Literature and History

Horace (65-8 BCE) was a central figure in shaping Augustan Age tastes in satire and literary criticism. His bumbling, self conscious persona has been charming readers for millennia. Episode 51 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-051/ Episode 51 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-051-horace-and-augustan-poetry Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content...

The Roman poet Horace (65-8 BCE), a contemporary of Augustus, endured wars, regime changes, and became a literary spokesman for the new principate. Episode 50 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-050/ Episode 50 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-050-our-brutal-age Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU6nk9luAm8 Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-cont...

Catullus (c. 85-54 BCE) is Rome's most famous early poet. Departing from epic tradition, Catullus wrote a canon of short works that have been famous since antiquity. Episode 49 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-049/ Episode 49 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-049-the-strange-roots-of-love Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myQERneu-mQ Bonus Content: https://litera...

Following his consulship, Cicero did his best to salvage the battered Republic, eventually going head to head with the powerful young general Mark Antony. Episode 48 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-048/ Episode 48 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-048-the-right-and-the-expedient Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES5WpZ1GH-A Bonus Content: https://literatureandhi...

The story of Cicero's career is an epic tale, filled with courtroom dramas, corruption, conspiracy, greed, and Cicero's own enduring hope for a better future. Episode 47 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-047/ Episode 47 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-047-o-tempora-o-mores Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDvjHnY6e9Q Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory....

Cicero (106-43 BCE) was the undisputed master of the Latin language. During his first thirty years, he witnessed events that heralded the Republic's end. Episode 46 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-046/ Episode 46 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-046-the-republic-at-twilight Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWgg9aMq7gs Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistor...

Lucretius (c. 94-53 BCE) is our most important source for Epicurean philosophy, perhaps the most misunderstood school of thought from the ancient world. Episode 45 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-045/ Episode 45 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-045-the-uncuttables Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/litera...

The Roman playwright Terence (c. 184-159 BCE) produced a string of brilliant comedies in the 160s BCE. His masterpiece, The Brothers , continues to astonish us today. Episode 44 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-044/ Episode 44 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-044-homo-sum Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdwb60Hn1-8 Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.c...

Plautus (c. 254-184 BCE) was a prolific comedy writer. His late play, The Rope , captures the dizzying changes sweeping Rome after the Second Punic War. Episode 43 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-043/ Episode 43 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-043-on-the-move Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsrdUFmhiUI Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-co...

Roman literature grew slowly from Greek traditions during the 300s and 200s BCE. Learn about its earliest figures, and how they paved the way for the age of Cicero. Episode 42 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-042/ Episode 42 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-042-the-beginnings-of-roman-literature Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OPNayS4wJ8 Bonus Content: https:...

A retrospective of everything L&H has covered so far, plus some special announcements. Episode 41 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-041/ Episode 41 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-041-everything-so-far Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@literatureandhi...

The Hellenistic period – 330-30 BCE, saw Alexander's successor kingdoms rotting away in the east, the rise of Rome, and the beginnings of modern consciousness. Episode 40 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-040/ Episode 40 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-040-hellenism-and-the-rise-of-the-self Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: http...

Apollonius' Jason and the Argonauts , Books 3-4. Mesmerizing Medea takes center stage at the  Argonautica 's end, dominating the epic's events. Episode 39 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-039/ Episode 39 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-039-medea-and-the-argonauts Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BqyO8XFT5U Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus...

Jason and the Argonauts , Books 1-2. Journey with Jason to find the Golden Fleece, and learn about the Greco-Egyptian writer, Apollonius of Rhodes. Episode 38 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-038/ Episode 38 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-038-the-epic-anti-hero Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BRSbaaK-i4 Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-...

Menander's Old Cantankerous (316 BCE), produced during the New Comedy period, shows theater beginning to take on its modern form. Episode 37 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-037/ Episode 37 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-037-the-new-comedy Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc2BYWLWtLw Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https...

Aristophanes' Lysistrata , with all of its nudity, sex, and explicit language, was nonetheless his most powerful salvo against the Peloponnesian War. Episode 36 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-036/ Episode 36 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-036-war-and-peace-and-sex Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaJxAK0HAxU Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/b...

Aristophanes'  The Clouds  is a dazzling satire on Athenian philosophy, showing a very different Socrates than Plato's. Episode 35 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-035/ Episode 35 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-035-the-great-thundercrap Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhAbkjs9HWA Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https://...

Euripides'  The Bacchae , one of the darkest and bloodiest works of Ancient Greek tragedy, is about the spread of cult religions during the late Peloponnesian War. Episode 34 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-034/ Episode 34 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-034-the-traditions-of-our-forefathers Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxd0jATUZ-s Bonus Content: https://...

Euripides'  Medea  is Ancient Greece's most famous play. But what did it mean to the Athenians in 431 BCE who watched it on the Acropolis? Episode 33 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-033/ Episode 33 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-033-woman-the-barbarian Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EaIXjT4uw0 Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content...

Sophocles' Theban Plays, 3 of 3. Antigone is a timeless and dark story about a clash of wills. But it's also fascinating snapshot of the philosophical brawls of 5th-century BCE Athens. Episode 32 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-32/ Episode 32 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-032-trees-bending-to-the-torrent Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwFjCe1JkVk Bonus Co...

Sophocles' Theban Plays, 2 of 3. Oedipus at Colonus, out of the ashes of the Peloponnesian War, is a story about a man who has lost everything but his own dignity. Episode 31 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-031/ Episode 31 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-031-the-requiem-at-athens Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z388AMTL9bE Bonus Content: https://literaturean...

Sophocles' Theban Plays, 1 of 3. Oedipus the King is one of literature's great stories. It's also a haunting window into the fears of war torn Athens in 429 BCE. Episode 30 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-030/ Episode 30 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-030-two-legs-in-the-afternoon Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MroDLpX9Osg&t=257s Bonus Content: https://lit...

Aeschylus' Oresteian Trilogy, 3 of 3. Pursued all the away to Athens by the monstrous Furies, will Orestes prevail, or be torn apart? Episode 29 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-029/ Episode 29 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-029-the-mound-and-the-furies Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1lNfUyKceE Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content...

Aeschylus' Oresteian Trilogy, 2 of 3. The infernal House of Atreus had witnessed almost every imaginable act of depravity. Except for one. Episode 28 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-028/ Episode 28 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-028-a-mothers-curse Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3i2bnVuvks Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patr...

Aeschylus' Oresteian Trilogy, 1 of 3. A terrible family curse. A wronged queen. The Trojan War was only the start of the bloodshed. Episode 27 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-027/ Episode 27 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-027-the-bloody-king Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJwm-oSAVdo Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: ht...