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69:11

H.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity,...

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2026/09/29

Welcome back, Adnavserinos, to the wild world of H.I. Marrou. This week it's Part III, ch. III, entitled The Language Question: Greek and Latin. Here the fearless French historian takes us through bilingualism in the Roman Empire, developing familiar themes and extending them in surprising directions. Sure, the Romans steamrolled militarily over all resistance in East and West, and by the time of Trajan's greatest success in 117 A.D. the Roman Empire extended from Mesopotamia to northern Britain

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68:57

How You Lycus Now?: The Argonautica of Apollonius,...

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2026/09/15

Will Book II never end? Will Jason ever stop giving Bobby Bringdown, Milton Melancholy kinds of speeches? What kind of a hero, we ask you, has to be dragged by his crew, with great reluctance, toward his heroic destination? And, does successful storytelling jerk the reader endlessly from peak to trough in terms of the characters' emotional registry? Tune in this week as Jeff and Dave seek to answer these questions and tie up some loose ends from the second quarter of Apollonius' epic effort. As

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59:43

Fleece in Our Time: The Argonautica of Apollonius,...

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2026/09/03

It may seem simple. But getting a crew to rise to the occasion, sail a boat to Colchis, and recover the golden fleece is not exactly baked-in. With the Smashing Symplegades lying staight ahead, for the heroes it's tonight, tonight, or never. But this is the voyage Jason and co. signed up for. Tiphys and everyone else have to pull together. So this episode is a mix, of stern-scraping action - "Look out, rocks!" - strange digressions, musing on the perfect length for an epic simile, and more. Jeff

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75:51

More Nods than Gods: Nolan's Odyssey, Boo! (Ad...

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2026/08/25

Is life just unrelenting drudgery? Sure, the Psalmist describes it as a "vale of tears". But that bitterness is routinely alleviated by sweet music, good food, tenderness, friendship, the delight of a clever plan coming together (thanks, George Peppard), tears of joy as well as of sorrow. Or at least there is in real life and in Homer's Odyssey. But there doesn't seem to be much (any?) of those things in Christopher Nolan's unrealistic screen adaptation of the famous epic. Jeff and Dave devoted

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68:57

Amycus Brief: The Argonautica of Apollonius, Part IV...

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2026/08/04

Beggar-boxing as in the Odyssey? Not this time. Apollonius in book 2 of his epic brings out the arrogant king of the Bebrycians, Amycus. He may seem kind enough to his neighbors, but no one goes away from his door without getting challenged for a fisticuffs to the death. Then along comes Jason and crew, who receive no xenia, but quickly put the pugilist Polydeuces up to pummeling the king into compliance. Book 2 also features the fabulous story of Phineus the prophet. Poor guy can see the future,

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64:25

Fleece is the Word: The Argonautica of Apollonius,...

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2026/07/27

If you're Jason, and you need to find that golden fleece in order to escape the curse of the man with the one sandal, and then get back to your hometown of Iolcus to reclaim the throne from Uncle Stealy, don't let some six-armed heaving monsters, midnight mistaken identity, and the loss of Superman (Heracles) slow you down. This week Jeff and Dave resume their voyage through the story of the Argonauts by polishing off the adventures of Book I. But has any epic hero lacked more luster than this guy

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25:18

Strangely Familiar: When is a word? Who is a...

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2026/07/09

Catch a quick bite of the Classics this week courtesy of 'Doug' at Etymonline. On the menu is a discussion of the first English dictionary, the Latinate tome of Henry Cockeram, 1623. Jeff and Dave also stratuminate your path toward the labors of Sir Thomas Elyot, another aspiring neologist who sought to beef up the paucity of the English verbalate with some gems exveined of Latin. The question is, does English with its popping and snapping monosyllables really have room for meridiation ("a sleeping

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65:46

Hypsipyle Don't Lie: The Argonautica of Apollonius,...

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2026/06/30

Welcome to stop number two on the guys' journey from Iolcus to Colchis (and back!). With preliminaries covered, this week Dave and Jeff drfit through Book 1 of Apollonius’ Argonautica and continue to puzzle over Jason’s milquetoast administrative style. Is this meant to be reflective of an Athenian democratic ideal, as though Homeric arete has hit a sunset clause? And what is up with Heracles? Gone is the baudy, brawling, wine-binging, lion-wrestler. In his place we get deference, restrained

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68:01

A Sandal in the Wind: The Argonautica of Apollonius,...

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2026/06/19

Crashing rocks, a golden fleece, the smelly women of Lemnos, a lost waterboy, fraternal murder, potions, and Jason, the very unheroic lead...ready for another epic? Join Dave and Jeff as they climb aboard the Argo with a roster of heroes from the days before the Trojan war. The Hellenistic poet Apollonius of Rhodes (d. circa 215 B.C.) takes us on a four-book, seafaring journey from distant and exotic Colchis all the way back to Thessalian Iolcus. Can Jason reclaim the throne from his wicked uncle

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21:59

Mass Crucifixion of the House of Lucius Pedanius...

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2026/06/09

Tune in this week for a quick eructation as Jeff and Dave review the disturbing story of Lucius Pedanius Secundus, Roman aristocrat, who in A.D. 61 was murdered by one of his household slaves. The aftermath of this violent act was notoriously brutal: Tacitus tells us all 400 other slaves in Pedanius' house, whether implicated in the crime or ignorant of it, including women and infants, were scheduled for crucifixion. Tacitus also records that a mob of Roman citizens rioted and stormed the senate

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29:37

Homer's Odyssey Three Ways: Recent Translations by...

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2026/06/02

Join the guys this week for a quick takedown of three recent translations of Homer's Odyssey, courtesy of Prof. Richard Whitaker of the University of Cape Town (Acta Classica, 2020). In six weeks, the Christopher Nolan adaptation of the Odyssey will hit the big screen, based on Emily Wilson's translation. But does this new rendition of the epic have sufficient gravitas, not to mention accuracy, to carry the story? Dave and Jeff look at this question from as many angles as a 30-minute episode will

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69:08

H.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity,...

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2026/05/28

"Greece, though beat, then caught her captor fast; and into boorish Latium brought cultured life at last." So says Horace in Epistle II.156-157. This week Jeff and Dave return to Marrou, Part III, ch. 2, to examine the much discussed but ever fresh question of the Hellenization of Roman culture. When exactly did the toga clad race turn her gaze east to try to learn art, sculpture, music, and poetry? Is there a good explanation for the famous Roman inconsistency and feeling of cultural inferiority

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62:27

Tragedy Tomorrow, Comedy Tonight: Miles Gloriosus,...

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2026/05/19

Will the clever slave Dexter (Palaestrio) succeed in outsmarting the self-absorbed, narcissistic, self-proclaimed war hero Major Blowhard (Pyrgopolynices), so that the mostly incompetent, lovable, lovelorn young man Nauticles (Pleusicles) can rescue the young girl he loves, Convivia (Philocomasium), from the Major's lecherous clutches in time, and spirit her back to Athens with possessions secured? Or, will it all fall apart due to a mere meddling monkey (Monkey) running along a rooftop, who gets

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62:43

The Plautus Thickens: Miles Gloriosus, Part I (Ad...

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2026/05/12

This week the guys make their first foray into Roman Comedy, specifically Plautus and one of his best-known plays, Miles Gloriosus (“Major Blowhard”). After a brief digression on Doestoevsky (не спрашивай), Dave and Jeff dig into the particulars of Greek New Comedy, its influence on Roman comic poets like Plautus and Terence, as well as the challenges faced and license needed to translate such works accurately, but also make them hit for modern audiences. And then, into the play—it’s got everything:

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72:52

Living with OCD: The Oxford Classical Dictionary for...

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2026/05/05

This one's for all you autodidacts: if you have questions about any aspect of Greco-Roman antiquity, have trouble distinguishing between Phylas and Phrynichus, and are not sure where to turn when you are tearing through an ancient text and get stumped by some unfamiliar term, we've got you covered. This week Jeff and Dave walk us through the fascinating landscape of the most famous classical encyclopedias: Pauly Wissowa, Der Kleine Pauly, Der Neue Pauly, the CHCL (and how it differs from the CAH),

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62:01

A Light in the Attic: Lysias' Speech Against...

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2026/04/21

In the Athenian criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime (and who didn't exist) and the district attorneys (there were none of these either), who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories. Dun dun.This week the guys take a close look, complete with dramatic reading of a cross-examination, at the rough-and-tumble world of late 5th century Athens and her notorious cutthroat law courts. On the menu is

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75:16

H.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity,...

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2026/04/07

This week the guys dip back into Marrou, where the author pivots like Yaxel Lendeborg to the Roman side of things. H.I. takes up the "Old Roman Education". Immediately we notice realities that put the lie to the loose notion that the Romans just took from the Greeks and changed the names. While, yes, eventually much of Roman education merges with the Hellenistic ideals explored earlier (and later) tome-wise, at its root, Roman education was fundamentally a different enterprise. Much more than the

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64:34

Marcus Aurelius' Meditations: A Conversation with...

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2026/03/31

"There are the life events that have been apportioned to you. Live in harmony with them. There are the people whose destiny is to live at the same time as you. Love them. (Make sure you really feel it.)" (Meditations 6.39) This week Jeff and Dave sit down with Aaron Poochigian – experienced translator, poet, and all-around Classics enthusiast – to discuss his new translation from W.W. Norton of the Meditations (ad se ipsum) of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180). Stoicism is on the menu,

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31:02

Man-into-Beast Changes in Ovid, G.B. Riddehough...

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2026/03/24

Ok, AdNaserinos, you have slogged your way through 214 episodes of this humble podcast, patiently enduring many digressions, running gags, and inside jokes. You have also heard the hosts gush over the wit and brilliance of Publius Ovidius Naso, and the many vignettes mined from his Metamorphoses. For this Gurgle, Dave and Jeff take a quick bite of an important article from the journal Phoenix, Winter 1959, by G.B. Riddehough. Citing Ovid's "wonderful power of differentiation", Riddehough seeks to

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65:08

Catullus Nose Poetry: Three Neoteric Gems (Ad...

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2026/03/17

This week Jeff and Dave zero in on the neoteric poetry of the Roman Republic's waning days. Relying on the efforts of the late great Peter Green (of "brackish tang" fame) and his 2005 translation and commentary on the Catullan canon, the guys look at poems 1 (to Cornelius Nepos), 13 (to Fabullus), and 14 (to Calvus). What is it that drives a poet of apparently trivial interests? Is it love? Revenge? Boredom? And are these interests really so trivial, or do they hide deeper and more significant

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