Possibly the most influential theologian in history, Paul codified and clarified Christianity as it emerged into the diverse world of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Episode 79 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-079
Episode 79 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-079-the-pauline-epistles
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
The story of Christianity’s first missionaries is a sweeping , intercontinental narrative, filled with danger, strange encounters, and the hope for a better future.
Episode 78 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-078
Episode 78 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-078-the-book-of-acts
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the heart of the New Testament. And today, historians and Biblical scholars know more about them than ever before.
Episode 77 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-077
Episode 77 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-077-the-gospels
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
The Roman client king Herod (c. 73-4 BCE) ruled Judea for thirty years. Learn about his rule, and the political and religious climate of Judea just before the birth of Christ.
Episode 76 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-076
Episode 76 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-076-judea-under-herod
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
A retrospective on the material we’ve covered thus far as we head into Early Christianity and Late Antiquity, plus some announcements.
Episode 75 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-075
Episode 75 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-075-dusk-and-starlight
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations shows an intelligent emperor coping with the realities of an empire buckling under its own weight.
Episode 74 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-074
Episode 74 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-074-marcus-aurelius
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Apuleius’ The Golden Ass is Ancient Rome’s only novel to survive in full – a strange, often disturbing fairytale that had a huge influence on posterity.
Episode 73 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-073
Episode 73 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-073-the-golden-ass
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Juvenal’s Satires, produced some time in the decades around 100 CE, mercilessly mock some of the more colorful aspects of Roman life.
Episode 72 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-072
Episode 72 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-072-bread-and-circuses
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Statius’ Thebaid, Books 7-12. Six hundred years after Aeschylus, Statius once again brought the Theban epic to a thunderous conclusion.
Episode 71 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-071
Episode 71 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-071-the-gods-depart
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Statius’ Thebaid, Books 1-6. This epic is hardly ever read or taught these days, but in 100 CE, it was as famous as anything in the Roman world.
Episode 70 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-070
Episode 70 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-070-romes-forgotten-epic
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Petronius’ Satyricon is a contender for history’s first novel, a picaresque filled with sex, misadventures, and details about daily life.
Episode 69 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-069
Episode 69 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-069-romes-comic-novel
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Seneca’s Phaedra (c 50s CE) is the story of an illicit passion, a stoic cautionary tale and simultaneously vivid character study.
Episode 68 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-068
Episode 68 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-068-love-means-sin
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Seneca’s Thyestes, probably written around the 50s CE, is one of the most horrifying and influential plays ever written.
Episode 67 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-067
Episode 67 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-067-jaws-dripping-blood
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Stoicism, starting with Zeno in 300 BCE, was a popular philosophy by the lifetime of Seneca, perhaps even making its way into the New Testament.
Episode 66 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-066
Episode 66 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-066-stoicism-seneca-st-paul
Episode 66 Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azc7u5st9jo
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Seneca the Younger (c 1 BCE-65 CE) practiced the philosophy of stoicism over the course of several volatile, and very different imperial reigns.
Episode 65 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-065
Episode 65 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-065-seneca-and-the-julio-claudians
Episode 65 Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW4K7Ij-5fE
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
For mysterious reasons, in 8 CE, Ovid was exiled from Rome. Ovid’s last works were composed an ocean away from Italy, on the western shore of the Black Sea.
Episode 64 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-064
Episode 64 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-064-ovids-exile
Episode 64 Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj3nfzO2ZHM
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Books 11-15. The vast Metamorphoses draws to a resonant conclusion as Ovid brings his great poem to Rome itself.
Episode 63 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-063
Episode 63 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-063-all-is-in-flux
Episode 63 Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMGX0cwIV2A
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Books 6-10. In the middle portion of Ovid’s great poem, psychological transformations become as gripping as physical ones.
Episode 62 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-062
Episode 62 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-062-a-curious-passion
Episode 62 Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXZIl6DL-gY
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
This book influenced thousands of years of later literature, and remains one of our best source texts on classical mythology.
Episode 61 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-061
Episode 61 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-061-changes-of-shape
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Ovid’s Art of Love is ancient Rome’s manual of seduction – a record of the steamier side of the Augustan Age.
Episode 60 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-060
Episode 60 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-060-how-to-make-love-to-a-roman
Episode 60 Song:
https://youtu.be/kfx-sjGorVM
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
The love poetry of Ovid (43 BCE-17 CE) was standard Latin curriculum for hundreds of years, but it was also the product of a very specific historical moment.
Episode 59 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-059
Episode 59 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-059-early-ovid
Episode 59 Song:
https://youtu.be/vE1jkidRthY
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Propertius (c. 50-1 BCE) took the Latin elegiac form to new heights of complexity and passion, even weaving subtle satire throughout his work.
Episode 58 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-058
Episode 58 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-058-she-caught-me-with-her-eyes
Episode 58 Song:
https://youtu.be/BHEYVxqdztE
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Virgil’s Aeneid, Books 10-12. The end of Rome’s great epic is about something Romans of Virgil’s generation knew very well indeed. War.
Episode 57 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-057
Episode 57 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-057-the-world-grows-dim-and-black
Episode 57 Song:
https://youtu.be/WRZbUYwdTR0
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Virgil’s Aeneid, Books 7-9. Aeneas’ arrival in Italy begins auspiciously enough, but soon things take a turn for the worse.
Episode 56 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-056
Episode 56 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-056-i-shall-release-hell
Episode 56 Song:
https://youtu.be/bjqsZbGL8oM
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory
Virgil’s Aeneid, Books 4-6. The story of Dido and Aeneas, and his subsequent journey to the underworld, is the heart of Rome’s most famous poem.
Episode 55 Quiz:
https://literatureandhistory.com/quiz-055
Episode 55 Transcription:
https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-055-among-the-shades
Episode 55 Song:
https://youtu.be/Uybu1B2qq9o
Bonus Content:
https://literatureandhistory.com/bonus-content
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory