Ancient Office Hours

Dr. Julia Troche, an Egyptologist and professor at Missouri State University, joins Lexie to discuss the importance of connecting ancient history to modern issues, role of religion in everyday life in ancient Egypt, particularly through the lens of social history, and the complexities of reception studies in Egyptology. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting...

Returning guest Dr. Christian Casey, an Egyptologist and researcher at Freie Universität Berlin, joins Lexie for the first time since 2020 to discuss his work on the Zodiac Project, the new co-authored book with Michael Hoffen, and the challenges of academic writing versus creating accessible trade books. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! D...

In this thought-provoking panel discussion, three distinguished scholars delve into the complexities of ancient medicine, ethics, and the enduring influence of the Hippocratic Oath. Dr. Brooke Holmes (Princeton University), Dr. Jennifer Stager (Johns Hopkins), and Dr. Joseph Fins (Weill Cornell Medical College) engage in a fascinating discussion on the history of the body, the intersection of anci...

Dr. Anthony Kaldellis, a professor of Classics at the University of Chicago, joins Lexie to discuss how we define the Byzantine Empire, the multiple reinventions and conceptions of “Rome” over time, the importance of analyzing historical figures and their choices in their proper historical contexts, and the media reception of the East Roman Empire. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Tran...

Dr. Emily Wilson, a professor of Classics at UPenn, joins Lexie to discuss the process of choosing translation projects, addressing scholarly disagreements over different translations of ancient works, other texts that might or might not merit future translations, and how politicisation of the ancient world complicates reception studies. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for thi...

Dr. Melissa Funke, a professor of Classics at the University of Winnipeg, joins Lexie to discuss the fragmentary nature of history, her new book Phryne, favourite ancient Greek tragedies, what to do with the chorus in tragedies, and her work as a content creator with Peopling the Past. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follo...

Dr. Annetta Alexandridis, a professor of Art History at Cornell, joins Lexie to discuss her experience working on a Roman villa and navigating different archaeological sites, the benefits of working with casts/material culture, defining ‘archaeology’, how the field has changed, and determining who gets to define its meaning. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exci...

Dr. Athena Kirk, a professor of Classics at Cornell, joins Lexie to discuss working on Plutarch/other favourite texts, differentiating text & object from ‘text-objects’, and media reception and misconceptions of ancient works. 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...

Actress Melissanthi Mahut, (voice of Kassandra in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey!), joins Lexie to chat about her favourite myths/stories from growing up in Greece, acting preferences between history & mythology, her experience playing Kassandra in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and assessing the impact of the game in academia. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting...

Actor Michael Antonakos, (voice of Alexios in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey!), joins Lexie to chat about getting into acting, his fascination with the Minoans and telling lesser known stories, a deep dive into his experience working on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and a fun behind the scenes story from making Odysseus Voyage to the Underworld. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this...

Dr. Astrid Van Oyen, a Roman archaeologist and professor at Radbound University, joins Lexie to discuss her focus on the agrarian experience in the ancient world, the development of rural economies, examining practices of gift exchange, pottery, & storage, and media adaptations of rural Roman daily life. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey!&nbs...

Darby McDevitt, a game developer and writer, best known for his work on the Assassin’s Creed series, joins Lexie to discuss curating a love of writing/history via his Irish heritage & Ulysses, writing for multiple games in the Assassin’s Creed series, navigating anachronistic inclusions and non-historical concessions in AC games, and his thoughts on AC’s Discovery Tour mode. So tuck in your to...

Dr. Alex Dressler, a professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, joins Lexie to discuss his favourite Roman poets and Sappho’s legacy, queer theory and its relationship to Classics, and issues of politics, death, and Christianity in the ancient world. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter...

Amanda McLoughlin, co-host of Spirits podcast and CEO of Multitude, a podcast collective and consulting company, joins Lexie to discuss her journey starting Spirits podcast with her friend and co-host Julia, her favourite myths and urban legends, handling real history vs. delving into ancient conspiracy theories, and great advice for entering the podcasting space. So tuck in your togas and hop abo...

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...