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PODCAST

Books of Titans Podcast

Welcome to the Books of Titans Podcast where I (Erik Rostad) seek truth & beauty in the Immortal Books. My goal is to read the Great Books written by 200 authors over the next 15 years and share what I’m learning. I’ll talk a bit about each book, tie ideas together from a variety of genres, and share the one thing I always hope to remember from each of the Immortal Books. www.booksoftitans.com

arts books

All Episodes

38:42

Hippolytus by Euripides

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/10/25

You, Aphrodite, lead captive the stubborn hearts of gods and of mortals.Aphrodite conquers all. Or nearly all. Zeus is under her spell and only a few, Athena and Artemis among them, have resisted her.Love is so powerful a force that it can even cause a step-mother to lust after her step-son. That at least is the premise for this tragedy and so the battle of Aphrodite (love, desire) is fought against Artemis (chastity) through Phaedra’s forbidden love for Hippolytus.Humans are quick to judge and

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31:18

The Speeches of Pericles

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/10/18

In Book 2 of The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, the Athenian general Pericles gives two extraordinary speeches. One is a eulogy and the other a response to an angry and devastated populace in the midst of war and pestilence.These speeches create a beautiful blend of history and exploration. Thucydides presents the historical facts of war—the size of armies, the results of certain battles, and naval vs land strategies. But it’s the speeches that allow him to explore the mindset, beliefs,

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28:37

Leading a Reading Group

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/10/11

I just finished leading a 9-week, in-person reading group covering the Iliad. It was such a good experience. I’ve also participated in a number of groups over the years and wanted to use this podcast episode to share what I’ve learned and to hopefully encourage you to start your own reading group.Myths:* You don’t need to have all of the answers.* You don’t need to have an advanced degree.How to Prepare:* As you read the book you will cover, use different color pens/highlighters each time you read

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27:21

The Trojan Women by Euripides

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/10/04

“Sing, O Muse, a new song about Ilium, a funeral dirge accompanied by tears.”The glory of the Iliad is over. The Muses are being summoned to sing a funeral dirge, a new song of mourning for the city of Troy.This tragedy takes place in the immediate aftermath of the Trojan War. The Greeks have gotten past the famous Trojan walls, not by force but by trickery. They’ve entered the city, killed the men and children, and taken the women as slaves.In this period between the fall of Troy and the sailing

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24:56

Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides Podcast

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/09/27

In one of the most tragic stories of Greek Mythology, Agamemnon must sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia in order to secure favorable winds from Artemis so that the Greek Army can sail to Troy and retrieve Helen. That sacrifice sets off a series of events that curse a family line and destroy Agamemnon himself.It’d be fun to imagine an alternate ending. One that doesn’t involve the utterly tragic death of Iphigenia and a father being forced to kill his own daughter.That’s what happens here. Euripides

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30:06

Alcestis by Euripides Podcast

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/09/20

Admetus can escape Hades if he can find someone to die in his place. His wife Alcestis agrees to die for him in the ultimate sacrifice. Is she in the right? Should she have been the person to take his place? Where does that leave him if she dies?These tragic elements are balanced with comedic release in the arrival of Heracles amidst this tremendous household grief. It turns this play about Necessity, marriage, and hospitality into a satyr drama to lessen the blow of the questions raised.In this

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35:07

Hecabe by Euripides Podcast

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/09/13

Hecabe has to be one of the most tragic figures in the canon. Wife and Queen of King Priam, she’s lost close to 50 sons and 50 daughters by the start of this tragedy play. Not only that, she’s lost her husband, Hector, Paris, and Troy where she was queen.This play starts with one of her only surviving sons, Polydorus, appearing as a ghost and telling of his demise. Hecabe doesn’t know he’s dead yet, but we soon find out she has something else to lament. The ghost of Achilles has demanded the

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23:44

Medea by Euripides Podcast

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/09/06

Medea kicks off right at the end of Jason and the Golden Fleece by Apollonius of Rhodes. Medea has just assisted Jason in subduing the dragon so that he can take the Golden Fleece. As thanks, Jason promises to marry Medea but then takes a second wife (the King’s daughter) to try to smooth things over in their new home.Unsurprisingly, Medea doesn’t take kindly to being scorned and she plots her revenge. But this isn’t Clytemnestra type revenge of killing the perpetrator. This is much darker. Her

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23:42

The Bookshop by Evan Friss

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/08/30

I’m the business manager at Landmark Booksellers in Franklin, TN. Our owner recently purchased this book for all staff members so that we could read and discuss it. I’m so glad he did. I loved this book and it reignited a deep love and passion for bookstores.It also provided a number of ideas that I highlight in this episode. I share three things that stuck out to me and got me thinking and then talk about some of my favorite bookstores over the years. Get full access to Books of Titans at

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30:04

Babrius and Phaedrus Fables (Aesop's Fables)

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/08/23

I read an illustrated edition of Aesop’s Fables earlier this year and came away quite disappointed. I knew Aesop lived in the 7th century BC, but the book of fables contained elements from much later during the Roman period. I came away confused and wanting to know more.Someone suggested I pick up the Loeb Classical Library version of Babrius and Phaedrus to dig deeper. I’m so glad I did.We don’t have actual writings or fables from Aesop. We do have collections from 600+ years later from these two,

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37:13

Philoctetes by Sophocles

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/08/16

This is my favorite tragedy play by Sophocles. It’s absolutely stunning and shows the brilliance of the playwright in ways his other tragedies don’t. This is a story about means vs ends. Odysseus believes the adage “by any means necessary.” Deception is a legitimate means to reach a desired end. However, deception is not in the nature of Neoptolemus, whom Odysseus needs to fulfill a role. How will this play out? Will Neoptolemus give Odysseus “one day of shamelessness” to achieve a fated end?In this

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32:13

Electra by Sophocles

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/08/09

This tragedy covers themes like justice, freedom, and fate. The play culminates in the question of “whose justice?” Who has the right to exact justice? And who is in the right in exacting justice? Does justice exist beyond one’s individual conception or is there a higher law? Get full access to Books of Titans at www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe

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25:49

Sophocles Fragments

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/08/02

Sophocles may have written 130 plays during his lifetime. Only seven survive. This podcast episode covers a book a fragments of the 100+ other tragedy and satyr plays of Sophocles.Fragments are phrases, sentences, or even paragraphs of content that were mostly referenced by other writers like Aristotle, Athenaeus, and Plutarch. They were aware of these plays that have since been lost to us and so they may have quoted a line within their own works. That’s how we have most of these fragments.And the

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41:19

Women of Trachis by Sophocles

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/07/26

This tragedy concludes with a question - what law do you obey? Do you obey a father asking you to do terrible things from his deathbed? Or is there a higher law? Further, where does law come from? Is it divine? Is it dictated by those closest to you?The Women of Trachis follows a set of characters as “Fate is on the march.” It’s a fascinating case of one of the women, Deianeira, the wife of Heracles, going “wrong trying to do right.”There are so many connection points in Women of Trachis to other

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26:07

All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/07/19

In this podcast episode, I cover a pair of memoirs - one with a focus on a mother and the other with a focus on a father. Rick Bragg tells of his childhood in Alabama with an alcoholic father and a self-sacrificing mother, his pathway in journalism, and his attempt to pay back his mother. Debra King tells of her childhood in Wisconsin with an entrepreneurial father who was both a farmer and a gravedigger, and how that upbringing led to her path in life.* All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg*

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32:19

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/07/05

In this episode, I'm diving into Jonathan Haidt's new book, The Anxious Generation, to explore three startling facts about its damaging effects. I then highlight what I consider to be the most manipulative tactic hidden within new algorithms – one that targets our subconscious. Get full access to Books of Titans at www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe

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24:06

Mid-Year 2024 Reading Review

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/06/21

It’s been an incredible year of reading so far. I’ve been utterly shocked at the beauty and relevancy of Greek Literature. In this episode, I share what I’ve read so far for 2024, what I have coming up during my Summer Break, and the most important thing I’ve learned in Greek Literature. Get full access to Books of Titans at www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe

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40:23

Ajax

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/06/14

In the introduction to Ajax by Peter Meineck & Paul Woodruff, they highlight the main idea of the tragedy play:Ajax shows the aftermath of an altercation over the honors that warriors feel are due to them after battle.I love that this is a theme that shows up strongly in the Iliad as well. In fact, Ajax has so many connection point to the Iliad that it’s almost required reading before this play.Sophocles highlights so many themes that were perhaps birthed in Homer and have started percolating deeper

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37:42

Antigone

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/05/31

In his introduction to The Theban Plays, Charles Segal highlights the question Sophocles asks in his plays:“Why should a man or woman of noble character and good intentions have to bear a life of suffering?”If Antigone is the woman of nobel character and Creon the man of, arguably, good intentions, why must they suffer? Why must bad things happen to good people?Sophocles uses character, circumstances, and divine agency to address this question.In this episode of the podcast, I highlight the themes,

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33:42

Oedipus by Sophocles

Books of Titans Podcast ·

2024/05/24

Sophocles was a friend of Herodotus and a contemporary of the other Greek tragedy playwrights Aeschylus and Euripides. He wrote over 120 plays and seven of those survive. The Theban Plays (Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone) cover major events in the life of the mythical king Oedipus of Thebes and of his children.In this podcast episode, I talk about the two Sophoclean plays about Oedipus and share what I learned about Sophocles’ discussion of prophecy, the Greek concept of a curse,

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