Books of All Time

For episode 24, we return to the Hebrew Bible. By itself, the Book of Isaiah is one of humanity's most influential works of spiritual literature. In addition to laying the foundations of Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity, Isaiah has contributed dozens of phrases into our language, such as "swords into plowshares", "a little child shall lead them," and, of course, "a voice in the wilderness." Follo...

Snarky, satirical, scatological - how did the original Aesop's Fables wind up getting sanitized for children? This week's episode follows the thread through two thousand years of interpretation and adaptation, from Roman villas to medieval scriptoria to French drawing rooms. Want to read a transcript? Here you go! Don't forget to rate and review us on your podcast app of choice - it really helps p...

Happy New Year! This is just a short announcement to let you all know that BoAT episode 23 will be out on January 9th. Also, we are coming to the end of the year 1 reading list ! Year 2 will be out later this month. Prepare for a Greek drama overload, plus our first visit to Persia and, toward the end of the year, Rome! Thanks for sticking with us this year! We appreciate each and every one of you...

We hoped our Aesop's Fables episode would be a family-friendly romp just in time for the holidays. We could not have been more wrong. Compiled after 450 BCE, the hundreds of stories known to us as Aesop's Fables were not the children's morality tales we read today. They represent the earliest examples we have of Greek popular culture, and they started out mostly as bawdy or mean-spirited comedy bi...

He died dissatisfied and relatively obscure in 479 BCE, but Confucius, thanks to his disciples, had an afterlife for the ages. Learn how Confucianism adapted, evolved and survived for more than 2,000 years in spite of mass executions of its adherents, having to compete with Buddhism and then Christianity, and having to win over an emperor who kept peeing in Confucian scholars' hats. Want to read t...

Episode 20 expands the map of our show to eastern Asia, as we begin a two-part exploration of The Analects ( Lunyu), collected sayings of the philosopher Confucius (551 - 479 BCE). He may just be the most influential educator and philosopher who ever lived. His ideas about virtue in rulers impacting the virtue of the people . . . are honestly kind of adorable in this day and age. In this first epi...

Episode 19 is here (after Rose finally busted through her writer's block about it). This special one-off episode covers the life and remaining poetry of Sappho (c. 630-570 BCE). Known widely as a lyric poet who wrote (mostly) about same-sex love between women, Sappho, in her social context, is even more interesting. Rose walks through what's known about the woman herself, some of the most famous f...

Our second episode on the Upanishads (c. 800-300 BCE), we look at some of the striking similarities between Greek mythology and philosophy and Indian mythology and philosophy, and walk through some of the evidence that shows how societies may have been far more interconnected than we thought in ancient times. Also, Alexander the Great asks a bunch of nude yogis to dinner. Want a transcript? Read i...

The Upanishads - commentary on commentary on the Vedas - emerged out of India sometime beginning around 500 BCE. The esoteric spiritual ideas they describe, including the oneness of all creation, the idea of karma, and the cycle of reincarnation, impacted religious thinkers from Buddha to the Beatles. This week's episode gives some of the background for this branch of Hindu scripture and summarize...

Ready for some comparative mythology? Of course you are. This episode follows up on Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days with what is probably our most meta meta-episode yet. Host Rose Judson looks back at the five cultures we've encountered on Books of All Time to date and compares their creation myths, pantheons, and concepts about the afterlife. She also reveals the song that would be playing o...

Our latest episode introduces you to the first personality in European literature: a cranky shepherd-turned-poet who wants you to know that women are a calamitous trap and that you should wear a proper hat in winter. Yes, it's Hesiod, the Ancient Greek forbear of today's op-ed columnists and reply guys. Walk with Rose through Theogony, our earliest-known source for many key Greek myths, and Works...

Our second episode on the first two books of the Bible goes a little bit deeper into the historical context in which Genesis and Exodus were written - the Wild West(ern Asia) of the post-Bronze Age Collapse. Bonus callback to our second month of episodes about The Tale of Sinuhe! As always, you can read a transcript of the episode on our website . We're also taking suggestions for the 2025-2026 re...

(Thanks for bearing with us while this episode was delayed—Rose was recovering from a bout of COVID!) This episode takes us into the first two books of the Bible, written c. 580 BCE during the Babylonian Captivity of the Judeans and Israelites. Stretching from the creation of the world to the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt, these two books contain some of the most memorable and influentia...

How did the works of Homer become so central to education in the west for so long? This episode tries to answer that question by exploring the roots of "classical" education, with a brief digression about Alexander the Great using Homer's Odyssey for municipal planning purposes. This episode also mentions E.A. Wallis Budge, in case any of our regular listeners missed him. Need a transcript? Want t...

The Odyssey is very different from The Iliad - so different that some people thought it was actually written by a woman. This week, Rose walks you through the plot of the second great work of European literature, and recommends editions to try reading yourself. (You can also search for an audiobook version narrated by Sir Ian McKellan!) As always, a transcript of this episode is available at our w...

“In Homeric studies, every man’s hand is raised against his brother, and one never knows from what corner the next dead cat will come.” Jump into the Homeric Question(s) in our second episode covering the Iliad. Was there a Homer? Does The Iliad reflect any kind of real history? Who's more annoying: Homer nerds or Star Wars nerds? This episode features cameos from Dante Aligheri, Friedrich Nietzsc...

An epic poem deserves an epic, hour-long episode. Rose walks you through the great Homeric epic covering (a very small part of) the Trojan War. The Iliad is almost certainly the most-studied work in Western literature, but it can still surprise you. Come hear of the wrath of Achilles, and the Real Housewives of Mount Olympus, and that one poor guy who gets stuck headfirst in the ground. Want to re...

In this episode, we grapple with the limitations of translation and the ethics of Western examination of other people's religions. Covering controversies involving the Indologists Max Müller (1823-1900) and Wendy Doniger (b. 1940), Rose explores the how the Sanskrit word Aryan became linked to the worst kind of racists, learns that fringe reactionary groups filing lawsuits to ban books aren't just...

The Rig Veda (c. 1400-1500 BCE) is a massive collection of 1,028 hymns written by ancient people living in northwestern India, and it forms part of the foundation of Hindu faith. The hymns span myths, philosophy, spirituality, love, grief, and practical tips for making an incredibly powerful hallucinogenic drink. In this episode, Rose investigates some of the major themes in the Rig Veda and compa...

We weren't expecting multi-episode character arcs when we launched this show, but here we are. Rose wraps up the Egyptian Book of the Dead - and one of its most prominent early interpreters, E.A. Wallis Budge (1857-1934) by looking at how late 19th and early 20th-century occultists pilfered Egyptology for ideas. Also, Budge has a dream that helps him pass an exam at Cambridge. Additional research...

In ancient Egypt, if you were rich enough, you'd be buried with a handy manual for surviving the afterlife within easy reach of your coffin — like having a novel on your nightstand. Find out what awaits you in the Duat where Osiris reigns, guarded by gatekeeper spirits with names like "Eavesdropper," "Hot Legs", and "One Who Eats the Putrefaction of His Posterior" in our summary of The Egyptian Bo...

Episode four looks at two key figures in the history of Egyptology: one, Jean-François Champollion, is well known as the man who cracked Egyptian hieroglyphics. The other, Giovanni Belzoni, was a carnival strongman and hydraulics engineer before becoming a renowned explorer—and excavator—of Egyptian monuments. Bonus cameo: Napoleon Bonaparte, ruining everything for everyone. Read the transcript an...

We're off to Ancient Egypt for the next work on the Books of All Time reading list : The Tale of Sinuhe (c. 1875 BCE). It's a story about a royal advisor who runs away from Egypt after learning that the pharaoh has been assassinated, then creates a new life in another country. Host Rose Judson walks you through the plot, then muses on what it's like to be an immigrant, even in a country where you...

For the second part of our look at the Epic of Gilgamesh, we're heading to the 19th century for a little wildcat archaeology and museum curator drama. Hear about how the most famous story about Gilgamesh's first modern translator getting naked at the office might not be true, and exactly what kind of animal Rose thinks former British Prime Minister William Gladstone most resembled. Hosted on Acast...

Episode 1 of Books of All Time summarizes the oldest-known narrative tale: The Epic of Gilgamesh (Sumer, c. 2100 BCE). Lost for centuries, this story was rediscovered by archaeologists in the 19th century. Host Rose Judson walks you through the plot of a story that begins as a buddy comedy with monsters and winds up as a poignant meditation on mortality. Plus, she recommends different editions of...