{"podcast":{"title":"Instant Classics","slug":"instant-classics-7455513","podcast_index_feed_id":7455513,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/IMP2568764140","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/83e996b4-727e-11f0-8ba1-9fb63af495b7/image/eb7021cccbb20b933b6663c884166ea5.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Vespucci","episode_count":49,"summary":"Join world-renowned classicist Mary Beard and Guardian chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins for Instant Classics — the weekly podcast that proves ancient history is still relevant. Ancient stories, modern twists… and no degree in Classics required. Become a Member of the Instant Classics Book Club here: https://instantclassics.supportingcast.fm/","last_synced_at":"2026-06-12T00:18:23.216693+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/instant-classics-7455513"},"episode":{"title":"Classic Chats: Tom Holland","slug":"classic-chats-tom-holland","published_at":"2026-02-26T06:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/instant-classics-7455513/classic-chats-tom-holland","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/instant-classics-7455513","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR4085419094.mp3?updated=1772071589","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR4085419094.mp3?updated=1772071589","summary":"Mary and Charlotte talk to Tom Holland, co-host of the Rest is History. As well as being a podcasting megastar, Tom is a brilliant historian of Ancient Rome. His books include Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic, Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age and his recent translation of Suetonius’ The Lives of the Caesars. In the first half of this episode, Tom talks about why Suetonius, with his interest in court gossip and trivia, is the historian for the current age. In the second half, he talks about his lifelong fascination with the Romans - from discovering the Asterix books as a boy, the poetry of Catullus as a teenager, and how writing a series of novels about vampires led him to write Rubicon. @instaclassicpod for Insta, TikTok and YouTube @insta_classics for X email: instantclassicspod@gmail.com Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci Producer: Jonty Claypole Video Editor: Jak Ford Theme music: Casey Gibson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices","meta_description":"Mary and Charlotte talk to Tom Holland, co-host of the Rest is History. As well as being a podcasting megastar, Tom is a brilliant historian of Ancient Ro…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3386,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/instant-classics-7455513/episodes/classic-chats-tom-holland/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/instant-classics-7455513/classic-chats-tom-holland.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}