PodCompanions
Discussions: 2026-W43 — page 51
Discussions added each week. These are publication dates here; the original episodes may be older.
- 55:00–1:00:00
Cooper introduces Sneferu and presents a reconstruction of the Meidum pyramid’s construction and collapse.
- 50:00–55:00
Cooper discusses unfinished pyramids, construction workers, their organisation and the administrative demands of royal building.
- 45:00–50:00
Cooper recounts Djoser’s reign and attributes the development of his stepped stone pyramid to Imhotep.
- 40:00–45:00
Cooper describes funerary beliefs, Memphis and the development of royal burial grounds at Saqqara.
- 35:00–40:00
Cooper discusses hieroglyphs, royal titles and religious authority, then recounts Herodotus’s description of embalming.
- 30:00–35:00
Cooper introduces Narmer and interprets the imagery of his palette as evidence for the unification of Egypt.
- 25:00–30:00
Cooper discusses annual flooding, farming seasons and nilometers before introducing Egypt’s early regional divisions.
- 20:00–25:00
Cooper describes travel along the Nile, regional resources and Herodotus’s accounts of animals and religious practices.
- 15:00–20:00
Cooper explains Upper and Lower Egypt, the contrast between floodplain and desert, and the cataracts at Aswan.
- 10:00–15:00
Cooper describes the Nile and presents an account of early human settlement, humid periods and Nabta Playa.
- 5:00–10:00
Cooper continues al-Baghdadi’s account, then introduces the long history and major periods of ancient Egypt.
- 0:00–5:00
Cooper introduces al-Baghdadi’s journey and his descriptions of the pyramids and people exploring them.
- 3:25:00–3:27:31
Cooper describes related productions, acknowledges supporters and closes the episode.
- 3:20:00–3:25:00
Cooper presents Choniates’s lament and begins the closing credits for performers, musicians and advisers.
- 3:15:00–3:20:00
Cooper uses Pamuk’s reflections on Istanbul to consider ruins, memory and the survival of Byzantine influences.
- 3:10:00–3:15:00
Cooper discusses symbols, displaced scholars, European learning, trade and Ottoman refuge for expelled Jews.
- 3:05:00–3:10:00
Cooper describes the city’s capture, legends about its last defenders and Mehmed’s restoration and claims to Roman continuity.
- 3:00:00–3:05:00
Cooper recounts shortages, ominous signs, despair and the Ottoman assault on the city.
- 2:55:00–3:00:00
Cooper describes bombardment, repeated repairs and the experience of people inside the besieged city.
- 2:50:00–2:55:00
Cooper recounts Mehmed’s preparations, the great cannon and the opening of the siege through Barbaro’s diary.
- 2:45:00–2:50:00
Cooper describes territorial losses, attempts at western assistance and the rise of Mehmed.
- 2:40:00–2:45:00
Cooper discusses plague accounts, civil wars and imperial finances, then introduces Ottoman expansion.
- 2:35:00–2:40:00
Cooper describes depopulation and ruins, then introduces the approaching Black Death.
- 2:30:00–2:35:00
Cooper uses Choniates to describe destruction and displacement, then follows Latin rule and Byzantine recovery.