The Endless Knot

We’re talking all about the future in this episode — and if we even have one (in English). This is a topic near and dear to Mark’s heart, and in part the subject of his dissertation! We get into the nitty gritty of grammatical tense, ways of thinking about the future, and a mystery cocktail.

Our video on the Future

Whisky Exchange article about Futurist cocktails

Lavery, Gerard B. “Hoc Aeui Quodcumquest : Lucretius and Time.” Latomus, vol. 46, no. 4, 1987, pp. 720–29. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41534650

Berns, Gisela. “Time and Nature in Lucretius’ ‘De Rerum Natura.’” Hermes, vol. 104, no. 4, 1976, pp. 477–92. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4475983

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This episode we have a fascinating conversation with classicist, dramatug, and translator Emma Pauly about all things Dionysian, Greek tragedy, and their translation of Euripides’ Bacchae. We explore how Emma brings their experience with acting and directing to translating and analyzing Greek literature, and how our understanding of the past changes as we develop our understanding of gender and sexuality.

Emma’s website

Bacchae recording

Emma’s translation of the seventh Homeric Hymn to Dionysus

Twitter

Instagram

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It’s time for some Old Norse, sagas, and daring Viking explorers! In this episode we talk to author Grace Tierney about her newest book, Words the Vikings Gave Us. We had a ton of fun in this conversation, and we’re sure you will too!

Grace Tierney’s blog, Wordfoolery

Our video on Runes, and NativLang’s matching video

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It’s April Fool’s Day, and time for the annual Podcast Switcheroo, where podcasters trade episodes to give their audience something a little different and introduce them to a new show.

This year we’ve got an episode from “The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly)”, all about the joys and embarrassments of singing karaoke. IN this episode hosts Adam Wainwright and Ed Cunard discuss questions like is a karaoke performance a cover song? What do musicians have to say about karaoke? What are the barriers to making music, and creativity in general? They also talk to punk and folk singer-songwriter Frank Turner about some of his most memorable karaoke experiences and about how he feels about cover songs, singalongs at concerts, and karaoke versions of his songs. After you’ve listened to this, why not add them to your subscriptions?

Thanks to Moxy from “Your Brain on Facts” for organizing this event, and happy April Fool’s Day to everyone!

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Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! In this episode we talk about the saint’s history, then dig into the potato — its etymology, its history, and how it’s changed the world. With some tangents about batteries, famines, and travel in the Roman world.

Old Potato Cocktail

Irish Maid Cocktail

Potato battery video

Monster video

Talking Turkey, episode 24

Season to Taste, episode 35

ORBIS

Article about Irish Famine Relief by the Choctaw Nation

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We’re talking about bread again! This time, about ancient Greek bread — its vocabulary, the many types of bread and how they were made, and the economic aspects of bread production. Josh shares his practical experiences of baking along with his research into the classical Greek world.

Josh Nudell’s website

Josh on Twitter: @jpnudell

Tavola Mediterranea

Our previous episode on bread, “Loaf”

Thank you to Emma Pauly for editing and transcribing this episode.

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We start off the new year with a three-part discussion of statistics, insurance, stocks, astrologers, coffee, and more. We also trace some of the vocabulary that has come to English from Arabic, along with important mathematical concepts.

Podcast recommendation: Khameleon Classics

Cocktail: The Revolver

Average Part 1

Average Part 2

Average Part 3

Ep 31 CreateICG

Ep 39 From Fossil Hunters to Mammoth Cheese

Ep 32 Ariadne’s Clue

video “How Do We Perceive a Poem?”

Ripat, Pauline. “Expelling Misconceptions: Astrologers At Rome.” Classical Philology, vol. 106, no. 2, The University of Chicago Press, 2011, pp. 115–54, https://doi.org/10.1086/659835

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Our hundredth episode! We’re celebrating reaching three digits — and more than 6 years — with a whole bunch of our podcasting friends! These are just some of the amazing creators who make the independent podcasting world so wonderful, and we’re very happy to be connected to them all. Please check out their shows at the links below. We also give you a brief “State of the Pod” update. Thank you to everyone who’s been with us so far, and here’s to the next century (of episodes)!

Thank you to Christine Couisineau for help editing and transcribing this episode.

The Kir Royale cocktail

Sandman Stories Presents

The Partial Historians

Accentricity Podcast

Lexitecture Podcast

The History of English

Pontifacts Podcast

Because Language

Your Brain on Facts

Bunny Trails Podcast

The Spouter Inn Podcast

Grammar Girl Podcast

Wonders of the World Podcast

Let’s Talk about Myths, Baby Podcast

Lingthusiasm Podcast

Footnoting History

The Vocal Fries Podcast

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We talked to Jeremy Swist about his work on the reception of antiquity in heavy metal music. He discussed the ways the genre looks to the past for stories and imagery, and the many fantastic songs and albums that have been produced from this mix. We also talked about the problems with racism and white nationalism that can plague the intersection of the ancient world and metal music.

Playlist of the songs Jeremy mentioned

Pour Forth Surquidous track

@MetalClassicist

Heavy Metal and the Ancient World on Facebook

Jeremy’s blog

Metal-archives.com

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It’s Halloween, and the monsters are out! In this episode we tackle Monster Theory (as formulated by J.J. Cohen) , examine the linguistic and cultural origins of a range of Classical and classic movie monsters, look at how they connect to the history of currency and money, and explore the intersections of monsters and the New Woman. We also sample a beautiful cocktail from the upcoming cocktail book Nectar of the Gods by Liv Albert from “Let’s Talk about Myths, Baby”. Thank you, Liv!

The Monster video

Monster Theory by J.J. Cohen

Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture by Liz Gloyn

Our podcast episode interviewing Dr. Gloyn

Horace Odes 1.37

Hesiod passage about Medusa is Theogony 270ff; more info about Medusa here

Ovid passage about Medusa is Metamorphoses 4.753ff

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We speak to Bet Hucks about Roman importation and love of Egyptian art and other cultural material, the importance of thinking about material remains in assemblages and considering the contexts in which they were displayed, and some innovative ways of bringing the physical experiences of the past to modern audiences. Oh, and also, crocodiles!

Bet’s Twitter: @RomanAegyptiaca

Bet on academia.edu

Thanks to Emma Pauly for editing and transcription of this episode.

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What do you think the earliest English word was? How could we possibly look for such a thing, and what do the possible options tell us about early English history and the movement of peoples in the early medieval period? We tackle these questions, in an episode about Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, Celts, Tacitus, Bede, and more.

Reminder: Mark will be running another session of his Speakeasy seminar course, The Origins of English: Learning to Think Like an Etymologist, which is open to anyone who’s interested. Registration is now open at Speakeasy.com for the session running on Sunday afternoons (Eastern time) from September 12th October 3rd.

Recipe for Old English cocktail

Earliest English Word video

Jabzy’s Anglo-Saxon Invasion video

The Early Greek Alphabets: Origin, Diffusion, chpt 4 by Rosalind Thomas

C. Krebs, A MOST DANGEROUS BOOK: TACITUS’ GERMANIA FROM THE ROMAN EMPIRE TO THE THIRD REICH. London: W.W.Norton & Co., 2011.

Other sources

Why do Poles call Italy WŁOCHY? (video)

Bonus episode about the term “Anglo-Saxon” from December 2019

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It’s time for a reckoning! Or, to be more accurate, a number of reckonings. We talk to Dr. Stephen Chrisomalis, a linguistic anthropologist who specializes in the anthropology of mathematics and the interaction of language, cognition, and culture, about his new book Reckonings. It’s a fascinating discussion of how we write and represent numbers, and how that’s changed over the years. Why don’t we use Roman numerals any more? It’s more complicated than you might think…

Announcement: Mark will be running another session of his Speakeasy seminar course, The Origins of English: Learning to Think Like an Etymologist, which is open to anyone who’s interested. Registration is now open at Speakeasy.com for the session running on Sunday afternoons (Eastern time) from September 12th October 3rd.

Glossographia (blog)

Twitter: @schrisomalis

Wayne State University faculty page

Reckonings webpage

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We talked to Isobel Williams about her fascinating and illuminating new translation of selected poems of Catullus, illustrated with her drawings of the Japanese art of rope binding, shibari. Our discussion ranges over the connections between the world of shibari and the emotional struggles depicted in Catullus’s poetry, the way translation and learning Latin can feel like being tied up in, and untangling, knots, and much more.

Content Note: fetish, sex, brief mention of sexual violence, discussion of enslavement and use of slavery as metaphor

Blog about drawing shibari (Japanese rope bondage): Boulevardisme

Straight blog about drawing: Drawing from an uncomfortable position

Website: Isobel Williams

Twitter: @otium_Catulle

Instagram: @isobelwilliams2525

From Isobel: “For the online book launch, I compiled a video (>20 minutes) of self and others reading in Latin and English from the book. It starts with Sappho in ancient Greek and ends with Shakespeare, to show the continuity Sappho -> Catullus -> Ovid -> Shakespeare (it contains no Ovid). The video is here 'Catullus: Shibari Carmina' - readings and performances - YouTube”

Page about the book

Link to the book for Canada and US: Catullus: Shibari Carmina | Independent Publishers Group

James Methven’s Precious Asses – highly recommended

Irish poet and mediaevalist Bernard O’Donoghue – Poet, Academic, Medievalist and Literary Critic

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A day after Independence Day in the US, we investigate the history of the name “America” and two related cocktails, with some side trips into the sack of Rome in 410 CE and the use of the Fall of Rome as a historical parallel for the United States. This episode completes our mini series on country names, in the season of national holidays in north America.

Cocktails: Americano & Negroni

Rutilius Namatianus, De Reditu Suo

"The Fall of Ancient Rome and Modern U.S. Immigration: Historical Model or Political Football?" Frank Argote-Freyre and Christopher M. Bellitto. The Historian Vol. 74, No. 4 (WINTER 2012), pp. 789-811

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This episode is being released for Canada Day, but it’s not a celebration. This year, even more than most, we feel that this day needs to be one of reckoning with our past and trying to make a better present and future. So we talk about the history of the word Canuck and the various stories that Canadians tell themselves about their county, and we also discuss the role of Classics in the early history of the colonial project in Canada, as well as how to think about Classics today in relation to Indigenous issues. And then we finish with some quick etymologies of uniquely Canadian words and phrases. Content note: there is brief mention of residential schools and discussion of historical racism.

Le Canuck Cocktail

Jacques Cartier Heritage Minute

Minute Women podcast

Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles

Brill’s Companion to Classics in the Early Americas

Zachary Yuzwa on Twitter

Robinson-Huron Treaty lawsuit

Muskoka chair

Beavertails

Nanaimo bars

Fiddleheads

Spile

Porketta Bingo

“Only in Canada, You Say?” by Katherine Barber

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We talk to Dr. Victoria Austen about Roman gardens. What defines a garden? Where were the gardens at Rome, and what were they for? How did Romans think about gardens and gardening, and what roles did they play in literature, philosophy, and the public relations efforts of emperors?

@Vicky_Austen

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We talk about the history of the book, the reading habits of the ancient Romans, the pliability of sheep skins, and the mechanisms of semantic change that cause words to evolve over time. Oh, and we discuss Charles Darwin’s own language for his new theory.

"Codex Cocktail" was created for us by Ed Bedford — recipe here

Liber Adest newsletter

McCutcheon, R. W. “Silent Reading in Antiquity and the Future History of the Book.” Book History, vol. 18, 2015, pp. 1–32., www.jstor.org/stable/43956366

“In Ancient Rome” by Joseph Howley, in Further Reading, edited by Matthew Rubery and Leah Price. 2020.

Erasmus Darwin video

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This year for April Fool's Day we're taking part in a podcast switcheroo where podcasters are trading episodes to introduce their audiences to other podcasts they think you might enjoy. So we're having the great folks from Bunny Trails, Shauna and Dan, showcase one of their episodes, about the phrase “Queen Bee”.

Bunny Trails Podcast

Shownotes for this episode (including transcript)

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We speak to Dr. Carolyn Willekes about horses in antiquity: their development and domestication, their use in warfare, their training and breeding, and her many adventures riding horses across Greece, Turkey, Mongolia, and Canada.

The Horse in the Ancient World: From Bucephalus to the Hippodrome

Greek Warriors: Hoplites and Heroes

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Aven: Hi everyone. This isn't a regular episode of the Endless Knot podcast. Just a quick announcement.

Mark: I wanted to let you all know about something new that I'm doing: an online seminar series. It's basically a short course open to anyone, on the Speakeasy platform.  The title is: "The origins of English: learning to think like an etymologist" and it's going to be four one-hour classes on zoom, in which, through a series of linguistic puzzles, we will follow in the footsteps of etymologists and historical linguists to reconstruct the relationships between languages and long forgotten roots of English words.

The class is limited to 12 people and starts on Thursday, March 4th, at 7:00 PM eastern time, running on the three following Thursdays at the same time. If you're interested, you can go to our website at alliterative.net, and there's a link to the Speakeasy page, where you can buy a ticket.

Or if you'd like to take part, but the timing doesn't work for you, you can leave Speakeasy a message about what would be better, and we'll try and take that into consideration when we schedule the next session. Because if this goes well, I'm hoping not only to be able to repeat it, but also do some different courses on Old English poetry, on the development of English from the early middle ages to today, and more

Aven: So if you think this sounds fun, please go to our website at www.Alliterative.net for more information.

Mark: Hope to get to meet you online sometime soon! 

Link for more info and to buy tickets

We talk about the etymology of “Etymology” itself, and then discuss the basics of historical linguistics, including Grimm’s Law, Verner’s Law, and more. We also talk about Isidore of Seville, the etymological puns of Latin poets, and the way Mark does his research for his videos.

The Simple Truth cocktail

Our “Etymology” video

Isidore of Seville’s Etymologiae

Keith, A. M. “Etymological Wordplay in Ovid's 'Pyramus and Thisbe' (Met. 4.55-166).” The Classical Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 1, 2001, pp. 309–312.

Shelton, Colin. “Logical Complexity and Etymological Wordplay.” Latomus, vol. 73, no. 2, 2014, pp. 385–398.

O'Hara, James J. “Vergil's Best Reader? Ovidian Commentary on Vergilian Etymological Wordplay.” The Classical Journal, vol. 91, no. 3, 1996, pp. 255–276.

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This episode is all about Alexander the Great, and especially about his reception by later Greeks & Romans, the middle ages, and modern popular culture. We had the pleasure of interviewing Meg Finlayson who studies Alexander and his reception and shared her knowledge, enthusiasm, and dreams of a new Alexander movie with Colin Farrell playing Philip!

Meg’s twitter @agameganon

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Happy holidays! In this seasonal episode we discuss the origins of the modern Western calendar, the names of the months and days of the week, and the sources we have for Roman calendars and Germanic gods. Happy new year, and may it be better than the last!

Our poster store

Crosscut Distillery

Sabbath

Millennial

Ovid's Fasti

Herbert-Brown, Geraldine. “Fasti: the Poet, the Prince, and the Plebs” in A Companion to Ovid, ed. Peter E. Knox, Wiley-Blackwell. 2013.

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It’s election night 2020 in the US, and our video from 4 years ago about the language of politics is relevant once again. We discuss the changing vocabulary of democracy and what it can tell us about shifting attitudes towards popular rule and politicians. It may not be a complete break from political coverage, but at least it’s mostly about the distant past, not the uncertain future!

Ballot Box Cocktail

Mashed Radish blog post on Candidate

Mashed Radish blog post on Poll

Anatoly Liberman on Booth

“Sublime” video

“Sublime” podcast

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n this episode we go from the origin of the world to the many uses of olive oil, with discussions of Roman mosaics, and trademark law along the way. This is the third of our episodes on Intellectual Property, following Episode 42: Bugging Out! on patents and Episode 57: Freebooting, Piracy, & Copyright on copyright. Also, it’s the start of Season 6, and we want to thank everyone who’s joined us over the last 5 years. It’s been a blast, and here’s to another half decade!

“The asàrotos òikos mosaic as an elite status symbol” by Ehud Fathy

Ancient History Encyclopedia — the olive

Oxford Dictionaries blog post on “gasoline”

Hesiod, Theogony

First oil derrick — picture

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Back in June we had the pleasure of being part of the Intelligent Speech Conference 2020 — this year, held entirely online. It was a day filled with amazing podcasters and great conversations, and in this short episode we’re sharing the talk that we gave at the event. It’s about the word Recipe and early cookbooks, medicine, and women’s magazines. If you’d like to see the images that accompanied the presentation, you can watch the talk on YouTube, where the questions and post-talk discussion are also included.

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Intelligent Speech Conference

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It’s time for us to talk about plagues — ancient, medieval, literary, etymological, and psychological! We’re joined by Moxie from Your Brain on Facts for a very fun — if slightly disturbing — discussion of many aspects of historical plagues.

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Your Brain on Facts

Gardner, H.H. Pestilence and the Body Politic in Latin Literature. 2019.

Episode 44: "Us" & "Them" in the Ancient & Anglo-Saxon Worlds

Episode 51: Race & Racism in Ancient & Medieval Studies, Part One: The Problem

Episode 52: Race & Racism in Ancient & Medieval Studies, Part Two: Responses

Thorneloe Race forum episode

Statue/Systemic

Crisis/Discrimination

Thug/Protect

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rbgtk5r4

In an episode that was recorded in late May before the protests started, we took a break from COVID talk to give our thoughts on the final movie in the Star Wars saga. We discussed how it was similar to or different from ancient epic, medieval romance, and Icelandic sagas, but mostly we talked about the ways it failed to bring together the many threads of the Star Wars story.

Given current events, and the protests against police brutality and systemic anti-Black racism, we urge our white and non-Black listeners to continue their education on these subjects and, if you’re able, donate to support people fighting for justice. One good podcast series is “Seeing White” from SceneOnRadio, and there are anti-racism reading lists here and here; you can donate to Black Lives Matter or The National Bail Out Fund, or any of the many causes that need funds right now.

We also have two episodes on race and racism in medieval studies and classics; they’re several years old now, but may be of interest for thinking about issues of race in our particular fields, and the role our disciplines have played in supporting structural racism in Europe and North America. EPISODE 51: RACE & RACISM IN ANCIENT & MEDIEVAL STUDIES, PART ONE: THE PROBLEM and EPISODE 52: RACE & RACISM IN ANCIENT & MEDIEVAL STUDIES, PART TWO: RESPONSES.

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Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire Cookbook

Lyceum

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We take a look at the history of runes and their connection to early alphabets and Germanic culture. Then we take a trip back to the Phoenician and Egyptian origins of the modern English alphabet, and talk about some of the earliest examples of Greek writing, in inscriptions, epic poetry, and myth. Also, introducing Lyceum, a new platform for educational podcasting!

Transcript of this episode

The “Screaming Viking” cocktail

Lyceum

NativLang’s video Muslim Vikings & Magic Letters: The Odd History of Runes pt 1

Images of English Runes

The story of Hyacinth (see under “Larkspur”) and images of possible “Ai Ai” flowers

“THE TEXT: Signs of Writing in Homer.” Homer: The Poetry of the Past, by ANDREW FORD, Cornell University Press, Ithaca; London, 1992, pp. 131–171. JSTOR.

The Runecast podcast

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We trace the etymologies and development of the words “sex” and “gender”, as well as words for women and men in Greek, Latin, and English, touching on Roman, Greek, and medieval English ideas about gender. Then we discuss the grammatical term “gender” and how it differs across languages around the world.

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The History of Sex Podcast

The “Pink Lady” cocktail

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This year’s holiday episode is all about festivals and feasts — and in particular, midwinter celebrations, the solstice, and the seasons. And we read a couple of Latin poems about drinking — and explore the odd connection between them and a tire company!

The Christmas Cake cocktail

Hesiod’s Works and Days in English

Horace’s Odes in Latin

Horace Odes 1.37 in English

Feast video

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This bonus episode contains two talks we gave at our university in November. Mark spoke about “The ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Problem: Language and Racism in Medieval Studies” and Aven spoke about “Defining ‘Race’ in the Ancient Mediterranean and Today”.

Google ngrams for collocations of “Anglo-Saxon”:

All English Texts

American English

British English

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Crossover time! We’re joined by Scott Lepisto, of the Itinera Podcast, in a conversation at the SoundEducation podcasting conference in Boston. We talked about the conference itself, the use of podcasting in classrooms, and the importance of public-facing scholarship in Classics and Medieval Studies. And please check out Scott’s podcast, in which he interviews classicists about their work and their journey to and through the field!

Scott on Twitter

Itinera Podcast

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Happy Halloween! This year we’re talking about the origins of “Magic”, the differences between religion and magic, Greek and Roman spells and curses, and some rather bizarre tales about Virgil & Aristotle.

Our “Magic” video

Cocktail: Black Magic

Religion in the Roman Empire, James B Rives, 2007

Arcana Mundi,Georg Luck, 2006

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We speak with Dr. Liz Gloyn about her new book, Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture. We talk about Hercules: the Legendary Journeys, the Odyssey, the problems with Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey pattern, and more!

Liz Gloyn

Classically Inclined blog

Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture

Facebook Page for Tracking Classical Monsters

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We talked to Winston Black about his new book, The Middle Ages: Fact & Fiction, which addresses the most common myths and misconceptions about the Middle Ages. And we touch on video games, D&D, and Game of Thrones in the process!

The SoundEducation Conference page

The Middle Ages: Fact & Fiction

Winston on Twitter

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The Fates have decreed that it’s time for us to talk about the word “Weird”! We discuss its etymology, the concept of fate in the ancient and medieval world, whether mythical women really do usually appear in threes, and Shakespeare.

Twist of Fate cocktail

Weird Sisters Blood & Hand Punch

Shakespeare Not Stirred book

“Weird” video

“Does English have a future tense?” video

“Arrow” video

“As We Like It Podcast” – Macbeth episode

Chart of ‘strange’ vs ‘weird’ usage

Chart of ‘weird’, ‘uncanny’, ‘eerie’, & ‘unearthly’

More information about the Moirai

Hesiod passage about the Fates

Catullus 64

Theoi site for Greek mythology

Articles about WEIRD linguistics and WEIRD psychology

Professor Elemental “Everybody’s Weird”

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iTunes link

Stitcher link

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While at VidCon this year, we sat down and chatted with a few of our fellow educational YouTubers: The Cynical Historian, Knowing Better, 12tone, and Step Back History. This is a compilation of our discussions about their channels, their reasons for making videos, and their experience of VidCon and its educational companion event, EduCon. If you don’t already watch their videos, we strongly recommend you check them out. Thank you to them all for taking part!

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We discuss a person who had an important impact on both science and language: Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles. In particular, we talk about the use of poetry to explain science, from Hesiod to Lucretius to Darwin to Baba Brinkman, and the new wave of science communicators on and off line.

Erasmus Darwin cocktail menu, based on The Loves of the Plants

D.G. King-Hele. “Erasmus Darwin, Man of Ideas and Inventor of Words.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 42.2 (1988): 149–180 .

Baba Brinkman

Hesiod’s Theogony

Aratus’s Phaenomena

Acapella Science

Thomas Meritt

Susan McMaster

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We spoke to Carly Silver, an editor and a writer on ancient history and horse racing, about how she connects the past to contemporary issues, the intriguing stories in curse tablets in Roman Britain, murder mysteries set in the ancient world, romance novels, breeding programs for American Thoroughbreds, and more!

Carly’s website

Carly’s article about Hadrian’s Wall

Carly’s article about the sexual assault charges against a workman in ancient Egypt

Carly’s writing about horse racing

Ancient murder mysteries mentioned in the podcast:

Gary Corby, Athenian Mysteries

Lindsey Davis

David Wishart

John Maddox Roberts, SPQR series

Rosemary Rowe

Big Finish Cicero series

Robert Harris

Paul Doherty

Agatha Christie “Death Comes as the End”

Elizabeth Peters

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Happy (?) April Fool’s Day! We talk about the origins of the holiday, its connections to the Tom Collins cocktail, and hoaxes throughout history, from Athenian tyrants to the ‘Scratching Fanny’ ghost to the Da Vinci Code.

Tom Collins recipe

Podcast episode on Cuckold

Podcast episode 7, with discussion about urban legends

Podcast episode on Sublime

Bunny Trails episode on ‘wild goose chase’

Herodotus passage

Erasmus Darwin video

Podcast episode about the 12 Days of Christmas

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We talk about names for countries — endonyms and exonyms — and the trade goods named after the places they come from, in a discussion that ranges from Japanese guns to the connection between Wales and roosters to the colour of the phoenix, and much more. If you can make it to the end of the podcast, you’ll never look at porcelain the same way again!

Red Dragon Cocktail

The Rising Sun Cocktail

Jabzy’s Japan videos: Europeans in Japan and Guns in Japan

Cynical Historian’s video on gun history

Eidolon article about cooking sows’ vulvae (I’m afraid I said “vagina” not “vulvae” in the podcast, mea maxima culpa!)

Schork, R. J. “Egyptian Etymology in Vergil.” Latomus, vol. 57, no. 4, 1998, pp. 828–831. JSTOR

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We talk to Edward Watts about his new book Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny, which covers the history of Rome from the 3rd century BCE to the rise of Octavian to princeps. Our conversation ranges across questions of Roman identity, our fascination with transitional periods, and the connections between Roman history and contemporary politics.

Edward Watts

Ancient Greece Declassified episode 19 “America's Greco-Roman Legacies w/ Caroline Winterer”

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Amalia Dillin is an author of mythic fantasy and historical fiction set in the ancient and Viking worlds. Among other books, she’s written the Fate of the Gods trilogy, about Eve and Adam (and Thor and Athena and more!), and the Orc Saga, beginning with Honor among Orcs. She also writes, as Amalia Carosella, about Bronze Age Greece (Helen of Sparta & sequels, about the love between Helen & Theseus) and the Viking Age (Daughter of a Thousand Years, about Freydis, daughter of Erik the Red, and also a modern women wrestling with her newly found pagan faith).

We spoke to Amalia before the holidays about her love of mythology, the complexities of writing historical fiction, and goats!

And hey, the Kindle of Daughter of a Thousand Years is on sale for $0.99, and the paperback is also on sale!

Amalia’s website with links to her blog and all of her books.

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Time for a holiday episode! This time we’re talking about how Santa’s reindeer got their names, including some of their classical ties to Roman religion and Greek myth, the Reindeer Rule in US law, and NORAD’s Santa Tracker. And we have a quiz about the animals that bring the winter gift giver around the world!

Our video “Who are Santa’s reindeer?”

Mark’s Lexitecture episode

Our Christmas videos playlist

Episode 8: Yule

Episode 25: The 12 Days of Christmas

Episode 49: Stocking Stuffers

The Rudolph Cocktail

Catullus 14

The two versions of Eros: Protogenos & Ouranios

Ovid Amores1.2

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While at the Sound Education conference we had the chance to sit down with Kevin Stroud, host of the History of the English Language podcast. We talked about his passion for language, his experiences with enthusiastic but pedantic listeners, his project to gather a database of accent samples from around the world, and much more. Thank you Keven for chatting with us, it was great fun to meet you and hang out!

Sound Education

The History of the English Language podcast

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From modern words for ghost, to Latin and Greek terms for spirits, to ghost words that haunt dictionaries, we explore some spooky etymologies and tell some ancient ghost stories.

Sound Education

Green Ghost Cocktail

Liquified Ghost Cocktail

Ghost video

Eidolon online journal

Pliny’s letter 7.27 in English

VIdeo of a performance of the Latin version of Pliny’s ghost story

List of ancient ghost stories sourced from Twitter

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In this episode we talk about the history of education in Europe, from classical Greece to the 19th century, covering the origins of many education-related words. Then we turn to the history of second-language teaching of Latin, from Roman Egypt to today’s Living Latin movement.

DSM (channel about language and etymology)

Sound Education

Classic Cocktail

Education video

Learning Latin and Greek from Antiquity to Present, chapters on teaching Latin to Greek speakers (Dickey) & Latin in Anglo-Saxon England (Fisher)

“Medieval and Modern Views of Universal Grammar and the Nature of Second Language Learning” by Margaret Thomas

“Inside the Anglo-Saxon Classroom“ by Kate Wiles

“Grasping Sentences by Wholes: Henry Sweet’s Idea of Language Study in the Early Middle Ages” by Mark Atherton

Learn Latin from the Romans: A Complete Introductory Course Using Textbooks from the Roman Empire by Eleanor Dickey

Learning Latin the Ancient Way by Eleanor Dickey

“The MovieTalk: A Practical Application of Comprehensible Input Theory” by Rachel Ash

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We report on our trips to EduCon, VidCon, Iceland, & England. Lots of museums and historical places, and check out the web page for pictures of some of our favourite artifacts and images.

Sound Education podcasting conference

We Create Edu community

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Travelling Etymologies: Names in Iceland and England

Golden Circle Tour

Volcano House

Westman Island Eruption

Penis Museum

Vagina Museum

Rodin and the Art of Ancient Greece

Earliest English Word video

Episode with James Andean

Sator square

Our friend Michael (Wombat)’s blog post about the Battle of Towton

The etymology of 'sublime' takes us through a discussion of the Gothic, Neo-Classical, and Romantic periods, the origins of the Romance languages, the roots of romantic love, and more.

The Sublime Moment Cocktail

Mats Malm “On the Technique of the Sublime”, Comparative Literature, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Winter, 2000), pp. 1-10.

Sarah Bond on Polychromy in Ancient Statues

Alex Potts, Flesh and the Ideal: Winckelmann and the Origins of Art History

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This episode, we travel to Calgary, Alberta for a conference, and try some very questionable "ancient" potables! Aven takes a microphone on the road, and chats with a bunch of classicists about Roman beer, barley water, Homeric kykeon, conference papers, social media, and more!

Matt Gibbs' article in The Conversation

The slides & papers & resources from the Public-Facing Scholarship panel

Our previous episode about ancient and medieval beer brewing

Kevin Solez

Matt Gibbs

Amber Porter

Mary Deminion

Carolyn Willekes

Conor Whately

Peter Miller

Vicky Austen-Perry

Paul McGilvery

Alison Innes

Melanie Racette-Campbell

Melissa Funke

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We sail the high seas and surf the interwebs for this episode all about the etymology of pirate-related words and the coinage of a new term for stealing videos. We also cover the development of copyright law, the reasons pirates say "Arrrr!", and what Julius Caesar did to his kidnappers.

Show Notes

Bumbo cocktail recipe

"Freebooting" video

The Maritime History podcast

The Academic Podcast by Sam McLean

"CAESAR AND THE PIRATES: OR HOW TO MAKE (AND BREAK) AN ANCIENT LIFE", JOSIAH OSGOOD, Greece & Rome, Vol. 57, No. 2 (OCTOBER 2010), pp. 319-336

de Souza, Philip. "Rome's Contribution to the Development of Piracy". Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. Vol. 6, The Maritime World of Ancient Rome (2008), pp. 71-96

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We have the great pleasure to be joined by Megan & Carrie from the Vocal Fries podcast to talk about linguistic discrimination: what is it, why is it bad, what is its history, and how can we combat it?

Show Notes

The Vocal Fries Podcast

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In part two of our miniseries on pets, we cover cats, monkeys, birds, and more. Find out the surprising origins of the word for parrot, what medieval people named their cats, and what bird was symbolic of the Virgin Mary. 

Show Notes

@AllEndlessKnot on Twitter

Medieval Pets by Kathleen Walker-Meikle

"Greek and Roman Household Pets", Francis D. Lazenby

Animals for Show and Pleasure in Ancient Rome, George Dennison

Companion Animals and Us: Exploring the Relationships Between People and Pets Anthony L. Podberscek, Elizabeth S. Paul, James A. Serpell, eds.

Our episode on farm animals

Paw prints on a manuscript

Mosaic from Istanbul (from Caitlin Green's blog)

Dr. Caitlin Green's blog

Pangur Bán

Catullus 2 & 3

Ovid Amores 2.6

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What makes an animal a pet? Who kept pets in the ancient and medieval worlds? What kinds of animals were they? And why are all the words for pets in English of (mostly) unknown origin?! We start a mini two-part series with a general discussion of ancient and medieval pets, and then some great stories about some Very Good Dogs.

Show Notes

@AllEndlessKnot on Twitter

Medieval Pets by Kathleen Walker-Meikle

"Greek and Roman Household Pets", Francis D. Lazenby

Federico II Gonzaga by Titian

Odyssey, 17. 309-10

Martial, 1.109

Petronius, Satyricon, 71

The Lady and the Unicorn, Desire

Animals for Show and Pleasure in Ancient Rome, George Dennison

Companion Animals and Us: Exploring the Relationships Between People and Pets Anthony L. Podberscek, Elizabeth S. Paul, James A. Serpell, eds.

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We head back to the Endless Knot Cocktail Bar to talk about the history of the Mai Tai, the Tiki craze, Polynesian mythology, cultural appropriation, and World's Fairs. And then we turn to Rome's relationship to Greece, and discuss whether Horace wrote the Exotica music of the ancient world!

Show Notes

Mai Tai Video

@AllEndlessKnot on Twitter

Mai Tai Recipe

Polynesian Lexicon Project Online

Wallace-Hadrill, A. “To Be Roman, Go Greek Thoughts on Hellenization at Rome.” Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement, no. 71, 1998, pp. 79–91.

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In part two of our discussion about racism, we talk about ways to respond to the problems in the field, in teaching, scholarship, and more. Thank you to Katherine Blouin, Damian Fleming, Usama Ali Gad, Rebecca Futo Kennedy, Asa Mittman, Dimitri Nakassis, Helen Young, and Donna Zuckerberg for their generous contributions of time and thoughtful discussion of these difficult subjects. Please join in the conversation with your thoughts and ideas about how to move the fields forward.

Show Notes

@AllEndlessKnot on Twitter

The Optimist Cocktail

Episode 44: "Us" & "Them" in the Ancient & Anglo-Saxon Worlds

Episode 51: Race & Racism in Ancient & Medieval Studies, Part One: The Problem

Dr. Katherine Blouin
Everyday Orientalism blog
@isisnaucratis

Dr. Damian Fleming
@FW_Medieval

Dr. Usama Ali Gad
Classics in Arabic blog
@Usamaligad78

Dr. Rebecca Futo Kennedy
Classics at the Intersections blog
Sourcebook on Race and Ethnicity in the Classical World
@kataplexis

Dr. Asa Mittman
 Inconceivable Beasts: The Wonders of the East in the Beowulf Manuscript

Dr. Dimitri Nakassis
Aegean Prehistory blog
@DimitriNakassis

Dr. Helen Young
Race & Popular Fantasy: Habits of Whiteness
@heyouonline

Dr. Donna Zuckerberg
Eidolon
@donnazuck

The Public Medievalist's series on Race, Racism, & the Middle Ages

In the Middle blog (frequently has useful posts on these subjects)

Hold My Mead: A Bibliography For Historians Hitting Back At White Supremacy by Sarah Bond

Medieval People of Color Tumblr

Pharos -- documenting misuse of the Classics

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What are the problems surrounding race and racism in the fields of Classics and Medieval Studies today? Where did these fields come from, and how does that affect the way we think about the past, and how we construct the present? For this episode (and the next) we interviewed eight scholars and put it together into an exploration of these unfortunately timely topics. Thank you to Katherine Blouin, Damian Fleming, Usama Ali Gad, Rebecca Futo Kennedy, Asa Mittman, Dimitri Nakassis, Helen Young, and Donna Zuckerberg for their generous contributions of time and thoughtful discussion of these difficult subjects. In our next episode, we will hear about possible responses to these problems -- in teaching, scholarship, and more.

Show Notes

Transcript

Conversation Starter cocktail

Episode 44: "Us" & "Them" in the Ancient & Anglo-Saxon Worlds

Part Two: Responses

Dr. Katherine Blouin
Everyday Orientalism blog
@isisnaucratis

Dr. Damian Fleming
@FW_Medieval

Dr. Usama Ali Gad
Classics in Arabic blog
@Usamaligad78

Dr. Rebecca Futo Kennedy
Classics at the Intersections blog
Sourcebook on Race and Ethnicity in the Classical World
@kataplexis

Dr. Asa Mittman
 Inconceivable Beasts: The Wonders of the East in the Beowulf Manuscript

Dr. Dimitri Nakassis
Aegean Prehistory blog
@DimitriNakassis

Dr. Helen Young
Race & Popular Fantasy: Habits of Whiteness
@heyouonline

Dr. Donna Zuckerberg
Eidolon
@donnazuck

The Public Medievalist's series on Race, Racism, & the Middle Ages

In the Middle blog (frequently has useful posts on these subjects)

Hold My Mead: A Bibliography For Historians Hitting Back At White Supremacy by Sarah Bond

Medieval People of Color Tumblr

Our Patreon page

iTunes link

Stitcher link

Google Play Music link

This podcast episode on YouTube

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We interview Emily Wilson, whose new translation of the Odyssey for Norton was published in November to great acclaim and critical praise. She tells us about some of her choices in the areas of metre, vocabulary, register, and more, and we discuss the very concept of 'choice' in translation, the notion of a 'faithful' translation, the complicated question of heroic women, and 70's blaxpoitation films!

Show Notes

The Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson

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Reindeer video

Merchandise (CafePress Site)

Stocking video

Gerry Bowler, The World Encyclopedia of Christmas

Bruce David Forbes, Christmas: A Candid History

Desmond Morris, Christmas Watching

Andrea Broomfield, Food and Cooking in Victorian England: A History

Kaufman, Cathy. “The Ideal Christmas Dinner.” Gastronomica, vol. 4, no. 4, 2004, pp. 17–24. 

Leach, Helen. “Translating the 18th Century Pudding.” Islands of Inquiry: Colonisation, Seafaring and the Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes, edited by Geoffrey Clark et al., vol. 29, ANU Press, 2008, pp. 381–396. 

History of shortbread.

Canadian Encyclopedia "Tourtière"

Lemasson, Jean-Pierre. "The Long History of the Tourtière of Quebec's Lac-St-Jean", in What's to Eat? Entrees in Canadian Food History, edited by Nathalie Cooke, McGill-Queens UP, 2009.

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Mythtake Podcast

Bakkhai at Stratford

Introduction to Mythology from Oxford UP

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

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Why Bob Dylan Matters

Monday, Dec. 4, 2017 at Newtonville Books in Boston, MA

Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017 at the University of Tulsa, in Tulsa, OK

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We talk to podcaster and author Mike Duncan about his book, podcasting, Roman history, and more. Thanks to Mike for joining us -- and everyone, go get his book, it's great!

Show Notes

The History of Rome Podcast

Revolutions Podcast

The Storm before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic

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Our Hallowe'en themed episode this year is about costumes -- and etymologies and origin stories of a whole bunch of iconic items of clothing. We talk about the semiotics of fashion, the many varieties of the toga, and hats that caused fainting fits, and finish off with a couple of spooky Roman stories! Also, check out this year's Hallowe'en video, on words for Ghost.

Show Notes

#2PodsADay

Werewolf Cocktail recipe

"Costume" video

"Jack o'Lantern" video

Ep 22: Jack o'Lantern podcast

The "gens togata": Changing Styles and Changing Identities 

Article about Trudeau

Attitudes of Lady Hamilton, by Novelli

Portrait of Lady Hamilton as Bacchante, by Romney

Petronius Satyricon vol 2 chpt 62 werewolf story

Pliny the Elder werewolf passage

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What words did the Greeks, Romans, and Anglo-Saxons use to talk about different groups of people? What differences did they think were important? How do those compare to modern conceptions of ethnicity, national identity, or race? We try to give some basic background on this complicated question, starting with the etymology of the vocabulary and addressing some of the ways differences were conceptualized.

Show Notes

Full transcript of this episode

#2PodsADay

Video on the Anglo-Saxon Invasion, collaboration with Jabzy

Ethnicity in Herodotus--The Honest Entry

How is the Ancient Mediterranean Diverse If Everyone There Is "White"?

“Black Odysseus, White Caesar: When Did "White People" Become "White"?” James H. Dee. The Classical Journal. Vol. 99, No. 2 (Dec., 2003 - Jan., 2004), pp. 157-167

“Did ancient identity depend on ethnicity? A preliminary probe” Erich Gruen. Phoenix. Vol. 67, No. 1/2 (2013), pp. 1-22.

Were Medieval People Racist?

“Medieval and Modern Concepts of Race and Ethnicity” Robert Bartlett.

Caitlin Green’s blog, for general evidence of diversity in Britain

Race and Ethnicity in Anglo-Saxon Literature. Stephen Harris, Taylor & Francis, 2003.

Where the the term "White People" come from?

Colorlines in Classical North Africa

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