Episode 105: Dionysus, Translation, & Queering Greek Drama with Emma Pauly

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Episode 104: Words the Vikings Gave Us, with Grace Tierney

Aven McMaster April 12, 2022

Face of a smiling woman with brown hair and glasses, standing in front of the prow of a reconstructed viking ship

Green book cover with the title Wods the Vikings Gave Us

It’s time for some Old Norse, sagas, and daring Viking explorers! In this episode we talk to author Grace Tierney about her newest book, Words the Vikings Gave Us. We had a ton of fun in this conversation, and we’re sure you will too!

Grace Tierney’s blog, Wordfoolery

Our video on Runes, and NativLang’s matching video

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Bonus: Karaoke April Fools!

Aven McMaster April 1, 2022

It’s April Fool’s Day, and time for the annual Podcast Switcheroo, where podcasters trade episodes to give their audience something a little different and introduce them to a new show.

This year we’ve got an episode from “The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly)”, all about the joys and embarrassments of singing karaoke. In this episode hosts Adam Wainwright and Ed Cunard discuss questions like is a karaoke performance a cover song? What do musicians have to say about karaoke? What are the barriers to making music, and creativity in general? They also talk to punk and folk singer-songwriter Frank Turner about some of his most memorable karaoke experiences and about how he feels about cover songs, singalongs at concerts, and karaoke versions of his songs. After you’ve listened to this, why not add them to your subscriptions?

Thanks to Moxie from “Your Brain on Facts” for organizing this event, and happy April Fool’s Day to everyone!

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Talking Turkey, episode 24

Episode 103: Potatoes for Saint Patrick

Aven McMaster March 15, 2022

Thumbnail for a video, reading "The Potato Batter and the Power of World History" against a background of potatoes, with a cartoon of a potato with a lightning bolt across it

Medieval manuscript image of Saint Patrick standing on a snake — *St Patrick standing on a snake in Purgatory: England, 1451 (London, British Library, MS Royal 17 B XLIII, f 132v)*

Two cocktails sitting on a bar. One is amber coloured, in a martini glass. The other is pale green, in a coupe glass rimmed with light coloured metal, with a round slice of cucumber as garnish on the rim of the glass.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! In this episode we talk about the saint’s history, then dig into the potato — its etymology, its history, and how it’s changed the world. With some tangents about batteries, famines, and travel in the Roman world.

Season to Taste, episode 35

ORBIS

Article about Irish Famine Relief by the Choctaw Nation

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Episode 102: Baking Greek Bread, with Josh Nudell

Aven McMaster February 22, 2022

We’re talking about bread again! This time, about ancient Greek bread — its vocabulary, the many types of bread and how they were made, and the economic aspects of bread production. Josh shares his practical experiences of baking along with his research into the classical Greek world.

Josh Nudell’s website

Josh on Twitter: @jpnudell

Tavola Mediterranea

Our previous episode on bread, “Loaf”

Thank you to Emma Pauly for editing and transcribing this episode.

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Ep 39 From Fossil Hunters to Mammoth Cheese

Episode 101: Not Your Average Podcast

Aven McMaster January 31, 2022

We start off the new year with a three-part discussion of statistics, insurance, stocks, astrologers, coffee, and more. We also trace some of the vocabulary that has come to English from Arabic, along with important mathematical concepts.

Podcast recommendation: Khameleon Classics

Cocktail: The Revolver

Ep 32 Ariadne’s Clue

video “How Do We Perceive a Poem?”

Ripat, Pauline. “Expelling Misconceptions: Astrologers At Rome.” Classical Philology, vol. 106, no. 2, The University of Chicago Press, 2011, pp. 115–54, https://doi.org/10.1086/659835

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Wonders of the World Podcast

Episode 100: Celebrating Connections

Aven McMaster December 9, 2021

Our hundredth episode! We’re celebrating reaching three digits — and more than 6 years — with a whole bunch of our podcasting friends! These are just some of the amazing creators who make the independent podcasting world so wonderful, and we’re very happy to be connected to them all. Please check out their shows at the links below. We also give you a brief “State of the Pod” update. Thank you to everyone who’s been with us so far, and here’s to the next century (of episodes)!

Thank you to Christine Couisineau for help editing and transcribing this episode.

The Kir Royale cocktail

Sandman Stories Presents

The Partial Historians

Accentricity Podcast

Lexitecture Podcast

The History of English

The Spouter Inn Podcast

Grammar Girl Podcast

Let’s Talk about Myths, Baby Podcast

Lingthusiasm Podcast

Footnoting History

The Vocal Fries Podcast

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Playlist of the songs Jeremy mentioned

Episode 99: Heavy Metal Music and Antiquity, with Jeremy Swist

Aven McMaster November 15, 2021

We talked to Jeremy Swist about his work on the reception of antiquity in heavy metal music. He discussed the ways the genre looks to the past for stories and imagery, and the many fantastic songs and albums that have been produced from this mix. We also talked about the problems with racism and white nationalism that can plague the intersection of the ancient world and metal music.

Pour Forth Surquidous track

@MetalClassicist

Heavy Metal and the Ancient World on Facebook

Jeremy’s blog

Metal-archives.com

Thank you to Emma Pauly for editing and transcribing this episode.

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Our podcast episode interviewing Dr. Gloyn

Episode 98: The Monster Episode of Monsters

Aven McMaster October 27, 2021

Two cocktails in coupe glasses, clear yellow with red at the bottom of the glass, with dried rose petals floating on the surface. — “The Beautiful Ugly” cocktail, from *Nectar of the Gods*

It’s Halloween, and the monsters are out! In this episode we tackle Monster Theory (as formulated by J.J. Cohen) , examine the linguistic and cultural origins of a range of Classical and classic movie monsters, look at how they connect to the history of currency and money, and explore the intersections of monsters and the New Woman. We also sample a beautiful cocktail from the upcoming cocktail book Nectar of the Gods by Liv Albert from “Let’s Talk about Myths, Baby”. Thank you, Liv!

The Monster video

Monster Theory by J.J. Cohen

Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture by Liz Gloyn

Horace Odes 1.37

Hesiod passage about Medusa is Theogony 270ff; more info about Medusa here

Ovid passage about Medusa is Metamorphoses 4.753ff

General sources for this episode

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Episode 97: Aegyptiaca Romana, with Bet Hucks

Aven McMaster September 28, 2021

We speak to Bet Hucks about Roman importation and love of Egyptian art and other cultural material, the importance of thinking about material remains in assemblages and considering the contexts in which they were displayed, and some innovative ways of bringing the physical experiences of the past to modern audiences. Oh, and also, crocodiles!

Bet’s Twitter: @RomanAegyptiaca

Bet on academia.edu

Thanks to Emma Pauly for editing and transcription of this episode.

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Recipe for Old English cocktail

Episode 96: What's the Earliest English Word?

Aven McMaster September 6, 2021

What do you think the earliest English word was? How could we possibly look for such a thing, and what do the possible options tell us about early English history and the movement of peoples in the early medieval period? We tackle these questions, in an episode about Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, Celts, Tacitus, Bede, and more.

Reminder: Mark will be running another session of his Speakeasy seminar course, The Origins of English: Learning to Think Like an Etymologist, which is open to anyone who’s interested. Registration is now open at Speakeasy.com for the session running on Sunday afternoons (Eastern time) from September 12th October 3rd.

Earliest English Word video

Jabzy’s Anglo-Saxon Invasion video

The Early Greek Alphabets: Origin, Diffusion, chpt 4 by Rosalind Thomas

C. Krebs, A MOST DANGEROUS BOOK: TACITUS’ GERMANIA FROM THE ROMAN EMPIRE TO THE THIRD REICH. London: W.W.Norton & Co., 2011.

Other sources

Why do Poles call Italy WŁOCHY? (video)

Bonus episode about the term “Anglo-Saxon” from December 2019

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Wayne State University faculty page

Episode 95: Reckonings, with Stephen Chrisomalis

Aven McMaster August 17, 2021

It’s time for a reckoning! Or, to be more accurate, a number of reckonings. We talk to Dr. Stephen Chrisomalis, a linguistic anthropologist who specializes in the anthropology of mathematics and the interaction of language, cognition, and culture, about his new book Reckonings. It’s a fascinating discussion of how we write and represent numbers, and how that’s changed over the years. Why don’t we use Roman numerals any more? It’s more complicated than you might think…

Announcement: Mark will be running another session of his Speakeasy seminar course, The Origins of English: Learning to Think Like an Etymologist, which is open to anyone who’s interested. Registration is now open at Speakeasy.com for the session running on Sunday afternoons (Eastern time) from September 12th October 3rd.

Glossographia (blog)

Twitter: @schrisomalis

Reckonings webpage

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Episode 94: Catullus & Shibari, with Isobel Williams

Aven McMaster July 27, 2021

We talked to Isobel Williams about her fascinating and illuminating new translation of selected poems of Catullus, illustrated with her drawings of the Japanese art of rope binding, shibari. Our discussion ranges over the connections between the world of shibari and the emotional struggles depicted in Catullus’s poetry, the way translation and learning Latin can feel like being tied up in, and untangling, knots, and much more.

Content Note: fetish, sex, brief mention of sexual violence, discussion of enslavement and use of slavery as metaphor

Blog about drawing shibari (Japanese rope bondage): Boulevardisme

Straight blog about drawing: Drawing from an uncomfortable position

Website: Isobel Williams

Twitter: @otium_Catulle

Instagram: @isobelwilliams2525

From Isobel: “For the online book launch, I compiled a video (>20 minutes) of self and others reading in Latin and English from the book. It starts with Sappho in ancient Greek and ends with Shakespeare, to show the continuity Sappho -> Catullus -> Ovid -> Shakespeare (it contains no Ovid). The video is here 'Catullus: Shibari Carmina' - readings and performances - YouTube”

Page about the book

Link to the book for Canada and US: Catullus: Shibari Carmina | Independent Publishers Group

James Methven’s Precious Asses – highly recommended

Irish poet and mediaevalist Bernard O’Donoghue – Poet, Academic, Medievalist and Literary Critic

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Rutilius Namatianus, De Reditu Suo

Episode 93: The Americano, the Negroni, America, and Rome

Aven McMaster July 5, 2021

A day after Independence Day in the US, we investigate the history of the name “America” and two related cocktails, with some side trips into the sack of Rome in 410 CE and the use of the Fall of Rome as a historical parallel for the United States. This episode completes our mini series on country names, in the season of national holidays in north America.

Cocktails: Americano & Negroni

"The Fall of Ancient Rome and Modern U.S. Immigration: Historical Model or Political Football?" Frank Argote-Freyre and Christopher M. Bellitto. The Historian Vol. 74, No. 4 (WINTER 2012), pp. 789-811

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Jacques Cartier Heritage Minute

Episode 92: Canuck, and Re-Thinking Canada's Story

Aven McMaster June 28, 2021

This episode is being released for Canada Day, but it’s not a celebration. This year, even more than most, we feel that this day needs to be one of reckoning with our past and trying to make a better present and future. So we talk about the history of the word Canuck and the various stories that Canadians tell themselves about their county, and we also discuss the role of Classics in the early history of the colonial project in Canada, as well as how to think about Classics today in relation to Indigenous issues. And then we finish with some quick etymologies of uniquely Canadian words and phrases. Content note: there is brief mention of residential schools and discussion of historical racism.

Le Canuck Cocktail

Minute Women podcast

Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles

Brill’s Companion to Classics in the Early Americas

Zachary Yuzwa on Twitter

Robinson-Huron Treaty lawsuit

“Only in Canada, You Say?” by Katherine Barber

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Episode 91: Roman Gardens, with Victoria Austen

Aven McMaster May 25, 2021

Wall painting - idyllic landscape with porta sacra and tholos - Pompeii (VIII 7 28 - sanctuary of Isis - ekklesiasterion) - Napoli MAN 8558 - 01. Photo by ArchaiOptix

We talk to Dr. Victoria Austen about Roman gardens. What defines a garden? Where were the gardens at Rome, and what were they for? How did Romans think about gardens and gardening, and what roles did they play in literature, philosophy, and the public relations efforts of emperors?

@Vicky_Austen

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Our new page of cocktails from the podcast

Episode 90: Unrolling Books and Evolving Words

Aven McMaster April 26, 2021

We talk about the history of the book, the reading habits of the ancient Romans, the pliability of sheep skins, and the mechanisms of semantic change that cause words to evolve over time. Oh, and we discuss Charles Darwin’s own language for his new theory.

The "Codex Cocktail" was created for us by Ed Bedford — recipe here

Liber Adest newsletter

McCutcheon, R. W. “Silent Reading in Antiquity and the Future History of the Book.” Book History, vol. 18, 2015, pp. 1–32., www.jstor.org/stable/43956366

“In Ancient Rome” by Joseph Howley, in Further Reading, edited by Matthew Rubery and Leah Price. 2020.

Erasmus Darwin video

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Shownotes for this episode (including transcript)

Switcheroo 2021!

Aven McMaster April 1, 2021

This year for April Fool's Day we're taking part in a podcast switcheroo where podcasters are trading episodes to introduce their audiences to other podcasts they think you might enjoy. So we're having the great folks from Bunny Trails, Shauna and Dan, showcase one of their episodes, about the phrase “Queen Bee”.

Bunny Trails Podcast

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The Horse in the Ancient World: From Bucephalus to the Hippodrome

Episode 89: Horses in Antiquity, with Carolyn Willekes

Aven McMaster March 17, 2021

We speak to Dr. Carolyn Willekes about horses in antiquity: their development and domestication, their use in warfare, their training and breeding, and her many adventures riding horses across Greece, Turkey, Mongolia, and Canada.

Greek Warriors: Hoplites and Heroes

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