The Classical Antiquity Sidequest

#reading #bookclub #books #stoner

We are back from a long break with a Recommended Reading / Book Club episode about two books I recently read, William Kennedy's Ironweed and John Williams' Stoner. I had been meaning to read Ironweed for probably twenty or more years and finally got around to it in August. As for Stoner, it's been a hot topic of late - I've seen it all over Reddit and on Anthony Jeselnik's book club. After I saw it constantly get into my feed on the Internet, I gave in and read it. And I'm glad I did it. Stoner is probably the best book I've ever read.

While outside the purported scope of this podcast, our guests' book recommendations don't always cover topics from Antiquity. Given that, and the fact that I'm the one running the podcast, I figured why not devote an episode to some good books I've read? If you enjoy this episode, let me know and I'll make Recommended Reading a regular part of the podcast catalog.

In addition to discussing Ironweed and Stoner, I run down several books that I've read lately that I enjoyed and recommend. Those include Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, Richard Wright's Uncle Tom's Children, Sally Rooney's Normal People and Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar. These books are your reading assignments.

The theme music is from Brent Arehart. 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, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

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

#julian #juliantheapostate #emperorjulian #romanempire #pagan #pagans #ancientreligion #christianity #antiquity #classicalantiquity #lateantiquity

It's been a minute, but the podcast is back with an episode we recorded over the summer with Dr. David Litwa. I reached out to Dr. Litwa after reading (listening to) his book "Julian Against the Apostates". He agreed to come on the podcast which gave us this episode. During our talk, Dr. Litwa covers Julian's religious and philosophical origins including the dangers he faced for simply believing in non-Christian gods. He also discusses Julian's traditional Hellenic religious beliefs including the importance of sacrifice and how Julian received an honorable burial. This shows that the state honored him as a military hero and that, despite subsequent criticism by religious enemies, Julian was a respected figure in the Empire.

One topic that we cover in detail is whether Julian missed his calling as a philosopher and religious theorist which is apparently something that Julian wanted to ultimately do. After listening to this episode, I think you'll see that if history had unfolded a little differently, Julian may have been able to leave decades of Hellenic religious writings behind him. Maybe that wouldn't have done much to alter the course of history that unfolded, but as Mal Reynolds once observed, "May have been on the losing side, still not convinced it was the wrong one."

You can keep up with Dr. Litwa at his YouTube channel or his website linked to above.

Your reading assignments include Julian Augustus by friend of the pod Jeremy Swist.

The theme music is from Brent Arehart. 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, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

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

#theodyssey #odyssey #moviereview #christophernolan #antiquity #classicalantiquity #troy #trojanhorse

As you all may be aware, Christopher Nolan's latest movie is his take on The Odyssey. Before getting into the movie itself, I get a few thoughts off my chest about movie theaters selling Pepsi products. Put simply - that's some bull---t. Sell Coke or shut your business down. No one wants to drink a Pepsi while sitting in a theater. Now, I don't have any issues with the fine people at Barq's Root Beer, which is the beverage I had to settle for when I learned I couldn't have a Coke, but Barq's is not the beverage I want to drink when I'm watching a movie. With that out of the way ...

In our review, both me and Victor try and avoid the political narrative that surrounds this movie. Neither of us think that this is a movie that is a critical statement for or against "Western Civilization" or the current state of our collective culture, whatever that term may mean, so we don't see any need to analyze the movie from that perspective. Rather, we're here to give our opinion about whether The Odyssey was or was not a good movie. And that's the tact we take when talking about this film. In doing so, we also explain why Christopher Nolan didn't have Odysseus call himself "Nobody" during his encounter with the Cyclops. Why? Well, because Better Call Saul already did it better.

One thing we do cover in our review is how much of the movie actually happened. Was it real, or was it the poor memory of a broken man? Odysseus is perhaps the O.G. Unreliable Narrator and we know how much Nolan enjoys that narrative trick. Please chime in with your thoughts after you listen and watch the movie.

Our overall thoughts are that the movie had its moments, but that it was a bit of a slog. Victor appreciated it more after a second viewing. I think I might do the same. And, if I do watch it a second time, we will review it a second time. We referred to a few characters by the wrong names during the review. I think we got it all corrected during the review, but if we missed some, let us know.

The theme music is from Brent Arehart. 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, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

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

#gladiators #ancientgreece #antiquity #romanhistory #ancientrome #classicalantiquity

Our next Sidequest takes us to Greece during the Roman era as we discuss gladiators with Alexandra Sills. Ms. Sills just released a book on the topic, "Gladiators in the Greek World: How a Roman Bloodsport Took Ancient Greece by Storm", which I highly recommend to all. During this episode, we discuss a number of topics including why gladiators became so popular in Greece, how gladiators were used by Roman political leaders and some problems associated with some historians who discussed gladiators without understanding sports. Before we get into gladiators, we discussed the British education and Alexandra's podcast, Ancient History 101.

Your reading assignment is Lauren Jenkinsson-Brown's "You Are Odysseus".

You can find Ms. Sills by going to her website and on Bluesky.

The theme music is from Brent Arehart. 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, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

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

#gladiator #gladiators #rome #ancientrome #movies #antiquity #classicalantiquity

We are finally getting around to reviewing the movie that started a string of copycat Roman history movies by reviewing the blockbuster that is Gladiator. For reasons that me and Victor don't understand, people like this movie. We, if you couldn't tell from the episode's title, don't particularly care for it. The film is full of dumb plot points, bad dialogue, slow motion and several things that make no sense (like the fact that Maximus became a gladiator because ... Reasons!). If we're being honest, this entire movie is avoided by Marcus Aurelius writing a will.

If you rewatch Gladiator, take time to watch The Fall of the Roman Empire which is the inspiration for Gladiator. That will also help you unlock the secret of this movie which we stumble on as we discuss it. Turns out that there's a connection between Maximus and Obi-Wan Kenobi which we think Ridley Scott clearly intended to convey in Gladiator. I also go on a rant about Boomers. This shouldn't surprise you given one of the books I reviewed here.

The theme music is from Brent Arehart. 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, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

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

#iranwar #iran #gaza #palestine #genocide #israel #culturalheritage

As you may know, the US-Israeli Axis launched a preemptive, and unnecessary, war on Iran. This war of choice has destablized the region, caused economic disruptions at home and created a humanitarian crisis throughout the Middle East. One somewhat overlooked part of this war includes the destruction of UNESCO recognized cultural heritage sites. Dr. Katherine Blouin stopped by the podcast to discuss this erasure of both history and culture. In addition to talking about the Iran War and its effects on history, archaeology and culture, we discuss the Israeli government's genocide of the Palestinian people and Israel's deliberate attempt to wipe Palestinian culture off the map to justify its own existence.

For additional reading on these topics, check out the following:

Save Sebastia

Archaeologists Against Apartheid

Everyday Orientalism

Follow the Pots Project

Nelly Abboud

While this may not be the most cheerful conversation we've ever had on the podcast, it is a necessary one. And it gave us the chance to remind everyone of the best episode of Drunk History ever - Tiffany Haddish discussing Rose Valland. You will need to watch it at some point to get your mind off of current events.

Your reading assignments include Sally Rooney's Intermezzo and Caroline Dodd Pennock's On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe.

The theme music is from Brent Arehart. 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, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

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

#antiquity #mediterranean #rome #greece #islam #thelevant #history #classicalantiquity #lateantiquity

Friend of the podcast Dr. Rhiannon Garth Jones returns to discuss the time period that some scholars refer to as "The First Millennium". This period covers ... And now I'm using a word to define itself, so instead of that, let me just say that it's the period from 1 CE to 1000 CE. During the episode, we discuss what the time period is, what historians who study it look at and the common threads that exist between societies that we think of as separate and distinct.

The episode touches on a lot of topics including English Premier League football, the narrow focus of Antiquity on Greece and Rome at the exclusion of the rest of the Mediterranean, Late Antiquity, Islamic kingdoms and empires and their connections to both Antiquity and to Late Antiquity. As you should know by now from listening to the podcast, there are a lot more similarities between "different" peoples and civilizations than we might think. We explore those similarities in this episode including how many societies expressed power by channelling the Roman state.

Your reading assignments include the graphic novel Squire, Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration and The White Pedestal.

The theme music is from Brent Arehart. 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, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

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

#palestine #thelevant #palestinian #antiquity #history

Back in February, Dr. Chance Bonar was kind enough to stop by the podcast to talk about a completely non-controversial topic that doesn't generate strong opinions from anyone - Palestine and the Levant. We recorded this before Iran and Israel launched an unnecessary war in the United States, so we don't get into any issues surrounding that. We do, however, cover the history of the term "Palestine", the Levant functioning as a crossroads throughout history, political agendas which complicate the historian's job of telling people what happened and a whole lot more.

For those of you who don't know a lot about the history of that region, this is a good place to start. If you want to learn more about the history of the region, Dr. Bonar's suggested reading includes Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History, Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?, and Judea Under Greek and Roman Rule. You can also check out Everyday Orientalism.

Your reading assignment is Freedom is a Constant Struggle.

The theme music is from Brent Arehart. 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, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

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

#pompeii #movie #moviereviews #movies #romanhistory #rome #ancientrome #antiquity #classicalantiquity #kitharington

In this episode, me and Victor test my wife's theory that a volcano exploding makes a movie better by reviewing 2014's Pompeii. TLDL - this movie was pretty awful. However, the volcano exploding did improve what was otherwise a flaming pile of garbage. In our review, we bring back McNulty Subplot, spend a lot of time discussing how could this movie be made better, nickname Kit Harrington's character "Roman Snow" and complain about this movie wasting an excellent cast.

If you have seen the movie and have any thoughts on how it could've been better, please reach out and let us know. I'll read your ideas on the next movie review episode. If we get enough submissions, I'll do a special episode.

The theme music is from Brent Arehart. 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, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

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

#classics #whitenationalists #whitenationalism #rome #greece #ancientrome #ancientgreece #history #theclassics

I've been a fan of Dr. Curtis Dozier for a while. I stumbled on his podcast, The Mirror of Antiquity, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I then came across his website, Pharos, where he chronicles (mostly horrible and some who are only somewhat horrible but still horrible) people invoking the Classics to justify their horrible beliefs. When I reached out to Dr. Dozier to see if he would come on the podcast, not only did he say yes, but he told me about his current book which is now available for purchase - The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate. Naturally, this book which is now available for purchase, is the topic of the episode.

In Dr. Dozier's book, which I read and highly recommend, he outlines the goals of white nationalists and where in the Classics white nationalists look to find support for their horrible beliefs. It turns out that they aren't necessarily misrepresenting history to support their hate-filled, racist and reprehensible beliefs. Rather, such hatred, bigotry and racist beliefs are common and permeate our entire historical and philosophical narrative. And that is the key part of Dr. Dozier's book - he isn't just exposing the logical fallacies of white nationalists, he's exposing the problems inherent with our historical narratives upon which white nationalists rely.

And it's understanding that issue which makes the discussion we need to have about history so important. Put simply, if we're going to have a discussion about white nationalists co-opting the Classics, we need to have a discussion about what the Classics are, what they aren't and our obligations as students and teachers to telling an accurate and complete narrative about the past and how that reflects on the present. We have to stop idolizing the subject matter and be honest about it. Look, folks, if there's one theme of this podcast, it's that history is messy. And this episode returns to that theme again and again and again. There's nothing perfect about the past. The folks who preceded us weren't saints. They were people, and people are imperfect. So, let's stop putting the past on a pedestal and get to work making our present and our future a better place.

While I often kick around politics and current events, this is one of the few episodes that covers both in detail. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed participating in the discussion.

Your reading assignment is Empire of Ruin.

The theme music is from Brent Arehart. 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, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

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