In the fifth episode of Among the Ancients II we turn to Greek lyric, focusing on Pindar’s victory odes, considered a benchmark for the sublime since antiquity, and the vivid, narrative-driven dithyrambs of Bacchylides. Through close reading, Emily and Tom tease out allusions, lexical flourishes and formal experimentation, and explain the highly contextual n ... Show More
Yesterday
Narrative Poems: ‘Enoch Arden’ by Alfred Tennyson
In the early 1860s, Tennyson was at the height of his celebrity. His great elegy, In Memoriam (1850), seemed to have captured the spiritual unease of the age, and the first instalment of Idylls of the King came in 1859. But in 1861 he took a break from Arthurian romance to try so ... Show More
19m 51s
Oct 24
The Man Behind the Curtain: ‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce
Tom McCarthy, writing in the LRB, described James Joyce's Ulysses as a ‘heavy book, a book full of weight, a fallen book’; a ‘properly obscene book’; ‘a book in which the central stake is the coming into being of the book itself’; a book for which ‘people should desist, once and ... Show More
52m 4s
Oct 21
Nature in Crisis: ‘Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism’ by Thea Riofrancos
Lithium-ion batteries are at the heart of the transition away from fossil fuels. But lithium, like the copper, cobalt and rare earths that renewable technologies also require, has to be mined. ‘Everywhere that mines are dug up to provide raw materials for the energy transition,’ ... Show More
23m 52s
Nov 2023
Next Year on Close Readings: Among the Ancients II
For the final introduction to next year’s full Close Readings programme, Emily Wilson, celebrated classicist and translator of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, returns for a second season of Among the Ancients, to take on another twelve vital works of Greek and Roman literature with th ... Show More
11m 41s
Jul 2024
Sing, Muse, of Gods and Wrestlers, Origins & Odes of the Ancient Olympics
A look at the ancient and mythological history of Olympics, featuring some songs written for the ancient games' victors.CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I re ... Show More
37m 37s
Oct 2024
It's Always Witching Hour Here, Revisiting Ancient Witchcraft (and More)
Featuring clips from episodes on Ovid's Medea, Chthonic Cuties, conversations with Antonia Aluko and Dr Ellie Mackin Roberts, and readings of Homer's Odyssey, translated by Samuel Butler.CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves g ... Show More
1h 11m
Nov 2020
Sing, Muses, of Yourselves… of Apollo, Eagles, Dragons, and the Oracle of Delphi
The *official* 100th episode is here! Sing, Muses, of the Oracle, the woman who held the fates of the Greeks in her hands. And of yourselves, the women who give us the arts and all its wonders.CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically invo ... Show More
33m 9s
Jan 2022
Studying the Ancient World, Finding the Best Translation, & How Good was Odysseus Anyway? A New Year Q&A (Part 2)
In part two of the New Year Q&A Liv answers more questions on what it's like to study Classics/the ancient Mediterranean and what you might consider. She answers questions about Odysseus and Theseus, and provides examples of good translations of ancient Greek texts.CW/TW: far too ... Show More
1h 14m