbury Hill

Visible from the mouth of the Long Barrow is the enigmatic Silbury Hill. Built in several stages between 2,400 and 2,300 BC, this gargantuan chalk mound is a feat of engineering that continues to baffle experts. Standing nearly 40 metres high, it remains the largest man-made mound in Europe – a structure so vast that the entirety of Stonehenge could almost fit upon its summit.

The folklore surrounding the hill is as tall as the monument itself. Some say the Devil dropped the mound in a fit of rage after a defeat in nearby Marlborough; others believe the golden treasures of King Sil lie buried deep within. However, Dr Wexler explains that modern archaeology has revealed something even more fascinating: the mound contains no central burial or ‘kingly treasure’.

Instead, analysis of the internal layers reveals turf and material brought from across the wider landscape, suggesting Silbury was a massive communal project.  Dr Wexler theorises that its construction may have been a response to a period of “crisis” or rapid change at the end of the Neolithic, as new groups arrived from Europe with revolutionary metal-working technology. Perhaps the mound was a final, monumental effort to honour an old religion or anchor a shifting identity to the land.

Filming near Silbury Hill

Image Credit: History Hit

The Avenue

After a night camping at the Farm at Avebury – where she meets owner Rob Hughes to hear how his family have worked this land for generations – Mary-Ann follows the ancient tracks toward the village of Avebury, via the West Kennet Avenue. In antiquity, this ceremonial corridor was lined with 100 pairs of massive sarsen stones, some weighing upwards of 20 tonnes.

Experts believe these stones were meticulously paired by shape, often categorised as “male” (tall and columnar) and “female” (broad and diamond-shaped). This intentional design likely served to control, impress or even intimidate pilgrims as they progressed toward the sacred centre. Walking between these giants today, one can still feel the intended psychological effect: a sense of being funnelled toward something immense, ancient, and powerful.

Mary-Ann walking through part of the West Kennet Avenue

Image Credit: History Hit

Avebury Henge: megalithic stadium?

The journey reaches its climax at Avebury Henge. Unlike the fenced-off experience of Stonehenge, Avebury remains a living part of the landscape, where visitors are free to walk among and touch the ancient sarsens.

Construction here began around 2,800 BC, with the site evolving through continuous modifications over the next 600 years. The outer great henge spans almost 500 metres in diameter, and in its prime, the chalk bank towered 17 metres above the floor of a steep, deep ditch. Within this large perimeter stood an  outer circle of approximately 100 stones, which in turn enclosed two smaller stone circles containing complex arrangements of stone and timber. 

The Ridgeway’s proximity to Avebury is almost certainly no accident. Mary-Ann meets legendary archaeologist Phil Harding to discuss the colossal human effort required to sculpt this terrain. “You don’t build something like Avebury with a gang of ten people,” Harding notes. “You need masses and masses of labour.”

Mary-Ann Ochota and archaeologist Phil Harding at Avebury

Image Credit: History Hit

While we often view these sites with a sense of somber ritual, Phil and Mary-Ann explore a more vibrant, human theory: that Avebury functioned as a prehistoric “stadium.” With the capacity to hold thousands of people, it likely also served as a social hub – a place for festivals, dancing, and meeting new people from far-flung regions – and a site where the spiritual and the social collided in a magnificent, open-air arena.

Preservation

Phil describes walking the Ridgeway as “not just a walk in the countryside, it’s almost a spiritual thing”. The unique geology of the Wiltshire chalk served as the fuel for this prehistoric explosion of activity. Its well-drained, easily cultivated soil transformed the ridge into a bustling Neolithic highway of the Stone Age.

As Mary-Ann reflects on her trek, she observes that walking the Ridgeway is far more than a physical challenge; it’s an act of historical preservation. By following these ancient tracks, we forge a direct connection to the shelter, the industry, and the spirituality of those who came before us. As she poignantly concludes: “When we walk these ancient ways, we keep them alive.”

Watch Part 2 of Ancient Ways: The Ridgeway now, exclusively on History Hit.

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In the first episode of History Hit’s new documentary series Katherine Howard: Vixen or Victim?, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb sets out to dismantle these caricatures. By visiting the spaces Katherine inhabited – from the drafty corridors of her youth to the glittering galleries of Hampton Court – Suzannah searches for the real woman hidden beneath five centuries of Tudor scandal and myth.

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The ghost in the gallery

The tragedy of Katherine Howard is often synonymous with the “Haunted Gallery” at Hampton Court Palace. Popular lore describes a desperate Queen running toward the Chapel Royal in November 1541, her screams echoing through the corridors as she begged for mercy while guards dragged her away from a husband who had just discovered her past.

While Suzannah reveals that this specific, dramatic dash is likely an apocryphal Victorian invention, she acknowledges why the story persists: it perfectly captures the sheer, visceral horror felt by a young woman whose meteoric rise was met with an equally violent fall. Katherine ascended from a Maid of Honour to a Queen in mere months; just over a year later, she was headed for the block.

Filming in the “Haunted Gallery” at Hampton Court Palace

Image Credit: History Hit

Redefining the ‘child bride’

Episode One reveals a forensic re-examination of Katherine’s age. Traditional narratives often place her birth as late as 1526, making her a mere 14-year-old at the time of her marriage – a ‘child bride’ with little understanding of her situation.

However, Suzannah points to evidence from the French Ambassador, Charles de Marillac, which suggests she was likely born around 1522.

“This revised understanding significantly changes the way we see her,” explains Suzannah. “She was not the child bride that we have in our mind’s eye, in fact she was probably around 18 years old when she married Henry in July 1540” – a young woman with more agency than we often credit her.

Portrait of a Young Woman, c. 1540–45, Workshop of Hans Holbein the Younger

Image Credit: Public Domain / History Hit

Chesworth House: A world of “in-between” spaces

To understand the Queen, we must first understand the girl. In Episode One, Suzannah travels to Chesworth House in Sussex, where, following her mother’s death, Katherine was raised under the guardianship of her step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.

In the Tudor era, society believed that parental indulgence was a moral failing, consequently, noble children were often sent to be raised in another aristocratic household to ensure they received the rigorous discipline and social polishing deemed necessary for court life.

Chesworth House

Image Credit: History Hit

The documentary dismantles Victorian myths of a “lax” or “immoral” household, revealing instead the complex reality of Tudor wardship. Suzannah meets historian Dr Nicola Clark who explains how in the Tudor era, social classes mixed with surprising freedom. “The Victorians probably thought that these women and men of lower status are dragging Katherine down to their level, where in fact the evidence does not really suggest that at all” says Nicky. 

At the heart of this was the “Maiden’s Chamber” – a communal space where aristocratic young women shared beds, gossip, and secrets with those of lower social standing. It was in these “in-between” spaces that Katherine entered into relationships with two men: her music teacher, Henry Mannox, and the Duchess’s secretary, Francis Dereham.

• The Mannox Affair (c1536): Often framed as an abuse of power, research suggests her music teacher, Henry Mannox was only five years Katherine’s senior. Crucially, Katherine demonstrated a “head screwed on,” refusing to lose her virginity to a man of his low status despite his pressure.
• The Dereham Contract (1538): Her relationship with the Duchess’s secretary, Francis Dereham, was far more serious, and more widely known within Chesworth House. They referred to each other as husband and wife and engaged in full intercourse – a “pre-contract” that, under Canon Law, could be viewed as a legally binding marriage.

Rather than seeing Katherine as a passive pawn, the evidence reveals a young woman navigating these illicit encounters with a surprising level of command.

Prof Suzannah Lipscomb discusses Katherine Howard’s time at Chesworth House with historian Dr Nicola Clark

Image Credit: History Hit

The “Party Queen” of Hampton Court

By 1539, Katherine’s status as a Howard brought her to court as a Maid of Honour. She quickly broke things off with Dereham, who fled to Ireland heartbroken. At court, Katherine engaged in a flirtatious power play with the charismatic Thomas Culpeper, but the plan backfired; when she held him at arm’s length, he abruptly moved on, leaving her devastated and arguably more infatuated than ever.

However, her arrival was a breath of fresh air for Henry VIII, who found his current wife, Anne of Cleves, physically repulsive. Henry was visibly infatuated, showering Katherine with jewels and public displays of affection. 

Their courtship moved at a breakneck pace, and they married on 28 July 1540 – less than 3 weeks after his previous marriage was annulled. Katherine was probably just 18 years old, Henry was almost 50. As Suzannah points out, “the speed and intensity of Henry’s pursuit of Katherine raises the question of her agency. In what world could a young, noble woman reject the king’s advances, particularly one as strong-willed and powerful as Henry”.

Historian Gareth Russell

Image Credit: History Hit

Historian Gareth Russell joins Suzannah to discuss Katherine’s early successes. Far from a political failure, Katherine was the star attraction of the court. She navigated Tudor politics with careful neutrality, choosing to remain apolitical to avoid the fate of her cousin, Anne Boleyn.

“Doing nothing is a choice,” Russell notes. “Everything she did was a deliberate attempt to be the perfect, apolitical queen consort.”

She even handled the potentially explosive meeting with the divorced Anne of Cleves with extraordinary grace, gifting her puppies and jewellery to signal to foreign ambassadors that the English court was a place of harmony.

The turning point: The Progress North

Episode One culminates with the Great Royal Progress of 1541 – a monumental political and military operation involving 5,000 horses and a mobile court of 200 tents. Designed to project power over the rebellious North, this strategic display of regal authority sought to suppress religious dissent and stabilise the realm ahead of a potential invasion of France. Katherine’s job was to shine at her husband’s side.

At Lincoln Cathedral, Katherine reached the zenith of her power, embodying the perfect image of a pious, loyal Queen. Yet while she played her role flawlessly in the public eye, the ghosts of Chesworth House were beginning to stir. 

Depiction of King Henry VIII on the Royal Progress in 1541.

Image Credit: History Hit

Vixen or victim?

As Episode One concludes, Suzannah leaves us with a woman who was neither a fool nor a mere victim. Katherine Howard was a confident, commanded, and musically talented young woman who understood the social graces of her age. She made choices – for fun and for survival – in a world where the margin for error was zero.

In the next episode, Suzannah explores how Katherine’s past finally collided with her present – and the “Rose Without a Thorn” found herself facing the executioner.

Watch Episode 1 of Katherine Howard: Vixen or Victim? now on History Hit to see Suzannah Lipscomb uncover the real woman behind the Tudor legend. Episode 2 is also available to watch now.

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In the two-part special Ancient Ways: The Ridgeway, anthropologist and keen hiker Mary-Ann Ochota tracks these prehistoric pathways along the Ridgeway – one of England’s oldest routes and a true ‘Stone Age Highway’. Join Mary-Ann as she visits some of the trail’s most iconic landmarks, from the enigmatic Uffington White Horse to the megalithic wonders of Avebury Henge.

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A braid of routes

Five thousand years ago, the Ridgeway wasn’t a single, officially designated path; it was a braid of multiple routes heading roughly in the same direction across the high ground. While the modern Ridgeway National Trail spans 87 miles from Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire to Avebury in Wiltshire, the original prehistoric route stretched much further – running from the Wash in Norfolk, southwest all the way to the Dorset coast.

“To understand the past,” Mary-Ann explains, “we need to understand how people moved and why.” The Neolithic people who first used this route – the same builders responsible for Stonehenge – were farmers who raised cattle and sheep. They travelled for trade, pilgrimage, and community events, using the high chalk ridges to stay above the marshy, wooded and often dangerous valleys below.

Production shot – filming on The Ridgeway

This path forms a distinctive white ribbon through the landscape. This chalk was formed 145 to 65 million years ago, in the age of the dinosaurs, when the area sat near the equator under a subtropical sea. Created by the compacted skeletons and shells of ancient sea creatures, this unique geology now supports a rare ecosystem of specialist plants, insects, and birds.

Production shot from The Ridgeway

Uffington: the horse and the hillfort

Mary-Ann begins her journey at Uffington Hill, a site thick with prehistoric treasures. At the summit sits a massive Iron Age hillfort, half a mile in circumference. But the true mystery lies beside it: the Uffington White Horse.

At 111 metres long, this semi-abstract ‘geoglyph’ is the oldest hill figure in Western Europe. National Trust ranger Andy Foley explains that while it looks like a simple chalk drawing, it is actually a complex feat of engineering. Trenches were dug a metre deep, backfilled with chalk rubble, and smoothed off on top.

Scientific dating reveals that the horse’s deepest layers are at least 2,500 to 3,000 years old. Created at the dawn of the Iron Age – coinciding with the introduction of domesticated horses to Britain – the figure was likely a tribal statement of status and power. Remarkably, the figure only remains visible because it has been scoured and cared for by the local community for three millennia. Andy suggests that the horse’s specific placement may indicate its care was initially connected to religion.

Mary-Ann Ochota with National Trust ranger Andy Foley at the Uffington White Horse

Image Credit: History Hit

Wayland’s Smithy

Walking west, Mary-Ann reaches Wayland’s Smithy, a burial chamber nearly 2,000 years older than the White Horse. This megalithic monument, dating to roughly 3,400 BC, is a ‘Cotswold-Severn’ type barrow, consisting of a stone edifice, an earthen mound over 100 metres long, containing a central passage with chambers inside to bury the dead.

Although seeming quite a straightforward burial site, archaeology reveals a complex history: a smaller timber-and-earth burial site existed here first. A century later, as farmers claimed territory more permanently, they constructed longer-lasting monuments to house the dead, including the massive stone edifice seen today. Curiously, historians believe the design was already ‘old-fashioned’ when it was built, suggesting the builders were attempting to claim a deep, ancestral association with the land to legitimise their presence.

Production shot of Mary-Ann Ochota filming at Wayland’s Smithy

Image Credit: History Hit

The site is steeped in Saxon legend. Historian and storyteller Jason Buck explains that the name comes from Wayland, the Germanic smith of the gods. Legend says that if you leave your horse here with a coin, the invisible smith will have it shod by morning.

Production shot – Mary-Ann Ochota shares a cuppa with historian and storyteller Jason Buck as she sets up camp for the night

Image Credit: History Hit

The Neolithic toolkit

After a night in a tent, Mary-Ann’s journey continues from Hackpen Hill to Fyfield Down, where she uncovers the reality of prehistoric industry. Though they lacked metalworking, people at this time were using stone tools, flint tools, leather, bone, antler, and natural textiles. As Mary-Ann explains, stone tools weren’t just bashing two rocks together, “they were really sophisticated craftspeople. They really understood their materials.” 

In the Neolithic period (4,500 BC to 2,300 BC), stone axes were one of the key components in their toolkit – the ‘Swiss Army Knives’ of the age. While flint axes were used for everyday timber work, ‘posh’ versions of axes made from carefully chosen polished volcanic and sedimentary stones were symbols of elite status. These were either ground into shape or, in the case of flint and chert, fashioned through ‘knapping’ – a precise process of striking the stone to chip away the edges. To achieve a mirror-like, glass-smooth finish, craftsmen would rub the piece against abrasive sarsen stones for days or even years to get it perfectly polished. 

Remarkably, these stones weren’t local; analysis shows that rough-cut blocks for polished axes were quarried across the UK – from the Lake District to Cornwall, even as far as Northern Ireland – and traded along the Ridgeway.

‘Polisher stone’ at Fyfield Down

Image Credit: History Hit

Mary-Ann visits a ‘polisher stone’ at Fyfield Down – a sarsen boulder featuring deep, smooth grooves used to create, sharpen and shape the edges of the axe. These marks were created by humans sitting for hundreds of hours, grinding stone axe heads against the rock using wet sand to achieve a mirror-like finish. Standing by the stone, one can almost feel the presence of the craftsmen who laboured here 5,000 years ago. It’s unknown why this particular sarsen stone was chosen above the others for this purpose, but it is seen as a treasure of the Neolithic age.

Watch Episode 1 of Ancient Ways: The Ridgeway on History Hit to join Mary-Ann Ochota on this incredible trek through time and learn more about these ancient landmarks.

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By examining the camp’s surviving structures, Dr Bulgin reveals how mass murder was organised, refined, and expanded over time. Joined by historians and experts, he reinforces a vital truth: Auschwitz was not a static symbol of evil, but a site that evolved through deliberate human decisions, administrative structures, and mechanical systems.

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“The access to people and places secured by History Hit was genuinely revelatory,” says Dr Bulgin. “Walking around spaces inaccessible to the general public that have been left as they were since the end of the war offered an unfiltered authenticity which was both sobering and eerily elucidating”.

Dan Snow, founder and creative director of History Hit, added: “What we’ve managed to achieve in this documentary, alongside James, is truly groundbreaking”. “These locations aren’t just places on a map; they are the silent witnesses to one of the darkest chapters of human history”.

From Krakow’s streets to Auschwitz’s gates

Dr Bulgin begins in Krakow, viewing one of only two remaining sections of the Ghetto wall. Established in March 1941, the wall featured rounded tops, a cruel reference to Jewish tombstones, signalling the fate intended for the 20,000 people trapped within.

James talks to historian Dr Alicja Jarkowska, who explains that Auschwitz was not chosen at random. Its proximity to Krakow and its rail links made it ideal for the Nazi vision of Lebensraum – a racial empire where occupied Poland would be cleared of many of its inhabitants to secure Germany’s future.

One of only two remaining sections of the Krakow ghetto (established in March 1941, and liquidated in March 1943).

Image Credit: History Hit

From concentration to extermination

James meets with guide and Auschwitz Educator Agata Miodowska, who explains that the first prisoners were German (30 in total), who were later made to guard the first 728 Polish political prisoners that arrived in June 1940 – considered the start date of the functioning of the camp. At this stage, Auschwitz I was a modest site of 20 single-story brick buildings, – a brutal labor camp, but not yet an extermination centre. However, the system of terror was already being codified.

James is granted rare access to Block 3, preserved almost exactly as it was upon liberation 80 years ago. Viewing the cramped bunk-beds, he notes how “Frozen in time, Block 3 provides a chilling snapshot of daily life in Auschwitz”. Inside, researchers made a terrifying discovery: blue staining on the walls. Initially, Zyklon B (a hydrogen cyanide pesticide) was used here to disinfect clothing. James observes: “The blue stains mark a chilling stage – actual traces of the chemical that would be used to kill hundreds of thousands.”

The blue staining on the walls is evidence of Zyklon B (a hydrogen cyanide pesticide) – initially used in this room to disinfect clothing.

Image Credit: History Hit

The transition to mass murder occurred nearby in Block 11, the penal barracks. In September 1941, the Nazis conducted their first experiments using Zyklon B on 850 Soviet and Polish prisoners. The experiment proved the chemical’s lethality but highlighted logistical “failures” – the small rooms took too long to ventilate. The lesson was purely technical: the Nazis needed a purpose-built, large-scale facility – leading to the construction of the first permanent gas chamber.

“It should come as no surprise that Auschwitz retains all of its ability to shock and horrify, but there’s something about this block in particular that is appalling. Not just because of the terrible suffering that those who were sent here were subject to, but because of the significance of what happened underneath my feet in this place”.

– Dr James Bulgin

The industrialisation of death at Birkenau

From 1941 onwards, Auschwitz entered a phase of rapid and deliberate expansion. By 1942, the centre of gravity shifted 3km away to Birkenau (Auschwitz II). Between March and June 1943, four massive gas chambers were brought into operation, each capable of killing 2,000 people at a time. As James points out, in a cruel twist, the Nazis forced the Sonderkommandos (Jewish prisoners) to operate these facilities.

Dr Bulgin examines the ‘Auschwitz Sketchbook’ – 22 drawings made by an anonymous prisoner, the only known illustrations created inside the camp depicting the extermination process. They show a site in constant flux, an engineering project designed to process 1.1 million victims. James notes a chilling paradox: the sheer volume of victims eventually overwhelmed even this industrialised machine, forcing the Sonderkommandos to cremate bodies on open-air pyres when the furnaces could no longer keep pace.

The perpetrators and the myth of ignorance

The documentary confronts the “normality” of the killers. Commandant Rudolf Höss lived with his family in ‘House 88’, within sight of the crematoria. From the upstairs windows, the killing zone was clearly visible.

Jacek Purski, Director at House 88, explains that the Höss family’s proximity to the gas chambers demonstrates a high level of ideological radicalisation. Höss was a professional criminal and a “graduate” of the SS structure at Dachau; he was not an accidental participant, but a prepared operative.

View of Auschwitz 1 from one of the windows at the house Auschwitz Commandant Rudolf Höss lived in with his family – ‘House 88’.

Image Credit: History Hit

The fragility of justice

Following the war, Höss was captured by a British War Crimes Investigation Team. He was tried and hanged in 1947 on a gallows constructed just steps from the Auschwitz crematorium.

Historian and author Thomas Harding (whose Great Uncle arrested Höss) notes, however, that Höss was the exception. While the 1945 Belsen trials confronted 45 staff members, the Holocaust required the active participation of tens of thousands. Only a tiny fraction were ever held accountable.

‘Auschwitz: The Evolution of Terror’ is a ground-level examination of how bureaucracy, engineering, and human choice created a nightmare. It forces us to confront the fact that these were not monsters from another world, but real people who made systematic choices to commit the unthinkable.

Watch Auschwitz: The Evolution of Terror now, exclusively on History Hit.

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What followed was the most radical political experiment in British history. The House of Lords was abolished, the monarchy swept away, and the British Isles were declared a republic. Yet, within just 11 years, the monarchy was restored with exuberant celebration.

In a special panel edition of Not Just The Tudors…Lates – Why the English Revolution Failed, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb sits down with leading historians Dr Jonathan Healey, Dr Miranda Malins, and Professor Ronald Hutton to unpick the decade of the “Interregnum.” Together, they ask: was the English Republic doomed from the start, or was it a missed opportunity that changed the world?

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A republic born of a coup

The panel begins by addressing how unlike modern revolutions driven by popular uprisings, England’s republic was established via a military coup d’état.

“The execution of King Charles I wasn’t what the majority of Parliamentarians wanted,” explains Dr Miranda Malins. “There was no plan to wheel out in January 1649. The regime was a hasty fudge that spent the next decade desperately trying to retrospectively legitimise itself.”

Professor Ronald Hutton adds that the British public never quite forgave the Republic for its origins. To maintain power, the regime required a standing army, which meant heavy taxes. The people were effectively being asked to pay for a military force to prop up a government they didn’t ask for – creating a recipe for instability.

The tyranny of the “free state”

The republic was justified through providence – the idea that God had granted the New Model Army victory – and the sovereignty of the people. However, the leadership never actually trusted the people.

“The tension at the heart of the republic,” says Hutton,“is that its establishment is justified in terms of the will and sovereignty of the people but at no point do those in charge feel able to trust the people to validate their power”. This was not a modern democracy; the franchise was restricted, and the government quickly turned on its most radical supporters, such as the Levellers, who called for genuine legal equality and religious freedom.

By removing the King but leaving the social order (and the wealth of the gentry) intact, the Republic failed to provide the infrastructure for a truly new kind of politics.

Production shots from filming

Image Credit: History Hit

An imperial project: conquering the archipelago

One of the most significant – and brutal – achievements of the Republic was the forced unification of the British Isles.

“In 1649, the English unilaterally decided to kill a British monarch,” says Malins, setting off a chain reaction across Ireland and Scotland. Under Oliver Cromwell, the Republic embarked on a “metropole” project, imposing English republicanism at the point of a sword.

The campaign in Ireland was particularly devastating, resulting in the loss of an estimated 20% of the population according to Jonathan. Professor Hutton argues that the trauma of this period established a Protestant supremacy that would define Irish history until the 20th century. “In many ways, from the Irish point of view, the damage is still there,” he remarks. “The bloodshed in my lifetime can be traced directly to those events.”

The rise and fall of the Protector

By 1653, the experiment shifted. Frustrated by a stagnant Parliament, Cromwell famously cleared the house by force on 20 April, eventually becoming Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland on 16 December 1653. 

Was this a return to monarchy in all but name? Jonathan points out that for a lot of people there was an irony as because the Protectorship was unprecedented, that for them meant that the power of the Protector was potentially unlimited. 

Yet Miranda Malins suggests that while Cromwell acted like a monarch – issuing over 80 ordinances in his first few months – he was trapped. The regime reforms were “not radical enough for the radicals, it’s too monarchical, but equally it’s not legitimately monarchical and royal enough for the royalists, and so he can’t really please anybody”. 

When Cromwell died in September 1658, the lack of a clear succession plan proved fatal. His son, Richard Cromwell, was a “country gentleman” who lacked his father’s military clout. Without Oliver’s ability to balance the competing factions of the army and Parliament, the house of cards collapsed into chaos, with Charles II the beneficiary of this.

Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper

Image Credit: After Samuel Cooper, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Failure or “unfinished business”?

If the Republic lasted only 11 years, can we call it a success?

Jonathan Healey jokes that it “did alright to last as long as it did,” but the panel agrees the legacy is profound. The Interregnum prevented a “healing” that might have occurred under a more conservative settlement, allowing a diversity of Protestant opinion to flourish that could never again be suppressed.

“We’ve been, in many ways, a two-party system ever since,” Hutton observes, “where Cavalier and Roundhead turned into Whig and Tory” and down through the centuries. The dynamic of ‘stabilised disagreement’ that defines British politics today was born in this short-lived republic, he argues.

So why is this period often ignored in our national story? The panel suggests a ‘state-sponsored amnesia’ began with Charles II, who promised a general amnesty and encouraged people to forget previous conflicts, and made it illegal to threaten the King’s life or to advocate for the return of a republic. We prefer the neat narrative of kings and queens over the “back alley” of a failed commonwealth.

As Ronald Hutton concludes, the republic was not ultimately a failure because “it’s a prelude to the victory of democracy and toleration in the 1680s, and everything that is good about us follows from that …the republic is not so much a failure as unfinished business.”

Hear the full, unedited debate between these world-class historians on Not Just The Tudors…Lates: Why the English Revolution Failed on History Hit.

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Join Natalie as she reveals how this myth gave birth to the ancient world’s most profound and secretive religious tradition: the Eleusinian Mysteries. Tracing the path of ancient initiates from Athens to Eleusis, Natalie examines rare fragments like the ‘Great Eleusinian Relief’ and the ‘Ninnion Tablet’ to uncover the only surviving visual clues to these top-secret rituals. She explores why thousands of pilgrims flocked to Eleusis for centuries, and how this visceral tale of maternal fury and restorative love has inspired two and a half millennia of art. 

A mother’s strike

Greece has always been a land of harsh agricultural reality. In the ancient world, if the land failed, death followed swiftly. When Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, abandoned Mount Olympus in grief over her daughter’s abduction, the world withered.

Natalie explains that Demeter’s fury was a cosmic strike, refusing to let the earth be fertile until Persephone was returned. This forced the hand of Zeus, who intervened not out of compassion, but because the mortals had stopped sending sacrifices – there were simply no crops to offer the gods.

The pomegranate trap

In the myth, Zeus sent Hermes to the Underworld to retrieve Persephone, but Hades, the possessive and cunning King of the Dead, was prepared – freedom would come at a price. He offered Persephone a parting gift: a handful of pomegranate seeds.

In the ancient logic of the Underworld, eating the food of the dead binds you to that realm forever. This was no romantic gesture; in the oldest versions of the Homeric Hymn, Persephone is trapped by a “trap wrapped in sweetness.” 

Persephone was returned to her mother in an ecstatic homecoming. Interestingly, Natalie points out how although the Homeric Hymn was written in patriarchal times, the poet still knew the depth and value of the female bond between mother and daughter. However, their joy was cut short when Demeter realised Persephone had eaten while in the Underworld. 

Zeus, keen to restore the flow of mortal offerings, brokered a dodgy deal: Persephone would spend one-third of the year with Hades and two-thirds of each year above ground with her mother. This “dark compromise” created the seasons: the winter of Demeter’s mourning and the spring of her daughter’s return.

Interestingly, Natalie explains how “this is one of the few times in all of Greek mythology that a god or goddess stands their ground against Zeus, king of the gods, and wins – at least a partial victory”.

Hermes delivers the message to Persephone and Hades

Image Credit: History Hit

The Eleusinian Mysteries

The myth explains how in gratitude to the people of Eleusis who sheltered her during her grief, Demeter gifted them sacred rites. These became the Eleusinian Mysteries, a phenomenon that lasted for over a millennium, promising immense spiritual wealth.

The story of Demeter’s gift grew into a phenomenon of the ancient world, with evidence as far back as the 7th century BC of people gathering in Athens to process to Eleusis. Thousands flocked to Eleusis each year. Anyone – regardless of class, age or gender – could take part, provided they hadn’t committed murder – from common servants to philosophers such as Plato, orators like Cicero, and even Roman Emperors like Hadrian and Augustus. 

The appeal was simple but revolutionary: the Mysteries offered hope. While most Greeks viewed the afterlife as a dreary existence as a powerless “shade,” initiates were promised a better fate.

Tantalising clues: the archaeology of a secret

Because the rites were protected by a vow of silence – punishable by execution – nothing was ever written down. Natalie visits the National Archaeological Museum in Athens to speak with Dr Tulsi Parikh, an expert on the archaeology of Ancient Greek religion, and piece together the rituals from “tiny, tiny fragments” of evidence that have survived – noting how remarkable it is “how much we can still uncover from so little”.

• The Great Eleusinian Relief: A 5th-century marble masterpiece showing Demeter handing sheaves of wheat to Triptolemus, teaching humankind the art of agriculture. He is also pictured with a winged, serpent-entwined chariot,  gifted so he could spread agricultural knowledge across the globe.
• The Ninnion Tablet: The only known visual representation of the rituals. It depicts initiates with lit torches and wreaths walking toward the goddesses, suggesting the ceremony’s climax took place in the dead of night.

Dr Tulsi Parikh and Natalie Haynes standing by The Great Eleusinian Relief

Image Credit: History Hit

Ritual purification and hallucinogens?

Natalie follows the 13-mile ‘Sacred Way’ from the Acropolis to Eleusis for the 9 day celebration. Archaeologist Professor Rebecca Sweetman explains the visceral nature of the purification: initiates would carry animals (usually piglets) into the sea to wash them before a massive sacrifice.

After reaching the sanctuary at Eleusis (surrounded by symbols and performances to remind them of the myth), the climax occurred in the Telesterion, the “holiest of holies.” Inside this auditorium, the deepest secrets were revealed. Rebecca shares a fascinating theory: given the massive grain silos nearby, initiates may have been given kykeon – a grain-based drink that potentially contained ergot (mouldy grain). This would have provided a potent hallucinogenic effect, ensuring the “mind-blowing” spiritual experience that kept pilgrims returning for centuries.

Sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis

Image Credit: History Hit

A legacy of maternal fury

The power of this myth lies in its rare focus on female emotion in what was a patriarchal Greece. Natalie examines how this “maternal fury” has inspired two and a half millennia of art, from 4th-century BC frescos to the modern musical Hadestown.

In the Broadway hit, Persephone is reimagined as a darker queen, a modern woman yearning for the surface, while Hades remains the manipulative schemer of the ancient sources.

The unbreakable bond

Finally, Natalie views the ‘Demeter of Knidos’, a breathtaking statue capturing the goddess’s patient, serene expression – a reminder that Demeter is a goddess who will wait as long as it takes to get what she wants.

Natalie concludes by reflecting how “The ultimate victory of the myth is that maternal devotion proved to be the single unbreakable force in the Greek cosmos”. The bond between mother and daughter was a source of both destructive fury and creative, restorative love – a power that forced even the King of the Gods to compromise.

Watch the series conclusion of Divine Fury: Demeter and Persephone – The Mystery on History Hit to see Natalie Haynes delves into the dark compromise that resolved the myth of Demeter and Persephone.

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