Ancient Office Hours

Dr. Tori Lee, an assistant professor of classics at Davidson College, discusses her favorite authors, especially Catullus, and her MA thesis on how English translators handle obscenity, including euphemism, omission, and dysphemism, arguing for the importance of studying modern translations and noting that free online versions can be more censored. She outlines a current project on pastoral litera...

Dr. Jana Matuszak, a professor of Sumerology at the University of Chicago, joins Lexie to discuss the need to advocate for and provide accessible translations of ancient works, diving into Sumerian royal epics beyond Gilgamesh, examining Enheduanna as the oldest named poet, and talks about love songs, hymns, erotic poetry, and humorous “contest” texts. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme...

Dr. Ben Angell, a video game writer and current narrative lead at Capture Age, joins Lexie to discuss how he shifted focus from “face of battle” analysis to morale, psychology, and the Roman army’s social networks, formative teaching at the Ashmolean Museum through object handling and the Krasis program, collaborative imagination-sparking pedagogy, and argues games best inspire interest rather tha...

Dr. Constantine Karathanasis, a professor of classics at Texas A&M, joins Lexie to discuss the role of national mythologies about antiquity, EU debates that separate “ancient” from “modern” Greece, developing an interdisciplinary project linking comedy’s frequent money references to Athenian democratic incentives and behavioral economics, “accuracy” debates in reception, and pop-culture portra...

In this second “Odysseason” panel, another group of classicists discuss Christopher Nolan’s new “Odyssey” film and the major changes made in his adaptation and what those changes enable, including: a traumatized, guilt-ridden Odysseus; the Aeneid-derived character Sinon reframed as Odysseus’s victim; an expanded, emotional focus on Argos and a merged Argos/Telemachus recognition scene. Panelists c...

Ben Truska, an independent scholar and ancient Greek hoplite reenactor, joins Lexie to discuss shifting from history to a history/classics double major, citing favorite classes like Sexuality in Ancient Greece and Age of Augustus, pursuing an archaeological approach to warfare, developing a master’s thesis on the socioeconomic evolution of Greek arms and armor, and his interest in re-enactment and...

In this first “Odysseason” panel, a group of classics scholars discuss Christopher Nolan’s new “Odyssey” film as a modern reinterpretation rather than Homer, focusing on war trauma in Odysseus, parallels to Bronze Age collapse, and a rules-based order undermined from within, including a reveal that the feared invaders are the Greeks. Participants critique the film’s heavy-handedness, reduced meta-...

Dr. Catherine Bonesho, a professor of Early Judaism at UCLA, joins Lexie to discuss enjoying ancient languages as a grammar puzzle, identifying as a scholar of ancient Judaism in the Greek and Roman periods rather than simply “biblical studies,” her “Intro to Judaism” course spanning from Tanakh to contemporary media and Los Angeles practices, and reflections from UCLA’s 2025 Bible conference cent...

Returning guest, Dr. David Schenker, a professor of classics at Mizzou, returns for a 6-year catch up! At the time of this recording, he had just taught his final formal class after 35 years at the University of Missouri. Luckily, he will continue working through delivering occasional lectures, committee work, and Greek reading. In today’s episode, he discusses shifting from “Classical Tradition”...

Dr. Salima Ikram, a Distinguished Professor and the Amelia Peabody Chair in Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, joins Lexie to discuss her interests in preservation and mummification, revitalizing an Egyptian Museum animal mummy room, shifting her toward funerary and animal-mummy research while remaining “food obsessed,” and the practical logistics of temple offerings, disease and hygi...

Dr. Jenn Finn, an Associate Professor and Chair of the Classical Studies Department at Loyola University Chicago, joins Lexie to discuss how coursework in Achaemenid Persian art and a Pompeii dig led her to learn cuneiform and frame Alexander the Great in an ancient Near Eastern context, Alexander as a symbolic strategist, the barrier of source limits, and her experience consulting for the Netflix...

Dr. Petra Creamer, an Assyriologist, archaeologist, and professor of the Ancient Near East at Emory University, joins Lexie to discuss focusing on the Assyrian Empire to understand how non-elites experienced state power, Assyrian deportation as a labor and control strategy that often moved families and aimed to resettle people as productive “Assyrians,” and conducting fieldwork at Katrash near Erb...

Dr. Jeffrey Newman, an Egyptologist and a research associate at UCLA's Pourdavoud Institute, joins Lexie to discuss his dissertation, which examines ritual performance and the origins of Egyptian bureaucracy and state formation, Predynastic and Early Dynastic chronologies, addresses First Dynasty human sacrifice, and his cultural heritage photography & photogrammetry experiences. So tuck in yo...

Dr. Curtis Dozier, an associate professor of Classics at Vassar College, joins Lexie to discuss entering classics through Latin in public high school, founding Pharos: Doing Justice to the Classics to document how white nationalist and antisemitic movements use Greco-Roman antiquity to legitimize politics, his new book The White Pedestal, and how “historical accuracy” rhetoric often masks racism a...

Jonathan Todd Ross, a voice actor and writer (the voice of Marik Ishtar & Yami Marik in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series), joins Lexie to discuss getting into acting and studying at NYU, stumbling into voice work via an urgent Ultraman audition that led to Yu-Gi-Oh!, and ultimately audiobooks, and why the original Yu-Gi-Oh! dub endures—universal themes, mythic battles, and inner duality. So tuck in...

Dr. Roel Konijnendijk, the Darby Fellow in Ancient History at Lincoln College, at the University of Oxford, joins Lexie to examine psychological warfare and imperial brutality in antiquity, citing Persian punishment of Miletus and Athens and Athenian reprisals, explore Greek ambivalence about war’s glory and horror, myth-bust Sparta as less uniquely militarist than popularly imagined, and look at...

In this very special podcast episode, Lexie reconnects with Andrea Parkins, her influential history teacher who ignited her passion for history back in sixth grade. They reminisce about the memorable and engaging methods Andrea used to teach ancient history, such as immersive units on Greece and Egypt, complete with field trips, class competitions, and creative storytelling. Andrea shares her unco...

Cricket Leigh, a therapist and accomplished voice-over artist (the voice of Mai on Avatar the Last Airbender), joins Lexie to discuss her path into performance, from growing up in Kalamazoo and doing local theater and musicals to studying intense classical works at NYU, booking Mai on Avatar: The Last Airbender and the show’s enduring appeal through big themes and values, and leaving LA to practic...

Dr. Dan-el Padilla Peralta, a Professor of Classics at Princeton (at the time of this recording), joins Lexie to discuss how growing up unhoused in New York City led him to reading in a shelter library and discovering Greece and Rome, the efforts to revise curricula toward race, gender, and sexuality studies, the limits of relying on one faculty member for such courses, and the importance of hirin...

Gigi Berardi, a Western Washington University environmental science professor and award-winning writer who has taught in Italy for 15 years, talks about her historical fiction novel Bianca’s Cure. Gigi explains choosing the Medici because their patronage shaped Florence and because her book centers on the “greatest mystery of the Renaissance”: the near-simultaneous deaths of Grand Duke Francesco d...

Dr. Kate Cook, a Lecturer in Greek Culture at King’s College London, joins Lexie to discuss falling in love with tragedy after reading Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and Kassandra’s scene, connecting hostility toward prominent or “masculinized” women in modern games to ancient tragic narratives about women, and critiquing the “historical accuracy” discourse in gaming which includes mods that remove women. S...

Dr. Sarah Bond, an associate professor of Classics at the University of Iowa, joins Lexie to discuss the importance of classical languages and public scholarship, her book 'Strike' and the evolution of labor unions from ancient Rome to modern times, the potential future of classics & the impact of AI on the job market, and the significance of empathy in humanities. So tuck in your togas and ho...

Dr. Alex Dold, a literary scholar, historian, and unofficial “Dr. of Outlander,” joins Lexie to discuss her insights on how she blends literary scholarship and historical research, the challenges of researching an ongoing series, the importance of studying popular culture academically, and the essential role of books and public history. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this...

Dr. Alexander Vandewalle, a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University, joins Lexie to discuss how his passion for modern video games and Classics led to his PhD research on the characterization of mythological figures in video games, the nuances of using video games in educational settings, and the evolution of classical reception in video games & its growing legitimacy as a field of study....

Hailey Beaupre, also known as The Sassenach Historian, is an American who moved to Scotland to become a historical and pop culture tour guide. She recounts her journey from a small-town Connecticut upbringing to becoming a Scottish history tour guide, inspired by a childhood fascination with the Titanic and a pivotal visit to Scotland. She discusses the intricacies of juggling an education career,...