Ancient Office Hours

Latest Episodes:

Episode 145 - Dr. Jenn Finn Jul 22, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Jenn Finn, an Associate Professor and Chair of the Classical Studies Department at Loyola University Chicago, joins Lexie to discuss how coursework in Achaemenid Persian art and a Pompeii dig led her to learn cuneiform and frame Alexander the Great in an ancient Near Eastern context, Alexander as a symbolic strategist, the barrier of source limits, and her experience consulting for the Netflix documentary Alexander: The Making of a God. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Bluesky, Facebook & Instagram or visit our website www.theozymandiasproject.com!

Originally recorded August 14, 2025.

Learn more about Dr. Finn: https://www.luc.edu/classicalstudies/facultydirectory/profiles/finn.shtml

Find her publications on Academia: https://luc.academia.edu/JennFinn

Find the episode of Legacies of Ancient Persia with Dr. David Potter: https://pourdavoud.ucla.edu/media/podcast/

Custom music by Brent Arehart of Arehart Sounds and edited by Dan Maday.

Want a transcript of the episode? Email us at theozymandiasprojectpodcast@gmail.com and we can provide one.

Ancient Office Hours is a proud member of Mnemosyne: The Memory Collective, a podcast network and creator collective for historians, archaeologists, artists, and other creators and educators dedicated to sharing content about and featuring the ancient world that is accurate, accessible, and inclusive. To learn more about the collective and its contributors, check out collectivemem.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 144 - Dr. Petra Creamer Jul 08, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Petra Creamer, an Assyriologist, archaeologist, and professor of the Ancient Near East at Emory University, joins Lexie to discuss focusing on the Assyrian Empire to understand how non-elites experienced state power, Assyrian deportation as a labor and control strategy that often moved families and aimed to resettle people as productive “Assyrians,” and conducting fieldwork at Katrash near Erbil, an unexpected rural Neo-Assyrian administrative/storage center likely tied to agricultural extraction and imperial bureaucracy. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Bluesky, Facebook & Instagram or visit our website www.theozymandiasproject.com!

Originally recorded July 31, 2025.

Learn more about Dr. Creamer: https://mesas.emory.edu/people/biographies/Creamer-Petra.html

Follow her on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/petramcreamer.bsky.social

Follow her research on ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Petra-Creamer

Find her publications on Academia: https://emory.academia.edu/PetraCreamer

Custom music by Brent Arehart of Arehart Sounds and edited by Dan Maday.

Want a transcript of the episode? Email us at theozymandiasprojectpodcast@gmail.com and we can provide one.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 143 - Dr. Jeffrey Newman Jun 24, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Jeffrey Newman, an Egyptologist and a research associate at UCLA's Pourdavoud Institute, joins Lexie to discuss his dissertation, which examines ritual performance and the origins of Egyptian bureaucracy and state formation, Predynastic and Early Dynastic chronologies, addresses First Dynasty human sacrifice, and his cultural heritage photography & photogrammetry experiences. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Bluesky, Facebook & Instagram or visit our website www.theozymandiasproject.com!

Originally recorded July 22, 2025.

Learn more about Dr. Newman: https://pourdavoud.ucla.edu/people/jeffrey-newman/

Follow his work on ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jeffrey-Newman-5

Read his dissertation: https://www.proquest.com/docview/3180856129

Custom music by Brent Arehart of Arehart Sounds and edited by Dan Maday.

Want a transcript of the episode? Email us at theozymandiasprojectpodcast@gmail.com and we can provide one.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 142 - Dr. Curtis Dozier Jun 10, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Curtis Dozier, an associate professor of Classics at Vassar College, joins Lexie to discuss entering classics through Latin in public high school, founding Pharos: Doing Justice to the Classics to document how white nationalist and antisemitic movements use Greco-Roman antiquity to legitimize politics, his new book The White Pedestal, and how “historical accuracy” rhetoric often masks racism and misogyny. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Bluesky, Facebook & Instagram or visit our website www.theozymandiasproject.com!

Originally recorded July 14, 2025.

Learn more about Dr. Dozier: https://www.vassar.edu/faculty/cudozier

Follow him on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/curtisdozier.bsky.social

Check out his publications on Academia: https://vassar.academia.edu/CurtisDozier

Check out his latest book “The White Pedestal”: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300272734/the-white-pedestal/

Check out Pharos: https://pharos.vassarspaces.net/

Custom music by Brent Arehart of Arehart Sounds and edited by Dan Maday.

Want a transcript of the episode? Email us at theozymandiasprojectpodcast@gmail.com and we can provide one.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 141 - Jonathan Todd Ross May 27, 2026

Show notes

Jonathan Todd Ross, a voice actor and writer (the voice of Marik Ishtar & Yami Marik in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series), joins Lexie to discuss getting into acting and studying at NYU, stumbling into voice work via an urgent Ultraman audition that led to Yu-Gi-Oh!, and ultimately audiobooks, and why the original Yu-Gi-Oh! dub endures—universal themes, mythic battles, and inner duality. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Bluesky, Facebook & Instagram or visit our website www.theozymandiasproject.com!

Originally recorded July 8, 2025.

Learn more about Jonathan: https://www.jonathantoddross.com/

Check out his IMDb page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1475002/

Follow him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathantoddross

Follow him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jtoddross

Follow him on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jonathanross8102

Custom music by Brent Arehart of Arehart Sounds and edited by Dan Maday.

Want a transcript of the episode? Email us at theozymandiasprojectpodcast@gmail.com and we can provide one.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 140 - Dr. Roel Konijnendijk May 13, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Roel Konijnendijk, the Darby Fellow in Ancient History at Lincoln College, at the University of Oxford, joins Lexie to examine psychological warfare and imperial brutality in antiquity, citing Persian punishment of Miletus and Athens and Athenian reprisals, explore Greek ambivalence about war’s glory and horror, myth-bust Sparta as less uniquely militarist than popularly imagined, and look at reenactment as experiential rather than evidentiary. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Bluesky, Facebook & Instagram or visit our website www.theozymandiasproject.com!

Originally recorded July 8, 2025.

Learn more about Dr. Konijnendijk: https://lincoln.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-roel-konijnendijk/

Follow him on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/roelkonijn.bsky.social

Follow him on Twitter: https://x.com/Roelkonijn

Get updates on his Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions: https://www.askhistorians.com/amas

Custom music by Brent Arehart of Arehart Sounds and edited by Dan Maday.

Want a transcript of the episode? Email us at theozymandiasprojectpodcast@gmail.com and we can provide one.

Ancient Office Hours is a proud member of Mnemosyne: The Memory Collective, a podcast network and creator collective for historians, archaeologists, artists, and other creators and educators dedicated to sharing content about and featuring the ancient world that is accurate, accessible, and inclusive. To learn more about the collective and its contributors, check out collectivemem.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Special Release - Back to Where It All Began with Andrea Parkins May 05, 2026

Show notes

In this very special podcast episode, Lexie reconnects with Andrea Parkins, her influential history teacher who ignited her passion for history back in sixth grade. They reminisce about the memorable and engaging methods Andrea used to teach ancient history, such as immersive units on Greece and Egypt, complete with field trips, class competitions, and creative storytelling. Andrea shares her unconventional path to becoming a teacher, her experiences teaching various grades, and her thoughts on making education dynamic and exciting. The conversation offers a heartwarming trip down memory lane, highlighting the lasting impact a passionate teacher can have on their students.

Originally recorded January 5, 2026.

Custom music by Brent Arehart of Arehart Sounds and edited by Lexie Henning.

Want a transcript of the episode? Email us at theozymandiasprojectpodcast@gmail.com and we can provide one.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 139 - Cricket Leigh Apr 29, 2026

Show notes

Cricket Leigh, a therapist and accomplished voice-over artist (the voice of Mai on Avatar the Last Airbender), joins Lexie to discuss her path into performance, from growing up in Kalamazoo and doing local theater and musicals to studying intense classical works at NYU, booking Mai on Avatar: The Last Airbender and the show’s enduring appeal through big themes and values, and leaving LA to practice therapy for 10 years, curating Comic-Con panels on anime and mental health, and now returning to creative work and new voiceover roles. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Bluesky, Facebook & Instagram or visit our website www.theozymandiasproject.com!

Originally recorded July 7, 2025.

Check out Cricket’s website: https://cricketleigh.com/

Check out her YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@cricketleightalks

Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cricketleightalks/?hl=en-gb

Custom music by Brent Arehart of Arehart Sounds and edited by Dan Maday.

Want a transcript of the episode? Email us at theozymandiasprojectpodcast@gmail.com and we can provide one.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 138 - Dr. Dan-el Padilla Peralta Apr 15, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Dan-el Padilla Peralta, a Professor of Classics at Princeton (at the time of this recording), joins Lexie to discuss how growing up unhoused in New York City led him to reading in a shelter library and discovering Greece and Rome, the efforts to revise curricula toward race, gender, and sexuality studies, the limits of relying on one faculty member for such courses, and the importance of hiring, and outlines two reception projects—Classicism and Other Phobias and a book on Dominican classical reception and racialization. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Bluesky, Facebook & Instagram or visit our website www.theozymandiasproject.com!

Originally recorded June 26, 2025.

Learn more about Dr. Padilla Peralta: https://classics.princeton.edu/people/dan-el-padilla-peralta

Follow him on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/platanoclassics.bsky.social

Read the NYT article referenced in the episode: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/magazine/classics-greece-rome-whiteness.html

Read about his upcoming move to Arizona State University: https://paw.princeton.edu/article/activist-scholar-dan-el-padilla-peralta-06-leaving-princeton

Check out his book “Undocumented”: https://www.prhspeakers.com/speaker/dan-el-padilla-peralta

Custom music by Brent Arehart of Arehart Sounds and edited by Dan Maday.

Want a transcript of the episode? Email us at theozymandiasprojectpodcast@gmail.com and we can provide one.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Special Release - Bianca’s Cure: Medici Mystery, Renaissance Florence, and the Science of Herbal Healing with Gigi Berardi Apr 08, 2026

Show notes

Gigi Berardi, a Western Washington University environmental science professor and award-winning writer who has taught in Italy for 15 years, talks about her historical fiction novel Bianca’s Cure. Gigi explains choosing the Medici because their patronage shaped Florence and because her book centers on the “greatest mystery of the Renaissance”: the near-simultaneous deaths of Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici and his wife Bianca Cappello, debated as arsenic poisoning, malaria, or murder by his brother Ferdinando. She describes building an accurate historical “skeleton” from primary sources and extensive fact-checking with Florence researchers while inventing plausible internal monologue using tonal exercises. The conversation covers Bianca’s Venetian aristocratic background, Renaissance medicine and Artemisia/antimalarial history, women’s roles in alchemy, Florence as a character, and Gigi’s view of success as visibility and reader engagement.

Originally recorded February 23, 2026.

Check out Gigi’s website: https://gigiberardi.com/

Check out Bicana’s Cure: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Biancas-Cure/Gigi-Berardi/9798896360704

Follow Gigi on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580352734240

Custom music by Brent Arehart of Arehart Sounds and edited by Dan Maday.

Want a transcript of the episode? Email us at theozymandiasprojectpodcast@gmail.com and we can provide one.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.