Mine has to be the excellent History of Byzantium podcast. I’ve listened to a bunch of them and this one is the one that reels me in the most. Early episodes are slow, but beginning with Justinian maybe 15 episodes or so in, he gets so good.

Episode 89, “The House of War” is one of the best podcast episodes I’ve ever listened to. The host puts you in the boots of a frontier citizen soldier as a Muslim raid comes through your garrison.

Episode 27, “The Walking Dead” is another great one. He walks you through the bubonic plague FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF BEING THE PLAGUE. Pretty unique and insightful.

After every century, the host does several special episodes on the state of the world around Byzantium, from the rise and fall of the Frankish empire and the Islamic caliphate to changes in military and naval tech, etc. Love these end of century episodes.

Around episode 70ish, the host hits a fantastic stride, turning his podcast into one of the best out there imo. Fully worth a listen. If you need to be grabbed quickly, I recommend starting on episode 27 and going from there. All you’ve missed is the fall of Rome and the jockeying of Constantinople with the Germanic tribes. Episode 27 is during the reign of Justinian, which is arguably when the real Byzantine state began to form. And it’s around this time that the host gets really good. Anyway, I can’t recommend this podcast enough.