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This week Dave and Jeff wade into the deep waters of Greek Tragedy for the first time with a two-part look at Euripides’ Alcestis. Even devotees of tragedy may not be familiar with this one! But before we get there we poke around at a few questions: why did tragedy arise in Athens?  Why did actors wear masks, and what's a deus ex machina? Then it’s on to Euripides himself—a poet well ahead of his...

Filling every nook and cranny, Jeff and Dave this week focus on their fears, and the 8th century B.C. pottery masterpiece known as the Dipylon Vase . What drives an artist and a culture to create a work like this in which every inch of the surface is covered? Is there something to this “fear of the empty space”?  What about the funeral scene that dominates the titular objet d'art, and when is that...

This week Dave and Jeff take a sober look at the political assassination of Marcus Tullius Cicero, December 7, 43 B.C. As Octavian and Mark Antony reach détente, heads must roll. And first on the platter is that of poor Tully. Come along as we take the train out of Rome from Termini station on a gray January day and head down to Formiae . We recount the last hours of the famous orator with the hel...

This week Jeff and Dave tag along with Cicero to sunny Tuscany where they find Cato Uticensis  knee-deep in a pile of books on Stoicism. Gorging on books ( helluari libris) and literary addiction (aviditas legendi) is our theme as we share favorite authors and works from the ancient and modern worlds.  First up is a primo piatto of Plato, followed by savory servings of Sophocles, and Apuleian “aft...

This week Dave and Jeff access a Pylon and head back to the beginning—Hesiod’s Theogony (c. 700 BC), the closest thing we get to a canonical creation myth for the ancient Greeks.  In between aggressive sickle-wielding, “foam births”, and largely pointless references to ‘90s movies, we find out where both the gods and the physical universe come from and why, in the end, Zeus does it best.  If that’...

Jeff and Dave get into the dirt with the archaic Greek poet Hesiod (c. 700 B.C.) and his seminal poem Works and Days. Is this near contemporary a match for Homer or does he deserve his (well-cultivated) second banana status? What should we think about the justice of Zeus, two kinds of competition (was Hesiod a capitalist?), fire-stealing, the myth of Pandora, and whether might makes right? Don't m...

Jeff and Dave lead you on a tour down into the Scavi below St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, Rome. We take a look at some of the historical and archaeological evidence for the martyrdom and burial of the Apostle Peter. Did Peter die in Rome? Was he buried there? What is the long history of this site, from the reign of Nero, Constantine the Great, and Pope Julius II, right down to the mysteries...

Dave and Jeff serve up some Northern Renaissance art with a close look at Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s mysterious and haunting take on the Daedalus and Icarus myth. Is it a response to Ovid’s version of the tale or something else altogether? Jean Claude VanDamme stops by with a waffle sampler, and don’t miss: fat man on the menu. We also get at the lingering question, “Will Dave eve...

This week Jeff and Dave take a close look at the Roman poet Ovid's (43 B.C. - 18 A.D.) first public work, Amores I.1. We cover such important literary notions as recusatio, ἀδύνατον, and what it must be like to live in Des Moines, IA. Come for the literature, stay for the measured mayhem. Apollo at war, Mars playing rhythm guitar, Venus with sword and helmet, and Athena fanning love's flames. It's...

This week Dave and Jeff watch—sometimes through their fingers—Wolfgang Petersen’s sweaty, beardy epic, Troy (2004). Come along as we revisit the film after several years of peaceful forgetfulness. Was it as bad as we thought? More fit for a shampoo commercial than a tour-de-force of bravado aristeia? Some highlights: a) musing over whether the film embodies a “Homeric Spirit” b) the “Tiresias” awa...

In this episode Dave and Jeff make their way through the life and (mis)adventures of Heinrich Schliemann, the German polyglot, tycoon, and romantic who was instrumental in the discovery of the sites of ancient Troy and Mycenae.  Who was this man?  Was he a legitimate archaeologist?  A mad genius?  A grave robber?  Charlatan?  All of the above?  Come along as we dig up Priam's Treasure, death masks...

Is the Homeric world make-believe, or is there a juicy, historical core at the center of these exciting adventure stories? We discuss some of the archaeological, geographical, and linguistic evidence for the truth behind the legend. Boar's-tusk helmets, Nestor's cup, elaborate burials, a catalog of ships, Hansel and Gretel, casserole - this episode has it all.

Dave and Jeff finish off their tour through some of the narrative and aesthetic aspects of Homer's first epic, the Iliad. Death on all sides, as Patroclus and Hector bite the dust, plus greaves, shields, and the Superman paradox. Come for the appetizers, stay through dessert.

Honor Lost, Honor Defended, Achilles Spends Book 9 Glamping in his Tent.

Achilles, Agamemnon, Briseis, Chryseis, Diomedes, a face that launched a thousand ships...Join us for Part 1 of our journey through the Iliad. It's going to be epic!

In 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.