Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorianRome has always been remembered for its marble, its generals, its emperors — but not for the millions of ordinary people who actually lived there. Tonight’s story isn’t about triumphal arches or golden togas. It’s about what daily life was really like for a Roman plebeian: cramped insulae ready to collapse, endless hunger, noisy streets, sour wine, false promises of tribunes, and fires that erased entire families overnight.You’ll follow one forgotten Roman citizen from birth to death, seeing the empire not through the polished marble of history, but through the grit, smoke, and exhaustion that defined plebeian life. Rome endures in ruins. Its people did not.🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep ToolsLooking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4pVFoJy• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTwThese are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.#RomanHistory #AncientRome #HistoryForSleep #DrowsyHistorian #HistoricalHorror
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1:19:25
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1:19:25
The ENTIRE Dark History of Opium
Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorianFor over 5,000 years, the poppy has promised peace, sleep, and relief. But behind the poetry lies one of history’s darkest cycles—medicine turned indulgence, indulgence turned dependency, and dependency turned ruin. From Sumerian clay tablets to the laudanum bottles of Victorian Britain, from the opium wars in China to the prescription pill epidemic of today, every age has believed it could control the “sleep-bringer.” Every age has been wrong.In this episode, we trace the entire dark history of opium—its rise as a cure, its transformation into global commerce, its role in empire and war, and its survival into the modern opioid crisis. It is a story of comfort that never cured, wealth built on suffering, and a cycle of relief and destruction that repeats without end.🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep ToolsLooking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4pVFoJy• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTwThese are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.#History #Opium #SleepHistory #DarkHistory #DrowsyHistorian #Empire #Addiction #HistoricalSleepStory
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3:05:11
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3:05:11
The HORRIFYING Life of a Depression Era Boxer
Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorianStep into the smoke-filled basements and battered gyms of the Great Depression, where hunger drove young men into the ring not for glory, but for survival. Tonight’s story follows the brutal rise and collapse of a desperate fighter — from chipped kitchen tables and soup lines to sagging ropes and jeering crowds. Each punch is less about victory and more about scraping together enough coins to keep the lights on, until the body gives out and the crowd forgets. This is not the myth of boxing’s golden age, but the grim reality of broken ribs, crooked promoters, and the quiet erasure of men used up by spectacle.🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep ToolsLooking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4pVFoJy• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTwThese are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.#history #sleepstory #depression #boxinghistory #drowsyhistorian #asmrhistory #historicalhorror
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1:42:55
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1:42:55
The STRANGE Things Victorians Did
Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorianThe Victorians liked to think of themselves as the pinnacle of progress: railways shrieked across the countryside, gas lamps flickered over polished streets, and the Great Exhibition gleamed with machines promising a brighter future. But behind the rhetoric of reason and refinement lay arsenic wallpaper, laudanum-soothed babies, corsets that crushed organs, and séances in gaslit parlors. They whitened their skin with mercury, sweetened their candies with lead, and dined on chalky bread while congratulating themselves on civilization.In this episode, we descend into the strange rituals and everyday absurdities of Victorian life — from mourning jewelry made of human hair to taxidermy pets posed for tea parties. It’s a story of poison, superstition, and discomfort, all disguised as refinement. Progress, it turns out, was not always what it seemed.🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep ToolsLooking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4pVFoJy• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTwThese are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.#VictorianHistory #StrangeHistory #DarkHistory #WeirdVictorians #HistoryForSleep
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1:55:21
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1:55:21
The STRANGE History of Halloween: From Ghosts to Candy Corn
Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorianFrom bonfires on Celtic hillsides to candy corn on suburban porches, Halloween has always been more than just costumes and sugar. It’s a patchwork of ancient rituals, medieval prayers, Victorian séances, and Hollywood monsters—stitched together into the strange night we know today. In this video, we’ll wander through the centuries of Halloween’s transformations, exploring how a night once meant to ward off restless spirits became a festival of plastic masks, slasher movies, and candy buckets.🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep ToolsLooking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4pVFoJy• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTwThese are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.#HalloweenHistory #StrangeHistory #DrowsyHistorian #SpookySeason #HistoryForSleep #HalloweenOrigins
History For Sleep delivers slow, calm, and slightly unsettling historical storytelling that makes dozing off educationally depressing.
Brought to you by the Drowsy Historian, each episode is 1–2 hours of immersive bedtime history with just enough absurd detail to keep you listening — until you aren’t.
Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian
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