Episode 90: Unrolling Books and Evolving Words

Redbubble store

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Transcript of this episode

Episode 82: Plagues, with Moxie from Your Brain on Facts

Aven McMaster July 6, 2020

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.

Your Brain on Facts

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

Thorneloe Race forum episode

Statue/Systemic

Crisis/Discrimination

Thug/Protect

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Transcript of this episode

Episode 81: The Rise (and Fall) of Skywalker

Aven McMaster June 5, 2020

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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

Lyceum

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Bonus Episode: Thorneloe Race Forum

Aven McMaster December 10, 2019

Race & Racism poster 2019 with image-page-001.jpg

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”:

All English Texts

American English

British English

“Whitewashing Ancient Statues: Whiteness, Racism And Color In The Ancient World”, by Sarah Bond

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Episode 76: Do You Believe in Magic?

Aven McMaster October 31, 2019

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.

Our “Magic” video

Cocktail: Black Magic

Religion in the Roman Empire, James B Rives, 2007

Arcana Mundi,Georg Luck, 2006

Tomyris with the head of Cyrus the Great

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The SoundEducation Conference page

Episode 74: Medieval Fact & Fiction, with Winston Black

Aven McMaster September 10, 2019

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 Middle Ages: Facts & Fictions

Winston on Twitter

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Carly’s article about Hadrian’s Wall

Episode 70: Carly Silver

Aven McMaster May 17, 2019

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 website

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

Lindsey Davis

David Wishart

John Maddox Roberts, SPQR series

Rosemary Rowe

Big Finish Cicero series

Robert Harris

Paul Doherty

Agatha Christie “Death Comes as the End”

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Ancient Greece Declassified episode 19 “America's Greco-Roman Legacies w/ Caroline Winterer”

Episode 67: Mortal Republic, by Edward Watts

Aven McMaster February 18, 2019

We talk to Edward Watts about his new book Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny, which covers the history of Rome from the 3rd century BCE to the rise of Octavian to princeps. Our conversation ranges across questions of Roman identity, our fascination with transitional periods, and the connections between Roman history and contemporary politics.

Edward Watts

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Episode 66: Writing Myth with Amalia Dillin

Aven McMaster January 18, 2019

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Amalia Dillin is an author of mythic fantasy and historical fiction set in the ancient and Viking worlds. Among other books, she’s written the Fate of the Gods trilogy, about Eve and Adam (and Thor and Athena and more!), and the Orc Saga, beginning with Honor among Orcs. She also writes, as Amalia Carosella, about Bronze Age Greece (Helen of Sparta & sequels, about the love between Helen & Theseus) and the Viking Age (Daughter of a Thousand Years, about Freydis, daughter of Erik the Red, and also a modern women wrestling with her newly found pagan faith).

We spoke to Amalia before the holidays about her love of mythology, the complexities of writing historical fiction, and goats!

And hey, the Kindle of Daughter of a Thousand Years is on sale for $0.99, and the paperback is also on sale!

Amalia’s website with links to her blog and all of her books.

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Our video “Who are Santa’s reindeer?”

Episode 65: Reindeer Games

Mark Sundaram December 11, 2018

Time for a holiday episode! This time we’re talking about how Santa’s reindeer got their names, including some of their classical ties to Roman religion and Greek myth, the Reindeer Rule in US law, and NORAD’s Santa Tracker. And we have a quiz about the animals that bring the winter gift giver around the world!

Mark’s Lexitecture episode

Our Christmas videos playlist

Episode 8: Yule

Episode 25: The 12 Days of Christmas

Episode 49: Stocking Stuffers

The Rudolph Cocktail

Catullus 14

The two versions of Eros: Protogenos & Ouranios

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The History of the English Language podcast

Episode 64: The History of the English Language with Kevin Stroud

Aven McMaster November 16, 2018

While at the Sound Education conference we had the chance to sit down with Kevin Stroud, host of the History of the English Language podcast. We talked about his passion for language, his experiences with enthusiastic but pedantic listeners, his project to gather a database of accent samples from around the world, and much more. Thank you Keven for chatting with us, it was great fun to meet you and hang out!

Sound Education

Our video “What’s the Earliest English Word?”

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Episode 61: Classing up our Languages?

Mark Sundaram September 30, 2018

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In this episode we talk about the history of education in Europe, from classical Greece to the 19th century, covering the origins of many education-related words. Then we turn to the history of second-language teaching of Latin, from Roman Egypt to today’s Living Latin movement.

DSM (channel about language and etymology)

Sound Education

Classic Cocktail

Education video

Learning Latin and Greek from Antiquity to Present, chapters on teaching Latin to Greek speakers (Dickey) & Latin in Anglo-Saxon England (Fisher)

“Medieval and Modern Views of Universal Grammar and the Nature of Second Language Learning” by Margaret Thomas

“Inside the Anglo-Saxon Classroom“ by Kate Wiles

“Grasping Sentences by Wholes: Henry Sweet’s Idea of Language Study in the Early Middle Ages” by Mark Atherton

Learn Latin from the Romans: A Complete Introductory Course Using Textbooks from the Roman Empire by Eleanor Dickey

Learning Latin the Ancient Way by Eleanor Dickey

“The MovieTalk: A Practical Application of Comprehensible Input Theory” by Rachel Ash

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Sound Education podcasting conference

Episode 60: What We Did on Our Summer Vacation

Mark Sundaram August 24, 2018

We report on our trips to EduCon, VidCon, Iceland, & England. Lots of museums and historical places, and check out the web page for pictures of some of our favourite artifacts and images.

We Create Edu community

Travelling Etymologies: Names in Iceland and England

Golden Circle Tour

Volcano House

Westman Island Eruption

Penis Museum

Vagina Museum

Rodin and the Art of Ancient Greece

Earliest English Word video

Episode with James Andean

Sator square

Our friend Michael (Wombat)’s blog post about the Battle of Towton

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The Sublime Moment Cocktail

Quick Announcement

Mark Sundaram June 28, 2018

The view from our hotel room at VidCon in Anaheim, CA

Just a note to explain our plans for the summer.

Episode 59: From the Sublime to the Romantic

Mark Sundaram June 7, 2018

The etymology of 'sublime' takes us through a discussion of the Gothic, Neo-Classical, and Romantic periods, the origins of the Romance languages, the roots of romantic love, and more.

Mats Malm “On the Technique of the Sublime”, Comparative Literature, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Winter, 2000), pp. 1-10.

Sarah Bond on Polychromy in Ancient Statues

Alex Potts, Flesh and the Ideal: Winckelmann and the Origins of Art History

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Matt Gibbs' article in The Conversation

Episode 58: Symposium!

Mark Sundaram May 17, 2018

Rachel Mazzara, Chiara Graf, Drew Davis, Matthew Watton, & Jesse Hill

This episode, we travel to Calgary, Alberta for a conference, and try some very questionable "ancient" potables! Aven takes a microphone on the road, and chats with a bunch of classicists about Roman beer, barley water, Homeric kykeon, conference papers, social media, and more!

The slides & papers & resources from the Public-Facing Scholarship panel

Our previous episode about ancient and medieval beer brewing

Melanie Racette-Campbell

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The Maritime History podcast

Episode 57: Freebooting, Piracy, & Copyright

Mark Sundaram April 26, 2018

We sail the high seas and surf the interwebs for this episode all about the etymology of pirate-related words and the coinage of a new term for stealing videos. We also cover the development of copyright law, the reasons pirates say "Arrrr!", and what Julius Caesar did to his kidnappers.

Show Notes

Bumbo cocktail recipe

"Freebooting" video

The Academic Podcast by Sam McLean

"CAESAR AND THE PIRATES: OR HOW TO MAKE (AND BREAK) AN ANCIENT LIFE", JOSIAH OSGOOD, Greece & Rome, Vol. 57, No. 2 (OCTOBER 2010), pp. 319-336

de Souza, Philip. "Rome's Contribution to the Development of Piracy". Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. Vol. 6, The Maritime World of Ancient Rome (2008), pp. 71-96

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Episode 56: Linguistic Discrimination, with The Vocal Fries

Mark Sundaram April 11, 2018

We have the great pleasure to be joined by Megan & Carrie from the Vocal Fries podcast to talk about linguistic discrimination: what is it, why is it bad, what is its history, and how can we combat it?

Show Notes

The Vocal Fries Podcast

Medieval Pets by Kathleen Walker-Meikle

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Episode 55: Our Pet Topic (part two, with cats)

Mark Sundaram March 21, 2018

In part two of our miniseries on pets, we cover cats, monkeys, birds, and more. Find out the surprising origins of the word for parrot, what medieval people named their cats, and what bird was symbolic of the Virgin Mary.

Show Notes

@AllEndlessKnot on Twitter

"Greek and Roman Household Pets", Francis D. Lazenby

Animals for Show and Pleasure in Ancient Rome, George Dennison

Companion Animals and Us: Exploring the Relationships Between People and Pets Anthony L. Podberscek, Elizabeth S. Paul, James A. Serpell, eds.

Our episode on farm animals

Paw prints on a manuscript

Mosaic from Istanbul (from Caitlin Green's blog)

Dr. Caitlin Green's blog