For more than 3,000 years, the Maya built one of the Ancient world's greatest civilisations. They raised towering pyramids in the rainforest, mastered the environment and established powerful dynasties- long before the rise of the Aztecs or the Inca. Their city-states waged wars, forged alliances, and practised elaborate rituals as they competed for power across Central America.

In a special mini-series, Dan travels to the remote jungles of Belize to trace the remarkable story of the Maya: from their earliest beginnings and astonishing rise to their golden age, to the enduring mystery of the ninth-century collapse that continues to puzzle historians.

In episode one, Dan discovers exactly how the Maya emerged to become a dominant force in the ancient Americas.

If you would like to find out how to visit the ancient city of Caracol and the many places mentioned in this podcast, visit www.travelbelize.org for more information!

If you want more, you can sign up to watch our History Hit documentary The Secrets of the Maya at https://access.historyhit.com/videos/secrets-of-the-maya

With huge thanks to Jonnell Augustine and Simon Noralez from the Belize Tourism Board, Natalie Wilson and Gabriella Bustone from Finn Partners. Our contributors: Dr Adrian Chase, Dr Diane Chase and Jose Mes.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.

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Today, we trace Julius Caesar’s dramatic invasions into Britain - two bold expeditions that tested Rome’s reach at the very edge of the known world. Ships were battered by storms, soldiers struggled with unfamiliar tides, and British warriors offered fierce resistance. Caesar never secured a lasting conquest of the island - so what drove him to try? Military necessity, retribution or a calculated move in his rivalry with figures like Pompey?

Joining us is historian and author Simon Elliott to unpack the politics, ambition and spectacle behind these campaigns, and to explore how these risky ventures helped shape the larger-than-life reputation that still defines Caesar today.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

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Dan Snow's History Hit is now available on YouTube! Check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/@DSHHPodcast

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You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com.

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Newcastle, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff - all of these places and more were bombed during the Blitz. From the devastated shipyards of Tyneside to the bombed-out docks of Shieldhall, we strip away the myth of the Blitz spirit to uncover the raw, human cost of the air war beyond the capital.

Joining us is the historian and former RAF navigator John Nichol, author of 'Blitz: When World War Two Came Home'.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

We need your help! Let us know what you want from Dan Snow's History Hit by filling in our anonymous survey here: https://forms.gle/PvgayWLkWGjYT4St6

Dan Snow's History Hit is now available on YouTube! Check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/@DSHHPodcast

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com.

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It’s where our ancient instincts to travel, to trade, to reunite with family and explore meet modern technology and innovation. From muddy airfields to gleaming cathedrals of designer shopping, fancy restaurants and even botanical gardens- the airport has become this weird and wonderful place that tells the story of the modern world. For the 80th birthday of Heathrow - one of the world’s pioneering and most connected airports - Dan explores the curious history of the airport from the earliest versions back in the 1920s, through the luxurious golden age of travel to the revolution of the jet age and beyond.

To find out more, head to Heathrow.com/80

Thanks to Alastair Gordon, author of ‘Naked Airport: A Cultural History of the World's Most Revolutionary Structure’, as well as Alan Smilie, Ady Dolan, Zulfikar and Joseph Gregory at Heathrow.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.

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Before 1200 BC, the ancient world was more connected than you'd ever imagine. Egyptian pharaohs, Hittite emperors and Mycenaean warrior-kings trading gifts, forging alliances and going to war across the glittering Mediterranean. Then, in just a few decades, it all collapsed...

Professor Eric Cline joins us to unravel this lost Bronze Age world: the real diplomacy behind Homer's epics, the letters that rewrote history, and the catastrophes that erased Mycenaean civilisation.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.

We need your help! Let us know what you want from Dan Snow's History Hit by filling in our anonymous survey here: https://forms.gle/PvgayWLkWGjYT4St6

Dan Snow's History Hit is now available on YouTube! Check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/@DSHHPodcast

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

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A special video podcast where Dan charts the course of Odysseus through the Mediterranean as he investigates the true places that could have inspired the Odyssey. Using his new Big Pad, Dan investigates the theories of ancient and modern scholars to see if he can build a plausible route that the Mycenaean king could have taken from Troy - modern day Hisarlik in Turkey- to Malta, Sicily and all the way to the Ionian island of Ithaca, where the ruins of the very real Palace of Odysseus stand...

Produced by Mariana Des Forges, McKenna Fernandez and Dan Snow, edited by Matthew Wilson.

You can enjoy more of Dan's Big Pad on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@DSHHPodcast

You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com.

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Is there any truth in the Odyssey, and what does it all mean? We know it's a story where a man convenes with monsters and gods, ghosts and mythological beings, but the Odyssey actually does tell us a lot about Ancient Greece - about traditions, anxieties, storytelling, geography, values and what it is to be human.

In this episode, Dan is joined by world-leading classicists Professor Dame Mary Beard and Professor Edith Hall to break down Homer's epic poem to make sense of its history, characters, the mythology, what is based in truth and what we do and don't know about its elusive author.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore

You can enjoy more history from Mary Beard in her podcast Instant Classics.

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Dan Snow's History Hit is now available on YouTube! Check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/@DSHHPodcast

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com.

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He wasn't an English knight, but actually a Roman soldier, and the dragon didn't appear until centuries later in the medieval period. So what is the origin of the Saint George and the Dragon myth? And why do so many countries - from England to Ethiopia - adopt him as their patron?

To sort the fact from the fiction, Dan is joined by Jasmine Elmer, mythologist and author of 'Slay: Ancient legends of female slayers and the hidden mythology of dragons'. They explore the history of dragons from the chaos monsters of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to the serpents of Greek mythology, Christian saints' lives and East Asian folklore, as well as the stories of other little-known dragon slayers through history.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore

We need your help! Let us know what you want from Dan Snow's History Hit by filling in our anonymous survey here: https://forms.gle/PvgayWLkWGjYT4St6

Dan Snow's History Hit is now available on YouTube! Check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/@DSHHPodcast

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com.

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