In this episode, I interview Daniel Malamis of Rhodes University on his book The Orphic Hymns Poetry and Genre, with a Critical Text and Translation. Daniel explores the Orphic Hymns, focusing on their poetic style, structure, and role in ancient religious rituals. Along with his extensive study, a critical Greek text is provided, and a new English translation.

Daniel Malamis was born in the UK and educated there and in Zimbabwe. He completed his undergraduate degree at Rhodes and, after several years in the UK, Greece and South Korea, returned to Rhodes as a lecturer in 2008. His research interests include Homeric epic, Greek lyric poets, Greek religion and religious poetry and ancient magic, with a current focus on the poetry of ancient mystery cults and the Orphic Hymns in particular.

From the book description

The Orphic Hymns, a collection of invocations to the complete Greek pantheon, have reached us without explicit information about the contexts of their composition and performance. Combining a new critical edition and translation of the hymns with an in-depth study of the poetic strategies they employ and the forms of Greek poetry they draw upon, this book explores what the hymns can tell us about themselves. Through the use of allusion and figures that look to the earliest Greek poetry, the hymns present themselves as a text to be heard and meditated upon in performance, and as Orpheus' summative revelation on the nature and unity of the divine realm.

In today’s interview, I speak with Dr. Robin Douglas, co-author of Paganism Persisting: A History of European Paganism Since Antiquity. Robin is an independent scholar and a writer on the history of religion. He has a PhD from Cambridge University, where he previously completed his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in classics (with specialization in ancient history).

From the back cover

Paganism in Europe was not defeated by Christianity: it never went away. From the fourth century to the twentieth, against the background of a largely Christian culture, people repeatedly attempted to revive various kinds of pre-Christian religion - beliefs and practices that we have come to label as 'paganism'. Ancient paganism did not survive the Middle Ages in its original form; this book tells the story of the persistence of elements of paganism and the pagan idea through Europe's pagan revivals, from Byzantine Greece to medieval Eastern Europe and Renaissance Florence, from eighteenth-century Norwich to revolutionary Paris and Edwardian England. While some of these revivals are well known and others are almost entirely forgotten, they reveal the rich diversity of interpretations of paganism - and how those interpretations have been conditioned by the surrounding culture. Revived paganisms ranged from the austerely rational to the earnestly romantic, from the mystical and occult to the stridently nationalistic. Paganism Persisting reveals European paganism's long afterlife, up to and including the emergence of modern paganism as a mass movement in the twentieth century. The authors are both historians of religion specializing, respectively, in the intellectual history of the idea of paganism and in the development of popular religion and folklore. This book has much to offer to anyone interested in European cultural history, the history of ideas and religious studies.

I am interested in this subject, since I am myself part of a current revival of Hellenic polytheistic practices. I have many questions about this revival and how it may connect to the previous revivals, that of Plethon in the 15th century and beyond.

Robin along with Francis provide a “persistence model” which I think is helpful for examining the reoccurring revivals of paganism across Europe. Enjoy the conversation!

In today’s interview, I speak with Katerina Apokatanidis about Dionsyus and the Orphic Gold Tablets. Katerina Apokatanidis is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, Department of Classics. She works with Dr. Sarah Murray on the Archaeology of Greek funerary ritual and religion between the Archaic and Roman periods. She specialises in the materiality of the Orphic Gold Tablets and their role in Greek mortuary ritual. She obtained her BA in Classical Philology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. For her first MA at Durham University, U.K., she worked with Dr. J. H. Haubold on the role of women in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women. For her second MA at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, she worked with Dr. A. Faulkner on the gender interplay in Nonnos’ Dionysiaka.

Dionysus, the Greek God of wine, revelry, and ecstasy, plays a central role in Orphism, a religious movement in ancient Greece. Orphism was centered on the teachings of the legendary poet Orpheus, who was said to have traveled to the underworld and returned with secret knowledge. In the Orphic tradition, Dionysus is seen not just as a God of wine, but as a symbol of life, death, and rebirth. Orphics thought that by following special rituals and living a pure life, they could break free from the cycle of rebirth and achieve a blessed afterlife.

The Orphic Gold Tablets are small pieces of gold with inscriptions that were found in ancient graves. These tablets were placed with the dead and contained instructions for the soul’s journey in the afterlife. The messages on the tablets guided the deceased on what to say and do when they reached Hades, helping them navigate their way in the underworld.

View Katerina’s Profile on University of Toronto and her Curriculum Vitae on Academia.edu

In this interview, I discuss with Anthony the topic of the “idea of Europe” and the complex relationship of western Europe and the (eastern) Roman Empire, later called Byzantium. This conversion explores anti-Greek sentiments found in the west, which have their origins in ancient Rome. Interestingly, we learn how anit-Greek sentiment influenced the Erasmian pronunciation of ancient Greek.

This conversation is inspired by a chapter that Anthony wrote in Is Byzantine Studies a Colonialist Discipline? titled The Price of Admission, which touched on topics discussed in this episode.

Guest Bio

Anthony Kaldellis’ research explores the history, culture, and literature of the east Roman empire from antiquity to the fifteenth century. An earlier phase of it focused on the reception of ancient Hellenic culture, for example on how authors conceived their projects in relation to classical models (Procopius of Caesarea, 2004), as well as the history of identities (Hellenism in Byzantium, 2007), monuments (The Christian Parthenon, 2009), and genres (Ethnography after Antiquity, 2013). A second phase brought to light the enduring Roman matrices of Byzantine life and thought, focusing on its political sphere (The Byzantine Republic, 2015) and ethnic identities (Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium, 2019). He has translated into English the works of many medieval Greek writers, such as Prokopios, Genesios, Psellos, Attaleiates, and Laonikos Chalkokondyles. His own monographs have been translated into other modern languages, including Turkish, French, Romanian, Russian, and Greek. In 2019, he created the first academic podcast for his field, Byzantium & Friends. He has just finished a new, comprehensive history of east Rome from Constantine the Great to Mehmed Fatih, which embeds social, economic, religious, and demographic developments within a lively narrative framework.

Recent Publication

The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium

In recent decades, the study of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium, has been revolutionized by new approaches and more sophisticated models for how its society and state operated. No longer looked upon as a pale facsimile of classical Rome, Byzantium is now considered a vigorous state of its own, inheritor of many of Rome's features, and a vital node in the first truly globalized world.The New Roman Empire is the first full, single-author history of the eastern Roman empire to appear in over a generation. Covering political and military history as well as all the major changes in religion, society, demography, and economy, Anthony Kaldellis's volume is divided into ten chronological sections which begin with the foundation of Constantinople in 324 AD and end with the fall of the empire to the Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth century. The book incorporates new findings, explains recent interpretive models, and presents well-known historical characters and events in a new light.

In this interview, I discuss with Dr. Papanikolaou current affairs concerning Orthodox Christianity and politics. Both as it relates to matters on the world stage and in the Greek diaspora. Orthodoxy has a history of being ‘cozy’ with Empire so how does it align and adjust itself to function is countries with one form of liberal democracy or another?

Why shouldn't Orthodox Christians idealize the 'Byzantine' Empire as a political model, but rather support liberal democracies? Papanikolaou addresses this issue in his book, The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy.

“Papanikolaou hopes to forge a non-radical Orthodox political theology that extends beyond a reflexive opposition to the West and a nostalgic return to a Byzantine-like unified political-religious culture. His exploration is prompted by two trends: the fall of communism in traditionally Orthodox countries has revealed an unpreparedness on the part of Orthodox Christianity to address the question of political theology in a way that is consistent with its core axiom of theosis; and recent Christian political theology, some of it evoking the notion of “deification,” has been critical of liberal democracy, implying a mutual incompatibility between a Christian worldview and that of modern liberal democracy.” Book Description

Aristotle Papanikolaou is a Professor of Theology and the Archbishop Demetrios Chair in Orthodox Theology and Culture. He is Co-Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, and Senior Fellow at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion. In 2012, he received the Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in the Humanities. He was born/raised in Chicago, Illinois, and he enjoys Russian literature, Byzantine and Greek music, and is a bit of a foodie. (Source: Fordham University)

Maijastina Kahlos is a historian and classicist at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Her research interests broadly include late Roman history, particularly the fourth and fifth century C.E., the religions in the Roman Empire, Christianization of the Empire, and Roman everyday life.

She is the author and editor of several books, among them include:

* Religious Dissent in the Late Roman Empire in 350-450: Alienation, Accommodation, and Adaptation.

* Forbearance and Compulsion: Rhetoric of Tolerance and Intolerance in Late Antiquity

* Debate and Dialogue: Christian and Pagan Cultures

This is a topic and area of study that I am deeply interested in and Dr. Kahlos’ work has been influential on my understanding of Christianization and Late Antiquity. I highly recommend her work for those seeking to understanding this period of history.

Maijastina’s website is below.

https://maijastinakahlos.net/en/

I invited Andrew on to talk about magic in the ancient Greek and Roman world, both from the academic side and exploring the internal perspective within the Greek and Roman worlds.

Andrew Henry is a scholar of religion focusing on early Christianity and the religions of the late Roman Empire. He earned his PhD in 2020 from Boston University.

Andrew launched Religion for Breakfast in 2014 during his PhD studies when he realized that religious studies content was almost completely lacking on YouTube. Religion for Breakfast aims to remedy this by publishing introductory videos on a variety of topics related to religion. Visit Andrew’s website here to learn more about him and his work.

You can support Andrew’s work on Patreon and by sharing his excellent videos with your family and friends.

Dr. Johnston is a renowned professor of Religion and Classics at the Ohio State University. She is the author of many books, including - Ancient Greek Divination, Restless Dead: Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece, Hekate Soteira: A Study of Hekate's Roles in the Chaldean Oracles and Related Literature, and her newest book - Gods and Mortals: Ancient Greek Myths for Modern Readers.

I invited Dr. Johnston on the podcast to discuss an article she wrote called Whose Gods are These? A Classicist Looks at Neopaganism. This article helped me better understand Paganism in America. It also inspired me to examine Pagan authors for how they ‘poach’ from scholarship in order to construct their religions.

We also discussed her newest book Gods and Mortals: Ancient Greek Myths for Modern Readers which is now available for purchase here https://a.co/d/fCGqsAX

Link to article here

https://www.academia.edu/3667375/Whose_Gods_are_These_A_Classicist_Looks_at_Neopaganism

My review examines how pagan/witch authors use scholarship to construct their religion.

Critical reviews of Pagan/Witch-oriented books that draw on scholarship are needed. Speaking to her peers, classicist Sarah Iles Johnston, in Whose Gods are These? A Classicist Looks at Neopaganism has said:

…neopagans base their practices and systems of belief not only on the ancient sources but also, and even more directly, on the work of those who study the ancient sources – that is, they create their religions by drawing upon on the scholarship that we produce.

This review contributes toward understanding how Pagans and Witches use and misuse scholarship to create their religions and how Pagan/Witch authors present history in their work.

I will also be reviewing the book for historical accuracy and will comment on anything I find to be worthy of critique.

The Substack entires themselves are below

Part 1 is located here

Part 2 is located here

Part 3 is located here

Part 4 is located here

Part 5 is located here

A critical review of "The Secret Texts of Hellenic Polytheism" by John Opsopaus.