The History of Egypt – A Podcast Review

 

Title: The History of Egypt

Created, & Performed by: Dominic Perry

Seasons: continuous, episodic.

Website: The History of Egypt

My Rating of ‘The History of Egypt Podcast’: 5 out of 5

 

Review:

The Egyptian History podcast is something that caught my attention after my love for the ancient world was rekindled when playing the Assassin’s Creed Origins video game (a game which Dominic reviews on this podcast as a bonus episode) and it’s ‘Discovery Tour’ mode (a mode which is all your birthdays and Christmases come at once if you’re a lover of Ancient Egypt). Needless to say, picking up this podcast was something I had to try and I’m thrilled beyond words that I did.

I’ll start off by saying that, on the off-chance Dominic ever reads this review … apologies if I get any of the salient points a bit muddled.

Before I delve too much into why the podcast is brilliant, I’ll give a short bit about Dominic as it really does show why he’s the right man for this kind of podcast. Dominic lives in Auckland, New Zealand, where he studied Ancient History at the university there. He has a masters and is currently working on a doctorate. The TLDR of it is; the guy knows what he’s talking about. He also knows how to explain it in ways that your average person on the street, who might not know a great deal, can easily listen and enjoy. He gives all the relevant info in such a clear and easy way which just creates an effortlessly enjoyable listening experience. So top marks for that.

Dominic also has a wonderful voice for this type of thing. He’s very clearly spoken and, as you’d expect for a man with his qualifications, has excellent pronunciation. 

The content of the podcast starts off with an episode that isn’t in-keeping with the overall style. It focuses around Narmer, who is considered to be first ruler of the first dynasty (which is to say the first ruler of a unified Egypt). The episode has a bit of a dramatic flare to it but, every episode thereafter is more down to earth and structured in a factual, this is how it went down kind of way. 

Speaking of that ‘factual, this is how it went down kind of way’, one thing I love about the podcast is how Perry isn’t the type of scholar to say ‘this is how it happened because that’s the theory I believe’. If there are conflicting viewpoints, he highlights them all, gives reasons why each is good, bad or just plain unfeasible, and leaves you feeling that you’re open to choose your own theory rather than feeling a fool if you don’t believe the same as him. I’d say he’s incredibly inclusive as far as lecturing goes, and it’s a wonderful dynamic for the podcast.

The episodes cover the dynasties that reigned from the Old Kingdom, into the 1st intermediary period, the Middle Kingdom, the 2nd intermediary period and the New Kingdom. Each episode tends to focus more on the life of the pharaohs/kings of the time and how their reigns changed Egypt. The episodes are roughly twenty to thirty minutes in length, making them the perfect bite-sized brain food. There are, much later on in the podcast, far longer episodes revolving around interviews with other notable people in the field.

To break up the regular episodic content there is also the occasional mini-episode that cover topics such as Ancient love songs (valentine’s day special), festivities and there’s even one titled ‘An Egyptian Horror Story’ which I’m looking forward to getting to at some point.

The podcast isn’t the sort that absolutely has to be listened to in order, so if you are a die-hard fan of Akhenaten (who doesn’t love a good heretic?) you can simply skip ahead to the episodes with him in it. But, I’ll just say right now that, if you were to do so, you’d be missing out on a lot of Egyptian goodness.

On the off-chance the overwhelming positive nature of this review passed you by: I love this podcast and look forward to whatever Dominic puts out in the future. There’s also a pretty neat selection of merchandise on the website and I’ve got my eye on a couple of pieces for after Christmas. 

If you, or anyone you know, has even the slightest interest in Ancient Egypt and wants to learn more, make sure this podcast is the first stop on the learning experience. I listen to it on an app called ‘Podcast Addict’ but it should be available for free download on most, if not all, reputable podcast hosts.

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