A new podcast, "Antiquitas: Leaders and Legends of the Ancient World," combines storytelling and scholarship to bring to life the ancient world’s most engaging personalities, real and mythical. The first season, “Gods of War,” contains eight episodes chronicling war stories of ancient Greece and Rome, from Achilles and Helen to Julius Caesar.

“The stories of the past open the door to the stories of our own lives, and I’m eager to share the key,” says Barry Strauss, the Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies in the Departments of History and Classics. “There’s a great audience for serious history in an accessible format.”

The podcast is produced at the Language Resource Center’s recording studio.

Strauss is the author of seven books on ancient history, including “Masters of Command: Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar and the Genius of Leadership”; “Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece – and Western Civilization”; “The Death of Caesar: The Story of History’s Most Famous Assassination”; and the forthcoming “Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine.”

- Linda B. Glaser