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What better way to ring in our 50th than with the ribald, ridiculous, and righteous ruckus that is Athenian Old Comedy? After a quick trip through the quasi-mythic origins of comedy, Dave and Jeff dive into the particulars of Aristophanes’ Frogs.  In this play we find ourselves in 405 BC and the great tragedian Euripides has just died. Dionysus, the god of tragedy itself, decides that because there are now no good poets left he’ll go down into Hades and bring Euripides back from the dead. And from there it just gets weirder. So settle in with a big bowl of beef-n-bean stew and see whether Dave can keep from blushing from all the scatology, orJeff can stop from gushing over his own translation. Oh, and watch out for that little bottle of oil.

This week the throw-down continues as Dave, Jeff, and Dr. Patrick M. Owens dig into a pile of Latin textbooks and see which ones are worthy of a podium finish. Need to brush up on your ecclesiastical Latin? You’d better know your Collins from your Henle. Do the names “Cambridge” and “Oxford” conjure images of Britishy erudition? Maybe not so fast. Dashed off caricatures of oddly proportioned “melon heads” not your thing? Learn which books NOT to open. So, tune in (if you can take a break from gilding your cute little Duolingo owl and trying to advance to the Amethyst League). Also, Rosetta Stone, Ossa Latinitatis, and Hans Ørberg.

This week Dave and Jeff sit down for Part I of a wide-ranging discussion with good friend and Latin guru Dr. Patrick M. Owens of Hillsdale College. We take a brief look at Patrick’s fascinating bio and how he came to love and practice spoken Latin at a very high level. Then we seek to answer such questions as “What makes a good Latin textbook?” “What is the role of the teacher in presenting a Latin curriculum?” “What are the strengths of the inductive vs. deductive methods of language instruction?”, and more. In this episode we look especially at Wheelock's and Moreland and Fleischer. Be sure to tune in for Shaq, pompadours, and a raucous exchange of pokes and jabs as Patrick and Dave finally get down to fisticuffs, and Jeff does his best Kenny Bayless.

Jeff and Dave bring the first show from Vomitorium West, where they take a close look at the sophist Gorgias (483–375 BC). When he wasn’t hitting the Olympia/Delphi orators circuit for some cool drachmai, Gorgias was in Athens claiming to be able to answer any question anyone one might put to him. Who was this guy? Did he actually believe his own press? In this work, G defends Helen of Troy so convincingly you’ll be fist-pumping. That is, until he pulls the rug out from under the whole project with the work's final word. Oh, and make sure you know your millihelens from your terahelens before you wander down to the harbor with Robertson Davies and Isaac Asimov. Then again, you probably don’t exist (G says nothing does), so don’t sweat it. Finally, check out Jeff's smoove beatbox.

This week the Vomitorium is graced with the presence of Dave and Jeff’s friend, former colleague, mentor and professor, Dr. Ken Bratt. Join us as Dr. Bratt shares his vast knowledge of the ancient Roman colony of Philippi--site of game-changing battles, crossroads of culture, and where the first European converts to Christianity (including Lydia) were made. Ken walks us through the archaeological remains, connecting them to biblical narrative and dispelling a few likely legends along the way. Is that really “Paul’s Prison” there in Philippi? Bonus feature:  learn what shenanigans Jeff got up to as a sophomore on a trip to Greece with Ken in the ‘90s. Also, what can we do to get Dave to loosen up? This episode is packed!

This week Dave and Jeff sit down with New York Times Bestselling author Ross King whose works such as Brunelleschi’s Dome and Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling have set the gold standard for erudite, popular history over the last twenty years. We cover Ross’ career from academia, to novel writer, to his latest book, The Bookseller of Florence (2021). Come along as we walk the streets of Renaissance and contemporary Florence where one might have a life-altering epiphany atop a red-tiled dome or discover a long lost copy of Quintilian moldering in the dusty corner of some far-flung scriptorium. Can Jeff and Dave keep it together long enough to refrain from geeking out and going all “fan boy” on Mr. King? Just barely.

Oh say can you see where this one is going? Many people have heard about the influence of the Roman Republic on the shaping of the American government but are perhaps unaware how much deeper the ancient underpinnings go. This week, with Carl Richards' The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment, as their guide, Jeff and Dave take a star-spangled look at the Greeks and Romans read, revered, and almost rejected by the founders of the United States. From the earliest days of the revolution Washington, Adams, and Jefferson (and others) saw themselves and each other through the prism of many an ancient great, both historical and fictional. What did it mean that Sam Adams was the "Palinurus" of the Revolution? Why did Washington see himself as Cato?  Why does Benjamin Rush (boo!) come along and try to pour cold, stale ale over the whole classicy enterprise? And perhaps most importantly, if you don't have busts of your friends in your personal library are they really your friends?

Dear Starry-Eyed Undergrads, you know that dream of your future grad school you have where you’re strolling through a leafy quad on your way to share a bottle of port with a kind, nurturing mentor, as you scoop up tray parfaits? Well, in this episode Dave and Jeff take those notions, drop them into the Cuisinart, and hit frappe. Take a trip with us down this pothole-ridden memory lane where you’ll find cutthroat politics, failed airport pickups, doomed lectures, lucubrations and excoriations, and sartorial disarray. So grab a repurposed pillow case (wait for it) and pull up a chair for this freak show. Rated R for “Regret”?  Nah, it’s just that sometimes the only way out is through.

This week Dave and Jeff take a close look at a well-known passage from ch. 14 of the Lukan history of the early church. As the apostles extend their preaching ministry into the Lycaonian region of Anatolia, they are mistaken for the gods Zeus and Hermes because of a miraculous healing Paul performs. The priest of Zeus wants to gin up a sacrifice, but the apostles risk life and limb, barely averting the ceremony. This story bears some interesting resemblance to a famous account in Ovid’s Metamorphoses VIII of the old woman Baucis and her husband Philemon (and throw in the Christmas goose). Tune in for wide-ranging literary analysis of ξενία and more, possibly the worst pun Jeff has ever dropped, and a major programming announcement at the end. https://gofund.me/ad60e4a2

This week Jeff and Dave do some spelunking to try figure out what the strange mystery rites of the Persiany cult of Mithras were all about, and why they were so popular during the Roman Empire. We begin with a breakdown of what exactly a “mystery cult” is, and then move on to Mithras himself, a hero whose myths do not survive in any written form. What do we make of the strange iconography that does survive, such as the bull-slaying motif (tauroctony)? Was this some kind of death-killing, solar cult? What is that scorpion up to? And can we take Mithras seriously in that hat? So, wander down into the Mithraeum, have a snack or two, and peek into that mysterious box. Might just change your life.