Odysseus is remembered as the king of Ithaca, but what kind of kingdom was Ithaca actually? In this episode, we follow the island from the Late Bronze Age into the Early Iron Age and compare Homer’s world with the archaeology beneath it. We look at Mycenaean remains, burials, imported objects, Aetos, Polis Cave, bronze tripod dedications and Ithaca’s connections with Kefalonia, Italy, the Adriatic and Cyprus. There is no great palace waiting for us on the island, but there is more than enough evidence to ask what kind of real society may sit behind Homer’s stories.

Ur was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia, but some of its most remarkable remains come from beneath the ground. This episode follows the city through its early development and into the famous Royal Cemetery, where archaeologists uncovered extraordinary goldwork, weapons, musical instruments and burials involving dozens of people. We look at what these graves can actually tell us about kingship, religion, wealth and death in ancient Sumer, and why the so-called Royal Death Pits remain some of the strangest discoveries ever made in Mesopotamia.

Around 6,000 years ago, Uruk became something the world had never really seen before: a true city on an extraordinary scale. In this episode, we follow its growth from earlier Mesopotamian settlements into a vast urban center of temples, workshops, administration, trade and political power. We look at how Uruk functioned, why writing and large-scale bureaucracy emerged there, how its influence spread far beyond southern Mesopotamia, and what life may have looked like inside one of humanity’s earliest great cities.