Shows
Ad NavseamVergil's Messianic Fourth Eclogue (Ad Navseam, Episode 205)Incipe, parve puer - "Get started, little boy..." These are the words Roman poet Vergil used in his famous Fourth Eclogue of 40 B.C., bidding the powerful child yet born, son of a divine father, and of a 'virgo', to usher in a new Golden Age after a time of warfare. But who precisely is this puer, who will make war to cease, cause the poisonous serpents to go docile, release draught animals from toilsome servitude, make the hillsides blossom verdant, rollback weeds and thorns, and generally seem to fulfill the vision of Isaiah 11? Come along as we investigate...
2025-12-231h 07Ad NavseamThe Bear Switch Project: Two More Ovidian Vignettes (Ad Navseam, Episode 164)It’s back to Ovid this week in the bunker for two more ingenious tales of transformation. We start in Book I by chewing our cud and patting our 8 tummies. It's the tragic bovine metamorphosis of Io, and the mournful response of her father, Inachus. Here we see the first internal writer and reader within the poem, as daughter reveals herself to dad by hoof-scratching her name in the dirt. Is this also the origin of Roman mourning rites? Then it’s a sylvan sashay back to the woods, where Jupiter (once again) is up to no good and Juno...
2024-10-291h 15Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part XIII (Ad Navseam, Episode 163)This week Jeff and Dave resume their longstanding friendship with Henri-Irénée Marrou, "French historian" and "Christian humanist in outlook", for Part the 13th. It's Chapter IV -- "Artistic Education" -- of Part II -- Education in the Hellenistic Era --, which gets a thorough look this time. Drawing, instrumental music (both lyre and aulos), choral and accompanied song, dancing, and the decline of music and culture in education, everything's on the docket. Aristotle casts his long shadow over the age, and people's appreciation of music. Is it just for the professionals? Or, will there remain a place fo...
2024-10-221h 13Ad NavseamThe Golden Age of the Classics in America by Carl Richard, Part IV (Ad Navseam, Episode 162)This week it’s back to Richards’ fascinating book, and finishing up our look at how the Classics were used as a lens for interpreting the American democratic experiment and living in a democratic society. Here the guys delve into how Rome functioned as a “law and order” counterbalance to the looser, “liberty” ideals of Athens, and how particular Roman men served as models for framing and lauding certain founding fathers (such as Cincinnatus for Washington). Cornelia also appears as a stand-in for the ideal American woman—Louisa McCord and Sarah Grimke saw her motherhood and intelligence as models worth imitatin...
2024-10-081h 06Ad NavseamLet's Get this Potty Started: A Conversation on Aristophanes with Translator Diane Arnson Svarlien (Ad Navseam, Episode 161)This week, Jeff and Dave welcome into the studio seasoned translator Diane Arnson Svarlien, to talk about her new addition of three plays by the brilliant, scatological, Athenian comedian Aristophanes. Timed to the release of Hackett's new, attractive volume, Diane shares with us her own background in the Classics, how she became interested in Greek comedy, what it takes to translate iambic trimeters, pentameters, and more. Drawing from perhaps Aristophanes' three most popular send ups – Lysistrata, Ladies of Thesmophoria, and Addled Amphibians – the conversation ranges (and rages) widely. If you have been thinking about reading Aristophanes, dabbling in politics, the wa...
2024-10-011h 03Ad NavseamThe Golden Age of the Classics in America by Carl Richard, Part III (Ad Navseam, Episode 160)This week Jeff and Dave are back to antebellum America with a long and luxurious look at Chapter 2 from Carl Richard's 2009 masterpiece, The Golden Age of the Classics in America. This chapter, "Democracy", explains how the post-revolutionary generation navigated their loyalties to Cicero vs. Demosthenes, and Athens vs. Rome. Along the way, we talk through the woodsy triumvirate of Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln, whether a Yankee could have any true knowledge of the Classics, what's up with Jackson's hair, and how to impress Cherokee girls (hint: it requires memorizing 500 pages of Pope's Iliad). It's a rough...
2024-09-201h 10Ad NavseamCivil Serpents: The Myths of Asclepius and the Healing Sanctuary at Epidauros (Ad Navseam, Episode 159)This week the guys take ya'll on a virtual tour of the ancient cult site Epidauros. As part of Jeff's continuing project of 3D reconstructions on archaeological sites, he helms us through a look at the origins of the famous ancient healer (or quack?), the abaton where invalids sought to meet the demigod in their dreams or be introduced to one of his snakey representatives, the theater, the stadium, the tholos site where Aesclepius' remains were said to be buried, and more. Is there a good explanation for Asclepius' apparent ability to heal? Was it all a fraud, power...
2024-09-051h 08Ad NavseamBecoming Nobody: A Conversation with Homeric Bluesman Joe Goodkin (Ad Navseam, Episode 158)This week the guys interview (via Zoom from Chicago) wandering troubadour Joe Goodkin, a singer/songwriter/guitarist who has traveled the world performing his intimate interpretations of Homer's Odyssey and Iliad. This lively conversation includes Joe's background as a Classics major at the University of Wisconsin, his dues-paying in rock bands in the Chicago area, and most of all his deep desire to meld his loves of ancient epic poetry and making music. Joe also performs a couple of his songs live on air which offer a taste of how effectively he zeroes in on Homer's deep and timeless u...
2024-08-301h 09Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part XII (Ad Navseam, Episode 157)Jeff and Dave are at it again, with a veritable pent, hept, dec -athlon of "Physical Education" bits and blocks, and a major excursus on the centrality of sport to Greek educational culture. Sure, you think you like sports, with your Big 10, your PAC 12, your SEC, your NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA, MLS, FIFA, FIDE, etc. But trust us, your devotion to sport -- no matter how strong and thriving, no matter how many bags of chips, plates of nachos, and crates of confetti you have on hand for your season -- is nothing compared to the Hellenistic Greeks...
2024-08-131h 18Ad NavseamBarbarisms at the Gates: Some Perils in Active Latin Pedagogy, with Patrick Owens (Ad Navseam, Episode 156)This week sees the return of active Latin guru Patrick Owens, live via Zoom to discuss his 2016 article “Barbarisms at the Gate”. In this piece Patrick delves into the current state of the use of spoken Latin in language acquisition and in particular some of the pitfalls and challenges that remain. The guys get into the particulars of the history of Latin and how one goes about translating English terms, like "vacuum cleaner", into spoken Latin accurately. How is that Latin is “immutable”? How do you go about coining Neo-Latin terms and still remain true to the essence of the lang...
2024-08-061h 11Ad NavseamThe Golden Age of the Classics in America by Carl Richard, Part II (Ad Navseam, Episode 155)This week Jeff and Dave continue their look at Carl Richard's 2009 masterpiece on Classics in America. As Richard surveys the antebellum landscape, there are some surprises in store. For example, devotion to the Classics, to the expanding literary reign of 'Tully' was not limited to the eastern elite along the seaboard. Even in the hinterlands, rustic frontier types were clutching copies of Cicero's Catilinarians. And, with the war for Greek independence raging abroad, Lord Byron and others fostered a wave of Hellenism that swept through American schools. No longer did the Romans dominate. Now, Aeschylus, Euripides, Xenophon, and a...
2024-07-231h 09Ad NavseamThe Golden Age of the Classics in America by Carl Richard, Part I (Ad Navseam, Episode 154)This week we salute American independence with a dive into Carl Richards’ fascinating tome The Golden Age of the Classics in America (2009). The guys begin with a look at the state of Classical education during the antebellum era, frontloading the discussion with questions as to why Classical education was the default at this time: did Americans believe such an approach produced virtuous and clear-thinking citizens? Was it that Greece and Rome provided a gold standard after which America should model itself? Or was it just trying to stay hip because it was what all those German cool kids were alr...
2024-07-041h 11Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part XI (Ad Navseam, Episode 153)This week the guys wrap up the second portion of Marrou's chapter on the ancient ephebia, that system of education for youth ages 14-21 that was popularized by the city of Athens and which spread to more than 100 cities around the Mediterranean during the Hellenistic era. What were the features of this system, and how did they vary from polis to polis? What happened when the generosity of local benefactors, euergetes, couldn't be tapped anymore for resources? How did public funding come into play? What about all of those multiplied titles, the various underlings who supervised the various underlings...
2024-06-251h 10Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part X (Ad Navseam, Episode 152)This week the guys are back into Marrou and off into the history of education during the Hellenistic Era. Contrary to what one might think, following the transformation of the world after the conquests of Alexander, the world of education did not become centralized and governed from on high by the potentates of succeeding dynasties. In fact there was eclectic mix (as does befit this time period) of things happening--certainly a recognition that the State did have an interest in fostering education (especially of the elites) but largely in a hands-off manner that left decisions to local municipalities; a sh...
2024-06-131h 25Ad NavseamHiss and Tell!: Lucian of Samosata's Alexander the False Prophet, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 151)Dave and Jeff are off to Abonoteichus this week to wrap up Lucian of Samosata's crazy account of Alexander the False Prophet. If you like crazy, you're going to love this episode. It has a bit of everything: Big Sid the Standale Terror, Jeff's dad sporting with fugitive serpents, the origin of mustard, food trucks, snakes in a can, and so much more. And, oh yeah, Classics. As the Second Sophisitic (c. 60-230 A.D.) got into full swing, Lucian emerged as the most successful satirist, detaling the foibles of the rich, the famous, and the divine. In this...
2024-06-061h 14Ad NavseamHissterical!: Lucian of Samosata's Alexander the False Prophet, Part 1 (Ad Navseam, Episode 150)This week Jeff and Dave take a break from the Marrou series to talk about 2nd century A.D. satirist Lucian of Samosata. Born in the further reaches of Asia Minor, Lucian made a name for himself as a Greek stylist by making fun of the rich and powerful, including the gods. Many claim him as the inventor of the science fiction genre because of his most famous work, A True Story. This fantastic voyage seems to anticipate Jules Verne and H.G. Wells by almost 2000 years! But the subject of this episode is Lucian's take on the fraudulent shyst...
2024-05-281h 05Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part IX (Ad Navseam, Episode 149)This week Jeff and Dave continue on with Marrou's clues, finishing up the last portion of Chapter VII, Part I, Isocrates, and taking on all of Chapter I, Part II, "The Civilization of the Paideia". For Isocrates, the comparison to Plato continues, particularly with respect to the question of the teaching and inculcation of virtue. Is it possible, and if so, how is it done? Don't miss Marrou's thought-provoking concluding remarks on the relationship between P and I, how they "enriched the classical tradition without disturbing its unity." In the next portion, the guys get into the question of...
2024-05-211h 19Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part VIII (Ad Navseam, Episode 148)Isocrates, Yousocrates, Hesocrates? This week Jeff and Dave are back at it with the work of H. I. Marrou and education in antiquity. Here they tackle the last bit of Part I of the book, Chapter VII, and the groundbreaking "humanist" Isocrates. Born in 436, he spent the first part of his career as a "hired gun" speech-writer, before developing an influential -- and profitable -- school for rhetoric. But if you have never heard of this guy, no wonder. He has spent the last two millennia trying to creep out from beneath Plato's massive shadow. So just what is...
2024-05-071h 06Ad NavseamWe Know What you Did Last, Summers: A Conversation with Kirk Summers about Theodore Beza as Poet (Ad Navseam, Episode 147)This week Jeff and Dave welcome into the studio Classicist extraordinaire and all around good guy Dr. Kirk Summers. We should probably also mention that Kirk is a Prof. of Classics at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, former co-owner of the Red Cat Coffee Houses in the same city, and one of the world's leading experts in Theodore Beza. And he still finds time to root for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Kirk drops by to talk about one of his earliest works on Beza, A View from the Palatine. First published in 1548 before his conversion to the Protestant f...
2024-04-301h 14Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part VII (Ad Navseam, Episode 146)Herein Dave and Jeff resume their tour through Henri-Irénée Marrou's ground-breaking volume on ancient education. We wrap up Chapter VI, "The Masters of the Classical Tradition", and see what Plato thought about mathematics, elementary education, gymnastics, plastic-segmented jumpropes, playing the triangle and blocks in Kindergarten, and more. How was Plato's Academy organized? Was it a rigorous shool for political science, a training ground for the abstruse, esoteric, and recondite? Or did it mostly exist in Plato's mind, a thought experiment akin to not ever seeing an actual circle? We tackle these and other questions, including "What are th...
2024-04-021h 02Ad NavseamMake it Come Alive: A Conversation with Veteran Translator Stanley Lombardo (Ad Navseam, Episode 145)This week tune in as the guys interview one of the greatest and most prolific translators of this and the previous century—Dr. Stanley Lombardo. In this conversation we hear about Stanley’s early education where he was, yes, drawn to Greek and Latin but especially the rhythms and performance of poetry. The idea that these ancient works were meant to be performed and heard (not read silently) has always been at the center of his attempts to make these texts sing and become something new. So how does he do it? How does oneyou thread that needle of “staying...
2024-03-261h 02Ad NavseamOh boy oh boy: A Conversation with Gary "Hercules" Schmidt (Ad Navseam, Episode 144)This week the guys welcome back good friend, former colleague, and two-time Newberry Medal honoree, young-adult writer Gary Schmidt. How did Jeff and Dave manage that? Well we invited him in, and just like that he accepted our invitation. He found the studio comfortable, or at least okay for now, but the conversation was more than a little bit super. We focused on his 2023 novel The Labors of Hercules Beal, a rip-roaring adaptation of the strongman's 12 tasks, with cats, coyotes, a katabasis, a sculpted hippo, and more. Like so much of Gary's work, it is a beautiful tragicomedy, blending...
2024-03-191h 10Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part VI (Ad Navseam, Episode 143)This week, Jeff and Dave resume their woolly perambulations through the wonders of Henri-Irénée Marrou's august volume on ancient education. Specifically, we look at Chapter VI, entitled "The Masters of the Classical Tradition" to get our bearings on Plato's pedagogical revolution. Along the way, we ask, and seek to answer, such questions as: What is the Socratic method? What is the relationship between σοφία and practical efficiency? How many students did Plato have that pursued, and acquired, political power (the number is high)? How was the Academy organized? And, what is the genus of pumpkin? If you're interested in educ...
2024-02-271h 06Ad NavseamAnna Maria van Schurman and Women's Education, with Anne Larsen and Steve Maiullo of Hope College (Ad Navseam, Episode 142)This week the guys are joined in the Bunker (via Zoom) by scholars Anne Larsen (emerita, French, Hope College) and Stephen Maiullo (Classics, Hope College) for a fascinating discussion of the “Minerva of Utrecht” and "Tenth Muse", Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-1678). Van Schurman was not only an accomplished painter, engraver, and calligraphist, she was also a phenomenally gifted linguist and classical scholar at a time when such was virtually unheard of among women. Tune in to hear about the challenges in translating the Latin of her books and letters into English (for the first time!), and of van Schur...
2024-02-201h 16Ad NavseamGullible's Travels? An Introduction to Herodotus with Dr. Ken Bratt (Ad Navseam, Episode 141)This week Dave and Jeff welcome back into the studio (this guy's becoming a regular!) our longtime friend, mentor, former colleague, and teacher, the inestimable Ken Bratt. You may know him from such episodes as "From there We Travelled to Philippi" (46), and, "A Visit to the Roman Catacombs" (76). For this go 'round, Ken reaches back into the more distant, misty past, as he talks a little about why he chose Herodotus for his doctoral dissertation at Princeton. Using a 1968 article by J.A.S. Evans entitled, "Father of History or Father of Lies: The Reputation of Herodotus", Ken leads...
2024-02-131h 10Ad NavseamIn the Beginning was Sermo: Reopening the Conversation on John 1:1 (Ad Navseam, Episode 140)In the beginning was the…conversation? In this episode Jeff and Dave tackle a fascinating 1977 article by Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle in which she reviews the history of the translation of John 1:1, particularly the Latin words used to express the Greek ὁ λόγος (logos), usually taken in English as “Word”. We learn that the earliest Latin translations used the word sermo (“conversation”), which seems to have a broader range of meanings and referents (connotation vs. denotation) than the verbum Jerome selected, and which then dominated translations for a millennium. And just when you thought it was safe to crack open the Vulgate, along come...
2024-02-071h 17Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part V (Ad Navseam, Episode 139)This week, Jeff and Dave continue on their stroll through the wonders of Marrou's volume on ancient education. Specifically, they look at Chapter V and the question of the Sophists. Men like Protagoras, Gorgias, and Prodicus were doing something new and unusual at the close of the fifth century, no doubt. And that something was -- wait for it -- selling education! Many arch-conservatives like Plato and Aristophanes did not take to it kindly. But is there any way to sort the wheat from the chaff? How can we know that what Plato tells us about the Sophists is...
2024-01-281h 04Ad NavseamThe Roman Mysteries: A Conversation with Bestselling Children’s Author Caroline Lawrence (Ad Navseam, Episode 138)This week the guys have the honor of interviewing kids/young adult author Caroline Lawrence (The Roman Mysteries and Roman Quests series, along with many others!) Ms. Lawrence is beaming in to us from London, where she writes her books overlooking the mighty Thames itself. And she's no pretender when it comes to the Classics--she comes to London by way of Classics degrees from Berkeley and Cambridge. Tune in to hear about her own fascinating journey from enthusiast to author, about how she shapes her stories from visits to museums and archaeological sites, and about how she incorporates her kno...
2024-01-091h 26Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part IV (Ad Navseam, Episode 137)This week the guys tackle Chapter IV of H.I. Marrou's monumental work, entitled "The 'Old' Athenian Education". Relying on Aristophanes, Thucydides, Solon, and others, Marrou explains how the Athenians decided to lay down their weapons within society, and soon after education was democratized. So, “the decisive step" was taken from a warrior to a scribe culture, and education was no longer exclusively military. There was a predictable reaction from conservative elites: they sprinted to their Formula 1 roadsters, hotrodding their chariots like any Verstappen, Leclerc, or Russell. Long-haired, aristocratic young dandies stuck to their horses, even as the common pea...
2023-12-211h 07Ad NavseamLegend-tripping at Bunnyman Bridge: American Urban Legends and Classical Mythological Tropes (Ad Navseam, Episode 136)This week the guys tackle the subject of American Urban Legends with an eye to what classical cultural and narrative archetypes tell us about why these weirdo tales can be so, well, weird. Jeff eagerly (a little too eagerly, Dave might say) drags us into those liminal spaces as we recount the odd tale of the hatchet-wielding, murderous Bunnyman of Clifton, Virginia who creepily lies in wait at the train trestle known as Bunnyman Bridge. All kinds of questions to tackle here: Why do so many urban legends take place at bridges and crossroads? Why are so many of...
2023-12-071h 02Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part III (Ad Navseam, Episode 135)This episode is part 3 of the guys’ walk-through of Marrou’s seminal book on education in antiquity. We pick up where the last episode left off with a wrap-up of ancient Spartan education and a look at several questions: What caused Spartan artistic culture to (fairly quickly) calcify and disappear? To what degree can we actually know what Spartan education was, given that so much of our information is filtered through the so-called “Spartan Mirage” loved by Athenian aristocrats? Then we turn our attention to the delicate matter of the role of pederasty or “Greek Love” in ancient education, not out of an...
2023-11-171h 02Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part II (Ad Navseam, Episode 134)The guys are back for Round 2 in our look at the history of education in antiquity through the lens of Marrou’s book. This time we zero in on the ancient Spartans. Wait, Spartans??? Weren’t those guys just a bunch of beefed-up lunkheads whose only education was how to better kill the enemy on the battlefield? Well, not quite. In fact, we learn that the Spartans actually led the way when it came to a number of arts—poetry, music, dance—in addition to their noted emphasis on physical fitness. They did, however, have issues when it came to spelling and...
2023-11-071h 07Ad NavseamH.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part I (Ad Navseam, Episode 133)Join us this week as Dave and Jeff launch le paquebot onto the deep waters of pedagogical history, namely, H. I. Marrou's seminal work The History of Education in Antiquity. Written in 1956 by a very learned Frenchman, and translated into English by Charles Lamb, the work is a sweeping review, artfully written, of how education functioned from the very beginnings of Western civilization down to the end of antiquity in the fifth century A.D. With Marrou as guide, the guys begin to examine such pressing questions as, what's a proper definition of education, can Classical education exist today...
2023-10-271h 02Ad NavseamIo Wanna be a Cowboy: Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, Part III (Ad Navseam, Episode 132)This week Jeff and Dave wrap up their 3-parter on Aeschylus' famous play. When Io mooves onto the scene, her first impulse is to show compassion for the shackled Promy, even though she herself is writhing in gadfly-induced agony. Why? To seek an answer, we take a long look at the thesis of Stephen White, namely that the play subtly reinforces ancient Greek gender roles: women are to be complaisant and domestic (something Io has transgressed), while men's ingenuity ought not threaten the social order (as Prometheus has done). But is this a persuasive way to look at the...
2023-10-231h 05Ad NavseamHey, I’ma be Liver Now: Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, Part II (Ad Navseam, Episode 131)It's time for round two of Aeschylus' tragedy Prometheus Bound, and Dave and Jeff are back at it with a careful look at the role of Ocean in his dialogue with the titular hero. Relying on the work of David Konstan, the guys discuss some of the interesting dynamics at play in the stichomythia, as well as some inner workings of the chorus of Ocean's daughters, the Oceanids. Is there a political subtext of democracy and tyranny at work here? How does the poet deal with universal and timeless themes of suffering and hardship against the very real background of fift...
2023-10-101h 02Ad NavseamWe Didn’t Steal the Fire: Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, Part I (Ad Navseam, Episode 130)This week Jeff and Dave - with the help of Prof. Deborah Roberts (Emerita, Haverford College) - begin their look at tragedian Aeschylus' magnum opus, Prometheus Bound. We get started with Prof. Roberts providing a lovely reading of the central passage of the play, in which Prometheus explains the many kindnesses he has wrought for the human race. Then we follow up by setting the table with the briefest of looks at the development of tragedy. Next, we dig into the main course with a bit of Greek from the play's opening, and the fascinating dialogue between smith god...
2023-10-031h 05Ad NavseamGiving Goliath his Due: Mycenaeans and Philistines, Part II (Ad Navseam, Episode 129)It's time for Jeff and Dave to finish off their brief foray into all things Philistine and Mycenaean. This week we wrap up our look at Neal Bierling's short but deep monograph on the state of excavation in Palestine. After a quick review of inscriptional and ceramic evidence, the Phaistos Disc, anthropoid coffins, and more, the conversation takes us on to the different eras in Philistine history: Judges to David, David to Solomon, Solomon to Hezekiah, and finally to the eventual dissolution or absorption of the Philistine people at the time of Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar's devastating invasion. Things get a little...
2023-09-221h 12Ad NavseamGiving Goliath his Due: Mycenaeans and Philistines, Part I (Ad Navseam, Episode 128)Does the name Neal Bierling mean anything to you, dear listener? No? Well it will after this episode. Bierling's 1992 monograph Giving Goliath his Due is our theme this week and next, and it's a thorough, exhaustively researched look at the close connection between the Mycenaeans of Atreus and Agamemnon and those inveterate opponents of the biblical Israelites known as the Philistines. In this first half, we look at the evidence of archaeology and epigraphy, including Egyptian steles and anthropoid burial objects, olive-oil production, feather headdresses, and Goliath's bronze-age armor. Along the way, learn of the Mice-smasher Apollo Smintheus, the...
2023-09-131h 04Ad NavseamDo the Rite Thing: The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Part II (Ad Navseam, Episode 127)This week Jeff and Dave wrap up their two-part series on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Here we learn about Demophoon, infant child of Queen Metaneira of Eleusis. It seems he has a problem with mortality, and Demeter has the cure: nightly fire purgations. As the kids say, "srsly?" But things don't go so well when the blazing goddess of grain is caught in the act of burning off Demophoon's (not huggable but mortal) portions, and rather than wreak havoc on the innocent inhabitants of Eleusis, she decides to set up a cult and allow them to worship her. Meanwh...
2023-09-051h 13Ad NavseamNo Pain, No Grain: The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Part I (Ad Navseam, Episode 126)After a welcome hiatus for all of us (especially you, listener), Jeff and Dave are back in the studio for a look at the archaic hymn to the goddess Demeter. Was this intended to be used in the ritual and liturgy of the mystery cult, or is it just a breezy, Saturday afternoon matinee poem? Clocking in at 495 lines, how does this eypllion differ from the shorter poems from the seventh century? What is a mystery religion, how does this one compare to the cults of Mithras and Dionysus, and exactly how small do scientists intend to make tomatoes, while...
2023-08-091h 02Ad NavseamWhoa, Milo, Come on, Come On, Let’s Go: The Greatest Ancient Athlete (Ad Navseam, Episode 125)This week Jeff and Dave talk about Milo of Croton, by all accounts the most accomplished athlete of antiquity. This incredible individual was the winner of multiple Olympiads, strongman, wrestler, supposedly deadlifting a stone of more than 1100lbs. The ancients like Pausanias, Galen, Strabo, Cicero and more were fascinated not only by his tremendous physical prowess, but equally by his enormous appetite for food and drink. Did he really eat an entire heifer in one sitting? Along the way we look at the Olympic Games, have a short travelogue to Olympia and Nemea, discuss Mohammed Ali, Babe Ruth, Michael...
2023-07-121h 13Ad NavseamUse Your Allusion II: Classics in Pop Music (Ad Navseam, Episode 124)Wait a minute…this STILL sounds like rock and/or roll, or at least the synthy stuff wants to. Join Johnny Pop Winkle and Ye Olde Curmudgeon for a look at seven songs inspired by the Classics. From Abba, to Clientele, Utopia, Perfect Circle and more, you'll get to hear Jeff's perfect aesthetic judgment tear like a buzz saw through Dave's carefully curated, gross ignorance of most "music" from 70s through to today. What rhymes with Lysistrata? And why not a song about Thesmophoriozusae? Should be catchy. Hey, it can't be all discussion of translating endusted Latin tomes, grave an...
2023-06-301h 12Ad NavseamGildy as Charged: Arachne and Midas in two More Ovidian Vignettes (Ad Navseam, Episode 123)This week it’s back to the bottomless well of Ovidian goodness with a walk through a couple more vignettes. The guys start off with a look at the well-known tale of Arachne. While the “hubris-meets-nemesis” theme does seem to be at the heart of the story, there are some striking bits of context that complicate simple interpretations—is Minerva primed to punish from the tale that precedes this one? Does Arachne truly know what she’s getting into or who she’s dealing with? Then it’s on to another of Naso’s greatest hits—King Midas and the Golden Touch. A...
2023-06-201h 04Ad NavseamThe Riddle of the Labyrinth: A Conversation with Margolit Fox (Ad Navseam, Episode 122)This week we sit down for a fascinating, lively discussion with author Margalit Fox about her 2013 book, The Riddle of the Labyrinth: the Quest to Crack an Ancient Code. The story centers around the race to decipher the mysterious “Linear B” script. The first large supply of this script was uncovered on clay tablets on Crete by archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in 1900, but remained a puzzle for years after Evans failed to crack it. Young genius (and amateur scholar) Michael Ventris has long been famous for finally getting the job done in 1952, but is that all there is to the st...
2023-06-061h 11Ad NavseamLoading the Canons: The Art of Classical Rhetoric (Ad Navseam, Episode 121)This week Jeff and Dave take a look at the 5 canons of classical rhetoric, and how it is that great orators like Aeschines, Demosthenes, and Cicero gave their speeches to such successful effect. Was it nature? Were these men endowed with towering genius and preternatural giftedness? Yes, of course. Or was it nurture? Did they write speeches according to a fixed and carefully honed set of formulae? Yes, of course. This wide-ranging discussion has plenty of the nitty-gritty of the exordium, collocatio, etc., but we also look at some of the broader issues of what makes human communication effective – or...
2023-05-231h 16Ad NavseamHere Comes the Rage Again: Aeneid XII, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 120)Well ladies and gentlemen, this podcast within a podcast has finally come to an end: Jeff and Dave, at long last (denique, tandem, demum) have reached the final episode on the Aeneid. We start out by looking at how the end of the Iliad and the end of the Aeneid compare, verge off into some Shakespearean and Miltonian digressions, recite some beautiful Latin poetry, talk about Annie Lennox, and round it all off with a look at interpretive possibilities from a wide range of 20th century scholars. These include: Bowra, Elllingham, Brooks, Lewis, Parry, Putnam, and Commager. Who is co...
2023-05-121h 22Ad NavseamDuel Unto Others: Aeneid XII, Part 1 (Ad Navseam, Episode 119)This week, Jeff and Dave get back to the Aeneid after a brief, Tarzanian hiatus. As the epic nears its end, we witness the intense and interesting interplay between Turnus and the titular hero. Aeneas seems quite secure in his fate, but still he begins the move from representing civilization to savagery. Turnus, on the other hand, ricochets between the poles of Hector and Achilles: sometimes cruel and bloodthirsty, other times sympathetic and winsome. What does Vergil really want us to think about these hulking war machines? Why does Lavinia blush? What's gotten into Amata? And most importantly, why...
2023-05-071h 10Ad NavseamTarzan and Tradition: Classical Myth in Popular Literature II (Ad Navseam, Episode 118)This week Jeff and Dave wander back into the lush, crowded undergrowth of Edgar Rice Burroughs' prose, guided by the inimitable Erling B. "Jack" Holstmark. Does the vine-swinging, croc-wrestling, ape-aping Tarzan really have anything to do with Odysseus? Hercules? Neither? Or does Dave's late Prof. have a case of academicitis, "seeing what's not there"? Come along with us as we finish up looking at the abiding influence of Animals, Hero, and Themes, the final chapter of Holtsmark's 1981 monograph. And remember, "We live in a world of illusion, where everything's peaches and cream. We all face a scarlet conclusion, but we sp...
2023-04-271h 14Ad NavseamTarzan and Tradition: Classical Myth in Popular Literature I (Ad Navseam, Episode 117)The guys are back, and this time they are taking a break from the Aeneid series to focus on the appearance of classical themes and inspiration in an unexpected place: the 20th century pulp fiction novels of Tarzan. Aided by the brilliant monograph of Dave's late grad school professor, Dr. Erling B. "Jack" Holtsmark, we examine such questions as, What standards should popular literature be held to? What makes for good diction and characterization? Is Tarzan in the mold of Achilles? Along the way we look at some structures of Greek and Latin style, including polarities, chiasmus, and parallels. If...
2023-04-191h 04Ad NavseamA Thrilla with Camilla: Aeneid XI, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 116)In this episode, Jeff and Dave finish off their tour through and analysis of the penultimate book of Vergil's masterpiece. Here we have the jazz-solo moment, the aristeia of the great warrior princess Camilla. She flies across the battlefield at breakneck speed, cutting down in her path every Trojan stooge who dares stand in her way – until she meets "Arruns the Dispatcher", ironically named after an Etruscan prince. But this fast-paced, high-octane action vignette raises some complex questions, the very kind academics love to dilate upon: how come Camilla never encounters Aeneas himself? Why is the erstwhile hero Turnus so...
2023-03-281h 05Ad NavseamWith Pallas toward None: Aeneid XI, Part 1 (Ad Navseam, Episode 115)Remember way back when the Trojans were “eating their tables”? Well, in Book 11 their tables seem to be turning. Seems like just yesterday Aeneas was raging as Rambo and Turnus was carrying himself with Hector-like respectability. Sed ecce!—Aeneas is handing out truces like sticks of Big Red and actually validating hurt Latin feelings, while Turnus’ allies are turning against him and blaming him for the whole mess. Even old Diomedes is once bitten, twice shy, telling the Latins there is no way he’s tangling with Venus or her son ever again. So that’s it? It’s over? Not quit...
2023-03-201h 01Ad NavseamMale Pattern Baldric: Aeneid X, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 114)This week there’s more gore in store for shor as Aeneas gets his rage on and goes full Achilles. The carnage reaches such a fever pitch that it raises a number of sticky questions: Is Aeneas just a puppet of Fate? If so, can we hold him culpable for the horrible things he perpetrates on the battlefield? When does embossing your baldric with mythic scenes stop being a flex and start being a “bit much”? Keep your head down, dodge those flying body parts, and see if you can tell who’s who as Aeneas meets his possible doppelgang...
2023-03-131h 13Ad NavseamAll’s Hair in Love and War! Aeneid X, Part 1 (Ad Navseam, Episode 113)This week Jeff and Dave are back at the Aeneid, wading into some deep waters murky and redolent with the unfulfilled wishes of Jupiter. As full-scale war erupts on the Latian plain, Venus and Juno bring their high-pitched quarrel to the king of Olympus, whose own hands, it turns out, are tied by the Parcae. As the Fates roll around in their El Camino, cutting short the threads of numerous heroes Sarpedon-like, men are dying on the field of battle like a scene straight out of the Iliad. But it's not just questions of fate, of popsicle sticks, glue...
2023-03-031h 08Ad NavseamTranslating Samuel Rutherford’s Examen Arminianismi (Ad Navseam, Episode 112)The guys take a brief break from Vergil this week to talk about some of Dave's recent translation work. The theme is Scottish divine Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661) and his Scholastic magnum opus Examen Arminianismi ('A Careful Review of Arminianism'). This is for a forthcoming publication by Reformation Heritage Books. After spending a little time on Rutherford's bio and background - including pedagogy of the 17th century - we get into some of the nuances and challenges of Scholastic Latin. Its plain, unadorned style, jawbreaking adverbs and abstruse, Thomistic constructions (indeclinabiliter, reduplicative, in facto esse, in fieri), and repetition for...
2023-02-211h 17Ad NavseamTurnus Loose: War in Aeneid IX, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 111)Tune in this week as the guys wrap up Aeneid 9 and take a look at the fallout and aftermath of Nisus' and Euryalus' disastrous midnight raid. When the Rutulians wake to the bloody devastation, its off to besiege the city in which the Trojans, sans Aeneas, are hiding. In this "reverse Iliad", we find the foreign aggressors -- Aeneas and company -- besieged within a city by the invaded inhabitants on the plain. Along the way, we're met with an interesting digression in which Vergil honors motherhood with a threnody from Euryalus' otherwise anonymous mother. He also gives us...
2023-02-081h 01Ad NavseamA Night to Dismember: The Tragedy of Nisus and Euryalus in Aeneid IX, Part 1 (Ad Navseam, Episode 110)"Who drives us to outrageous action? Is it some god, or does each man make of his own desire a god, which then drives him furiously to a violent end"? This is the question we consider this week as we turn to the final quarter of the epic (books 9-12). And we are treated to two surprising events: first, how the ships of the Trojans are transformed into mermaids, shocking Turnus and his gathered Rutulians. Juno is up to her old tricks, and sends along Iris the messenger to tell him not to worry, the Trojans will be trapped i...
2023-01-281h 10Ad NavseamSigned, Shield, Delivered: Aeneas becomes Achilles in Aeneid Book VIII, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 109)This week the guys wrap up Book VIII of Vergil's epic by discussing Aeneas' amazing shield. Wrought by the ignipotens fire-forger Vulcan at the lascivious behest of his sometime bride Venus, the shield is an ekphrasis of Roman history. But how does it compare to its predecessor, that of Achilles from Iliad XVIII? Is it, in Jeff's words, "too on the nose"? Or are there deeper meanings beneath the oxhide? And how does Aeneas compare to Odysseus in terms of plausible humanity? Should he tell some lies or bump some fists to seem more real? Come along for these...
2023-01-131h 06Ad NavseamEt in Arcadia Ego? Evander and Cacus in Vergil’s Aeneid Book VIII, Part 1 (Ad Navseam, Episode 108)This week Jeff and Dave launch into the fascinating, often misunderstood world of Rome way, way back before there were Romans. As Aeneas readies for battle in the idyllic landscape, he needs some allies. So it's off a-paddlin' to Arcadia, where the rustic Greek king Evander and his momentous son Pallas make ready allies. While enjoying some old-fashioned hospitality, Evander tells our hero the long, digressive backstory of Greece's mightiest avenger: Hercules. On the way back from rustlin' Spanish cattle, Hercules got rustled himself by the smoke-belching Cacus. This troglodytic monster must be killed. But what does this mean...
2023-01-071h 15Ad NavseamThe Census of Quirinius in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 107)In this Christmas-themed episode Jeff and Dave take a break from the Aeneid to look at Luke's Gospel, chapter 2:1-5, and the puzzling census of Quirinius. Drawing from half a dozen scholarly articles on the subject, we try to puzzle out the four major objections to Luke's reliability as a historian on the topic of the census:
“1. Apart from the gospel, history knows nothing of a general Imperial census in the time of Augustus.
2. There could have been no Roman census in Palestine during the time of Herod the Great, a rex socius.
3. Such a ce...
2022-12-281h 28Ad NavseamThe First Time Ever I Saw Your Faces: Janus and Camilla in Aeneid Book VII, Part 3 (Ad Navseam, Episode 106)The guys wrap up their look at Book 7 this week but not before transgressing a few more liminal spaces. When Latinus throws up his hands at the storm gathering around him and his neighbors, it is up to Juno herself to descend and open the Gates of War. While this is the moment in the epic where the Iliadic violence of the second half is officially unleashed, these Gates also point to a Roman reality—the Temple of Janus and the Gates of War in the Roman Forum. A (worthy, we think) digression takes us into the history of th...
2022-12-131h 04Ad NavseamThe Fury’s Still Out on this One: Allecto in Aeneid Book VII, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 105)This week the guys move (nearer) to the end of Book VII and examine the role of that frightful, hair raising, blood-curdilng sister of Tisiphone and Megaera known as Allecto. Juno -- who knows she's lost but doesn't like being a one-trick villainess -- unleashes hell's wrath on Aeneas' nascent nuptial notions. Allecto's conjured up and down she goes into Amata to spread havoc across the Italian landscape. Along the way we investigate such questions as: is Ascanius' aristeia just riding his pony in the Trojan Games? Can such an innocuous, apparently inconsequential accident like killing a pet albino...
2022-12-071h 04Ad NavseamWilliam Morrell and Epic Poetry in Colonial New England (Ad Navseam, Episode 104)For a special Thanksgiving episode, this week the guys take a look at the "earliest surviving work of poetry about New England and the second oldest poem whose origins can be traced directly to the British American colonies." William Morrell (d. 1625), sometime Oxford Classics student, Anglican priest, and member of the failed Wessagusset Colony in Weymouth, MA, wrote a fascinating poem about Nova Anglia, its flora, fauna, and Native American inhabitants. Drawing on the work of Andrew Gaudio, Jeff and Dave share a lively discussion of the poetry's beauty, Morrell's fairmindedness, proselytizing spirit, and a few questions about colonialism...
2022-11-241h 14Ad NavseamEye of the Tiber: Aeneid Book VII, Part 1 (Ad Navseam, Episode 103)Book VII! Aeneas and co. find themselves in the second half of the game and the stakes just keep getting higher and higher. Will they have the guts to get the glory? At first it seems like a cake walk—smooth sailing up the Tiber, a hearty welcome by the local king, even a swarm of bees seems to be down with it all on the local oracular BuzzFeed. But is this all just the calm before the big storm? I mean, Latinus is Faun-ing all over Aeneas, but he also makes a rookie mistake—didn’t clear it with th...
2022-11-171h 08Ad NavseamDis is where it Ends: Aeneid Book VI, Part 4 (Ad Navseam, Episode 102)Time to leave behind the valley of souls, make our way out of Dis place and head back to the land of the living. As the guys wrap up this portion of the epic poem, it's hard to avoid a little bit of interpretive questioning: Why did Vergil couple Rome's glorious future with the tear-jerking, pathos-filled death of Marcellus? How did the man of Mantua really feel about Augustus? Is that lavish, spondaic poety sincere or is there some kowtowing to the guy who cuts his check? And perhaps most of all, why does Aeneas exit the Mall of...
2022-11-081h 07Ad NavseamIf Dis is It, Please Let me Know: Aeneid Book VI, Part 3 (Ad Navseam, Episode 101)In this episode we find Aeneas getting closer to a reunion with Dad and maybe even an exit from this Hotel California. But, as we’ve seen throughout this epic, there’s no gain without a healthy dollop of pain. First, there’s a horribly awkward rendezvous with a departed Dido who goes all Ajax on Aeneas and ghosts him (literally!) Then we get a glimpse of Tartarus and hear the wretched cries of the damned under the whip of Tisiphone. Finally, the Blissful Groves and a veritable Who’s Who of who slew, made it through just to drink Le...
2022-11-011h 08Ad NavseamGouda Nuff for Now: The Cheesy Clip Show (Ad Navseam, Episode 100)Episode 100! Will the guys celebrate the century mark by digging even deeper into the Classics, finding hidden layers of erudite exegesis, philology, philosophy, and theology in yet another literary jewel from antiquity? Nope. Time to phone one in. C’mon, it can’t be Homer, Vergil, Ovid or the predicative dative all the time, right? So, join Dave and Jeff as they look through their fingers at some of the “best” of the last couple of years. Listen as the clips veer from the embarrassing, to the embarrasinger, to the embarrassingest! You’ll cringe! You’ll cringe again! (But, really, than...
2022-10-271h 11Ad NavseamDis is the Place: Aeneid Book VI, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 99)There's no going back now—in this episode we follow along as Aeneas enters the Underworld proper. And if you were expecting a DMV-esque experience like Odysseus had in his jaunt, you’d be sadly mistaken. Turns out the Roman afterlife is more like the 7-story Macy’s on West 34th Street. Oh, you’re looking for the place where the souls of deceased children reside? Up the escalator past housewares and knick-knacks. The shades of warriors who were just “ok”? Hang a left at kitchen accessories and general appliances. Do we also see an Underworld that is literally becoming mor...
2022-10-041h 08Ad NavseamUse Your Allusion I: Classics in Pop Music (Ad Navseam, Episode 98)Wait a minute…this sounds like rock and/or roll! Indeed, after some digging through attic boxes stuffed with 45s, 8-tracks, and cassettes, the guys sit down to puzzle over a number of classical allusions in pop songs from the ‘60s to the present day. The references are all over the place—from prog rock to new wave to folk to jazz-fusion to regrettable dabblings by Bob Dylan in cheese-ball ‘80s production. What purposes do these allusions serve? Is it just to make the singer look smart (looking at you, Sting)? To comment wryly on an ankle injury (sorry to hear...
2022-09-271h 13Ad NavseamBough Wow: Vergil’s Aeneid Book VI, Part 1 (Ad Navseam, Episode 97)Do you smell that? Could it be the warm smell of colitas rising up through the air? Or did Dave over-microwave his gas station burrito again? Well, whatever the odor is, this path paved with good intentions (and a little cement) is leading Aeneas and company to you know where. Our Trojan exiles have finally reached the stillettoed boot of Italy. But before they can plant a flag and put up their feet, Aeneas has to take a detour down into the Underworld for one last chat with dad. But how to get there? As the Cumaean Sybil says...
2022-09-201h 09Ad NavseamRoyal Boxing Day: Vergil’s Aeneid Book V, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 96)This week the guys close out their look at Book V with continued questions about the relevance of this break in the epic's main action. Are we really supposed to find deep meaning in flaming arrows? Is there coded symbolism when Dares starts flexing and popping his pecs like Schwarzeneggar auditioning for Conan: This Time He's Even More Greased Up? And what's with that "Trojan Game"? Maybe there's a reason it never translated to the board or video variety. Is its sole function to bring out Dave's grim loathing of parades? But hold tight--there's also some genuine, keel-smoldering pathos...
2022-09-131h 10Ad NavseamRegatta Love It: Vergil’s Aeneid Book V, Part 1 (Ad Navseam, Episode 95)Remember when you were a kid and eagerly waiting for that next episode of Family Ties, so you could pick up the continuing action of the Keaton family from the week before? But then they hit you with some weak-sauce clip show where nothing happens except Michael J. Fox getting some time off to film Teen Wolf VI? Well, many have suspected that Vergil is up to something similar in Book 5. We seem to go from the high drama and pathos of Book 4 to competitive paddling and “everybody gets a trophy” day. What happened to the “epic”? But maybe this isn...
2022-09-061h 04Ad NavseamThe Renaissance Idea of the Dignity of Man (Ad Navseam, Episode 94)This week Jeff and Dave take a sustained look at an-oft discussed but ill-defined notion: what, if anything, gives people dignity? Drawing on the work of famous, late scholar Charles Trinkaus (The Scope of Renaissance Humanism), the guys trace this notion from Cicero through the Greek and Latin fathers and into the trecento. Thanks to the diligent spadery of Chuck T., you'll enjoy a who's who of what's what when it comes to key themes and ideas surrounding what separates man (and woman) from animal, the noble brute. In the end it all comes down to Petrarch, Ficino, Mirandola...
2022-08-311h 13Ad NavseamCome on Baby Light My Pyre: Vergil’s Aeneid Book IV, Part 4 (Ad Navseam, Episode 93)This week we at last reach the grim, tragic climax of Book IV of the Aeneid, where the height of Dido’s madness is matched only by the depth of Aeneas’ strange indifference. When Jeff innocently pauses to comment on the “cinematic” nature of Vergil’s language and pacing, Dave pushes back, and the guys tussle over whether literary narratives are always superior to visual ones. Would Vergil be a Scorsese today? Or would that make him a lesser artist by default, if he set down his pen? Are there genres that are better served on he screen? At any rate...
2022-08-201h 05Ad NavseamIt’s Not You, It’s Me: Aeneid Book IV Part 3 (Ad Navseam, Episode 92)We’re getting to the “dessert” portion of this banquet of a book; sounds great, right? Well, dismiss those visions of truffles and gelato from your mind because these “afters” are more akin to lettuce-plated Jell-O replete with creepy, suspended fruits. Why? Because in this episode we get the big breakup scene and it is a doozy. Dido gets wind that Aeneas is trying to shuffle out the back door without so much as a text and corners him. Does Aeneas get the tongue-lashing he deserves or is her response so unhinged as to be completely irrational? Is Fate’s prodding o...
2022-08-061h 03Ad NavseamBride and Gloom: Aeneid Book IV, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 91)It’s getting steamy in Carthage, as Aeneas and Dido find themselves alone in a cave, separated from the hunt, chased there by an Olympus-sent thunderstorm. But what exactly happens therein? Two lovers simply giving into their desires or is it, as Dido (and Juno) believes, an actual marriage? Is the worst part that Dido has forsaken her vows to her dead husband or that this wedding is shamwow by Roman standards? Where’s the overpriced DJ? Where’s Achates’ overlong and embarrassing “best man” toast? Where’s the can-shackled chariot with the off-kilter “Nuper Nupta!” sign? The guys (with a little help...
2022-07-271h 14Ad NavseamTo Live and Let Dido: Aeneid Book IV, Part 1 (Ad Navseam, Episode 90)Jeff and Dave are back at it after a tiny hiatus and a southern-fried roadtrip. In this episode we seek to figure out, with the help of Brooks Otis, why Aeneas is such a passive character in Book IV. Why doesn't he show a little more chutzpah, temerity, and boldness as he traipses around Carthage? And why is Dido so darkly verklempt? Juno and Venus do some role-shifting as the darts of Cupid's passion work their way imperceptibly through Dido's cervine heart. A cave, an eloquent sister serving as matchmaker, the 70's hit Loveboat, and Dave's usual pedantry: this...
2022-07-221h 04Ad NavseamDirges for Dead Dido: St. Augustine and Vergil (Ad Navseam, Episode 89)This week Dave and Jeff take a break from Vergil (well, kinda) and fast forward a few centuries to Augustine of Hippo. Now, here’s a guy that a lot of our audience should be able to relate to—openly hated learning grammar as a kid, beat his head against the wall trying to master Greek, pushed back against things his teachers forced him to do. But as an older man looking back through his life in his Confessions Augie feels guilt for loving the Aeneid so much and not appreciating, say, the foundational aspects of the dative of refer...
2022-07-061h 13Ad NavseamIf at First You Don’t Succeed, Troy, Troy, Again: Aeneid Book III, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 88)In this episode the guys make their way through the rest of Book 3 where we find more regressive pulls back to the old Troy as well as Homeric tags and Odyssean cameos. At the first stop Aeneas is stunned to find a remarried Andromache still alive in Epirus, but also still obsessed with the past and her dear departed Hector. And even more things are off—she seems to be living in a low-rent, Euro Disney, knock-off “Tiny Troy” with a mini Simois, scant Scaean gates, and paltry Pergamum. It’s like we’ve entered Vergil’s version of the Upside-D...
2022-06-281h 08Ad NavseamCrouching Helen, Hidden Destiny: Vergil’s Aeneid Books II and III (Ad Navseam, Episode 87)At the urging of mom (Venus) Aeneas finally decides to bolt from Troy, but not before encountering a cowering Helen lurking in the shadows. His instinct is for bloody vengeance, but once again Fate has other ideas and dust brooms our hero out the gates. Aeneas is able to save his dad and son (and meet other haggard Trojans by the ol’ cypress tree) but discovers his wife as a ghost. Creusa tells him her heart will go on and then gives him the “Hesperia” prophecy (for about the zillionth time). Then its on to Book 3! Aeneas now has a vagu...
2022-06-141h 15Ad NavseamOh for Goodness Snakes! Vergil’s Aeneid Book 2, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 86)As Dave and Jeff plow deeper into Book 2 it is clearly getting worse for the Trojans. They didn’t Sinon for this! Those wily Greeks have set the trap and now it begins to spring. First, coiled, creepy snakes come writhing out of the sea to put Laocoon and his two unlucky sons into a suplex and drag them to watery graves. The Trojans read this omen in exactly the wrong way, and think that this is the perfect time to slap some roller skates on that huge wooden equine and surf it into the city. And, well, we all...
2022-06-111h 04Ad NavseamNever Look a Grift Horse in the Mouth: Vergil’s Aeneid Book II, Part I (Ad Navseam, Episode 85)After a few parting remarks and summations to Book 1, Jeff and Dave wander through the dense undergrowth near the shores of Carthage and make their way to the palace of Dido and Book 2. Here we meet the big set piece, the longest account of the fall of Troy in Greco-Roman literature. How does Jupiter's promise of endless empire for the wolf-pelted Romans get started? How does it feel for Dido to wear that souvenir T-shirt, “I’m with Cupid”? How do we feel about ethnic profiling? Are all Greeks really as evil as the actor left on the shore, or is...
2022-06-021h 04Ad NavseamMist Opportunities: Aeneid Book I, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 84)
Don't you just hate it when all you want is to have a nice visit with your mom, share some tea and a huggable portion or two, but then she decides to trick you by showing up as the goddess Artemis or some lace-booted Thracian huntress? Personally, I know that I've had it with that and in this episode Aeneas has too. We pick up the story where Aeneas and a few comrades are washed up on strange Libyan shores convinced they've lost most of their fleet and friends. But wait! Venus appears in disguise and nudges her son and hi...
2022-05-241h 03Ad NavseamGirl Juno it’s True: Aeneid I and the Causes of Juno’s Wrath (Ad Navseam, Episode 83)Well we have finally arrived at the full-scale treatment of the Aeneid. In this episode we take a close look at the first half of Book 1, the causes of the storm with King Aeolus, Roman pietas, and all that goes into Vergil's brilliant, epic tour de force. What made the gods so angry? Why did Paris choose Venus instead of Juno? What kind of a bribe will lull Aeolus out of his breezy cavern to stir up the placid sea? And what kind of a hero is Aeneas? Is he pale, wan, and uninspiring, or is there some divine purpose l...
2022-05-201h 03Ad NavseamWhaddya Noah?: Deucalion, Pyrrha, and the Flood in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Ad Navseam, Episode 82)Many civilizations around the world have traditions in which the gods get upset with mankind and water the world back to square one. The Greeks and Romans were no exceptions. This week the guys wade into Ovid’s take on all this with a look at the Greco-Roman “Noah figures” Deucalion and Pyrrha. After humanity Teen Wolfs its way into Zeus’ disfavor, the couple find themselves on a skiff headed for a sea-swamped Parnassus. And even when they hit dry land they have to solve a riddle to repopulate the earth. Why? Well, Themis the breaks, I’m afraid. So how do D...
2022-05-041h 03Ad NavseamNo Meat, Please, We’re Pythagoreans!: Pythagoras in Book 15 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Ad Navseam, Episode 81)It’s back to Ovid this week and you’d best hold on to your hypotenuse. Join us for a deep dive into Book 15 of the Metamorphoses where, after a quick “Hello, Numa”, it’s on to a lengthy lecture by Pythagoras (of triangle fame) regarding the dos and (mainly) don’ts of what humans should glut their gobs with. In a word—put down that cheeseburger, because it just might be your uncle Jimmy! What was Numa, the 2nd king of Rome, supposed to learn from this? Is there wisdom here or was Pythagoras just some kind of metempsycho? Wou...
2022-04-201h 14Ad NavseamWhat’s a Motto You, Two? University and College Mottoes (Ad Navseam, Episode 80)This week the guys are back with more mottos, from the muddled to the magnificent, from bland to grand. But this time they have their sights set on the apophthegms of colleges and universities around the globe. And it is a roller coaster—which ones make the cut? Which make no sense at all? Which ones could use some spicing up? And what’s with those prone ursines lazing about in the American southwest? So come join in the fun, whether or not you agree that Sparty needs a serious makeover or you are a proud alum of UdoU. Quae...
2022-04-131h 10Ad NavseamIdes, Ides, Baby!: Caesar’s Assassination in the Roman Historians (Ad Navseam, Episode 79)Well, the Ides of March may have already come and gone, but the guys are determined to jump headlong into one of the most famous dates and deaths in world history. C’mon, you might say, we all had to suffer through that Shakespeare play in 10th grade, right? Haven’t we all heard this one before? Well, let us ask you—have you heard it involving a close comparison of the existing ancient accounts, on-the-fly translation improvements, the lurid umbra of res flagitiosa, that kid from Spider-man, and Jeff carping about an unsolicited “Senior Discount”? Methinks (as old Willy S. m...
2022-04-021h 10Ad NavseamClever Jokes for Clever Folks: Robert Mac and Aristotle’s Lost Treatise on Comedy (Ad Navseam, Episode 78)
Dave and Jeff were searching in vain for Aristotle's lost treatise on comedy when they stumbled across veteran stand-up comedian Robert Mac (from robertmac.com); and, frankly, who needs Aristotle when you have this guy? Come along as we listen to several clips from Robert's killer set interspersed with a lively discussion regarding how he builds his bits, what makes a joke work, what just might get him cancelled these days! Did the Greeks anticipate a lot of this stuff? Is there a kind of universal formula for humor? Stay sharp, listener, or you just might find yourself baffled by th...
2022-03-231h 17Ad NavseamDr. Amphibolus, I Presume?: Erasmus as Translator of the Classics (Ad Navseam, Episode 77)
This week we're going toe-to-toe with the "Prince of the Humanists" himself, Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. With the guidance of scholar and novelist (and all-around Erasmus junkie) Erika Rummel, we wander along with the great man on his itinerant life and eavesdrop on his irascible contrariness. Gape in wonder as Erasmus applies his philological fury to a 1,000-year overdue update of Jerome! Gasp as Erasmus and Luther trade rap-battle, Marvel super-villain insults! Scratch your head as Dave offers opinions on levitating swimming pools! That may just be some folly worth praising.
2022-03-151h 07Ad NavseamA Visit to the Roman Catacombs (Ad Navseam, Episode 76)This week the guys welcome back to the studio esteemed friend and mentor Dr. Ken Bratt. You may remember him from such episodes as "From there We Travelled to Philippi" (AN46). An expert in material culture, Ken leads us on an historical and archaeological tour of the catacombs around Rome. We stop off at San Callisto, San Sebastian, and touch on a few of the lesser-known spots as we learn of pagan, Jewish, and Christian burial. Did Christians really worship in these catacombs with Judah Ben Hur, or is that simply more Hollywood folderol? What about the adaptation of...
2022-03-081h 03Ad Navseam’Beware of Falling Turtles!’ and other Strange Tales: Death Stories of famous Greeks and Romans” (Ad Navseam, Episode 75)
There seems to be a universal archetype wherein a famous person dies or utters last words befitting the life she lived. The Greeks and Romans were no different, but why are so many of these stories so odd? Aeschylus: terminated by a tortoise; Euripides: devastated by dogs. And Sophocles? graped in the glottis. Is there any truth to these tales or is this just another episode of When Hubris Met Nemesis? As always, pick up lots of practical advice along the way, such as--choose walnut to avoid getting venus flytrapped by an oak. And if a friend while on his d...
2022-03-011h 08Ad NavseamCad to the Bone: Alcibiades and Asebeia in 415 BC (Ad Navseam, Episode 74)It’s the summer of 415 BC and the Athenians (in the middle of a devastating war with Sparta) are debating whether to launch a naval expedition against colonies in Sicily. General Nicias says “no”, but here comes wonder boy Alcibiades who makes the assembly swoon, what with his silver tongue, chariot laurels, wavy hair, and chiseled abs, and it’s off to Sicily we go. But wait! On the night before departure somebody mutilates a bunch of herms in the city and maybe even performs a drunken satire of sacred mysteries! Questions invite questions: was it Alcibiades? If so, does he...
2022-02-221h 07Ad NavseamBut you Cotta Have Faith, Faith, Faith: Cicero’s De Natura Deorum, Part 3 (Ad Navseam, Episode 73)The guys wrap up their three-part dive into De Natura Deorum, and this time it is Cotta the Academic’s turn up at the plate. Where will Cotta (our stand-in for Cicero himself here) land on all this? Does he just want some friendly clarification of earlier arguments or is he out to fully dismantle both Velleius and Balbus (see previous two episodes)? Or is this dialogue's most important feature what it reveals about the differences between Greek and Roman philosophy? Even a skeptic like Cotta has a place in his heart for reading birds' signs and sheep livers, and...
2022-02-141h 07Ad NavseamKeep Your Eye on the Balbus: Cicero’s De Natura Deorum, Part 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 72)
This week Balbus the Stoic is on the hot seat as he attempts to convince this feisty gathering of intellects that not only do the gods exist, but they actually care deeply for humanity's well-being. After shoring up Cicero's debt to Plato and Aristotle, Jeff and Dave get down to the nittus grittus (quaedam rudera) -- Balbus' gods aren't the disinterested, off-playing-shuffleboard-somewhere-bureaucrats Velleius the Epicurean prefers. Before you know it, he's dropping syllogisms and hegemonika to some sick beats. But is he convincing? Do the gods really exist just because a lot of people have talked about them? It quickly...
2022-02-051h 17Ad NavseamStoics Finally Come to This: Cicero’s De Natura Deorum, Part I (Ad Navseam, Episode 71)In this first of a three-parter, Dave and Jeff set up a deep dive into a fascinating late work of Cicero in which representatives of the three major Hellenistic schools of thought (Epicurean, Stoic, and Academic) debate the nature and existence of the gods. Is their existence sure, doubtful, or impossible? And what is Cicero up to? Is he the Milli Vanilli of ancient philosophy, just lip-synching to Plato’s and Zeno’s greatest hits? Or is there some essential, original material here? What do we mean by “originality” in an ancient context? Sidle up to the buffet, and serve up...
2022-01-271h 12Ad NavseamThey’ve Lost their Marbles!: Lord Elgin and the Parthenon Sculptures (Ad Navseam, Episode 70)The fact that many of the marbles from the Parthenon reside in the British Museum (London) has been controversial since they first landed there in the early 19th century. In this complex tale Lord Elgin has often played the villain—he being the one who greedily had the sculptures removed from Athens to decorate his drafty Scottish mansion. But is the story that simple? In this episode Dave and Jeff tell the whole story front to back with an eye to several questions: does Elgin perhaps deserve a bit more sympathy than he usually gets? What are the arguments fo...
2022-01-121h 13Ad NavseamLicensed to Ille: Children’s Books in Latin (Ad Navseam, Episode 69)
Ever since the 1960 publication of Winnie Ille Pu (Winnie the Pooh...or is that Winnie that Well-Known Pooh Over There?) there has been a steady stream over the years of popular, contemporary texts translated into Latin. But why? Are these just gimmicky forays on shelves, unread and unthumbed heores, or can they be effective tools in actually learning Latin? Jeff and Dave tackle this question and many more as they walk the listener through Latinized versions of Seuss, Carroll, Sendak and Rowling. Highlights: Does Hobbitus, Ille really deserve the scorn sent its way? For all the skill of the Harry Potte...
2022-01-061h 11Ad NavseamMarried with Classicists (Ad Navseam, Episode 68)By now listeners have gotten used to (and maybe even enjoyed?) the loose, devil-may-care, locker room atmosphere that tends to dominate in the Vomitorium. But what about a ladies' perspective on all this folderol? And not just any old feminine perspective, but that of the extraordinary women who made the decision to marry these chuckleheads? That’s right—this week the guys are joined by Tara and Bec (married, respectively, to Dave and Jeff) where they get a chance to unload on what it’s like to live with the antiquity-obsesssed. Is there more to traveling than “climbing tall things a...
2021-12-291h 09Ad NavseamHow to be a Latin Guru, Part II (Ad Navseam, Episode 64)Transliminate your favorite room, grab a cronut and get ready for some top-shelf edutainment! Dave and Jeff set the table, tackling terms and probing provenances with deep dives into etymologies, derivatives, cognates, and malapropism (be careful not to die in the barn!) After some stretching, the guys even break a sweat with high-intensity calquing. Next up, some favorite mondegreens as Dave flakes on Phil Collins and Jeff trips over Toto, followed by some of Dave’s best practical principles on how to incorporate active, idiomatic Latin into your study and make it stick. Get ready to sign up for th...
2021-11-231h 24Ad NavseamAd Navseam Episode 1: Classics as a Way of LifeIn this inaugural episode we introduce our listeners to Ad Navseam and discuss what it means to think about the Classics as a way of life.
2020-09-0142 min