Episode 90: Unrolling Books and Evolving Words

We talk about the history of the book, the reading habits of the ancient Romans, the pliability of sheep skins, and the mechanisms of semantic change that cause words to evolve over time. Oh, and we discuss Charles Darwin’s own language for his new theory.

The "Codex Cocktail" was created for us by Ed Bedford — recipe here

Liber Adest newsletter

Our new page of cocktails from the podcast

McCutcheon, R. W. “Silent Reading in Antiquity and the Future History of the Book.” Book History, vol. 18, 2015, pp. 1–32., www.jstor.org/stable/43956366

“In Ancient Rome” by Joseph Howley, in Further Reading, edited by Matthew Rubery and Leah Price. 2020.

Erasmus Darwin video

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Episode 82: Plagues, with Moxie from Your Brain on Facts

It’s time for us to talk about plagues — ancient, medieval, literary, etymological, and psychological! We’re joined by Moxie from Your Brain on Facts for a very fun — if slightly disturbing — discussion of many aspects of historical plagues.

Transcript of this episode

Your Brain on Facts

Gardner, H.H. Pestilence and the Body Politic in Latin Literature. 2019.

Episode 44: "Us" & "Them" in the Ancient & Anglo-Saxon Worlds

Episode 51: Race & Racism in Ancient & Medieval Studies, Part One: The Problem

Episode 52: Race & Racism in Ancient & Medieval Studies, Part Two: Responses

Thorneloe Race forum episode

Statue/Systemic

Crisis/Discrimination

Thug/Protect

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Episode 81: The Rise (and Fall) of Skywalker

In an episode that was recorded in late May before the protests started, we took a break from COVID talk to give our thoughts on the final movie in the Star Wars saga. We discussed how it was similar to or different from ancient epic, medieval romance, and Icelandic sagas, but mostly we talked about the ways it failed to bring together the many threads of the Star Wars story.

Given current events, and the protests against police brutality and systemic anti-Black racism, we urge our white and non-Black listeners to continue their education on these subjects and, if you’re able, donate to support people fighting for justice. One good podcast series is “Seeing White” from SceneOnRadio, and there are anti-racism reading lists here and here; you can donate to Black Lives Matter or The National Bail Out Fund, or any of the many causes that need funds right now.

We also have two episodes on race and racism in medieval studies and classics; they’re several years old now, but may be of interest for thinking about issues of race in our particular fields, and the role our disciplines have played in supporting structural racism in Europe and North America. EPISODE 51: RACE & RACISM IN ANCIENT & MEDIEVAL STUDIES, PART ONE: THE PROBLEM and EPISODE 52: RACE & RACISM IN ANCIENT & MEDIEVAL STUDIES, PART TWO: RESPONSES.

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Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire Cookbook

Lyceum

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Bonus Episode: Thorneloe Race Forum

Race & Racism poster 2019 with image-page-001.jpg

This bonus episode contains two talks we gave at our university in November. Mark spoke about “The ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Problem: Language and Racism in Medieval Studies” and Aven spoke about “Defining ‘Race’ in the Ancient Mediterranean and Today”.

Google ngrams for collocations of “Anglo-Saxon”:

All English Texts

American English

British English

Whitewashing Ancient Statues: Whiteness, Racism And Color In The Ancient World”, by Sarah Bond

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Episode 76: Do You Believe in Magic?

Happy Halloween! This year we’re talking about the etymology and origins of “Magic”, the differences between religion and magic, Greek and Roman spells and curses, and some rather bizarre tales about Virgil & Aristotle.

Our “Magic” video

Cocktail: Black Magic

Religion in the Roman Empire, James B Rives, 2007

Arcana Mundi,Georg Luck, 2006

Virgil in his basket

Virgil in his basket

Tomyris with the head of Cyrus the Great

Tomyris with the head of Cyrus the Great

Judith with the head of Holofernes

Judith with the head of Holofernes

Phyllis riding Aristotle

Phyllis riding Aristotle

Episode 74: Medieval Fact & Fiction, with Winston Black

We talked to Winston Black about his new book, The Middle Ages: Facts & Fictions, which addresses the most common myths and misconceptions about the Middle Ages. And we touch on video games, D&D, and Game of Thrones in the process!

The SoundEducation Conference page

The Middle Ages: Facts & Fictions

Winston on Twitter

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Episode 70: Carly Silver

We spoke to Carly Silver, an editor and a writer on ancient history and horse racing, about how she connects the past to contemporary issues, the intriguing stories in curse tablets in Roman Britain, murder mysteries set in the ancient world, romance novels, breeding programs for American Thoroughbreds, and more!

Carly’s website

Carly’s article about Hadrian’s Wall

Carly’s article about the sexual assault charges against a workman in ancient Egypt

Carly’s writing about horse racing

Ancient murder mysteries mentioned in the podcast:

Gary Corby, Athenian Mysteries

Lindsey Davis

David Wishart

John Maddox Roberts, SPQR series

Rosemary Rowe

Big Finish Cicero series

Robert Harris

Paul Doherty

Agatha Christie “Death Comes as the End”

Elizabeth Peters

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Episode 67: Mortal Republic, by Edward Watts

We talk to Edward Watts about his new book Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny, which covers the history of Rome from the 3rd century BCE to the rise of Octavian to princeps. Our conversation ranges across questions of Roman identity, our fascination with transitional periods, and the connections between Roman history and contemporary politics.

Edward Watts

Ancient Greece Declassified episode 19 “America's Greco-Roman Legacies w/ Caroline Winterer”

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Episode 66: Writing Myth with Amalia Dillin

Amalia Dillin is an author of mythic fantasy and historical fiction set in the ancient and Viking worlds. Among other books, she’s written the Fate of the Gods trilogy, about Eve and Adam (and Thor and Athena and more!), and the Orc Saga, beginning with Honor among Orcs. She also writes, as Amalia Carosella, about Bronze Age Greece (Helen of Sparta & sequels, about the love between Helen & Theseus) and the Viking Age (Daughter of a Thousand Years, about Freydis, daughter of Erik the Red, and also a modern women wrestling with her newly found pagan faith).

We spoke to Amalia before the holidays about her love of mythology, the complexities of writing historical fiction, and goats!

And hey, the Kindle of Daughter of a Thousand Years is on sale for $0.99, and the paperback is also on sale!

Amalia’s website with links to her blog and all of her books.

Freydis, in the Saga Museum, Reykjavik

Freydis, in the Saga Museum, Reykjavik

 
 

Episode 65: Reindeer Games

Time for a holiday episode! This time we’re talking about how Santa’s reindeer got their names, including some of their classical ties to Roman religion and Greek myth, the Reindeer Rule in US law, and NORAD’s Santa Tracker. And we have a quiz about the animals that bring the winter gift giver around the world!

Our video “Who are Santa’s reindeer?”

Mark’s Lexitecture episode

Our Christmas videos playlist

Episode 8: Yule

Episode 25: The 12 Days of Christmas

Episode 49: Stocking Stuffers

The Rudolph Cocktail

Catullus 14

The two versions of Eros: Protogenos & Ouranios

Ovid Amores1.2

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Episode 64: The History of the English Language with Kevin Stroud

kevin talk.jpg
group shot.jpg

While at the Sound Education conference we had the chance to sit down with Kevin Stroud, host of the History of the English Language podcast. We talked about his passion for language, his experiences with enthusiastic but pedantic listeners, his project to gather a database of accent samples from around the world, and much more. Thank you Keven for chatting with us, it was great fun to meet you and hang out!

Sound Education

The History of the English Language podcast

Our video “What’s the Earliest English Word?”

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Episode 61: Classing up our Languages?

In this episode we talk about the history of education in Europe, from classical Greece to the 19th century, covering the origins of many education-related words. Then we turn to the history of second-language teaching of Latin, from Roman Egypt to today’s Living Latin movement.

DSM (channel about language and etymology)

Sound Education

Classic Cocktail

Education video

Learning Latin and Greek from Antiquity to Present, chapters on teaching Latin to Greek speakers (Dickey) & Latin in Anglo-Saxon England (Fisher)

Medieval and Modern Views of Universal Grammar and the Nature of Second Language Learning” by Margaret Thomas

“Inside the Anglo-Saxon Classroom“ by Kate Wiles

Grasping Sentences by Wholes: Henry Sweet’s Idea of Language Study in the Early Middle Ages” by Mark Atherton

Learn Latin from the Romans: A Complete Introductory Course Using Textbooks from the Roman Empire by Eleanor Dickey

Learning Latin the Ancient Way by Eleanor Dickey

“The MovieTalk: A Practical Application of Comprehensible Input Theory” by Rachel Ash

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Episode 60: What We Did on Our Summer Vacation

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Episode 59: From the Sublime to the Romantic

The etymology of 'sublime' takes us through a discussion of the Gothic, Neo-Classical, and Romantic periods, the origins of the Romance languages, the roots of romantic love, and more.

The Sublime Moment Cocktail

Mats Malm “On the Technique of the Sublime”, Comparative Literature, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Winter, 2000), pp. 1-10.

Sarah Bond on Polychromy in Ancient Statues

Alex Potts, Flesh and the Ideal: Winckelmann and the Origins of Art History

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Episode 58: Symposium!

Columella's Mead

Columella's Mead

Paul

Paul

Matt, Vicky, Conor, & Kevin

Matt, Vicky, Conor, & Kevin

Alison, Melanie, & Melissa

Alison, Melanie, & Melissa

Mary, Peter, & Amber

Mary, Peter, & Amber

Rachel Mazzara, Chiara Graf, Drew Davis, Matthew Watton, & Jesse Hill

Rachel Mazzara, Chiara Graf, Drew Davis, Matthew Watton, & Jesse Hill

Episode 57: Freebooting, Piracy, & Copyright

Episode 56: Linguistic Discrimination, with The Vocal Fries

We have the great pleasure to be joined by Megan & Carrie from the Vocal Fries podcast to talk about linguistic discrimination: what is it, why is it bad, what is its history, and how can we combat it?

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The Vocal Fries Podcast

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Episode 55: Our Pet Topic (part two, with cats)

In part two of our miniseries on pets, we cover cats, monkeys, birds, and more. Find out the surprising origins of the word for parrot, what medieval people named their cats, and what bird was symbolic of the Virgin Mary.

Show Notes

@AllEndlessKnot on Twitter

Medieval Pets by Kathleen Walker-Meikle

"Greek and Roman Household Pets", Francis D. Lazenby

Animals for Show and Pleasure in Ancient Rome, George Dennison

Companion Animals and Us: Exploring the Relationships Between People and Pets Anthony L. Podberscek, Elizabeth S. Paul, James A. Serpell, eds.

Our episode on farm animals

Paw prints on a manuscript

Mosaic from Istanbul (from Caitlin Green's blog)

Dr. Caitlin Green's blog

Pangur Bán

Catullus 2 & 3

Ovid Amores 2.6

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Read More

Episode 54: Our Pet Topic (part one)

The Lady and the Unicorn, Desire (Musée de Cluny

Federico II Gonzaga by Titian