How did the Kingdom of Macedon go from a Greek backwater to controlling one of the largest empires of the ancient world? Historian Adrian Goldsworthy joins me to discuss Alexander the Great and his influential father Philip II.

Thebes was once the most powerful city-state in Greece, but it has largely been overshadowed in popular culture by Athens and Sparta. Historian Paul Cartledge and I discuss the rise and fall of Thebes, and what impact it made on the ancient world.

Who were the warriors of early Greece? Were they like the heroes depicted in the Homeric epics? Or completely different? Was there even a Trojan War at all? Greek warfare expert Josho Brouwers joins us to answer these questions and many more.

What caused the mysterious collapse of so many civilizations in the 12th century BCE? Did the Trojan War really happen? Were Achilles and Helen real people? Eric Cline, one of the world's leading ancient historians and archaeologists, helps answer these questions and more in the latest episode of Ancient Heroes.

In these episodes of the show, we search for the mercurial tomb of the epic hero Achilles, which has been lost for hundreds - if not thousands - of years.