It’s Spooky Season and so this week’s episode is a trip to the Underworld, as imagined by Virgil in Aeneid Book VI. But what does ‘Viscum’ mean? A 'parasitic plant' (no, that's not a new description of Aeneas!) and have you ever heard of 'birdlime'?

What links Meleager and Virgil? Would you trust the Sibyl? What's Plato’s The Myth of Er got to do with it, and which talisman would you take?

To listen to our bonus content, become a CA member today and head to our member area: ⁠https://classicalassociation.org/join-us/⁠

Watch on ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠ to view the texts at the same time.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts and find out more about the CA: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/the-classics-podcast⁠

Browse Caroline's work: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://carolinelawrence.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Enjoy the rest of the series and our reading suggestions⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Read the Aeneid in Latin and English⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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It's our Dido episode at last! In Book 4 Line 69 Virgil describes Dido as a 'cerva' - a 'doe', wounded by an arrow in one of his most impressive and ambiguous similes. But who is to blame in their 'doomed' relationship?

We examine some other similes from books 1 and 4, with Aeneas as hunter (is he unknowing or just careless?) and Dido as Diana. Caroline has an interesting theory about 'the horse in the bedroom' and we talk funeral pyres, everlasting curses, young Ascanius, and a hunting dog...

To listen to our bonus content, become a CA member today and head to our member area: https://classicalassociation.org/join-us/

Watch on ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠ to view the texts at the same time.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts and find out more about the CA: ⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/the-classics-podcast

Browse Caroline's work: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://carolinelawrence.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Enjoy the rest of the series and our reading suggestions⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Read the Aeneid in Latin and English⁠⁠⁠⁠

Podcast theme music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Transistor.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠how to start a podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ here.

We're sticking with the theme of song and Katrina explains the relevance of some of the minor characters in the Aeneid from Iopas the bard to the unfortunate Cretheus from book 9, with some comparisons to Homer and the oral tradition. Caroline has been revisiting the Muses - just why does Erato come to inspire Virgil?

Watch on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ to view the texts at the same time.

The Sounds of Ancient Music

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Browse Caroline's work: ⁠⁠⁠https://carolinelawrence.com/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Enjoy the rest of the series and our reading suggestions⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Read the Aeneid in Latin and English⁠⁠⁠

Podcast theme music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Transistor.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn ⁠⁠⁠⁠how to start a podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ here.

Cano - 'I sing'! We're heading back to the beginning and in this episode, Caroline and Katrina explore the opening lines of the poem, translation difficulties, Aeneas' heroism, and find out more about Virgil the man - as well as themselves!

Watch on ⁠YouTube⁠ to view the texts at the same time.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts and find out more about the CA: ⁠⁠Join Us⁠⁠

Browse Caroline's work: ⁠⁠https://carolinelawrence.com/⁠⁠

⁠⁠Enjoy the rest of the series and our reading suggestions⁠⁠

⁠⁠Read the Aeneid in Latin and English⁠⁠

Podcast theme music by ⁠⁠⁠Transistor.fm⁠⁠⁠. Learn ⁠⁠⁠how to start a podcast⁠⁠⁠ here.

Following straight on from our last episode, we're finding thresholds in Books 5-8 - featuring footraces, fatherly mentors, a fearsome Fury and The Shining.

Tell us your favourite 'crossing the threshold' moments on screen or on the page! And watch on YouTube to view the texts at the same time.

Up Next: Cano, 'I sing'

Listen wherever you get your podcasts and find out more about the CA: ⁠Join Us⁠

Browse Caroline's work: ⁠https://carolinelawrence.com/⁠

⁠Enjoy the rest of the series and our reading suggestions⁠

⁠Read the Aeneid in Latin and English⁠

The Steadman commentaries

Podcast theme music by ⁠⁠Transistor.fm⁠⁠. Learn ⁠⁠how to start a podcast⁠⁠ here.

Starting with the word for 'threshold', Katrina and Caroline explore storytelling techniques and the stages of the Hero's Journey; the links between Paddington Bear and Aeneas; and dalliances with death, talismans, chihuahuas and K Pop Demon Hunters! Watch now on YouTube for the accompanying slides and make sure to come back for Part 2 of this bumper episode.

In each episode, inspired by a particular word, Katrina and Caroline explore characters, themes and poetic techniques, their favourite Virgilian similes, hear the sounds of ancient languages, and dive into the rich imagery and literary heritage of the Aeneid. Listen wherever you get your podcasts and find out more about the CA: Join UsBrowse Caroline's work: https://carolinelawrence.com/

Enjoy the rest of the series and our reading suggestions

Read the Aeneid in Latin and English

Podcast theme music by ⁠Transistor.fm⁠. Learn ⁠how to start a podcast⁠ here.

In this brand new series, TCP host Katrina Kelly is joined by bestselling author Caroline Lawrence, to discuss Virgil's epic poem, The Aeneid.

Inspired by a particular word (this week it's lumen, 'light') that acts as a springboard for each episode, Katrina and Caroline explore characters, themes and poetic techniques, their favourite Virgilian similes, hear the sounds of ancient languages, and dive into the rich imagery and literary heritage of the Aeneid. In Episode 1, they jump straight to Book 8 - in medias res, as Virgil would say - and a simile that has caught Caroline's attention. They'll discuss wheelie bins and copper bowls, Aeneas' shield, the theories of intromission and focalisation, Apollonius of Rhodes, time travel, and a very hard stare...

Listen to more TCP episodes and catch us on YouTube

Find out about the Classical Association

Browse Caroline's work

Enjoy the rest of the series and our reading suggestions

Read the Aeneid in Latin and English

Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here.

Featuring ancient sourdough, hippos, ritual instruments, obelisks in Rome, Hadrian’s lover Antinous, and Louise's favourite ancient god!

Time stamps for this episode:

11 mins: what hieroglyphics sounded like

12 mins: if we didn’t have the Rosetta stone...

14:10: the Egyptian money system

15:50: Egyptian crops and diet

18:30: funeral practices

21:20: ancient embalmers

22:21: marriage and mummification

23:52: Neithhotep

26:08 which famous figure you’d like to meet

27:30: life under Roman rule

Join us now to listen to Louise's online lecture on 16 September!

Louise recently completed her PhD in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, having gained her MA Egyptology and BA(hons) in Egyptology & Classical Studies from the same institution.

Her thesis ‘Portraits of Hybridity’ focused on mummy portrait panels from Roman Egypt, and investigated how cultural hybridity and identity was displayed through artistic culture in the Roman Fayum.

Coming from a working-class background, she also has a passion for outreach and widening participation, and is particularly interested in getting more state school students involved in ancient history and inspiring younger people to study subjects they may not have been aware they could. Follow Louise on ⁠Instagram⁠.

Introducing Dr Louise O'Brien, our new Expert in Residence!

Ask Louise a question for our next episode

Time stamps for this episode:

9.53 Intro to Roman Egypt 

11.05 Mummy portraits

14.22 Commissioning these portraits 

18.15 What would you add to the curriculum?

19.55 The most shocking thing about the ancient Egyptians 

21:40 Louise’ work in museums 

26.13 Day in the life of a PhD student 

28.30 Why is Classics important?

Louise recently completed her PhD in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, having gained her MA Egyptology and BA(hons) in Egyptology & Classical Studies from the same institution.

Her thesis ‘Portraits of Hybridity’ focused on mummy portrait panels from Roman Egypt, and investigated how cultural hybridity and identity was displayed through artistic culture in the Roman Fayum.

Coming from a working-class background, she also has a passion for outreach and widening participation, and is particularly interested in getting more state school students involved in ancient history and inspiring younger people to study subjects they may not have been aware they could. Follow Louise on Instagram.

Follow our Celebrating Classics Campaign and become a CA member, using your exclusive discount from this episode

We have a bonus episode for you... what better way to close out Season 2 than with an interview with one of the most fascinating people we've ever met - Baroness Black. Sue, as she prefers, is a trailblazing scientist and a champion for education and, indeed classical subjects.

After graduating from the University of Aberdeen in human anatomy and forensic anthropology, Sue has had a varied and distinguished academic career, lecturing in Anatomy at St Thomas’ Hospital London and working as a consultant in forensic anthropology for both the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office, undertaking forensic investigations in Iraq, Sierra Leone and Grenada.

She was the lead forensic anthropologist during the international war crimes investigations in Kosovo and in 2024, she was appointed to the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, the highest honour in Scotland.

Sue is currently the President of St John's College, Oxford and a crossbencher peer in the House of Lords, where she is a part of the Classics All Party Parliamentary Group.

In this episode, she explains to Katrina what a Day in the Life is like for a Peer and President of an Oxbridge college, talks about the careers classicists go into, her own experiences with forensic archaeology, her love for Roman roads, and using her Latin in everyday life!

Find out more about the APPG here

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