Against the Lore

In which we each pitch our favourite children's books set in the ancient world to Flo! Zenia continues fangirling for Caroline Lawrence, Meg is onto a winner with Vesuvius Poovius, while Barney stans Horrible Histories.

In which we pitch our favourite retellings of ancient myth to Flo and she chooses her favourite. From poetic Achilles to sponge adventures to Zeus Behaving Badly, we explore all sorts of Greek myth retellings!

What's Classical Reception? Find out in our next series...

In which we are joined by the Titan of Classics, Edith Hall, to talk about classicists from underprivileged backgrounds. From Isobel Cotton the blacksmith's daughter to Hormuzd Rassam to Freya Stark, these ordinary people defied social expectations and class limitations to make their mark on the history of Classics.

In which Caroline Lawrence joins us again to talk about storytelling in the ancient world. Of course, the great epics are the protagonists in this episode, but the key to how these stories were passed down was the incredible memorisation techniques that the ancients used on a daily basis.

In which we learn about the Mesopotamian goose-god of the earth, the Roman intersex (?) god(dess?) of the earth, and the Greek primordial quartet.

In an episode that is straight fire, Barney tells us that the ancient Egyptians thought the sun was made of poo, while Meg brings some beautiful poetry, ancient and (more) modern, to the hearth. Zenia tells the tragic story of the Great Fire of Rome and describes the super-stylish uniforms of ancient Rome's firefighters.

In which Meg begins a 'not all aqueducts' pipe positivity movement, Barney tells us about Hapi the Egyptian intersex idol, while Zenia tells the story of syncretism in Roman Bath.

In which we learn about the Romans who toppled statues, Egyptians who cached mummies, and Greeks who had a grand old time...!