Listen to Owen Bennett-Jones discuss the future of opinion polls with Mark Pack

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Ancient History
Indian Religions May 19, 2022

Constructing Kanchi

City of Infinite Temples

Emma Natalya Stein

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Emma Natalya Stein's book Constructing Kanchi: City of Infinite Temples (Amsterdam UP, 2021) traces the emergence of the South Indian city of Kanchi as a major royal capital and multireligious pilgrimage destination …

Ancient History

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Interviews with scholars of ancient history about their new books.

Ancient History May 19, 2022

The Crown Games of Ancient Greece

Archaeology, Athletes, and Heroes

David Lunt

Hosted by Reyes Bertolin
The Crown Games were the apex of competition in ancient Greece. Along with prestigious athletic contests in honor of Zeus at Olympia, they comprised the Pythian Games for Apollo at …
Recall This Book May 19, 2022

The Underworld

A Conversation with David Ferry and Roger Reeves

David Ferry and Roger Reeves

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
Since the original airing of this episode in June 2021, Roger Reeves' second book Best Barbarian was published by W. W. Norton, and the paperback edition of David Ferry's translation …
European Politics May 16, 2022

The Political Philosophy of the European City

From Polis, Through City-State, to Megalopolis?

Ferenc Hörcher

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
To many the city might seem simply a large urban area to live within, but it actually forms an important political concept and community that has been influential throughout European …
General History May 9, 2022

Athens

City of Wisdom

Bruce Clark

Hosted by Albert Zambone
In 510 BC, an obscure Greek city located literally on a backwater revolted against its tyrant. This was not extraordinary; such things happened regularly in the many Greek city-states. What …
Indian Religions May 4, 2022

The Importance of Pali

The Language of Ancient Buddhism

Aleix Ruiz-Falqués

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Core Buddhist teachings are preserved in the ancient Indian language Pali. Listen in as Aleix Ruiz-Falqués speaks about its structure, its significance, and opportunities to study it with him online …
General History May 2, 2022

The Greeks

A Global History

Roderick Beaton

Hosted by Albert Zambone
For nearly 3,000 years, the question of what it means to be Greek has been one of perennial interest—and, incredibly enough, not only to the Greeks. How a collection of …
Ancient History April 26, 2022

The Ancient Greek Roots of Human Rights

Rachel Hall Sternberg

Hosted by Jackson Reinhardt
Although the era of the Enlightenment witnessed the rise of philosophical debates around benevolent social practice, the origins of European humane discourse date further back, to Classical Athens. The Ancient …
Recall This Book April 21, 2022

Madeline Miller on Circe (GT, JP)

Madeline Miller

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
In this rebroadcast, John and Brandeis neuroscientist Gina Turrigiano (an occasional host and perennial friend of Recall this Book) speak with Madeline Miller, author of the critically acclaimed bestseller Circe …
Indian Religions April 14, 2022

Grhastha

The Householder in Ancient Indian Religious Culture

Patrick Olivelle

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Today I talked to Patrick Olivelle about his book Grhastha: The Householder in Ancient Indian Religious Culture (Oxford UP, 2019). For scholars of ancient Indian religions, the wandering mendicants who left home …
Anthropology April 11, 2022

Rethinking the Andes-Amazonia Divide

A Cross-Disciplinary Exploration

Adrian J Pearce, Paul Heggarty, and David G. Beresford-Jones

Hosted by Gustavo Gutiérrez Suárez
Nowhere on Earth is there an ecological transformation so swift and so extreme as between the snow line of the high Andes and the tropical rainforest of Amazonia. Because of …
On Religion April 11, 2022

On Middle Eastern Archaeology and the Historical Jesus

A Discussion with Carrie Duncan

Carrie Duncan

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Dr. Carrie Duncan is an Assistant Professor of ancient Mediterranean religions at the University of Missouri. She is a senior staff member on the following projects in Jordan: the Ayn …
On Religion April 6, 2022

New Rome

The Empire in the East

Paul Stephenson

Hosted by Gregory Soden
As modern empires rise and fall, ancient Rome becomes ever more significant. We yearn for Rome's power but fear Rome's ruin--will we turn out like the Romans, we wonder, or …
Ancient History April 4, 2022

Julius Caesar and the Roman People

Robert Morstein-Marx

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Julius Caesar was no aspiring autocrat seeking to realize the imperial future but an unusually successful republican leader who was measured against the Republic's traditions and its greatest heroes of …
East Asian Studies March 24, 2022

Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China

Contestation of Humaneness, Justice, and Personal Freedom

Tao Jiang

Hosted by Daigengna Duoer
When we think of pre-Buddhism Chinese philosophy, ideas such as filial piety and “the Dao” might come to mind. But what was at stake in the philosophical debates of early …
African American Studies March 21, 2022

The First Black Archaeologist

A Life of John Wesley Gilbert

John W. I. Lee

Hosted by Deidre Tyler
The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert (Oxford UP, 2022) reveals the untold story of a pioneering African American classical scholar, teacher, community leader, and missionary. Born into …
Biblical Studies March 18, 2022

What John Knew and What John Wrote

A Study in John and the Synoptics

Wendy E. S. North

Hosted by Jackson Reinhardt
In What John Knew and What John Wrote: A Study in John and the Synoptics (Fortress, 2020), Wendy E. S. North investigates whether or not the author of John could …
Chinese Studies March 14, 2022

The Daode jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying

Daoism, Buddhism, and the Laozi in the Tang Dynasty

Friederike Assandri

Hosted by Lance Pursey
This book presents for the first time in English a complete translation of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing, written by the Daoist monk Cheng Xuanying in the 7th …
Ancient History March 14, 2022

Phoenicians and the Making of the Mediterranean

Carolina López-Ruiz

Hosted by Jonathan Megerian
Long before Herodotus told the story of the Greeks, the ancient Mediterranean teemed with what the Greeks themselves would recognize as hallmarks of civilization: trade and commerce, cities and colonies …
Science, Technology, and Society March 10, 2022

Inscriptions of Nature

Geology and the Naturalization of Antiquity

Pratik Chakrabarti

Hosted by Lukas Rieppel
In the nineteenth century, teams of men began digging the earth like never before. Sometimes this digging—often for sewage, transport, or minerals—revealed human remains. Other times, archaeological excavation of ancient …