The Ancients18 Sep 2025

The Permian Extinction: When Life Nearly Died

It was the biggest mass extinction event in Earth’s history. 250 million years ago, a 252 million years ago, Earth faced its deadliest crisis. 97% of all life was wiped out in the Permian Extinction – a cataclysm so severe it’s known as The Great Dying.

In this episode of The Ancients, the fourth and final part of our Great Disasters miniseries, Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Michael Benton to uncover the full story of this mass extinction. From the rich and bizarre world of Permian creatures to the apocalyptic events that triggered their downfall, discover how just 3% of life clung on and how their survival paved the way for the rise of the dinosaurs.

Rise of the Dinosaurs

Origins of Life of Earth

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan and the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

You can take part in our listener survey here:

https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(622)

The First South Americans

The prehistoric archaeology of South America is fascinating and constantly developing.Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr. Tom Dillehay to discuss how early humans navigated their migration from North to S...

1 Des 202446min

Fall of the Etruscans

Before Rome came the Etruscans - they were the dominant culture in ancient Italy in the centuries before Rome's imperial expansion. But how did they fall?In this episode of the Ancients, Tristan Hughe...

28 Nov 202455min

Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel story is iconic. Featured in the Book of Genesis, it explains how different languages came to be across the world. But what are its origins?Join Tristan Hughes and Prof. Lloyd Llewe...

24 Nov 202447min

Ice Age America

A group of hunter-gatherers encounter diverse habitats full of creatures they’ve never seen before. A land of opportunity, but also danger.Join host Tristan Hughes and expert Dr David Meltzer as they ...

21 Nov 202449min

Emperor Macrinus: Usurper of Rome

Denzel Washington stars as Emperor Macrinus in the epic new movie Gladiator II, but who exactly was this shadowy ruler of Rome?Join Tristan Hughes as he sits down with Dr Alex Imrie and Matilda Brown ...

17 Nov 202456min

Caracalla & Geta: The Real Emperors of Gladiator II

The new Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator II features two of Rome's most villainous emperors - the brothers Caracalla and Geta.And in today's episode of The Ancients were delving into the real history o...

14 Nov 202454min

The Minotaur

Half man and half bull, the Minotaur is one of the most famous, and scariest, monsters of Greek mythology.The story goes that it was trapped in a great labyrinth beneath Knossos on the island of Crete...

10 Nov 202450min

The Ancient Amazon

Today, we often see the Amazon basin as an endless expanse of trees and rainforest. But 2,000 years ago, at the same time that great cities like Rome, Athens and Alexandria were at their height, this ...

7 Nov 202450min