Show overview
Past Lives launched in 2025 and has put out 28 episodes, alongside 1 trailer or bonus episode in the time since. That works out to roughly 15 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence, with the show now in its 2nd season.
Episodes typically run twenty to thirty-five minutes — most land between 25 min and 29 min — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-US-language History show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 3 days ago, with 20 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2026, with 20 episodes published.
From the publisher
History is built by people like you, and Past Lives is here to bring their stories to life. Every week, we’ll focus on the lived experiences of real people in the past, from the Stone Age to the near-present. Peasants, laborers, artisans, merchants, soldiers, and the enslaved are far too often overlooked in favor of kings, generals, and politicians; not here. On Past Lives, we keep the focus where it belongs: on the real people who populate our shared past. By understanding them, we can strive to better understand ourselves. These people were us, and we are them. They mattered, and so do you.
Latest Episodes
View all 28 episodesThe Corps of Discovery Wasn't Just Lewis and Clark: Interview with Craig Fehrman
Gebelein Man and the Roots of Ancient Egypt
Ötzi the Iceman
The Shaman of Bad Dürrenberg
Audiobook Chapter: Lost Worlds
S2 Ep 5The Ancient One/Kennwick Man (North America, 8,500 Years Ago)
<html><p>In July of 1996, a skeleton was discovered on the banks of the Columbia River. It belonged to a man who died 8,500 years ago, in a world so distant from our own it hardly seems real, but thanks to detailed studies of his remains, we know more about that man than almost anybody else in the distant past.<br/><br/>Become a member now at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia." target="_blank">www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia.</a> You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p></html>
S2 Ep 3Anzick-1 (North America, 13,000 Years Ago)
<html><p>Thirteen thousand years ago, a baby died in what's now Montana. His people buried him under a rock ledge, and there his bones stayed for millennia. Today, we know the infant as Anzick-1, and he's the only human being we can associate with the widespread and extraordinarily important archaeological group we know as the Clovis Culture - some of the first people to inhabit the ancient Americas.<br/><br/>Become a member now at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia." target="_blank">www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia.</a> You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p></html>
S2 Ep 1Introducing Season 2: Bodily Experiences
<html><p>When we think about the past, whether we know it or not we're usually thinking in terms of texts: written sources that provide the information we use to understand what happened before our time. But there are many other potential sources of information, and the richest of them all is the human body. In this new season of Past Lives, we explore the experiences of dozens of people who lived over thousands of years through the lens of their remains: skeletons, mummies, and bog bodies.<br/><br/>Become a member now at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia." target="_blank">www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia.</a> You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p><p>And don't forget to check out History for the Reckoning! <a href="https://www.historyforthereckoning.com" target="_blank">www.historyforthereckoning.com</a></p></html>
S1 Ep 32Recommended Listen: History Daily
<html><p>Today we’re sharing a podcast that Patrick really loves: History Daily. History Daily tells the fascinating stories of what happened “on this day” in history, and new episodes come out every weekday. Since we just finished our season on slavery, the first episode focuses on the uprising that led to freedom for the captives on the slave ship Amistad in the 19th century and the second on the Roman siege of Masada way back in the first century AD. Enjoy!</p><p style="text-align: left">Become a member now at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia." target="_blank">www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia.</a> You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p></html>
S1 Ep 30Why Slavery Matters
<html><p>Slavery is a huge topic, but we've covered an enormous amount of ground from ancient Assyria to the 20th century, and now we can come to some conclusions about why slavery matters.<br/><br/>Become a member now at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia." target="_blank">www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia.</a> You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p></html>
S1 Ep 28Matilda McCrear, the Clotilda, and the Last Survivors of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
<html><p>In July of 1860, the last slave ship to reach the United States arrived in Mobile Bay. The <em>Clotilda</em> held 103 captives, Yoruba people from present-day Nigeria. Eighty years later, one of those captives - known by then as Matilda McCrear - died in Alabama. She was the last known survivor of the Middle Passage experienced by more than 12 million Africans.<br/><br/>Become a member now at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia." target="_blank">www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia.</a> You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p></html>
S1 Ep 26Olaudah Equiano's Atlantic World
<html><p>Olaudah Equiano is one of the most fascinating people in human history: enslaved as a child in West Africa, trained as a sailor who traveled from the Equator to the Arctic and everywhere in between, but later in life, one of the most impactful writers of his age. Equiano's autobiography is a firsthand guide to the world of Atlantic slavery and what it did to those whom it touched.<br/><br/>Become a member now at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia." target="_blank">www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia.</a> You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p></html>
S1 Ep 24Moll and the Indian Slave Trade in Colonial America (18th Century)
<html><p>While the horrors of the Middle Passage are familiar to most, it's less well known that countless indigenous people were trafficked into slavery in the Americas. One of them was Moll, who was abducted in the Carolinas, transported to Boston, and lived for years before eventually making her escape.<br/><br/>Become a member now at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia." target="_blank">www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia.</a> You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p></html>
S1 Ep 22Maddalena, the Medici, and Slavery in the Renaissance (Florence, 15th century)
<html><p>We don't usually think of the Italian Renaissance - the time of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and the Borgias - as a world of slaves, but there were many enslaved people in Florence, Rome, Venice, and Genoa. One of them was Maddalena, whose life took her from the Black Sea to the household of Cosimo de Medici, one of the richest and most powerful men in Europe.</p><p>Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p><p>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.</p></html>
S1 Ep 20Sultan Baybars (Mamluk, 13th Century)
<html><p>Sultan Baybars started his life as a Kipchak Turk on the steppe and ended it as the ruler of the most powerful state in the Islamic world. Slavery - military slavery, the practice of taking boys and training them as soldiers - was his pathway to power, but what did it mean for him and the thousands of others forced into that life?</p><p>Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p><p>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.</p></html>
S1 Ep 18Freedmen, Work, and Race in Colonial Philadelphia: Interview with Professor Keith Pluymers
<html><p>My dear friend Professor Keith Pluymers joins me to discuss a man listed in a Philadelphia city account book as "Negro Joe," and we try to reconstruct what his life, work, and experience of the city would have been.</p><p><br/></p><p>Become a member now at www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p><p>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.</p></html>
S1 Ep 16Saint Patrick, Slavery, and the Fall of the Roman Empire
<html><p>Saint Patrick is one of the most famous individuals who lived in the late Roman Empire, but long before he became the apostle of the Irish, he was a Romano-British teenager who was abducted from his home and enslaved for six years.</p><p><br/></p><p>Become a member now at <a href="http://www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia" target="_blank">www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia</a>. You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p><p>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.</p></html>
S1 Ep 16Saint Patrick, Slavery, and the Fall of the Roman Empire
<html><p>Saint Patrick is one of the most famous individuals who lived in the late Roman Empire, but long before he became the apostle of the Irish, he was a Romano-British teenager who was abducted from his home and enslaved for six years.<br/><br/>Become a member now at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia." target="_blank">www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia.</a> You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p></html>
S1 Ep 14Abbas and the Roman Slave Trade (Parthia, Second Century AD)
<html><p>On May 24th, 166 AD, a seven-year-old boy was sold for the price of 200 denarii in the city of Seleucia Pieria. How did Abbas get there, and what happened to him afterward? The answers shed a great deal of light on how the Roman slave trade actually worked in practice.<br/><br/>Become a member now at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia." target="_blank">www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia.</a> You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p></html>
S1 Ep 12Eurysaces’ Bakers and the Hell of Roman Industry
<html><p>Standing just outside Rome's <em>Porta Maggiore</em> is a unique funeral monument to a successful baking entrepreneur named Eurysaces, who was proud of his occupation and his prosperity. But Eurysaces' wealth rested on the brutalized laborers who worked in his hellish industrial bakery, and through Eurysaces, we can understand them.<br/><br/>Become a member now at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia." target="_blank">www.patreon.com/cw/PastLivesMedia.</a> You'll get access to the Past Lives Discord server and four pieces of bonus content per month (including a historian interview, book club, Q and A, and a sources and evidence discussion). Past Lives is a 100-percent independent production, and your support is what allows us to make this show. So, thank you.</p></html>