Ancient History

Ancient History

episodes

Interviews with scholars of ancient history about their new books.

Colin Elliott, "Pox Romana: The Plague That Shook the Roman World" (Princeton UP, 2024)

March 19, 2024

Pox Romana

Colin Elliott
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the middle of the second century AD, Rome was at its prosperous and powerful apex. The emperor Marcus Aurelius reigned over a vast territory that s…

Robin Baker, "Hollow Men, Strange Women: Riddles, Codes, and Otherness in the Book of Judges" (Brill, 2016)

March 16, 2024

Hollow Men, Strange Women

Robin Baker
Hosted by Michael Morales

In Hollow Men, Strange Women: Riddles, Codes, and Otherness in the Book of Judges (Brill, 2016), Robin Baker provides a masterly reappraisal of Israel…

Myrto Garani et al., "The Oxford Handbook of Roman Philosophy" (Oxford UP, 2023)

March 9, 2024

The Oxford Handbook of Roman Philosophy

Myrto Garani, David Konstan, and Gretchen Reydams-Schils

Several decades of scholarship have demonstrated that Roman thinkers developed in new and stimulating directions the systems of thought they inherited…

Patrick Olivelle, "Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King" (Yale UP, 2024)

March 8, 2024

Ashoka

Patrick Olivelle
Hosted by Kshitij Jain

There are few historical figures more integral to South Asian history than Emperor Ashoka, a third-century BCE king who ruled over a larger area of th…

Jean-Manuel Roubineau, "The Dangerous Life and Ideas of Diogenes the Cynic" (Oxford UP, 2023)

March 4, 2024

The Dangerous Life and Ideas of Diogenes the Cynic

Jean-Manuel Roubineau

The ancient philosopher Diogenes--nicknamed "The Dog" and decried by Plato as a "Socrates gone mad"--was widely praised and idealized as much as he wa…

Marchella Ward, "Blindness and Spectatorship in Ancient and Modern Theatres: Towards New Ways of Looking and Looking Back" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

March 1, 2024

Blindness and Spectatorship in Ancient and Modern Theatres

Marchella Ward
Hosted by Corinne Doria

The use of disability as a metaphor is ubiquitous in popular culture – nowhere more so than in the myths, stereotypes and tropes around blindness. To …

Obert Bernard Mlambo, "Land Expropriation in Ancient Rome and Contemporary Zimbabwe: Veterans, Masculinity and War" (Bloomsbury, 2022)

February 27, 2024

Land Expropriation in Ancient Rome and Contemporary Zimbabwe

Obert Bernard Mlambo
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In this highly original book Land Expropriation in Ancient Rome and Contemporary Zimbabwe: Veterans, Masculinity and War (Bloomsbury, 2022), Dr. Obert…

T. Corey Brennan, "The Fasces: A History of Ancient Rome's Most Dangerous Political Symbol" (Oxford UP, 2022)

February 21, 2024

The Fasces

T. Corey Brennan
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

"Fascism" is a word ubiquitous in our contemporary political discourse, but few know about its roots in the ancient past or its long, strange evolutio…

Jonathon Lookadoo, "The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch" (Cascade Books, 2023)

February 18, 2024

The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch

Jonathon Lookadoo
Hosted by Crawford Gribben

The letters of Ignatius of Antioch portray Jesus in terms that are both remarkably exalted and shockingly vulnerable. Jesus is identified as God and i…

Anthony Kaldellis, "Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium" (Harvard UP, 2019)

February 13, 2024

Romanland

Anthony Kaldellis
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Though commonly used today to identify a polity that lasted for over a millennium, the label “Byzantine empire” is an anachronism imposed by more rece…

Neil Bernstein, "The Complete Works of Claudian" (Routledge, 2022)

February 7, 2024

The Complete Works of Claudian

Neil Bernstein

Neil Bernstein's The Complete Works of Claudian (Routledge, 2022) offers a modern, accurate, and accessible translation of Claudian's work, published …

Clare K. Rothschild, "The Muratorian Fragment: Text, Translation, Commentary" (Mohr Siebeck, 2022)

February 6, 2024

The Muratorian Fragment

Clare K. Rothschild
Hosted by Rob Heaton

Discovered and published in 1740 by the Ambrosian librarian Ludovico Muratori, the so-called “Muratorian Fragment” has long featured for New Testament…

Angela Kim Harkins, "An Embodied Reading of the Shepherd of Hermas: The Book of Visions and Its Role in Moral Formation" (Equinox, 2023)

February 5, 2024

An Embodied Reading of the Shepherd of Hermas

Angela Kim Harkins
Hosted by Rob Heaton

Among early Christian books abandoned at the flipside of the canonical boundary, the Shepherd of Hermas is presently undergoing an exciting renaissanc…

Beatrice Heuser, "War: A Genealogy of Western Ideas and Practices" (Oxford UP, 2022)

February 3, 2024

War

Beatrice Heuser

War is often thought of mainly the concern of professional soldiers and maybe politicians as well. However, philosophers and theorists of varying type…

Emma Bridges, "Warriors' Wives: Ancient Greek Myth and Modern Experience" (Oxford UP, 2023)

February 1, 2024

Warriors' Wives

Emma Bridges
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Epic poetry and tragic drama provide us with some of the richest ancient Greek depictions of women who are married to soldiers. In tales of the Trojan…

Colorblindness and the Classics: A Conversation with Andre Archie

January 30, 2024

Colorblindness and the Classics

Andre Archie
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

Why has Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a color-blind society suffered so many recent setbacks? Classical philosopher Andre Archie argues that we n…

Adrian Goldsworthy, "Rome and Persia: The Seven Hundred Year Rivalry" (Basic Books, 2023)

January 25, 2024

Rome and Persia

Adrian Goldsworthy
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

For almost seven centuries, two powers dominated the region we now call the Middle East: Rome and Persia. From the west: The Roman Republic, later the…

David J. Brick, "Widows Under Hindu Law" (Oxford UP, 2023)

January 25, 2024

Widows Under Hindu Law

David J. Brick
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

During British colonial rule in India, the treatment of high-caste Hindu widows became the subject of great controversy. Such women were not permitted…

Jan Westerhoff, "Candrakirti's Introduction to the Middle Way: A Guide" (Oxford UP, 2023)

January 20, 2024

Candrakirti's Introduction to the Middle Way

Jan Westerhoff
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

A proponent of the Madhyamaka tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Candrakīrti wrote several works, one of which, the Madhamakāvatāra, strongly influenced …

Kyle Gervais et al., "Lucan and Flavian Epic" (Brill, 2023)

January 19, 2024

Lucan and Flavian Epic

Kyle Gervais, Randall Pogorzelski, and Sarah Graham-Shaughnessy

Roman imperial epic is enjoying a moment in the sun in the twenty-first century, as Lucan, Valerius Flaccus, Statius, and Silius Italicus have all bee…