The Queen Shrieks: The Shock of Ancient ...

In this Ancient Egyptian poem, a man talks with his own soul about whether it is better to live or die. Read by Barbara Ewing. Translated by Richard Bruce Parkinson. The poem is known from a single copy, c. 1800 BC, whose beginning is lost. It is a dialogue between a man and his ... Show More

An ancient Egyptian tells his life-story from the walls of his tomb, c. 1850 BC. Read by Barbara Ewing. Translated by Richard Bruce Parkinson Composed around 1850 BC, Sinuhe is the supreme masterpiece of ancient Egyptian poetry. The poem is a fictional official’s autobiography, s ... Show More

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Soul. In his poem ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ WB Yeats wrote:An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unlessSoul clap its hands and sing, and louder singFor every tatter in its mortal dress. For Plato it was the immortal seat ... Show More

In this lecture, w explore the journey of the soul from its creation to the afterlife, its meanings in the Qur’an, its connections and what happens before, during and after death. 

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the text and context of The Book of the Dead, also known as the Book of Coming Forth by Day, the ancient Egyptian collections of spells which were intended to help the recently deceased navigate the underworld. They flourished under the New Kingdom ... Show More

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the text and context of The Book of the Dead, also known as the Book of Coming Forth by Day, the ancient Egyptian collections of spells which were intended to help the recently deceased navigate the underworld. They flourished under the New Kingdom ... Show More

In this seminar, Marcela Sulak (Bar Ilan University) and Adriana X. Jacobs (Oriental Studies) will explore the possibility of translation as “afterlife” through a discussion of the Hebrew poets Orit Gidali and Hezy Leskly. Marcela Sulak’s talk is entitled “Translating Ghosts and ... Show More

In this episode we go deep discussing life, death, and what happens to the soul as the body inevitably disintegrates and disappears. There are some key ideas and concepts that are worth pondering as we all will, without exception, experience physical death. Romans 6:23. 

I aim for a brief glimpse of the grandeur of these ancient scriptures, and think out loud about their central message: all is one. Along the way I ramble about death, unity, grief, the Self, the transcendent vs. the immanent, and more.