The Endless Knot
We discuss etymology, history, literature, science, and language, and the connections between them.
We talk about the etymology of “Etymology” itself, and then discuss the basics of historical linguistics, including Grimm’s Law, Verner’s Law, and more. We also talk about Isidore of Seville, the etymological puns of Latin poets, and the way Mark does his research for his videos.
Isidore of Seville’s Etymologiae
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This episode is all about Alexander the Great, and especially about his reception by later Greeks & Romans, the middle ages, and modern popular culture. We had the pleasure of interviewing Meg Finlayson who studies Alexander and his reception and shared their knowledge, enthusiasm, and dreams of a new Alexander movie with Colin Farrell playing Philip!
Alexander mosaic
Alexander sarcophagus
Pompey “the Great”
Alexander the Great in his “submarine”
Meg’s twitter @agameganon
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Happy holidays! In this seasonal episode we discuss the origins of the modern Western calendar, the names of the months and days of the week, and the sources we have for Roman calendars and Germanic gods. Happy new year, and may it be better than the last!
Herbert-Brown, Geraldine. “Fasti: the Poet, the Prince, and the Plebs” in A Companion to Ovid, ed. Peter E. Knox, Wiley-Blackwell. 2013.
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It’s election night 2020 in the US, and our video from 4 years ago about the language of politics is relevant once again. We discuss the changing vocabulary of democracy and what it can tell us about shifting attitudes towards popular rule and politicians. It may not be a complete break from political coverage, but at least it’s mostly about the distant past, not the uncertain future!
Mashed Radish blog post on Candidate
Mashed Radish blog post on Poll
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In this episode we go from the origin of the world to the many uses of olive oil, with discussions of Roman mosaics, and trademark law along the way. This is the third of our episodes on Intellectual Property, following Episode 42: Bugging Out! on patents and Episode 57: Freebooting, Piracy, & Copyright on copyright. Also, it’s the start of Season 6, and we want to thank everyone who’s joined us over the last 5 years. It’s been a blast, and here’s to another half decade!
“The asàrotos òikos mosaic as an elite status symbol” by Ehud Fathy
Ancient History Encyclopedia — the olive
Oxford Dictionaries blog post on “gasoline”
Hesiod, Theogony
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Back in June we had the pleasure of being part of the Intelligent Speech Conference 2020 — this year, held entirely online. It was a day filled with amazing podcasters and great conversations, and in this short episode we’re sharing the talk that we gave at the event. It’s about the word Recipe and early cookbooks, medicine, and women’s magazines. If you’d like to see the images that accompanied the presentation, you can watch the talk on YouTube, where the questions and post-talk discussion are also included.
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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.
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
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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.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire Cookbook
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We take a look at the history of runes and their connection to early alphabets and Germanic culture. Then we take a trip back to the Phoenician and Egyptian origins of the modern English alphabet, and talk about some of the earliest examples of Greek writing, in inscriptions, epic poetry, and myth. Also, introducing Lyceum, a new platform for educational podcasting!
The “Screaming Viking” cocktail
NativLang’s video Muslim Vikings & Magic Letters: The Odd History of Runes pt 1
The story of Hyacinth (see under “Larkspur”) and images of possible “Ai Ai” flowers
“THE TEXT: Signs of Writing in Homer.” Homer: The Poetry of the Past, by ANDREW FORD, Cornell University Press, Ithaca; London, 1992, pp. 131–171. JSTOR.
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photo credit: Flickr user get directly down
We trace the etymologies and development of the words “sex” and “gender”, as well as words for women and men in Greek, Latin, and English, touching on Roman, Greek, and medieval English ideas about gender. Then we discuss the grammatical term “gender” and how it differs across languages around the world.
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This year’s holiday episode is all about festivals and feasts — and in particular, midwinter celebrations, the solstice, and the seasons. And we read a couple of Latin poems about drinking — and explore the odd connection between them and a tire company!
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”:
“Whitewashing Ancient Statues: Whiteness, Racism And Color In The Ancient World”, by Sarah Bond
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Crossover time! We’re joined by Scott Lepisto, of the Itinera Podcast, in a conversation at the SoundEducation podcasting conference in Boston. We talked about the conference itself, the use of podcasting in classrooms, and the importance of public-facing scholarship in Classics and Medieval Studies. And please check out Scott’s podcast, in which he interviews classicists about their work and their journey to and through the field!
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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.
Cocktail: Black Magic
Religion in the Roman Empire, James B Rives, 2007
Arcana Mundi,Georg Luck, 2006
Virgil in his basket
Tomyris with the head of Cyrus the Great
Judith with the head of Holofernes
Phyllis riding Aristotle
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We speak with Dr. Liz Gloyn about her new book, Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture. We talk about Hercules: the Legendary Journeys, the Odyssey, the problems with Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey pattern, and more!
Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture
Facebook Page for Tracking Classical Monsters
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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
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The Fates have decreed that it’s time for us to talk about the word “Weird”! We discuss its etymology, the concept of fate in the ancient and medieval world, whether mythical women really do usually appear in threes, and Shakespeare.
Twist of Fate cocktail
Weird Sisters Blood & Hand Punch
“Does English have a future tense?” video
“As We Like It Podcast” – Macbeth episode
Chart of ‘strange’ vs ‘weird’ usage
Chart of ‘weird’, ‘uncanny’, ‘eerie’, & ‘unearthly’
More information about the Moirai
Hesiod passage about the Fates
Theoi site for Greek mythology
Articles about WEIRD linguistics and WEIRD psychology
Professor Elemental “Everybody’s Weird”
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While at VidCon this year, we sat down and chatted with a few of our fellow educational YouTubers: The Cynical Historian, Knowing Better, 12tone, and Step Back History. This is a compilation of our discussions about their channels, their reasons for making videos, and their experience of VidCon and its educational companion event, EduCon. If you don’t already watch their videos, we strongly recommend you check them out. Thank you to them all for taking part!
This podcast episode on YouTube
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We discuss a person who had an important impact on both science and language: Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles. In particular, we talk about the use of poetry to explain science, from Hesiod to Lucretius to Darwin to Baba Brinkman, and the new wave of science communicators on and off line.
Erasmus Darwin cocktail menu, based on The Loves of the Plants
D.G. King-Hele. “Erasmus Darwin, Man of Ideas and Inventor of Words.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 42.2 (1988): 149–180 .
This podcast episode on YouTube
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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 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
John Maddox Roberts, SPQR series
Agatha Christie “Death Comes as the End”
This podcast episode on YouTube
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