PodCompanions
Discussions: 2026-W43 — page 52
Discussions added each week. These are publication dates here; the original episodes may be older.
- 2:25:00–2:30:00
Cooper narrates the installation of Alexios, attempts to fund his promises, unrest and the renewed conflict.
- 2:20:00–2:25:00
Cooper describes Alexios Angelos’s agreement with the crusaders and their arrival before Constantinople.
- 2:15:00–2:20:00
Cooper recounts crusader victories and Byzantine recovery, then introduces the Fourth Crusade and the attack on Zara.
- 2:10:00–2:15:00
Cooper traces Alexios’s appeals, Urban’s call and the arrival of crusading forces, including violence along their route.
- 2:05:00–2:10:00
Cooper recounts the emperor’s captivity and fall, civil conflict and the search for western military support.
- 2:00:00–2:05:00
Cooper discusses the army, water storage and harbour defences, then introduces Manzikert and its military setting.
- 1:55:00–2:00:00
Cooper describes imperial strategies for maintaining support and the elaborate ceremonies used in diplomacy.
- 1:50:00–1:55:00
Cooper discusses the city’s reputation, divisions with the Latin West and the structure of Byzantine rule.
- 1:45:00–1:50:00
Cooper describes entertainments, housing, inequality, street food and the spice trade.
- 1:40:00–1:45:00
Cooper uses travellers’ accounts to describe Constantinople’s people, buildings, ceremonies and food.
- 1:35:00–1:40:00
Cooper examines accounts of Byzantine incendiary weapons and their role in resisting sieges.
- 1:30:00–1:35:00
Cooper describes losses, naval defeat and attacks on Constantinople, then introduces Greek fire.
- 1:25:00–1:30:00
Cooper recounts the rise of Arab power, Byzantine defeats and the loss of eastern territories.
- 1:20:00–1:25:00
Cooper discusses plague, taxation, territorial losses and later wars, then introduces the Arabian Peninsula.
- 1:15:00–1:20:00
Cooper recounts Belisarius’s Italian campaigns and their damage, then introduces the Justinianic plague.
- 1:10:00–1:15:00
Cooper describes rebuilding after the riots, the silk story, urban infrastructure and Justinian’s ambitions.
- 1:05:00–1:10:00
Cooper traces Justinian’s rise, contrasts Procopius’s portrayals and introduces the Nika riots.
- 1:00:00–1:05:00
Cooper considers eastern responses to the western collapse and introduces Justin’s arrival in Constantinople.
- 55:00–1:00:00
Cooper discusses Roman identity in the East and the decline and political ending of the Western Empire.
- 50:00–55:00
Cooper describes the confrontation with Attila, the empire’s geography and differences between East and West.
- 45:00–50:00
Cooper recounts earthquake damage and the mobilisation of racing factions to rebuild the defences.
- 40:00–45:00
Cooper describes Constantinople’s fortifications and the threat posed by the Huns under Attila.
- 35:00–40:00
Cooper traces urban expansion and new walls, then recounts the sack of Rome and the flight of its inhabitants.
- 30:00–35:00
Cooper describes the older city, Constantine’s capital and its public buildings and entertainments.