World History by the Numbers
The History Fangirl Podcast
In this episode, I chat with Daniel Hoyer from Seshat about looking at history through a statistical lens. We discuss the and his new book, Figuring Out the Past: The 3,495 Vital Statistics that Explain World History. Let's Stay in Touch! You can join the conversation in our Facebook Group, , or come say hi on ! My Travel Websites - Culture & History Travel Guides in the USA, Europe, and Beyond - Balkan Travel Blog - Travel in Oklahoma & Route 66 The theme music for the podcast is "Places Unseen" by Lee Rosevere.
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Veliko Tarnovo: Bulgaria's Medieval Capital
The History Fangirl Podcast
In this episode, I chat with Eric Halsey from the Bulgarian History Podcast about the hidden gem of Veliko Tarnovo. This once-important Bulgarian city is one of the most picturesque in Europe, and yet not many outside of Bulgaria know much about it. You can find Eric's podcast Let's Stay in Touch! You can join the conversation in our Facebook Group, , or come say hi on ! More on Veliko Tarnovo: If you are planning to visit Veliko Tarnovo, here are our Veliko Tarnovo travel guides. My Travel Websites - Culture & History Travel Guides in the USA, Europe,...
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Stalking Chernobyl
The History Fangirl Podcast
Yes, it's been two years, and for that I'm very sorry! But I'm back with new episodes next week. In the meantime, enjoy this interview on Chernobyl I did a few weeks ago with Darmon Richter, the author of the new book Chernobyl, a Stalker's Guide. The theme music for the podcast is "Places Unseen" by Lee Rosevere.
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The Great Kazakh Famine
The History Fangirl Podcast
On today’s episode of the History Fangirl Podcast, we talk with renowned travel blogger Megan Starr, whom we spoke to a few months back about Kiev. But this week, we’re talking in person, in Kazakhstan, at the site of the memorial to the Great Kazakh Famine, a historical event which not many people know about in the West but looms large in the history of Kazakhstan. And, we both have recovered from the Kazakhstani flu that has been going around, so we’re ready to get rolling!
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The World Nomad Games
The History Fangirl Podcast
This week’s episode is something a little different. I am in Isyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, covering the World Nomad Games, a festival of sports that’s sort of like the Olympics for nomadic peoples. The sports, though, are way more interesting than, say, basketball. My first interview this episode is with the co-captain of the American Kok Boru team (I’ll explain later), and the sports include horse archery, tug of war, arm wrestling and more.
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The Massacre at Srebrenica
The History Fangirl Podcast
Last year, Alex Cruikshanks came on the show to talk about Belgrade, a really detailed and wide-ranging episode. And we had such a great time, he’s back again to talk about more recent history in Yugoslavia, specifically the brutal massacre at Srebrenica. Yugoslavia, as anyone who was alive in the 1990s knows, was falling apart in the early part of the decade. The Bosnian War was raging, and in 1995, some 8,000 Bosniaks, mostly men and boys, were killed.
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The Strangely Competitive History of the CN Tower
The History Fangirl Podcast
Every city has that one landmark that seems like a tourist trap and practically begs you not to visit. For me, that was the CN Tower in Toronto. I didn’t go near it the first time I visited the city, and the second time, this past July, I planned to steer clear. But it turns out the joke was on me, as the CN Tower is an amazing building with a funny, competitive and ingenious bit of Canadian history.
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Traveling the Green Book
The History Fangirl Podcast
In the first half of the 20th century, the automobile became a symbol of freedom to American families. Middle-class families able to afford their own car were no longer restricted to train or bus timetables, and the great American road trip was born. But for black Americans, this new freedom collided with old hatred, prejudices and dangers. African Americans began using “the Green Book,” a guide to places that were friendly to them along their journey.
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The Best of The History Fangirl Podcast's First Year
The History Fangirl Podcast
We did it! Next week will mark a full year of publishing The History Fangirl Podcast, and this week marks the 50th episode, so it felt like the right time to do a retrospective of the first 12 months of the show. My producer picked a handful of his favorite clips (it was too hard for me to pick!) from the past year, and so this episode looks back on some of the fun and fascinating stories my amazing guests have told.
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Philadelphia's Elfreth's Alley
The History Fangirl Podcast
Philadelphia is by far one of my favorite American cities. I used to live there and run a photo-a-day website there, and it’s one of the best cities to live in if you’re a history buff. On today’s episode, we talk about the amazing Elfreth’s Alley, the oldest continually lived-on residential street in the country (hard to fit that on a title belt, but still pretty cool). I had the chance to take a tour of the street with the Elfreth’s Alley Association’s Board Member Brittany Thomas.
info_outlineThe town of Bath in England is famous for many things. It was the setting for one of Chaucer’s most famous stories from The Canterbury Tales, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” it was a Georgian pleasure town and its hot springs have attracted people to it since Neolithic times. However, for most history lovers, interest in the town begins with the Roman baths and its status as one of the most fascinating Roman ruin sites in Great Britain. My guest today is David Crowther, host of the History of England Podcast. We talk about how the Romans came to Britain, why they were interested in Bath, and what happened to the town in the years since they left.
Dipping a toe in Bath
When David was a kid, he went on a school trip to Bath, and as he says, he followed the grand tradition of school kids not being interested in the subject of a field trip. But then the Bath Museum got in touch, and he went back and realized it was, in his words, “the most stunning town and the most stunning museum.” Bath is the second-most visited town in England, and David tells us why: It was built out of gorgeous yellow limestone, the environment surrounding the town is gorgeous, and it has the famous Roman baths. So as David says, it’s really several things at once, and they all recommend a visit.
Caesar declares victory, runs away
The Romans first invaded Bath in 56 B.C., when Julius Caesar was fighting the Gauls, and many of the Gauls were escaping into Britain. David says the myth has it that Caesar invaded Bath, “realized he didn’t have the right kid, declared victory and ran away.” He says there’s a lot of truth to that myth, but regardless, Claudius came after and did the job properly. What’s interesting is that at first, Romans just shipped everything over to Bath, and it wasn’t until the third century that they truly began to make a real society and a mixed and varied economy. By the third and fourth century, the Romans start putting in a lot of work on the complex. It’s a religious complex, with a priest presiding over it. But by 420, after years of invasions, Roman Britain is, as David says, “absolutely dead.”
How the monument came to be
It’s a little strange for modern people to imagine a temple in a public bath, but the Roman baths were holy places, as well. As David tells me, the gray ruins we see now bare little resemblance to the colorful places Roman baths used to be. He provides a great picture of what you would have seen if you had prayed at the altar in, say the fourth century. The deities in that particular temple included Minerva. But what’s fascinating is that the Romans incorporated the deities into the temples. So while Minerva is a prominent Roman deity, Sulis, a Celtic goddess was also worshipped at Bath.
The many “careers” of Bath
While there was some attempt to preserve the baths, eventually the city falls to pieces, as David says, and by the time Henry I comes along, the baths are completely gone. And Bath underwent numerous transformations after that, including as the setting for one of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. And then, in the 18th century, it became a posh spot, and that’s the city you see today when you visit. The original Roman baths were rediscovered in the 19th century, and excavation continues to this day. It sounds like an amazing place to visit, and David provides some great suggestions for where and how to see it today.
Outline of This Episode
- [1:41] The history of the History of England Podcast
- [3:54] How he got interested in Bath
- [6:57] How Romans came to Bath
- [13:30] What is a Roman bath?
- [17:00] The Temple at Bath
- [21:20] How Romans viewed religion
- [26:19] What happens to Bath after Romans leave
- [35:49] What to see in Bath
Resources Mentioned
Connect With Stephanie
Featuring the song “Places Unseen” by Lee Rosevere.
More info and photographs for this episode at:
https://historyfangirl.com/englands-roman-baths/