24 A History of Inequality w/ Walter Scheidel
We live at a time of increasing economic inequality worldwide. What is driving this trend? And what are the factors that can stabilize or even reduce levels of inequality? Answering this question empi...
1 Jun 201952min
23 Greek Religion and Its Discontents w/ Barbara Graziosi
How did the ancient Greek religion evolve? What was the meaning of sacrifice and other rituals? Did atheism exist back then? How about alternative religions? We explore all these topics and more in co...
1 Mai 201944min
22 Rome's Lost Epics w/ Rhiannon Evans (Ennius, Gnaeus Naevius)
The oldest Roman epics we have were produced during the Roman Empire. But before becoming an empire, Rome was a powerful republic for hundreds of years. What happened to the Roman epics from the repub...
13 Apr 201954min
21 How to Succeed in the Iron Age w/ Alicia Stallings
Hesiod's didactic epic Works and Days is probably most famous for containing the stories of Prometheus and Pandora. But these tales are part of a greater mission of explaining how one can live justly ...
22 Mar 201946min
20 How Democracies Fall Apart w/ Melissa Lane (stasis, Thucydides, Plato)
Hundreds of city-states in the ancient world experimented with democracy. Most of them experienced some kind of civil strife at some point. What caused these breakdowns of social order, and are we hea...
22 Feb 201950min
19 America's Greco-Roman Legacies w/ Caroline Winterer
At a time when kings and emperors ruled the world, the Founding Fathers of the US were striving to resurrect a millennia-old dream: that of a free republic. Drawing inspiration from ancient Athens, th...
3 Jan 201950min
18 A History of Epic w/ Gregory Nagy and Leonard Muellner (Homer, Iliad, Gilgamesh)
What can anthropology tell us about the origins of humanity's oldest epic stories? And what can these epics, in turn, tell us about our undying fascination with heroes? Joining us to explore these top...
11 Sep 201849min
17 Platonic Love w/ Zina Giannopoulou (Plato's Symposium)
'Platonic love' is one of the most fascinating (and misunderstood) concepts to have come down to us from the ancient Greeks. Classicist Zina Giannopoulou joins us to set the record straight about the ...
22 Jul 201833min
