The Endless Knot

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Episode 83: Recipes and Authority, from Intelligent Speech Aug 06, 2020

Show notes

Back in June we had the pleasure of being part of the Intelligent Speech Conference 2020 — this year, held entirely online. It was a day filled with amazing podcasters and great conversations, and in this short episode we’re sharing the talk that we gave at the event. It’s about the word Recipe and early cookbooks, medicine, and women’s magazines. If you’d like to see the images that accompanied the presentation, you can watch the talk on YouTube, where the questions and post-talk discussion are also included.

Intelligent Speech Conference

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Episode 82: Plagues, with Moxie from Your Brain on Facts Jul 06, 2020

Show notes

It’s time for us to talk about plagues — ancient, medieval, literary, etymological, and psychological! We’re joined by Moxie from Your Brain on Facts for a very fun — if slightly disturbing — discussion of many aspects of historical plagues.

Episode 44: "Us" & "Them" in the Ancient & Anglo-Saxon Worlds

Your Brain on Facts

Gardner, H.H. Pestilence and the Body Politic in Latin Literature. 2019.

Episode 51: Race & Racism in Ancient & Medieval Studies, Part One: The Problem

Episode 52: Race & Racism in Ancient & Medieval Studies, Part Two: Responses

Thorneloe Race forum episode

Statue/Systemic

Crisis/Discrimination

Thug/Protect

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

rbgtk5r4

Episode 81: The Rise (and Fall) of Skywalker Jun 05, 2020

Show notes

In an episode that was recorded in late May before the protests started, we took a break from COVID talk to give our thoughts on the final movie in the Star Wars saga. We discussed how it was similar to or different from ancient epic, medieval romance, and Icelandic sagas, but mostly we talked about the ways it failed to bring together the many threads of the Star Wars story.

Given current events, and the protests against police brutality and systemic anti-Black racism, we urge our white and non-Black listeners to continue their education on these subjects and, if you’re able, donate to support people fighting for justice. One good podcast series is “Seeing White” from SceneOnRadio, and there are anti-racism reading lists here and here; you can donate to Black Lives Matter or The National Bail Out Fund, or any of the many causes that need funds right now.

We also have two episodes on race and racism in medieval studies and classics; they’re several years old now, but may be of interest for thinking about issues of race in our particular fields, and the role our disciplines have played in supporting structural racism in Europe and North America. EPISODE 51: RACE & RACISM IN ANCIENT & MEDIEVAL STUDIES, PART ONE: THE PROBLEM and EPISODE 52: RACE & RACISM IN ANCIENT & MEDIEVAL STUDIES, PART TWO: RESPONSES.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire Cookbook

Lyceum

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Episode 80: Runes and Early Writing Systems Apr 10, 2020

Show notes

We take a look at the history of runes and their connection to early alphabets and Germanic culture. Then we take a trip back to the Phoenician and Egyptian origins of the modern English alphabet, and talk about some of the earliest examples of Greek writing, in inscriptions, epic poetry, and myth. Also, introducing Lyceum, a new platform for educational podcasting!

The “Screaming Viking” cocktail

Lyceum

NativLang’s video Muslim Vikings & Magic Letters: The Odd History of Runes pt 1

Images of English Runes

The story of Hyacinth (see under “Larkspur”) and images of possible “Ai Ai” flowers

“THE TEXT: Signs of Writing in Homer.” Homer: The Poetry of the Past, by ANDREW FORD, Cornell University Press, Ithaca; London, 1992, pp. 131–171. JSTOR.

The Runecast podcast

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Episode 79: Sex & Gender Feb 11, 2020

Show notes

We trace the etymologies and development of the words “sex” and “gender”, as well as words for women and men in Greek, Latin, and English, touching on Roman, Greek, and medieval English ideas about gender. Then we discuss the grammatical term “gender” and how it differs across languages around the world.

The History of Sex Podcast

The “Pink Lady” cocktail

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

The Christmas Cake cocktail

Episode 78: An Etymological Holiday Feast Dec 17, 2019

Show notes

This year’s holiday episode is all about festivals and feasts — and in particular, midwinter celebrations, the solstice, and the seasons. And we read a couple of Latin poems about drinking — and explore the odd connection between them and a tire company!

Hesiod’s Works and Days in English

Horace’s Odes in Latin

Horace Odes 1.37 in English

Feast video

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Bonus Episode: Thorneloe Race Forum Dec 10, 2019

Show notes

This bonus episode contains two talks we gave at our university in November. Mark spoke about “The ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Problem: Language and Racism in Medieval Studies” and Aven spoke about “Defining ‘Race’ in the Ancient Mediterranean and Today”.
Google ngrams for collocations of “Anglo-Saxon”:
All English Texts
American English
British English
Our Patreon page
This episode on YouTube
This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Episode 77: SoundEdu19, with Scott Lepisto Nov 19, 2019

Show notes

Crossover time! We’re joined by Scott Lepisto, of the Itinera Podcast, in a conversation at the SoundEducation podcasting conference in Boston. We talked about the conference itself, the use of podcasting in classrooms, and the importance of public-facing scholarship in Classics and Medieval Studies. And please check out Scott’s podcast, in which he interviews classicists about their work and their journey to and through the field!

Scott on Twitter

Itinera Podcast

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Episode 76: Do You Believe in Magic? Oct 31, 2019

Show notes

Happy Halloween! This year we’re talking about the origins of “Magic”, the differences between religion and magic, Greek and Roman spells and curses, and some rather bizarre tales about Virgil & Aristotle.

Our “Magic” video

Cocktail: Black Magic

Religion in the Roman Empire, James B Rives, 2007

Arcana Mundi,Georg Luck, 2006

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License