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A media analysis podcast in which hosts Allison and Julia discuss modern media (including TV & film, books, and music) that depicts the Ancient Mediterranean world, its peoples, and its stories. We're here to have a good time, not to nitpick accuracy, but we've got a thing or two to teach, too.
Episodes
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
This episode, we have a special treat: an interview with author Nicholas Nicastro on his recently-published novel, The River Through Rome. Featuring engineering logistics, a shoutout to flat-earthers, and the refrigerator door theory of writing inspiration, we hope you enjoy this conversation--we sure did!
Apologies for some inconsistency in audio quality--this was our first recording after Julia moved away, as well as our first recording with a remote guest, so we ended up having to mix and match a bit.
Content warnings:
- Mentions of sex and sexuality
- Mild profanity
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Check out Nicholas's work at any of the following places:
On Instagram @nicastromedia
On Facebook as Books by Nicholas Nicastro
And you can purchase and review his books in paperback or ebook via Amazon, or as an audiobook via Audible.
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Saturday Oct 16, 2021
Saturday Oct 16, 2021
In this episode we discuss Natalie Haynes's 2019 novel A Thousand Ships. Digressions include identity theft, ancient clothing, and ecofascism. We also spend a while simping for basically every ancient woman mentioned.
Content warnings:
- Profanity
- Discussion of violence and death
- Discussion of rape and sexual assault
- Mentions of slavery
- Mentions of sex and sexuality
Notes: The French story about a man replacing his dead comrade that Julia referenced was the story of Martin Guerre, which was indeed historical.
And a small correction: the word for Penelope and Odysseus's likemindedness is "homophrosyne" not "symphrosyne".
Sunday Sep 12, 2021
Sunday Sep 12, 2021
In this episode we discuss the television series Supernatural. We take a long trip down memory lane--way down. Right to hell, in fact. Featuring: fanfiction, the University of Washington-Seattle, and some good ol' fashioned misogyny. Actually, a lot of good ol' fashioned misogyny.
Content warnings:
- Mild profanity
- Discussion of violence and death
- Mentions of sex and sexuality
- Mentions of police brutality
- Discussion of homophobia, racism, and sexism
Wednesday Jul 07, 2021
Wednesday Jul 07, 2021
In this episode, we discuss the 2004 film Troy, starring Brad Pitt. Unsurprisingly, we had a lot to say. Featuring: American imperialism, and Homeric combat, and just a little bit more complaining about the costuming in Troy: Fall of a City.
Thursday Jun 17, 2021
Thursday Jun 17, 2021
We return to the world of Percy Jackson for book two, and immediate get mired deep in academic theory. Because of course we do. Featuring a critique of diet culture, Frantz Fanon, and a little bit of hubris.
Mentioned in the episode:
ORBIS, an ancient travel calculator from Stanford
Monday May 31, 2021
Monday May 31, 2021
In this episode, we discuss Hadestown, particularly the Broadway Cast Recording version of the musical. Featuring: metrical formulae, Tumblr Feminism, and fanfiction about beekeeping.
Wednesday Apr 21, 2021
Wednesday Apr 21, 2021
In this episode, we discuss Gladiator (2000), featuring orientalism, unfortunate Freudian weirdness, bad takes on imperialism, and... queer giraffes?
Minor correction: at about 31:30, Julia says "Commodus" where she should say "Maximus".
Mentioned:
The costuming in Troy: Fall of a City, unfortunately.
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
This episode, we discuss a playlist of Mountain Goats songs that contain classical reference, and are generally enthusiastic about the whole thing. This is a somewhat different episode than our previous ones, because we're discussing a mixed bag of media, but we had a lot of fun!
Mentioned:
Monday Mar 15, 2021
Monday Mar 15, 2021
Finally we're back with NEW MATERIAL! This episode is our (brisk but fruitful) discussion of the first Percy Jackson Book, The Lightning Thief. It also contains our entry into the #discourse about Medusa.
As mentioned in the intro, you may notice that we had some audio issues with this episode! We did our best to correct it but we think there was some sort of mic malfunction, and unfortunately we're still polishing our audio editing skills. Hopefully it's not too annoying to listen to, and we should be back to our usual quality next episode.
Also, a minor correction: we were, indeed, pronouncing Rick Riordan's name wrong, and looking it up made it worse rather than better. Thanks, Google. Sorry, Mr. Riordan. We'll get it right when we do our episode on Sea of Monsters.
Monday Mar 01, 2021
Monday Mar 01, 2021
The fourth and final episode in our series on Troy: Fall of a City, discussing episodes seven and eight. Thank god.
We repeated a number of things we've been saying all the way along in our final notes in this last episode about Fall of a City, but we hopefully have managed to do so in a clear and synthesized way. Thanks for coming on this four-episode journey with us, and we'll be back in two weeks with, at last, some new material!
Also, hit us up on Twitter @ClassicallyPod, where we'll be doing a wrap-up thread with some pictures of the absolutely garbage costuming from this show, so that you all can finally see what we've been complaining about.
ONE MINOR CORRECTION: At around 55:55 Julia says "Odysseus arranges", which should have been "Achilles arranges". Sorry about that, folks!