Ancient Office Hours

Today we're posting something new in your feed. The Ozymandias Project LLC team is excited to participate in some upcoming collaborations with other podcasts and brilliant creators that will be rolled out over the next few months. Ancient Office Hours will continue to post new, regular podcast episodes every two weeks, but now will be adding some bonus content during our usual 'off' weeks to share...

Megan Lewis, an Assyriologist and founder of public outreach project Digital Hammurabi, joins Lexie to discuss what an Assyriologist studies, why leaving a PhD program shouldn’t be seen as a failure, her work co-creating Digital Hammurabi with her husband Dr. Josh Bowen, and what academics can do if they don’t want to be in academia. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this we...

Dr. Andrew Reinhard, an archaeologist and the Director of Publications at the American Numismatic Society, joins Lexie to discuss his path from book collecting to publishing, productively channelling his (academic) rage, how he became a pioneer in archaeogaming, the ethical & funding challenges of working with gaming companies, and why STEM needs art. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trire...

Dr. Alan Macniven, a senior lecturer and head of the Scandinavian Studies department at the University of Edinburgh, joins Lexie to discuss whether learning Old Norse is a requirement to study the Vikings, the importance of place names in Scotland & Ireland, and why Vikings have a bad reputation as raiding barbarians when everyone else did it too. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme T...

Michaela Jill Murphy, (aka Jessie Flower, the voice of Toph Beifong on Avatar the Last Airbender), chats with Lexie about growing up without cable TV, how Yale’s library values manuscripts over humans, comparing theater in the US/UK, and the story behind creating Bandit Basics. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on...

Dr. Stephen Sansom, a Classics postdoc at Cornell University, joins Lexie to discuss whether post baccalaureates are helpful to getting into grad school, talk about how studying poetry can make you cool, and explore how the field of "Classics" might benefit from a name change. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on T...

Derek, (host of The Hellenistic Age podcast) joins Lexie to talk about different styles of podcasting about the ancient world, look at ancient studies from a STEM background, and solve the ”tv series” problem of bringing ancient complex material to life in popular culture. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Twitt...

World renowned Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney, a professor of Egyptian Art & Architecture at UCLA, joins Lexie to contemplate the lack of access to Egyptology programs, talk about Kara's research on coffin re-use, explore using the ancient world to help us understand the modern world, and discuss Cleopatra & the aggrandizement of the failures of powerful women in the past and present. So tuc...

The Ozymandias Project podcast has a new name! We are now The Ozymandias Project: Ancient Office Hours! New name, same mission. We decided to rename our podcast Ancient Office Hours to better convey the type of conversations we want to facilitate. While we have always had clear goals, it came to our attention that some confusion remained about the tone of our show. We hope our new title will furth...

Writer Betty Robertson, (a former narrative designer on Assassin's Creed games Odyssey & Valhalla) joins Lexie to discuss overcoming creative blocks, trying to balance the history and folklore elements when writing for Odyssey & Valhalla, and whether being involved in the making of video games, in any capacity, could be considered a STEM field. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme...

Dr. Joe Manning, a Classics and History professor at Yale University, joins Lexie to explore why Classics and Egyptology need each other, how breaking down boundaries between sciences and humanities could could lead to science funding for ancient fields, and why a numismatist should be the protagonist of a film. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey!...

Writer and fellow podcaster Afiya Augustine, (host of Adult-ish podcast) joins Lexie to nerd out about the eternal attractiveness of Egyptology, ponder how to convince parents to let their kids study archaeology, and think about ways to incorporate the ancient world into our everyday lives without being in academia. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odys...

John Haberstroh, a Classics PhD candidate at The University of California - Riverside, joins Lexie to discuss how to deconstruct common artificial barriers, moving away from a top down patronage style funding model to a more sustainable funding model, and how people can better participate in growing the awareness of ancient studies. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this wee...

Dr. Brooke Holmes, a Classics professor at Princeton University trained in comparative literature, joins Lexie to dive head-first into medical ethics and its impact on our approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges women face in Classics, the need for more female mentorship, and how Classics is a form of world building. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s ex...

Dr. Rachel Finnell, a Political Science PhD candidate at The University of Kansas (at the time of recording, now assistant professor at Bethany College), joins Lexie to clarify what PoliSci majors do & why they are important partners for ancient studies, how authoritarian regimes gain and hold power, and about possible misappropriation and use of ancient symbols/ideas in authoritarian regimes....

Leyla Johnson, the CEO of Mohawk Games and a historical strategy games developer, joins Lexie to discuss her path from journalism in Lebanon into gaming, using the Bible to trick her mom into not confiscating her books, potentially using “Old World” to teach history, increasing female representation in the gaming industry and inspiring women to break stereotypes. So tuck in your togas and hop aboa...

Dr. Cam Grey, a social historian and professor of Classics at UPenn, joins Lexie to analyze the rural/urban cultural split, whether Classics can truly be for everyone, and why the sciences are a vital aspect of a liberal arts education. 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 visi...

Jessica Bernstetter, an Anthropology PhD candidate at The University of Missouri, joins Lexie to talk about Pompeii’s toilets and water sanitation, the struggles of funding grad students, and why going to office hours is the greatest advantage for a student. 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 &...

Dr. Jay Reed, a Classics professor at Brown University, joins Lexie for an earnest discussion about whether general education requirements are still important, why there aren’t more adaptations of Vergil’s Aeneid, and about the unique structure of Brown University's curriculum. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Twitt...

Actor, writer, and comedian Janet Varney, (voice of Korra on The Legend of Korra) joins Lexie to discuss the cultural impact of growing up in Arizona, being pragmatic versus following your passions in college, and why Aristophanes’ ancient comedies aren’t done very often in modern media. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to fol...

Dr. Cliff Ando, a Classics and History professor at The University of Chicago, joins Lexie to take a mini deep dive into the true value of a personal statement in a grad school application, examine the social & political arguments for funding the humanities, and address the authenticity vs accuracy aspect of adapting ancient material for film and tv. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trirem...

Dr. Radcliffe Edmonds, a Classics professor at Bryn Mawr College, joins Lexie to discuss what makes a story memorable, world building, and whether Herodotus was more storyteller or historian. 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 our website www.theozymandiasproject.com !...

Dr. Kathleen Coleman, a Classics professor at Harvard University, joins Lexie to compare a gladiator’s worth to that of a VHS tape, discuss ancient Roman spectacles, and examine how the Classics are the “laboratory of the human condition". 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...

Voice actress Grey DeLisle Griffin, (voice of Princess Azula in Avatar the Last Airbender) joins Lexie to discuss Grey's grandma’s childhood stories/superstitions, increasing cultural representation in film, and exploring some of the historical context behind her character on Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender. Stick around until the end or risk missing out on a very special poem reading by...

Dr. Christian Casey, an Egyptologist and postdoc at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World - NYU, joins Lexie to discuss the survival of the field of Egyptology, whether accuracy matters when portraying the ancient world on film, and the use of video games as a potential language learning tool. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Do...