Ancient Office Hours

Dr. Jake Nabel, a professor of Classics at Pennsylvania State University, joins Lexie to discuss finding his niche from Confucius to Socrates to Rome, who were the Parthians, Parthian-Roman cultural exchanges, and navigating the loss of material evidence between the fall of the Parthian Empire and the beginning of the Sasanian Empire. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this w...

Dr. Daniel T. Potts, a professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World - NYU, joins Lexie to discuss his path from anthropology into Near Eastern Archaeology, a brief history of the Elamites, distinguishing Elamites from Assyrians, and the difficulties for future research or excavations in Iran due to the current political situation. So tuck in your togas...

In this special episode, Michael Hoffen, one of the co-authors of the newly released book, “Be a Scribe!”, joins Lexie to discuss learning Egyptian from a young age, translating and designing the book, his hopes for the book, and what he’d like to do next. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter , Facebook &am...

Dr. Sabrina Higgins, a professor of archaeology and art history at Simon Fraser University, joins Lexie to discuss misconceptions about the Virgin Mary, her experience researching the cult of Mary and the Maryan interpretation in Egypt, Biblical themes in the DaVinci Code and her work with Peopling the Past. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey!&nbs...

Dr. Chelsea Gardner, a professor of Classical Archaeology at Acadia University, joins Lexie to discuss her path from psychology to pedestrian survey in Greece, her work with the Peopling the Past podcast, how she and her PtP colleagues handle modern reception via a multitude of digital platforms. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forg...

Dr. Sarah Beckmann, a professor of Classics at UCLA, joins Lexie to discuss comparisons between Rome and America, examine Roman domestic art, shrines, & cult practices, and explore the universal nature of religion/spirituality in the ancient world and the challenges of communicating them in the modern era. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey!&n...

Dr. Martin Worthington, a professor of Assyriology at Trinity College Dublin, joins Lexie to discuss the reasoning behind his decision to switch from Egyptology into Assyriology, his experience producing a Babylonian language short film, consulting for Marvel’s Eternals, and combating the challenges of romanticising ancient worlds for the purpose of simplification for the general public. So tuck i...

Dr. John Hyland, a professor of ancient history at Christopher Newport University, joins Lexie to discuss getting into Classics via Herodotus and moving into military history of the Persian Empire, taking a deep dive into Sparta’s relationship with Persia, and how Persian culture gets lost in translation in media adaptations of Persia focused material. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme...

Dr. Alan Lenzi, a professor of history at University of the Pacific, joins Lexie to discuss getting into the ancient world via Biblical Studies and music, whether Gilgamesh translations have been done to death in Assyriology, and how the portrayal of ancient Mesopotamia in popular media has changed. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget...

Dr. Roselyn A. Campbell, a bioarchaeologist, Egyptologist, visiting assistant professor at UC Riverside, and assistant director of the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy, joins Lexie to chat about her path to becoming a bioarchaeologist and Egyptologist, dispelling misconceptions around human sacrifice, power, and violence, and whether bones and science in true crime media bother bioarchaeo...

Dr. Daniel W. Leon, a professor of Classics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, joins Lexie to discuss getting into Greek via Jewish tragedies, his research on the life and rule of Philip the Third of Macedon, his work on the origins of nationalist movements using history as a throughline, and how to balance teaching general classes vs special topics courses. So tuck in your togas and...

Dr. Alex Purves, a professor of Classics at UCLA, joins Lexie to discuss whether translation preferences matter when teaching Homer, how we balance making material accessible vs preserving a higher entry point to appreciate harder to translate parts, why we should expand beyond straight reception in media and take new risks. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exci...

Meghan Sullivan, creator and host of the History N' Games podcast, joins Lexie to discuss why and how she started her History N’ Games podcast, how to balance personal and professional gaming desires, her process of finding history in games, and how to prioritize games when there’s almost too much content. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't...

Dr. Brent Vine, a professor emeritus of Classics and Indo-European Studies at UCLA, joins Lexie to discuss how linguists divide their field into subfields and periods, the development and importance of meter to both Homeric poetry and other forms of Greek poetry, and whether the Greeks had an ancient equivalent to Shakespearean English. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this...

Dr. Natalie Van Deusen, a professor of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Alberta, joins Lexie to discuss how to be a philologist and navigate runes in Old Norse studies, whether female warriors like Lagertha from Vikings could have existed, and gives her a crash course on Norse mythology from the Valkyries and Freyja to Freyja’s cats and the Giants. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Tri...

Nick Brown, a Phd candidate in Egyptology at UCLA, joins Lexie to discuss whether all Egyptologists are obsessed with mummies and tombs, how to get onto an archaeological fieldwork project in Egypt, and shares some cool insights into his current dissertation research on royal funerary archaeology. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't for...

Dr. John Papadopoulos, a professor of Classics & Archaeology at UCLA, joins Lexie to discuss his experience studying Classical archaeology as a Greek in Australia, why there isn’t more encouragement to learn the modern languages of the regions of study, and how bringing ancient buildings back to life is essential for future studies. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this...

Dr. Jackson Crawford, a YouTube public educator on Old Norse language, literature, and mythology and former professor at University of Colorado - Boulder, joins Lexie to discuss the unique challenges to being a full time YouTube public scholar in Old Norse studies, his opinion on consulting for major Hollywood & gaming projects, and why people associate Norway & Denmark with Vikings more t...

Dr. Alice Mandell, a professor of Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University, joins Lexie to discuss the importance of mentors to a student’s graduate school journey, how the COVID-19 pandemic affected both the student experience and creativity, and whether Biblical Studies scholars actually enjoy media reception of their field. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trire...

Dr. Bryant Kirkland, a professor of Classics at UCLA, joins Lexie to discuss how his interest in an Episcopal prayer book led him to study Greek, his take on reception studies through non-mainstream media, and his thoughts on teaching a course on Black Classicism and how to find complimentary literature. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't f...

Dr. Jonathan Winnerman, an Egyptologist and academic administrator in ancient studies at UCLA, joins Lexie to discuss how Egypt is a perfect fit for interactive pedagogy in classrooms, his work in making ancient Egyptian inscriptions great again, and his hopes for UCLA’s new Institute for the Study of Global Antiquity in shaping the future of ancient studies. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard T...

Trevor Culley, host of The History of Persia podcast, joins Lexie to talk about why he started a podcast on ancient Persia, his hopes for the future of podcasting Persian history, and dissecting the reception of Persians in modern media. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter , Facebook & Instagram or visit ou...

Dr. Jacob Lauinger, a professor of Assyriology at Johns Hopkins University, joins Lexie to discuss getting started with Akkadian/Sumerian languages, cultural exchange as an integral part of studying the economic history of Mesopotamia, and explore the debate on when cuneiform tablets were baked and written on. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! D...

Dr. Jennifer Stager, an Art History professor at Johns Hopkins University, joins Lexie to discuss becoming an art historian rather than becoming an archaeologist, her work with colourful ancient art and how it led her to write a book on ancient medicine, and how video games handle recreating colourful statuary. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey!...

Dr. Matthew Roller, a professor of Classics at Johns Hopkins University, joins Lexie to discuss the culture shift in acceptance for double majoring in STEM and humanities, defining monumentality, cultural memory, and their relationship to each other, and the practice of gift giving in ancient times and the various meanings behind them. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this...