In the first episode of Ad Vincere Mundi, which deals with the history of Classics as a discipline, Colette breaks down what dialectical and historical materialism are, and then she confronts one of the most egregious and poisonous myths about the field: that of classical history as ‘white history’.

I apologize for any sound issues/editing gaffes.

Intro: Pines of Rome: Pines of the Villa Borghese, by Ottorino Respighi. Riccardo Muti conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Musical Interlude: Ύμνος του Εθνικό Απελευθερωτικό Μέτωπο (Anthem of the Greek National Liberation Front). Maria Dimitriadi, Afroditi Manou.

Outro: Roman Festivals: The Epiphany, by Ottorino Respighi. Sergiu Comissiona conducting the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Sources for today’s episode: Dialectical and Historical Materialism, by Joseph Stalin; The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World, by GEM de Ste. Croix; Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition, by Cedric Robinson

Recommended further reading: Peasant-Citizen and Slave, by Ellen Meiksins Wood; Invention of the White Race, by Theodore W. Allen; The Agrarian Sociology of Ancient Civilizations, by Max Weber