Literature and History

Masks. Choruses. Huge prosthetic penises. Before you read Sophocles, Euripides, and company, it's a good idea to know a bit about Ancient Greek theater. Episode 26 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-026/ Episode 26 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-026-ancient-greek-theater Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IPMk-r9QEw Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.co...

The work of Sappho, Pindar, and other remarkable Greek lyric poets makes us question everything we think we know about poetry, what it is, and what it does. Episode 25 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-025/ Episode 25 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-025-lyrical-ballistics Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO7YW3l7I8g Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.c...

The Old Testament, Part 10 of 10. The seventeen Prophetic Books, produced during war and diaspora, are both despairingly bleak and searingly hopeful. Episode 24 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-024/ Episode 24 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-024-god-may-relent Song https://youtu.be/uSNJJuH7J5Y Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon:...

The Old Testament, Part 9 of 10. What's the Song of Songs doing in the Bible? Is it a pious hymn to God, or just a couple of horny lovers talking to each other? Episode 23 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-023/ Episode 23 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-023-love-desire-exegesis Song https://youtu.be/F3GTebN2ANU Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-...

The Old Testament, Part 8 of 10. If there is one Biblical book that explains all of life, thick and thin, love and anguish, that book is probably Ecclesiastes. Episode 22 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-022/ Episode 22 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-022-fatalism Song https://youtu.be/Ay1d0QTLVbM Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patre...

The Old Testament, Part 7 of 10. In the Book of Psalms, a single, fascinating, familiar linguistic device propels the world's most famous poems. Episode 21 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-021/ Episode 21 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-021-the-bibles-magic-trick Song https://youtu.be/kstguwXR1Ao Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreo...

The Old Testament, Part 6 of 10. If God is so good, then why do the good and innocent suffer? The Book of Job's aim is to answer this question. Episode 20 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-020/ Episode 20 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-020-the-problem-of-evil Song https://youtu.be/h9603n09bug Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: h...

The Old Testament, Part 5 of 10. The Historical Books tell of Israel's conflicts with Syria, Assyria, Egypt, and finally, exile to the corridors of Babylon. Episode 19 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-019/ Episode 19 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-019-the-one-who-struggles-with-god Song https://youtu.be/4QWkszvhg6g Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/...

The Old Testament, Part 4 of 10. Eden, the Flood, the Commandments– all fine. But what's with all the stuff about tents, sacrifices, and – uh – testicles? Episode 18 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-018/ Episode 18 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-018-the-613-commandments Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_Rh2OONnxM Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.c...

The Old Testament, Part 3 of 10. Hear the Biblical story of creation and the first founders of Israel, and the texts that may have influenced this story. Episode 17 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-017/ Episode 17 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-017-roots-of-the-pentateuch Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1uBUw1jEnw Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory...

The Old Testament, Part 2 of 10. There are tons of books, thousands of proper nouns, and many versions of the Old Testament. But all of it fits into four main parts. Episode 16 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-016/ Episode 16 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-016-four-main-parts Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTOi9p0NkO4 Bonus Content: https://literatureandhis...

The Old Testament, Part 1 of 10. 1207 BCE. Two world empires. And between them, an unassuming strip of seacoast land that has been at the center of history, ever since. Episode 15 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-015/ Episode 15 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-015-canaan Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsd53FrHRPY Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.c...

The  Odyssey , Books 17-24. As we reach the violent climax of Odysseus' great adventures, it's time to spend some time considering Homer's worldview. Episode 14 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-014/ Episode 14 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-014-the-autumn-leaves Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBnFA5pOAcc Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus...

The  Odyssey , Books 9-16. The most famous part of Homer's  Odyssey  sees Odysseus through perilous adventures and begins to give us a sense of who he is. Episode 13 Quiz: https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-013 Episode 13 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-13/ Episode 13 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-013-his-mind-teeming Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t37...

The  Odyssey , Books 1-8. Adventure, monsters, temptresses, and a whole lot of wine-dark Aegean. Learn all about the world of Homer's Odyssey . Episode 12 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-012/ Episode 12 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-012-kleos-and-nostos Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJifP09BwU0 Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-conten...

The  Iliad , Books 17-24. As the  Iliad  reaches its spectacular climax, it's time to ask a big question. Who wrote it? Episode 11 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-011/ Episode 11 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-011-who-was-homer Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX29MfZlMlU Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patr...

The  Iliad , Books 9-16. The violent and spellbinding middle books of the  Iliad  leave us with questions about Homer's theology. Episode 10 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-010/ Episode 10 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-010-homers-gods Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkHXYs8Irl8 Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https://...

The  Iliad , Books 1-8. Homer's Iliad is the Tyrannosaurus Rex of ancient epics. And at the core of its 24 books is one shiny metal. Episode 9 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-009/ Episode 9 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-009-glittering-bronze-men Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP6JmLa7hck Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreo...

Elementals, giants, titans and gods! Hesiod's  Theogony  chronicles a great war – one which would leave a single entity sovereign over the cosmos. Episode 8 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-008/ Episode 8 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-008-before-orthodoxy Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC91eGoigNg Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-conte...

Before Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato, there was a grouchy farmer poet whose  Works and Days  continues to fascinate us. Episode 7 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-007/ Episode 7 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-007-hesiods-lands-and-seasons Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNbxMLMJBWg Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content Patreon: https...

Ancient Egypt produced a great deal of proverbs and wisdom literature. Some of it even slipped into the bible. But how wise is wisdom literature? Dominic Perry's The History of Egypt Podcast The Literature of Ancient Egypt (Yale University Press) Writings from Ancient Egypt (Penguin) Episode 6 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-006/ Episode 6 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com...

We know about Ancient Egypt's pyramids, temples, and sarcophagi. What about its folktales and stories? Episode 5 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-005/ Episode 5 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-005-beneath-the-obelisks The Literature of Ancient Egypt (Yale University Press) Writings from Ancient Egypt (Penguin) Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvGM-FzbOpI Bonus...

In the 3,500 year old Ancient Egyptian  Book of the Dead , we can find the roots of some of the world's religions. Episode 4 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-004/ Episode 4 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-004-divine-judgment The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Budge Translation, Penguin) The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Illustrated Raymond Faulkner Translation, Chronicle...

The Epic of Gilgamesh , composed 3,000-5,000 years ago, and first translated in the 1860s and 70s, was one of the greatest literary discoveries of all time. Photo Credit for Mask of Sargon Statue: Hans Ollermann Andrew George's Translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin) Benjamin Foster's Before the Muses (Enormous Anthology of Akkadian Literature) Episode 3 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.co...

The  Enuma Elish  and the  Atrahasis , in circulation 3,800 years ago, were Mesopotamia's creation and flood epics, making them 1,000 years older than Genesis. Benjamin Foster's Before the Muses (1,000-page anthology of Akkadian Literature) Stephanie Dalley's Myths from Mesopotamia (Shorter collection that includes the Epic of Gilgamesh) Episode 2 Quiz https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-002/ Ep...