Toilet Paper of the Ancients (discovery week) - That Was Genius Episode 40

History is all about discoveries. From scientific breakthroughs, to new philosophies and ideas, to finding out what women get up to in sleepovers and finding wads of classic work used as loo roll.

And yes, the last two are our stories for this week, as we explore the topic of discovery. Tom kicks us on with a look at the Oxyrhynchus papyri (good luck spelling that drunk), an incredible archaeological horde of classical and lost texts from Egypt, which over the centuries found themselves thrown away, and even used as toilet paper.

Meanwhile, Sam discovered the Bona Dea incident this week - an ancient Roman sex-scandal which saw a randy, cross-dressing young senator sneak into a top-secret, women only festival in order to try and get off with Julius Caesar's wife. Which didn't go well.

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Welcome to That Was Genius: Two blokes. A 12-hour time difference. An immature sense of humour. And 10,000 years of human civilisation. A weekly podcast looking at the weirder side of history.

Join Sam Datta-Paulin (he likes history and lives in Britain) and Tom Berry (he also likes history but lives in New Zealand), for a weekly reflection on the bold, the brilliant... And the downright strange.

From bizarre events and stories to equally odd inventions, barely a day goes by without something incredible (or incredibly stupid) happening around the world.

We upload new episodes every Wednesday night/Thursday morning (UK time).

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That Was Genius is produced by Glorious Republic Broadcasting.