#byzantineempire #byzantium #byzantines #romanempire #rome #romans #ancientrome #ancientgreece #classics #antiquity #classicalantiquity #ancienthistory

In the latest episode of the Sidequest, Anthony Kaldellis, author of many books including The New Roman Empire, stops by to discuss his podcast Byzantium & Friends, how the academic community is starting to embrace podcasts as a medium to communicate with a wider audience, the narratives surrounding Antiquity, including when it "ended", in the Western and Eastern imperial provinces and the importance of the "Byzantines" to Antiquity and the Classics. We also discuss the naming convention behind use of the term "Byzantine" and the important role the Crimean War played in that. Dr. Kaldellis wrote an article about that which I highly recommend and link to here.

One of the more interesting parts of this interview involved me learning about how widespread the Greek language was throughout the Empire. It turns out that the city of Rome had a large population that spoke Greek including one Julius Caesar. We also have a discussion about "Late Antiquity" and whether we should consider that as a transitional period which I discuss more in the intro to the podcast. I think my views on it come from the way I view things as a trial lawyer which may not entirely overlap with the way that historians approach their work. I could be way off about this. It's just a thought I had as I edited the podcast.

Your reading assignment from this episode is "Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning".

On the opening theme music, for now it’s from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/kevin-macleod/folk-round
License code: SHTJJRTVTRXQAID1

Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments or on Twitter.

And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.