Literature and History

Augustine's City of God , Part 1 of 2. The first half of the City of God is a broadside against paganism – its culture, religion, and history, subjects about which Augustine had much to say. Episode 101 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-101/ Episode 101 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-101-against-the-pagans Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3sErObfrVc&pp=0gcJCY...

Augustine's Confessions, Part 2 of 2. The second half of Augustine's Confessions contains some of the most famous theology in Christian history. Episode 100 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-100/ Episode 100 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-100-late-have-i-loved-you Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6wJQNQqq1Q Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonu...

Augustine's  Confessions , Part 1 of 2. The first half of Augustine's  Confessions  tells of his wayward early years, his intellectual journey, and his spiritual awakening. Episode 99 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-099/ Episode 99 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-099-the-boy-who-stole-pears Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km3WeynabBI Bonus Content: https://l...

Polyglot Jerome (347-420) had a gigantic impact on all subsequent Christian history, leaving behind a huge body of works, including the Latin Bible. Episode 98 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-098/ Episode 98 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-098-saint-jerome Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx1qZaUHm58 Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-conte...

The  Dionysiaca , Part 2 of 2. The last surviving Greek epic of antiquity draws to a close with Dionysus fighting wars far to the east, in India. Episode 97 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-097/ Episode 97 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-097-blood-and-ivy Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhi...

The last epic from Greco-Roman antiquity that survives in full, Nonnus' fifth-century Dionysiaca tells of the wine god Dionysus' journey eastward, to India. Episode 96 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-096/ Episode 96 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-096-the-last-pagan-epic Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.co...

In 417 CE, the Roman poet Rutilius Namatianus journeyed from Rome back to his homeland of Gaul, not knowing whether there was a home to return to. Episode 95 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-095/ Episode 95 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-095-rutilius-namatianus Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcDdTfoe0dI&pp=0gcJCYsJAYcqIYzv Bonus Content: https://literaturea...

One of the later Latin poets of the Empire, Ausonius' expansive body of work gives us a window into the changing world of fourth-century Roman culture. Episode 94 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-094/ Episode 94 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-094-ausonius Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkiw5KgkYjE&pp=0gcJCYsJAYcqIYzv Bonus Content: https://literatureandhist...

Sulpicius Severus' (c. 363-425) life of St. Martin is one of the great hagiographies – a portrait of a timeless saint, but also of a human being and working bishop. Episode 93 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-093/ Episode 93 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-093-severus-life-of-st-martin Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyNRs8hLcUM Bonus Content: https://literat...

Athanasius (c. 297-373) wrote a wildly popular biography of the desert hermit St. Anthony, touting the ideals of asceticism and triumph over demonic temptation. Episode 92 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-092/ Episode 92 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-092-athanasius-life-of-antony Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https://www....

In Carthage, in 203 CE, a Roman noblewoman and her retinue were butchered in an amphitheater. Learn her story, and the earliest history of Christian martyrs. Episode 91 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-091/ Episode 91 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-091-the-passion-of-perpetua Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv7pZLqV5zk Bonus Content: https://literatureandhis...

Learn the documentary history behind how the Catholic Church was founded and set up as an organization, together with some of the works of the earliest church fathers. Episode 90 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-090/ Episode 90 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-090-ante-nicene-catholicism Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ai9nKRy7lc Bonus Content: https://litera...

Heliodorus of Emesa (3rd/4th century CE) wrote the longest novel to have survived from antiquity, an adventurous romance that reemerged into Europe in the 1500s. Episode 89 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-089/ Episode 89 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-089-the-aethiopica-of-heliodorus Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2stXERdUMhY Bonus Content: https://literat...

In roughly the 160s CE, the Greek satirist Lucian of Samosata wrote  A True Story , one of history's earliest surviving novels, with strong tinges of what we'd call science fiction. Episode 88 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-088/ Episode 88 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-088-ancient-greek-sci-fi Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH2nNnkYICE Bonus Content: htt...

The satirist Lucian (c. 125-180) was popular in his own time and during the Renaissance, among other things probably being the first author of science fiction. Episode 87 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-087/ Episode 87 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-087-lucian-of-samosata Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon....

Once pervasively described as a period of fall and decline, today Late Antiquity is often understood as a period of cultural flowering and economic revolution. Episode 86 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-086/ Episode 86 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-086-intro-to-late-antiquity Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnDhBOPfW-Q Bonus Content: https://literatureandh...

A primer on Biblical canon formation, retrospective on what we've covered so far, and introduction to the upcoming season. Episode 85 Quiz: https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-085 Episode 85 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-085-river Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory YouTube: https://www.yout...

After 300 CE, Manichaeism spread quickly from its origins in modern day Iraq and Iran. Recent archaeological discoveries have finally allowed us to learn about it firsthand. Episode 84 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-084/ Episode 84 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-084-manichaeism Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVHB2ALuKGw Bonus Content: https://literaturean...

The Nag Hammadi Library, Codex Tchacos, and Berlin Codex, as they came to light in the twentieth century, radically changed our understanding of early Christianity. Episode 83 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-083/ Episode 83 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-083-gnosticism Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wj0NRDRiZk Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.c...

Learn the basic tenets and early history of Zoroastrianism, one of the most important and widespread religions in the ancient world, and possibly earth's oldest living monotheism. Episode 82 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-082/ Episode 82 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-082-zoroastrianism Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVWusBEJv9E Bonus Content: https://lit...

One of the most spectacular pieces of writing in the world's religious texts, Revelation influenced generations of writers and theologians. Episode 81 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-081/ Episode 81 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-081-revelation Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tWGEcZW_tM Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon:...

The later epistles of the New Testament show early Christian theology expanding and evolving in the ancient Mediterranean. Episode 80 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-080/ Episode 80 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-080-the-general-epistles Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory YouTube: h...

Possibly the most influential theologian in history, Paul codified and clarified Christianity as it emerged into the diverse world of the Eastern Mediterranean. Episode 79 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-079/ Episode 79 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-079-the-pauline-epistles Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DS4AQWs7lw Bonus Content: https://literatureandhis...

The story of Christianity's first missionaries is a sweeping , intercontinental narrative, filled with danger, strange encounters, and the hope for a better future. Episode 78 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-078/ Episode 78 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-078-the-book-of-acts Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFkAys_DsbY Bonus Content: https://literatureandhis...

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the heart of the New Testament. And today, historians and Biblical scholars know more about them than ever before. Episode 77 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-077/ Episode 77 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-077-the-gospels Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t16jixyX8zU Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content...