Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity

episodes

Interviews with authors of books about Late Antiquity. Sponsored by Ancient Jew Review.

Jake Nabel, "The Arsacids of Rome: Misunderstanding in Roman-Parthian Relations" (U California Press, 2025)

March 16, 2026

The Arsacids of Rome

Jake Nabel
Hosted by Michael Motia

At the beginning of the common era, the two major imperial powers of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East were Rome and Parthia. In this (open acce…

The Augustan Revolution: On Ancient Rome with Reece Edmends

March 11, 2026

The Augustan Revolution

Reece Edmends
Hosted by Ryan Shinkel

In this second episode of Season 5, I interview Dr. Reece Edmends, a graduate of King’s College, Cambridge, and a junior faculty member in the Classic…

Moulie Vidas, "The Rise of Talmud" (Princeton UP, 2025)

March 2, 2026

The Rise of Talmud

Moulie Vidas
Hosted by Michael Motia

The rabbinic sages of antiquity are known for their sophisticated and creative reading of Scripture. But beginning in the third century CE, these sage…

Beth A. Berkowitz, "What Animals Teach us About Families: Kinship and Species in the Bible and Rabbinic Literature" (U California Press, 2026)

February 16, 2026

What Animals Teach Us about Families

Beth A. Berkowitz
Hosted by Michael Motia

Reading the Bible and rabbinic literature to reimagine the bonds between animals. Moving beyond debates about the ethics of animal consumption to focu…

Felege-Selam Solomon Yirga, "The Chronicle of John of Nikiu: Coping with Crisis in Post-Roman Egypt" (U California Press, 2025)

February 2, 2026

The Chronicle of John of Nikiu

Felege-Selam Solomon Yirga
Hosted by Michael Motia

In the midst of profound political changes in late seventh-century Egypt, after the end of Roman hegemony and during Islamic rule, a bishop named John…

Christopher J. Bonura, "A Prophecy of Empire: The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius from Late Antique Mesopotamia to the Global Medieval Imagination" (U California Press, 2025)

January 19, 2026

A Prophecy of Empire

Christopher J. Bonura
Hosted by Michael Motia

The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius was one of the medieval world’s most popular and widely translated texts. Composed in Syriac in Mesopotamia in the …

Susanna Elm, "The Importance of Being Gorgeous: Gender and Christian Imperial Rule in Late Antiquity" (U California Press, 2025)

January 5, 2026

The Importance of Being Gorgeous

Susanna Elm
Hosted by Michael Motia

In this (open-access) book, Susanna Elm radically changes our understanding of imperial rule in the later Roman Empire. As she shows, the so-called ea…

Johannes Zachhuber, "Gregory of Nyssa: on the Hexaemeron: Text, Translation, and Essays" (Oxford UP, 2025)

December 22, 2025

Gregory of Nyssa: on the Hexaemeron

Johannes Zachhuber and Anna Marmodoro
Hosted by Michael Motia

Johannes Zachhuber and Anna Marmodoro, eds., Gregory of Nyssa: On the Hexaemeron: Text, Translation, and Essays (Oxford UP, 2025) This book presents …

Daniel K. Falk and Rodney A. Werline, "Prayer in the Ancient World Vol.1" (Brill, 2027)

December 17, 2025

Prayer in the Ancient World Vol.1

Daniel K. Falk and Rodney A. Werline
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Prayer in the Ancient World is the resource on prayer in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. With over 350 entries it showcases a robust selectio…

Susan Ashbrook Harvey, "Ministries of Song: Women’s Voices in Ancient Syriac Christianity" (U California Press, 2025)

December 9, 2025

Ministries of Song

Susan Ashbrook Harvey
Hosted by Michael Motia

Ministries of Song: Women’s Voices in Ancient Syriac Christianity (U California Press, 2025) is an open access tour-de-force study of the power of wom…

Maia Kotrosits, "After Transformation: Rewriting Time, Christian Late Antiquity, and the Present" (Duke UP, 2025)

November 24, 2025

After Transformation

Maia Kotrosits
Hosted by Michael Motia

In After Transformation, Maia Kotrosits offers a lyrical history of Christian late antiquity as it lives on in and with the present. Recasting the mon…

Ellen Muehlberger, "Things Unseen: Essays on Evidence, Knowledge, and the Late Ancient World" (U California Press, 2025)

November 10, 2025

Things Unseen

Ellen Muehlberger
Hosted by Michael Motia

How do you know the nature of another person: who she is, or what she is capable of? In four exploratory essays, a seasoned historian examines the mec…

Jeremy Swist, "Julian Augustus: Platonism, Myth and the Refounding of Rome" (Oxford UP, 2025)

October 27, 2025

Julian Augustus

Jeremy Swist
Hosted by Michael Motia

The Roman emperor Julian (r. 361-363 CE) was a man of action and of letters, which he employed in an effort to return the Empire to the light of the p…

Jennifer Barry, "Gender Violence in Late Antiquity: Male Fantasies and the Christian Imagination" (U California Press, 2025)

October 27, 2025

Gender Violence in Late Antiquity

Jennifer Barry
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Gender Violence in Late Antiquity: Male Fantasies and the Christian Imagination (University of California Press, 2025) by Dr. Jennifer Barry confronts…

Justin Stover and George Woudhuysen, "The Lost History of Sextus Aurelius Victor" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

October 13, 2025

The Lost History of Sextus Aurelius Victor

Justin Stover and George Woudhuysen
Hosted by Michael Motia

This book rediscovers a lost history of the Roman Empire, written by Sextus Aurelius Victor (ca. 320-390) and demonstrates for the first time both the…

Adam Bremer-McCollum, "The Pearlsong" (Harvard UP, 2025)

October 10, 2025

The Pearlsong

Adam Bremer-McCollum

The Pearlsong (Harvard University Press, 2025) offers the reader a beautifully translated story of a young child who goes on a journey to far away pla…

Jennifer Barry, "Gender Violence in Late Antiquity: Male Fantasies and the Christian Imagination" (U California Press, 2025)

September 29, 2025

Gender Violence in Late Antiquity

Jennifer Barry
Hosted by Michael Motia

Gender Violence in Late Antiquity confronts the violent ideological frameworks underpinning the early Christian imagination, arguing that gender-based…

Christine Shepardson, "A Memory of Violence: Syriac Christianity and the Radicalization of Religious Difference in Late Antiquity" (U California Press, 2025)

September 15, 2025

A Memory of Violence

Christine Shepardson
Hosted by Michael Motia

A Memory of Violence: Syriac Christianity and the Radicalization of Religious Difference in Late Antiquity (U California Press, 2025) traces the rheto…

Markus Vinzent, "Christ's Torah: The Making of the New Testament in the Second Century" (Routledge, 2023)

September 6, 2025

Christ's Torah

Markus Vinzent
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

This volume explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collect…

Matthew D. C. Larsen and Mark Letteney, "Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration" (U California Press, 2025)

September 1, 2025

Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration

Matthew D. C. Larsen and Mark Letteney
Hosted by Michael Motia

Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration (open access) examines spaces, practices, and ideologies of incarceration in the ancient Mediterranean basin from …