3 things you might like

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game day scratchers from the California Lottery.

Play is everything.

Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

Coach, one more question.

Play the new Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Rams Scratchers from the California Lottery.

A little play can make your day.

Please play responsibly.

Must be 18 years or older to purchase play or claim.

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This episode is sponsored by Better Help.

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H-E-L-P dot com slash Byzantium.

Hello, everyone.

I am busy packing my bags for my trip to Turkey next week.

I'm also researching the cities of Nicaea, Pergamon, and Aphrodisias, which I am so excited to visit.

Before I go, though, I have three things to plug, which I think will interest you.

One is actual history of Byzantium t-shirts, which are now available.

Second is a tour of the actual battlefields of the war between the Greeks and the Persians.

And third is a graphic novel set in Italy on the eve of Belisarius's invasion.

So if any of that is up your street, please lend me your ears for the next few minutes.

Let's start with the comic book set in 6th century Italy.

It comes from friend of the show Marco Capelli, the man behind the Stori d'Italia podcast, a history of Italy in Italian.

So if you speak Italian and haven't heard Marco's work, you have a treasure trove of content waiting for you.

The comic he's created looks amazing.

It follows two figures that we know about from an Ostrogothic jewellery collection that was discovered in the 1930s.

A Roman patrician, Stephanus, who marries a Gothic noblewoman, Valatrude.

And they are subjects of King Theodoric, who is trying to create a functioning Gothic Roman kingdom in Italy.

But their union comes shortly before Italy submerges into chaos, and of course Justinian sends Belisarius out to retake the home peninsula.

It's fantastic fantastic to see more of Roman history brought to life in a popular medium and you can get your hands on a copy in English or in Italian and in paper or in digital format.

And there are loads of other goodies available from Marco's Kickstarter campaign.

Google Ammianus Vespa Mundi or go to thehistoryofbyzantium.com and follow the links I've put there so you can get to the Kickstarter page.

You can also watch a trailer with English subtitles, which looks great.

The Kickstarter ends on October the 11th, so act now.

Okay, so next is the tour of Greece, which is being run by Lantern Jack, the host of the podcast Ancient Greece Declassified.

I am very jealous of anyone going on this tour.

It's taking place from January the 3rd to the 11th, 2025, and it visits every site connected with the famous war between the Persians and the Athenians and Spartans.

So if you want to go, you will visit the Acropolis, the Straits of Salamis, Marathon, Euboea, Thermopylae, Delphi, Plataea.

You might even get to try on some hoplite armor.

You go to Mycenae, the home of Agamemnon.

You go to the Isthmus of Corinth.

Anyway, it just sounds amazing.

Go to greasepodcast.com forward slash tour4.

Or again, go to my website and just follow the links to find out more.

For those of you who don't know Jack or his podcast, he has recorded a little hello for all of you, which I'll play at the end of this podcast in about a minute's time.

Finally, my new friend Magnus, who creates Roman-themed merchandise on Etsy, has created an actual history of Byzantium podcast t-shirt, or I should say, t-shirts, branded with the podcast logo.

You have several options to choose from.

I'm sure they will light up any occasion you go to with looks of confusion and bewilderment, but I think they look beautiful.

Despite my criticisms of Justinian, he is still the face of the podcast.

So check them out at etsy.com forward slash shop forward slash imperial wares.

Or again, go to thehistoryofoofbyzantium.com and follow the link.

Magnus also has t-shirts and mugs celebrating lesser figures than me, such as Constantine, Justinian, Basil II, Marcus Aurelius, and others.

That's Imperial Wares, W-A-R-E-S on Etsy.

That's it for today.

If you are interested in history of Byzantium tours in the future, then just email me and I'll add you to the mailing list.

Thank you all so much for listening.

And here is Lantern Jack to tell you a bit more about his show.

Hello, fellow fans of the...

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Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game Day Scratches from the California Lottery.

Play is everything.

Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

Coach, one more question.

Play the new Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Rams scratchers from the California Lottery.

A little play can make your day.

Please play responsibly.

Must be 18 years or older to purchase, play, or claim.

The history of Byzantium and of Robin's excellent podcast.

My name is Lantern Jack, and I host a podcast called Ancient Greece Declassified.

One of the things that always fascinated me about Byzantium is that it lasted longer than any other empire in history.

And it makes you wonder, how did they do it?

And I think a piece of the puzzle lies in the prehistory of Byzantium.

And I don't just mean Rome, but also ancient Greece, because the Romans and Eastern Romans inherited and made use of a huge amount of technology and scientific knowledge from ancient Greece.

On my podcast, I try to understand how the ancient Greeks produced all of that.

Because they didn't have any of it in, say, 700 BC.

They were a bunch of illiterate shepherds and fishermen.

And yet, a mere 500 years later, they had invented new political systems, were engaging in complex mathematics, astronomy, engineering, medicine.

They were building proto-steam engines, and their major libraries had hundreds of thousands of scrolls.

How do they do that?

Well, if you're curious to find out, I invite you to check out my show by searching for Ancient Greece Declassified on your podcast app or by visiting greasepodcast.com.

And one final thing: like Robin, I also lead guided history tours in Greece, and there's one coming up this January.

The info on that is in the most recent episode.

Thanks for listening to this announcement, and thank you, Robin, for sharing your platform with me.

Take care.