The Ancients1 Nov 2020

Catullus: Rome's Most Erotic Poet

If you're looking for a raunchy Roman poet, look no further than Catullus. Born into one of the most exciting periods in Roman history, in the early 1st century BC as the Roman Republic started to sing its swansong, Catullus was an aristocrat who moved in powerful circles. He was known to Cicero; he dined with Julius Caesar even after he’d mocked the great leader in verse. Catullus was well-connected, but it was his abiding love for a woman he called Lesbia (probably Clodia Metelli, a powerful woman herself) that inspired much of his poetry, which survived in a single manuscript of 116 verses.

Catullus was revolutionary, bringing a new type of poetry to the fore in ancient Rome. Often his poems were deeply personal, filled to the brim with emotion. Rarely did the young man hold back when pouring his heart out into his verses. Friends and enemies were targeted in sexy and scurrilous poems that continue to shock readers to this day. Nevertheless Catullus' legacy was far-reaching. From Ovid to Byron, Catullus has inspired many of those famous romantic poets that followed him.

To talk through the life of Ancient Rome's 'bad boy poet' (to quote our current Prime Minister Boris Johnson), it was an honour to interview Daisy Dunn, a leading classicist and Catullus' 21st century biographer. In this podcast Daisy brilliantly talks through the life of Catullus and his remarkable legacy. This was a brilliant chat and I hope you enjoy as much as Daisy and I did recording it.

Daisy is the author of Catullus: Rome's Most Erotic Poet.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(620)

Ancient China: The Warring States

How did ancient China plunge into 261 years of chaos, and how did that turmoil forge an empire?Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Andrew Seth Meyer to explore the Warring States period, from collap...

7 Maj 59min

The Prehistoric Plague

The first ever outbreak of 'plague' - Yersinia Pestis, the most feared disease in human history - was long thought to be the Plague of Justinian in 541 AD. But new studies of ancient DNA have revealed...

3 Maj 48min

The Persian Gulf

Near the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital commercial chokepoints, lies an ancient trade route that powered civilisation 4,000 years ago: the Persian Gulf - where goods and ideas flowed ...

30 Apr 58min

The Last Days of Pompeii

In 79 AD, life in Pompeii unfolded beneath the shadow of a tremoring Mount Vesuvius. Streets bustled, businesses thrived, and merchants built fortunes, unaware disaster was hours away. But what happen...

26 Apr 1h 6min

The First Tools

What if the first technology was just a stone?Tristan Hughes and Dr. Emma Finestone, - Curator and the Robert J. and Linnet E. Fritz Endowed Chair of Humans Origins at Cleveland Museum of Natural Hist...

23 Apr 46min

Athens vs Persia: The Legend of Themistocles

A legend of the great Greek city of Athens, Themistocles rose from obscurity to save ancient Greece and helped shape one of the greatest naval powers in history. Yet his story ends in exile, condemned...

19 Apr 54min

The Hittites

What made the Hittites one of the great Bronze Age powers, and how did their empire survive on war, diplomacy and faith? Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Elena Devecchi to uncover ancient royal i...

16 Apr 58min

Homo Sapiens vs Neanderthals

Tristan Hughes is joined by Ella Al-Shamahi, paleoanthropologist and presenter of the hit BBC series Human, to explore what interactions between early Homo sapiens and Neanderthals may have been like,...

12 Apr 59min