Special Episode: Ancient war stories and their real-world ramifications with Alice König

To launch series 4 of Two Friends Talk History, I was very fortunate to interview Dr Alice König, host of the Visualising War and Peace Podcast, for this special crossover episode. 

 Alice has recently co-edited a new book with Nicolas Wiater, on ancient conflict narratives, called Visualising War across the Ancient Mediterranean: Interplay between Conflict Narratives in Different Genres and Media (Routledge 2025). In this podcast episode, Alice introduces the book and discusses some of the themes at the heart of it.

This episode explores the conception of visualisation: the ways in which narratives of war not only reflect or depict conflict but also envision it, in ways that shape how conflict gets pursued or prevented in the real world. She also discusses the role that interplay between narratives and discourses can play in cementing and amplifying influential war imaginaries. And she considers the impacts which all of this war-storytelling has on ordinary lives in the everyday. 

 We hope you enjoy this collab episode!

If you would like to get in touch with Alice regarding her work, please visit the University of St Andrews' Visualising War website and the Visualising Peace Project.

The music for the episode was composed by Jonathan Young, and Zofia Guertin mixed the episode. 

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Music by the wonderfully talented Chris Sharples
Illustration by Zofia Guertin

If you'd like to get in touch, email at twofriendstalkhistory@gmail.com.