
Advertise on podcast: Past Lives
Rating
4.8from
This podcast has
53 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
Patrick WymanExplicit
No
Date created
2025/11/12
Latest episode
2026/11/04
Average duration
30 min.
Release period
7 days
Description
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.
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Check latest episodes from Past Lives podcast
Bodily Experiences: Conclusion
2026/11/04
We've reached the end of "Bodily Experiences," and it's time to reflect on what we've learned from talking about dozens of past people whom we know through their remains. The most fundamental insight is how much we can now know about the lived, physical experiences of these otherwise unknown people: their aches and pains, their diets, and how they moved through the world.
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Introducing Before The Moment with Nile Rodgers
2026/11/04
How did successful people actually get where they are? Before The Moment is hosted by music icon Nile Rodgers, who sits down with some of music's biggest names to go back to that fascinating point when success wasn't inevitable and everything was still about to change.
Check it out wherever you get your podcasts!
The Life and Death of a Soldier in the Wars of the Roses (Towton 16)
2026/10/28
What was it like to fight in a medieval battle? The discovery of a mass grave associated with the 1461 Battle of Towton, in the midst of the Wars of the Roses, offers concrete and horrifying answers. Here, we focus on one individual - Towton 16 - who had already spent much of his long life engaged in violent pursuits. At Towton, he finally met his end.
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Interview: Professor Kyle Harper on Mass Extinction and the Future of Life
2026/10/21
Kyle Harper is one of the most wide-ranging, curious, and rigorous scholars working today, and he's outdone himself with his latest book, available everywhere now -The Last Animal: Human History and the Fate of Life on Earth from the Ice Age to the Sixth Extinction. We discuss why our present biodiversity crisis is unlike previous mass extinction events, the big-picture history of life and humanity, and what, if anything, we can do about it.
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Selling Books from the Dawn of Print to the Twenty-First Century: Interview with Professor Andrew Pettegree
2026/10/14
The history of the book is a fascinating topic, and Professor Andrew Pettegree has taught us all more about the business of print and how books actually circulated than anyone else. His new release, The Bookshop: A History of Bookselling from the Dawn of Print to the Twenty-First Century focuses on the enigmatic booksellers who actually got the books from printers to readers, and why that step can't be taken for granted.
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Leprosy, Plague, and Life in Anglo-Saxon England
2026/10/07
The small Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Edix Hill, in Cambridgeshire, isn't one of the more impressive examples of the type: no gold or silver or kings buried in boats. It nevertheless contains a wealth of information about daily life, how the ties of affection and kinship made a community, and even what happened when plague arrived in the English countryside.
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Man with a Knife for a Hand (Lombard Italy, Late 6th Century)
2026/09/30
Toward the end of the 6th century CE, a man was buried in northern Italy. He had lived an interesting life: born in what is now Hungary, he crossed the Alps as part of the great Longobard migration to Italy. Most surprising of all is the fact that he survived the amputation of his right hand, and replaced the lost limb with a knife.
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Xin Zhui, the Best-Preserved Mummy of All Time
2026/09/23
When Chinese archaeologists opened a tomb in the city of Changsha in 1972, they found an undisturbed burial chamber filled with treasures from the early Han Dynasty. At the center was the body of a woman who looked like she had died only days or weeks ago, instead of more than 2,000 years.
Go see Patrick, Dr. Claire Aubin, and Manny Fidel draft teams of the greatest assholes in American history on Tuesday, September 29th in New York! Tickets available here: https://admitone.com/events/new-york/community/comedy/tgs-presents-draft-of-shame/54UI98
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
How Do You Get Bitten by a Lion in Roman York?
2026/09/16
Around 1800 years ago, a man was bitten by a lion in the city of York, in what is now northern England. Lions aren't native to York, so how did it get there, and why was it biting this man? The answers to those questions tell us a great deal about the Roman Empire as an interconnected, wide-ranging world, and the sometimes strange practices that interconnection made possible.
Go see Patrick, Dr. Claire Aubin, and Manny Fidel draft teams of the greatest assholes in American history on Tuesday, September 29th in New York! Tickets available here: https://admitone.com/events/new-york/community/comedy/tgs-presents-draft-of-shame/54UI98
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Siberian Ice Maiden and the Scythian World
2026/09/09
Around 270 BC, a woman died of breast cancer in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. Her tomb, cut into the permafrost, is one of the best-preserved archaeological sites on the planet. Thanks to the ice, everything from her extraordinary tattoos to the silk garments she wore has survived, providing a direct window onto the forgotten world of the Iron Age steppe and the Scythians who dominated it.
Go see Patrick, Dr. Claire Aubin, and Manny Fidel draft teams of the greatest assholes in American history on Tuesday, September 29th in New York! Tickets available here: https://admitone.com/events/new-york/community/comedy/tgs-presents-draft-of-shame/54UI98
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Weapons Sacrifices and the Long Road to the Viking Age
2026/09/02
When we think of Scandinavia, it seems to be a long way from the Roman Empire, with hundreds of miles separating the Rhine and Danube frontiers from the bogs of Jutland and Sweden. Why, then, were hundreds upon hundreds of Roman-made weapons intentionally thrown into these bogs in the third and fourth centuries AD? The answer opens the gate that will eventually lead, many centuries down the road, to the warrior-kings of the Viking Age.
Go see Patrick, Dr. Claire Aubin, and Manny Fidel draft teams of the greatest assholes in American history on Tuesday, September 29th in New York! Tickets available here: https://admitone.com/events/new-york/community/comedy/tgs-presents-draft-of-shame/54UI98
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Professor Peter Mancall on Understanding Colonial America
2026/08/26
Professor Peter Mancall is one of the finest historians of colonial America working today, and he's written a banger of a book, the newest entry in the wonderful Oxford History of the United States series. It's entitled Contested Continent, and it's a book everyone who enjoys American history should read.
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Tollund Man
2026/08/19
More than 2,400 years ago, a man living in southern Denmark was hung from a plaited leather cord, then buried in a bog. There he stayed until 1950, when his perfectly preserved face emerged from the peat. We know him as Tollund Man, but who was he in life, and what can we know about the world he inhabited?
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Bog Bodies
2026/08/12
Bog bodies - the age-old remains of people who were submerged in bogs - are an eerie sight. Soft tissue remains, often to an even greater extent than mummies, bringing us face to face with people who died thousands of years ago.
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Human Sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty
2026/08/05
Over more than two centuries, the rulers of Bronze Age China's Shang Dynasty sacrificed at least 13,000 people. Who were they? Where had they come from, and what were their lives like? Thanks to new studies, we can finally take our focus off the Shang elite and move it onto the victims.
Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Podcast reviews
Read Past Lives podcast reviews
Cbees5000 2026/06/11
Great source of more Wyman
The high standard of history podcasting we all associate with Patrick Wyman, but in a great format: quick episodes that still manage to do a deep dive...
Jeffrey Marraccini 2026/04/26
Bringing a more complete narrative to History
Patrick continues his amazing podcast work with _Past Lives_, looking at people like you and me and their experiences during the times they lived. By ...
zpic 2026/03/08
Fabulous as always
I am so pleased to see a new series of excellent podcasts from Patrick
the stories are really fresh and engaging. These are stories that need to be ...
IdeasManPhD 2026/03/04
Consistently excellent and deeply relevant
I am a huge Tides of History fan, but the first season of this was even better. I was a little worried that this series was going to be too gimmicky t...
Shredward0 2026/02/25
Excellent show
Patrick is an excellent synthesizer of history, and this show does an excellent job providing an individual focus rather than collective.
Kikilolopuff 2026/02/07
Excellent History Podcast
Patrick has a real talent for making history interesting via storytelling and thorough research. I’ve been following his work for years and look forwa...
another RJF 2026/01/23
The Janissaries?
Do an episode on the making of a Janissary slave soldier used as heavy infantry in the Ottoman Empire’s conquest in Europe.
nanatobeckett 2026/01/22
Past lives
Another wonderful podcast by Patrick!
Daguirre14 2026/01/20
Consistent great content by Patrick Wyman
I have been listening to Mr, Dr (I assume) Wyman’s podcast since the fall of Rome, and will continue to listen. This is amazing, using all the informa...
Beleek 2026/01/12
I love this
As a history person, I find this just perfect. We have to search to hear personal stories, and here they are!wonderful
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