History for sleep: calm, slow bedtime stories from the Islamic Golden Age, narrated quietly for falling asleep.

Historia Nocturnal tells long, gentle stories of Abbasid Baghdad and the medieval Near East, roughly 750 to 1250: the round city, the House of Wisdom, and the scholars, physicians, astronomers and translators who worked there, in what was then the largest city on earth.

Each episode follows one life through one question, such as Ibn Sina on the soul or al-Ghazali on doubt. It is told in a soft, steady voice with no cliffhangers, no sudden sounds and no rising music. These are sleep stories for adults, boring history in the best sense, made to fall asleep to.

Episodes run around two hours. Press play, dim the screen, and let it carry you. You don't have to stay awake for the ending.