The Spoils of War – a History Podcast – The Apocrypha of Azazel

A History Podcast

To the victor go the spoils — including the history books.

I’m Azazel — author of The Apocrypha of Azazel — and I built this show because I’ve never trusted a “final” version of history. Every ancient story you think you know was written by whoever won. The slaves who “built” the pyramids. The seductress who “brought down” Rome. The noble rebel, the lost civilization, the machine that “shouldn’t exist.” Somebody wrote that version down, and they usually had a reason to.

So I dug through the sources myself, built the case files, and put two voices in a room to fight it out.

Listen to it here:

The Podcast Premise

The Spoils of War is my two-host debate show. I research every episode myself, then hand the case file to the Podcast Hosts, Daria and Leo. And while I let these AI-voiced debaters argue it out for your enjoyment, know this – I am the one who decides what’s worth putting on trial — Daria and Leo are just the hired help I use to put on the show.

Meet my assistants – the hosts of the show:

Daria — The Provocateur. Bold, theatrical, and allergic to the official story. She chases motive: who benefited from the version of events that survived, and what does the losing side’s silence actually tell us?

Leo — The Evidence Hound. Witty, skeptical, and married to the dirt. He wants stratigraphy, provenance, and primary sources — not vibes. If a claim can’t survive contact with the archaeological record, he’s the one who says so.

Daria and Leo rarely agree. That’s by design – history is messy too.

How I Built the Format

I run every topic through three tiers of my research:

The Physical Record. What the archaeology, the inscriptions, and the peer-reviewed consensus actually show — set directly against the popular myth.
The Contested Debate. Where credentialed historians genuinely disagree — rival chronologies, competing translations, live academic fights with no settled answer yet.
The Speculative Edge. The fringe and folk theories — engaged with real curiosity, not dismissed on sight. Sometimes a wild theory is preserving a garbled kernel of real, erased history. Sometimes it’s just a good story. I make my hosts say which, out loud, every time.

Daria makes the case. Leo checks it against the evidence. They tell you what they think, but YOU decide who’s right.

Join Me

Got a topic you want me to put on trial? Think I got a tier wrong? Email me, leave a comment, or just pick a side and tell me why. Subscribe so you don’t miss the next case.