Byzantium & Friends
117 episodes - English - Latest episode: 15 days ago - ★★★★★ - 144 ratingsConversations with experts in the history of Byzantium and surrounding fields, hosted by Anthony Kaldellis.
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Episodes
114. Byzantium and the early Rus’, with Monica White
April 04, 2024 14:04 - 1 hour - 47.4 MBA conversation with Monica White (University of Nottingham) about the earliest contacts between Constantinople and the first Rus'-Varangian raiders, traders, and mercenaries to cross the Black Sea. Who were these people, what did they want, and how did contact with east Roman culture change them? The conversation is based on a number of Monica's recent publications, including 'Early Rus: The Nexus of Empires'; 'The Byzantine "Charm Defensive" and the Rus''; and 'Leo VI and the Transformation...
113. The emperor’s clothing and public appearances, with Maria Parani
March 21, 2024 11:02 - 58 minutes - 42.8 MBA conversation with Maria Parani (University of Cyprus) on the emperor's clothing and the staging of his public appearances. We talk about his most formal garments, what he wore on the battlefield, his military banner, how he changed, and much more. Maria has published many studies of this topic, which you can find on her Academia.edu page, including "Clothes maketh the emperor? Embodying and Performing Imperial Ideology in Byzantium through Dress"; "Cultural Identity and Dress: The Case of ...
112. Crisis and resilience in late antique Rome, with Michele Salzman
March 07, 2024 18:58 - 1 hour - 49.6 MBA conversation with Michele Salzman (University of California, Riverside) about the resilience shown by the city of Rome and its ability to recover from crisis during the fifth-seventh centuries. These recoveries were usually spearheaded by the Senate of Rome, which continued to invest in the city and its institutions even after the emperors ceased to reside there full-time. The conversation is based on Michele's recent book, The Falls of Rome: Crises, Resilience, and Resurgence in Late Anti...
111. Inheriting the mantle of the Roman empire, with Nathan Aschenbrenner
February 22, 2024 14:55 - 1 hour - 48.5 MBA conversation with Nathan Aschenbrenner (Bard College) about western European claims to the Roman imperial title, from the Middle Ages to early modernity. We also discuss some plans in the west after 1453 to reclaim the "eastern empire" and a curious history from the early sixteenth that fuses western and eastern imperial history into one. Nathan (along with Jake Ransohoff, episode no. 83) co-edited the volume The Invention of Byzantium in Early Modern Europe (Dumbarton Oaks 2021).
110. Justinian: statecraft, law, and self-glorification, with Peter Sarris
February 08, 2024 16:49 - 1 hour - 48.9 MBA conversation with Peter Sarris (University of Cambridge) about the emperor Justinian (527-565), on the 401st anniversary of the rediscovery of Prokopios' Secret History. We talk about Justinian's goals, accomplishments, and victims, all of which continue to spark debate and controversy, just as they did during his own lifetime. The conversation is based on Peter' new trade book Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint (Basic Books 2023).
109. The discovery of Constantinople, with Sarah Bassett
January 25, 2024 14:23 - 1 hour - 44.1 MBA conversation with Sarah Bassett (Indiana University) about the exploration and discovery of the antiquities of Constantinople, starting in the sixteenth century. We talk about scholars, diplomats, and archaeologists, and the intellectual trends of their times. Sarah wrote the book on The Urban Image of Late Antique Constantinople (Cambridge University Press 2004) and recently edited The Cambridge Companion to Constantinople (2022). This episode goes well with no. 76 (Sergei Ivanov).
108. Who is ‘Islamic History’ about?, with Christian Sahner
January 11, 2024 13:41 - 59 minutes - 46 MBA conversation with Christian Sahner (University of Oxford) about the notion of Islamic history as a field of study. What does it prioritize, who does it tend to see most, and what about everyone else? No field-name is perfect; they all have advantages and disadvantages, and we need to be clear-eyed about them. The conversation is based on Christian's recent article 'What is Islamic History? Muslims, Non-Muslims and the History of Everyone Else,' The English Historical Review 138 (2023) 379-...
107. Shifty Greeks, Arrogant Latins: Polemical authors and the schism of the Churches, with Alessandra Bucossi
December 28, 2023 19:58 - 1 hour - 49.2 MBA conversation with Alessandra Bucossi (Ca' Foscari University, Venice) about the text "Against the Greeks" and "Against the Latins" that were produced by writers taking sides in the Schism of the Churches (Rome and Constantinople, of Greek and Latin, or Catholic and Orthodox, as we would call them today). There are many of these texts and they contain fascinating material, but have yet to receive the attention they deserve. Alessandra is our guide through the jungle. Check out her co-edited...
106. Medieval Europe without a “core”, with Christian Raffensperger
December 14, 2023 16:16 - 1 hour - 50.2 MBA conversation with Christian Raffensperger (Wittenberg University) -- one hundred episodes after our previous one! -- on medieval European rulership from Iberia and Scandinavia to Rus' and Constantinople. We talk about succession and co-rulership and titles in ways that don't prioritize the British, French, and German models. Christian develops this more inclusive paradigm in his recent book Rulers and Rulership in the Arc of Medieval Europe, 1000-1200 (Routledge 2024).
105. So you’re the Roman emperor... now what?, with Olivier Hekster
November 30, 2023 13:51 - 1 hour - 47.6 MBA conversation with Olivier Hekster (Radboud University Nijmegen) about the position of Roman emperor, from the beginning to the sixth century. We talk a little bit about titles and mostly about the expectations that subjects had of their emperors and how the latter navigated these demands and tried, or failed, to play their roles properly. The conversation is based on Olivier's recent book Caesar Rules: The Emperor in the Changing Roman World (c. 50 BC - AD 565) (Cambridge University Press,...
104. Byzantine law, its experts, and its languages, with Daphne Penna
November 16, 2023 11:35 - 1 hour - 47.3 MBA conversation with Daphne Penna (University of Groningen) about Byzantine law, or (what it really was) the Greek-language phase of Roman law. We talk about the study of east Roman law, its experts (both then and now), and the interaction of Greek and Latin in legal texts. What did the law do and what do we learn from studying it? For an accessible introduction to the main sources, see the anthology edited by Daphne Penna and Roos Meijering, A Sourcebook on Byzantine Law: Illustrating Byzant...
103. About time, with Jesse Torgerson
November 02, 2023 11:04 - 1 hour - 57.1 MBJesse Torgerson (Wesleyan University) and I take a stab at understanding time, as it was measured, structured, and experienced in so many overlapping ways by Christian east Romans. Their days, months, and years were defined by the state tax cycle, the Church festival cycle, and nature itself, to name the most important temporal grids. Jesse's recent monograph focuses on an author (or two) who made interesting innovations in chronology: The Chronographia of George the Synkellos and Theophanes...
102. Byzantium and Balkan national identities, with Diana Mishkova
October 19, 2023 19:29 - 1 hour - 48.3 MBA conversation with Diana Mishkova (Center for Advanced Study, Sofia) about how the national historiographies of Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania cope with Byzantium -- how they try to appropriate, incorporate, circumvent, or abjure it, and so always reinvent it in the process. The conversation is based on Diana's comprehensive and lucid analysis in her recent book Rival Byzantiums: Empire and Identity in Southeastern Europe (Cambridge University Press 2023).
101. How to de-colonize Byzantine Studies, with Ben Anderson and Mirela Ivanova
October 05, 2023 10:31 - 1 hour - 57.1 MBA conversation with Ben Anderson (Cornell University) and returning guest Mirela Ivanova (University of Sheffield) on their co-edited volume of papers on the question Is Byzantine Studies a Colonialist Discipline? Toward a Critical Historiography (Penn State University Press 2023). We talk about how colonial, imperialist, or exploitative practices and ideologies have marked the history of our field, whether by making it complicit in them or by colonizing it. You can access Ben and Mirela's c...
100. Our new book on the armies, and on revisionism in history, with Marion Kruse
September 21, 2023 11:16 - 1 hour - 48.2 MBIn this episode, Marion and I talk about our new co-authored book, The Field Armies of the East Roman Empire, 361-630 (Cambridge University Press, 2023). For those interested in the military history of this period, this book contains a downright mutinous revision of the organization of the East Roman field armies and the changing priorities behind their deployments. We also take the opportunity to discuss revisionist scholarship in general, the kinds we like and those we would court-martial.
99. A new history of medieval Christianity, with Peter Heather
September 07, 2023 10:33 - 1 hour - 53.1 MBA conversation with Peter Heather (King's College, London) about his new book Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300 (New York: Knopf, 2023). Peter is one of the leading historians of the fall of the western Roman empire and the emergence there of the post-Roman, "barbarian" kingdoms. He now brings a revisionist approach to the emergence of the Church in (mostly western) Europe. This book covers a lot of ground, and so we focus on the early period, where his arguments affect the...
98. Egyptian hieroglyphs in late antiquity, with Jennifer Westerfeld
July 13, 2023 12:19 - 1 hour - 48.4 MBA conversation with Jennifer Westerfeld (University of Louisville) on the scripts that were used to write ancient Egyptian, especially hieroglyphs. Their last attested use was in the 390s AD, putting the end of their long history in our period. Meanwhile, Greek, Roman, and Christian observers were developing their own theories about how the script worked, often quite fantastic, and reacted to texts that were inscribed in public spaces. The conversation is based on Jennifer's fascinating book...
97. The remarkable world of hospitals, orphanages, and leprosaria, with Tim Miller
June 29, 2023 04:31 - 1 hour - 45.8 MBA conversation with Timothy Miller (Salisbury University) about philanthropic institutions in Constantinople, especially hospitals, orphanages, and leprosaria. Tim has done more than anyone to illuminate these remarkable places, starting with his impressive monograph The Birth of the Hospital in the Byzantine Empire (Johns Hopkins University Press 1985, 2nd ed. 1997). His current thinking on hospitals, orphanages, leprosaria can be found in the chapter 'Philanthropic Institutions,' in S. Bas...
96. Pre-Islamic Arabia, with Valentina Grasso
June 15, 2023 12:11 - 1 hour - 47 MBA conversation with Valentina Grasso (Bard College) on Arabia before Islam. This used to be known primarily from preserved Arabic poetry, but the picture is now filling in from inscriptions and contemporary texts. There were competing kingdoms, tribal coalitions, and foreign empires with a stake in trade routes. There were pagans, Jews, and Christians, as well as generic or "cautious" monotheists. The cultural background of the Koran has never been known in such richness and complexity. The ...
95. Rome and Byzantium in Heavy Metal music, with Jeremy Swist
June 01, 2023 15:53 - 1 hour - 53.1 MBA conversation with Jeremy Swist (Brandeis University) on why some heavy metal bands write music about Roman and Byzantine history. Expect "good" and "bad" emperors to be reversed here! Jeremy has published much on this, including 'Satan's Empire: Ancient Rome's Anti-Christian Appeal in Extreme Metal,' Metal Music Studies 5 (2019) 35-51; 'Headbanging to Byzantium: The Reception of the Byzantine Empire in Metal Music,' in "What Byzantinism is this in Istanbul!" Byzantium in Popular Culture (I...
94. What academic tenure does for you (yes, you!), with Jacques Berlinerblau
May 18, 2023 12:59 - 1 hour - 51.1 MBA wide-ranging conversation with Jacques Berlinerblau (Georgetown University) on the changing nature of the academic profession, especially regarding the erosion of academic freedom through the expansion of contingent academic labor and direct attacks on it by the states. Is research becoming increasingly vulnerable to outside political pressures? The conversation is based partly on Jacques's book Campus Confidential: How College Works, or Doesn’t, for Professors, Parents, and Students (Melv...
93. The afterlife of pagan inscriptions in Byzantium, with Anna Sitz
May 04, 2023 11:17 - 1 hour - 53 MBA conversation with Anna Sitz (Universität Heidelberg) on how Byzantines read ancient inscriptions - or modified, re-used, and defaced them. Ancient cities were full of inscribed texts, many on temple walls or referring to the gods in prominent ways. How did Christians cope with these monuments when they took over the cities of Greece and Asia Minor? We talk about a number of cases, including the massive inscription of Augustus' Res Gestae in Ankara. The conversation is based on Anna's book ...
92. An insider’s guide to academic publishing, with Byzantine studies in mind, featuring Anna Henderson
April 20, 2023 14:23 - 1 hour - 45.6 MBA conversation with Anna Henderson (ARC Humanities Press) about the world of academic publishing today, including its challenges, opportunities, and aspirations. ARC is a fairly recent venture, but has already published a number of excellent books in medieval studies (including on Byzantium). You can find out more about it here: https://www.arc-humanities.org In fact, the very first episode of this podcast was on a book published by ARC.
91. Scavenging in the ruins of empire, with Robin Fleming
April 06, 2023 14:41 - 56 minutes - 41 MBA conversation with Robin Fleming (Boston College) about how the lives and material circumstances of people in Roman Britain changed when the imperial state and its economy withdrew from the island in the fifth century AD. Among other topics, we talk about food, skills, recycling of materials, and adaptation. The conversation is based on Robin's recent book The Material Fall of Roman Britain, 300-525 AD (University of Pennsylvania Press 2021).
90. At the dawn of Byzantine Studies: Martin Crusius (1526-1607), with Richard Calis
March 23, 2023 14:22 - 53 minutes - 44 MBA conversation with Richard Calis (Utrecht University) about Martin Crusius (aka Kraus: 1526-1607 AD), one of the first philologist-historians who tried to reconstruct Byzantine history from the sources. We talk about his interest in the Greek language and the Ottoman empire, in using Byzantine sources to understand antiquity, and his working methods -- all in an era before there was much scholarship to guide him. The conversation is based on Richard's chapter 'Martin Crusius's Lost Byzantin...
89. The resilience and agency of rural communities, with Fotini Kondyli
March 09, 2023 17:19 - 1 hour - 52.2 MBA conversation with Fotini Kondyli (University of Virginia) about our changing picture of rural communities in late Byzantium, based on her book Rural Communities in Late Byzantium: Resilience and Vulnerability in the Northern Aegean (Cambridge University Press 2022). We talk about resilience in times of crisis -- the fourteenth century was not an easy one! -- and about how we can reimagine and restore the power and agency of these rural non-elites. We also talk about survey archaeology, one...
88. Women’s labor, with Anna Kelley
February 23, 2023 11:32 - 1 hour - 48 MBA conversation with Anna Kelley (University of St. Andrews) about women's labor and occupations in the Roman and later Roman empire. It turns out that they may have engaged in more types of business and workshop production, especially in textile manufacture and marketing, than contemporary gender norms suggest. The conversation is based on Anna's article 'Searching for Professional Women in the Mid to Late Roman Textile Industry,' Past and Present 258 (2023) 3-43. You can read that article a...
87. Dragons! with Scott Bruce
February 09, 2023 14:45 - 57 minutes - 45.1 MBA conversation with Scott Bruce (Fordham University) about dragons, ancient, medieval, and early modern, from around the world. Where did our "canonical" image of the dragon come from? What other kinds of dragons existed? What did dragons mean in different cultures? The conversation is based on Scott's recent anthology, The Penguin Book of Dragons (2021), which has a chapter on Byzantine dragons.
86. How to organize a museum exhibition – and bring the Holy Land home, with Amanda Luyster
January 26, 2023 18:46 - 1 hour - 45.7 MBA conversation with Amanda Luyster (College of the Holy Cross) on how to organize a museum exhibition, from conception and design to securing the objects and planning events around it. We also talk about the famous tiles of Chertsey Abbey (UK), a royal commission that evoked the Crusades with artistic allusions to Byzantium and the Islamic world. The exhibition, Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece, will run from 26 Janua...
85. Lead mining and lead pollution in the Roman world, with Paul Stephenson
January 12, 2023 20:06 - 55 minutes - 45.3 MBA conversation with Paul Stephenson (Penn State University) about the impact of lead mining and smelting on the miners themselves, the communities around them, and on plants, animals, and human beings across the Roman empire. This is part of a broader and ongoing project on metallurgy and environmental violence. Paul integrates the recent science of Roman lead into his history of the empire, in New Rome: The Empire in the East (Harvard University Press 2022).
84. On writing narrative history, with guest-host Marion Kruse
December 29, 2022 17:18 - 1 hour - 68.4 MBIn this end-of-the-year episode, guest host Marion Kruse (University of Cincinnati) interviews me about writing narrative history. Why and how should we write narrative histories? What do they accomplish in the overall economy of the scholarly production of knowledge? What pitfalls did I identify in writing my new history of Byzantium, and how did I try to avoid falling into them? (Apologies for the self-indulgent length of this episode. I was too busy talking and didn't keep good track of t...
83. Blinding as punishment and enforced disability, with Jake Ransohoff
December 15, 2022 15:39 - 1 hour - 52.9 MBA conversation with Jake Ransohoff (Simon Fraser University) on the practice of blinding in Byzantium. Why and how was it done? Why was it more prominent in some periods rather than in others? And how did its victims cope with this disability that the state had imposed on them for (usually) crimes of treason? The conversation is based on Jake's dissertation (Sightless Eyes, Broken Bodies: Blinding, Punishment, and the Politics of Disability in the Byzantine World, Harvard University, 2022).
82. What was First Iconoclasm about?, with Leslie Brubaker
December 01, 2022 19:23 - 1 hour - 55.2 MBA conversation with Leslie Brubaker (University of Birmingham) on the first period of Byzantine iconoclasm (ca. 730 to 787 AD). What was the problem with religious icons? What did the "Isaurian" emperors Leon III and Konstantinos V try to do about it, and why? A great deal of what we used to know, largely by following pro-icon sources, has come undone in the latest research. Where we stand now has been lucidly presented by Leslie in her Inventing Byzantine Iconoclasm (Bristol Classical Press...
81. Surviving the Mongol storm, with Nicholas Morton
November 17, 2022 16:50 - 54 minutes - 46.6 MBA conversation with Nicholas Morton (Nottingham Trent University) about the Mongol conquests of the thirteenth century, the terror that they inspired, and the strategies by which its targets tried to survive them. What did the Mongols think they were doing and how did the Byzantines use diplomacy to deflect the danger and even use it to their advantage? The conversation is based on Nic's just-released book The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East (Basic Books 2...
80. Diagrams: from sundials to the schematics of the Trinity, with Linda Safran
November 03, 2022 19:23 - 1 hour - 53.8 MBA conversation with Linda Safran (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto) on the hitherto-unexplored world of Byzantine diagrams. We talk about maps, sundials, and more abstract representations of the world and even God. The conversation is based on Linda's papers in a volume she co-edited, The Diagram as Paradigm: Cross-Cultural Approaches (Dumbarton Oaks 2022), as well as "A Prolegomenon to Byzantine Diagrams,” in the edited volume The Visualization of Knowledge in Medieval and...
79. The enduring power of ancient statues in Constantinople, with Paroma Chatterjee
October 21, 2022 00:49 - 51 minutes - 44.2 MBA conversation with Paroma Chatterjee (University of Michigan) on the power that ancient statues still had in Orthodox Constantinople. In many contexts, they were more prominent than icons. We talk about some of their functions, but also why Byzantine art history is so focused on icons, which were secluded objects, in comparison. The conversation is based on Paroma's recent book Between the Pagan Past and Christian Present in Byzantine Visual Culture: Statues in Constantinople, 4th-13th Cent...
78. How to be philanthropic in early Byzantine Christianity, with Dan Caner
August 18, 2022 02:55 - 1 hour - 58.7 MBA conversation with Dan Caner (Indiana University) about the different kinds of charitable giving in early Byzantium. We talk about the pre-Christian background, the role of institutions, and views about wealth. Was giving primarily good for the soul of the giver, and under what conditions, or for the material assistance of the needy? How could one give to ascetics, who had renounced such needs? The conversation is based on Dan's recent book The Rich and the Pure: Philanthropy and the Makin...
77. How did most people in the Roman empire get by? with Kim Bowes
August 04, 2022 11:13 - 1 hour - 60.8 MBA conversation with Kim Bowes (University of Pennsylvania) about production and consumption in the Roman world, especially by the 90% of the population who are less represented in our literary sources. How did they get by from day to day? What alternatives does the evidence suggest to the "subsistence" model that many ancient historians have used? The conversation is based on a paper on "Household Economics in the Roman Empire and Early Christianity," forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Bi...
76. Exploring the monuments of Byzantine Constantinople, with Sergey Ivanov
July 21, 2022 11:44 - 1 hour - 50.5 MBA conversation with Sergey Ivanov (Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the University of Munich; corresponding member of the British Academy) on the monuments, buildings, and ruins of the Byzantine phase of the City's history. We talk about how to explore them, how to access their history, and even get a feel for the lingering presence of the events that took place in them. We ponder what has been lost and what might yet be found. The conversation is based on Sergey's recent book In Search of C...
75. The politics of archaeological heritage and reclamation, with Jonathan Hall
July 07, 2022 07:14 - 1 hour - 55.2 MBA conversation with Jonathan Hall (University of Chicago) about how the archaeological past of the city of Argos was reclaimed in the long nineteenth century. What institutions and political debates took shape around the heritage of the past? What role did the ancient travel writer Pausanias play in defining what the past was? What was the interplay between local, national, international, and imperial interests? The conversation is based on Jonathan's book Reclaiming the Past: Argos and its ...
74. Laments for the Fall: Constantinople and Tenochtitlan in counterpoint, with Eleni Kefala
June 23, 2022 13:07 - 1 hour - 55.7 MBA conversation with Eleni Kefala (University of St. Andrews) on the fall of two empires, the Byzantine and the Aztec. What role did these momentous events play in the emerging identity of western Europe? And how were they experienced by the Romaioi and the native Mexica, especially through the laments that they wrote and sang about these events? The conversation is based on Eleni's book The Conquered: Byzantium and America on the Cusp of Modernity (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collect...
73. When did women “bind up” their hair, and why?, with Gabriel Radle
June 09, 2022 20:52 - 51 minutes - 44.5 MBA conversation with Gabriel Radle (University of Notre Dame) on the question of why and when adolescent girls or women "bound up" their hair. Which women did so, and under what circumstances? What kind of headgear was involved? And how did the Byzantine practice compare with that in other societies, ancient and medieval? Our discussion is based on Gabriel's article 'The Veiling of Women in Byzantium: Liturgy, Hair, and Identity in a Medieval Rite of Passage,' Speculum 94 (2019) 1070-1115.
72. What do we mean by “Byzantine literature”?, with Stratis Papaioannou
May 26, 2022 17:44 - 1 hour - 46.9 MBA conversation with Stratis Papaioannou (University of Crete) about the mismatch between modern ideas of literature (on the one hand) and the texts, conventions, and goals of Byzantine authors (on the other). In what sense are those texts "literature"? Should they be compared to classical texts, modern literature, neither, or both? We talk also about how much of it has survived, and how much might have been lost. The conversation was prompted by the release of Stratis' edited volume,The Oxfo...
71. Manuel II Palaiologos (1350-1425) had a lot to say, with Siren Çelik
May 12, 2022 13:08 - 59 minutes - 45.2 MBA conversation with Siren Çelik (Marmara University) about the many personas that the emperor Manuel II Palaiologos crafted for himself in his surviving works. In fact, we have more writings from him -- in many genres, and many of a personal nature -- than from any prior Roman emperor. What was he hoping to accomplish and why is he worth reading? The conversation is based on Siren's recent book, Manuel II Palaiologos (1350-1425): A Byzantine Emperor in a Time of Tumult (Cambridge University ...
70. Trees have histories too, with Alexander Olson
April 28, 2022 10:37 - 1 hour - 51.2 MBA conversation with Alexander Olson (independent scholar, British Columbia, Canada) about the secret lives of olive trees and oak trees in Byzantium. Contrary to what you may think, these were not cultivated consistently in the Mediterranean ecosystem of the Middle Ages; their uses to the human population fluctuated over time, giving the trees a history of their own, albeit one shaped by that of the people around them (and vice versa). The conversation is based on Alex's fascinating book, En...
69. The experiences of Byzantine children, with Oana-Maria Cojocaru
April 14, 2022 15:01 - 51 minutes - 39.8 MBA conversation with Oana-Maria Cojocaru (Tempere University, Finland) about the images of Byzantine children in our sources, and the experiences that they would have had, once they made it past infancy. Our discussion forms a nice sequel to that with Christian Laes on childbirth (episode 66), and is based on Oana's recent book Byzantine Childhood: Representations and Experiences of Children in Middle Byzantine Society (Routledge 2022).
68. Classical scholarship and philology in Byzantium, with Filippomaria Pontani
March 31, 2022 13:01 - 1 hour - 53.5 MBA conversation with Filippomaria Pontani (Ca' Foscari University of Venice) on the ways that Byzantine scholars engaged with classical texts, and their place in the transmission and study of classical literature from antiquity to the present. In addition to manuscripts, we talk about commentaries, lexika, and encyclopedias. The conversation is based on the magisterial survey that Filippomaria published recently, 'Scholarship in the Byzantine Empire (529-1453),' in the volume History of Ancie...
67. Wherein Tina and I take bad scholarly habits to task, with Tina Sessa
March 17, 2022 10:12 - 1 hour - 57.8 MBIn a fun romp through some of the foibles, evasions, pretensions, and generally bad habits of scholarship, Tina and I take our fields to task for practices that make our eyes roll. Sure, we've probably been guilty of most of these too! But what better place to vent a bit than a podcast? Dedicated listeners will know Tina (Ohio State University) from episodes 4 and 21; she is a veritable co-host of the show.
66. The perils of childbirth, with Christian Laes
March 03, 2022 15:55 - 1 hour - 53.4 MBA conversation with Christian Laes about one of the most joyous, dangerous, and often tragic, moments of life in antiquity and the Middle Ages: childbirth. We discuss the sad fact of infant mortality, the first days of children who survived, and the difficult choices that families had to make if the mother did not survive, but the child did. What was the emotional and demographic impact of the perils of childbirth? The conversation is based on two of Christian's papers, 'Infants between Biol...
65. Who was Hypatia of Alexandria and what does she stand for? with Silvia Ronchey
February 17, 2022 16:35 - 1 hour - 52.7 MBA conversation with Silvia Ronchey (University of Roma Tre) about the famous philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, who was murdered in the early fifth century by goons working for Cyril, the bishop of the city. Who was she? What traditions gave her a position of social prominence? To what degree may she be considered a feminist icon? The conversation is based on Silvia's book Hypatia: The True Story, issued now in English translation (de Gruyter 2021). At the end we also talk a bit about the fi...