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Author: BullCityCoordinators
I run a monthly(ish) podcast covering topics from Classical Antiquity Sidequest. It covers topics from Classical Antiquity. Movie and TV reviews are included.
Our old friend Lee Rodio returns to the podcast for another schedule breakdown. As we go through each game, you’ll see that both me and Lee are pretty high on Duke this year, although Lee is a little higher on the Blue Devils than I am. If either of our predictions are close to right, it’ll be a fun year in Durham.
Also, I got one voicemail that I play at the end of the episode. Who left the message? Why did that person call? What is the mysterious message contained in the voicemail? Listen to the entire episode and you’ll find out.
Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.
As we all know, people spend a lot of time thinking about Rome. If you’ve ever wondered why that is, Dr. Rhiannon Garth Jones just published All Roads Lead to Rome, a book that attempts to answer and explain just why it is that so many of us think about Rome and why we’ve done it for so long. In addition to that, we cover a lot of topics including writing styles, an ongoing issue with historical cognitive dissonance when it comes to our understanding of Rome and some troubling and problematic invocations of Rome. We also cover a very interesting want to know more section of her book and how it incorporates new and emerging forms of scholarship.
And while you’re reading stuff, why don’t you pick up a copy of Dr. Garth Jones’ book? It’s pretty darned good.
The theme music is from Brent Arehart. Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments.
And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.
Our old friend Steve Wiseman stopped by to bring us up to speed on where Duke is at this point in “fall camp”. (I know you can’t call it a “summer camp”, but it’s August – let’s be serious.) Before we get into the Blue Devils, Steve talks about his recent promotion, how you can subscribe to Inside Sports and our kids and college tours. After that, Steve takes us through the position groups at Duke and what to expect from each this season. Sounds like there’s some depth at key spots which is a good thing. And we’ve got a new quarterback who may be pretty darned good.
After we wrap up the football talk, we cover how things fell apart for Duke in the Final Four. You’ve been warned. And if that weren’t enough, Steve makes a big announcement about a project he’s working on. And speaking of big announcements …
As I mentioned last year, I will be cutting back on podcast episodes. And while I planned to do fewer episodes this season than in the past seasons, I decided to cut back on them even more significantly. Doing a weekly podcast during football season, along with all the work associated with it by myself, takes up a lot of time. Between work and obligations to my children (they both play fall sports), I need to cut back. What that means for this season is that I’ll probably do a season prediction episode, another one around one of the bye weeks and then an end-of-year wrap-up episode. After that, I’m not sure. Doing this podcast has been a privilege and an honor. I appreciate the fans and friends of the pod I’ve made over the years. Thank you for your support and for your time. I can’t wait to see you guys at Wallace Wade this season.
Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.
Our old friend Dr. Gerrishreturned to the podcast to explain how it is that Caesar’s Civil War happened. While we all may know that Caesar and Pompey ended up fighting, we would all probably struggle to explain why that happened. During our interview, Dr. Gerrish explains the factors that led to the war, who ended up on which side and what the result of the war was for the Roman state. We also cover how some Roman elites during this era relied on “the people” as a power base without actually caring about “the people”. Consistent with that, we talk about how Caesar committed lots of crimes and then toppled the Roman state to avoid prosecution for said crimes. Cheerful stuff. In addition, we discuss Dr. Gerrish’s books which I recommend to all of you.
And I also go full “Old Man Yells At Clouds” complaining about the problems created by the Social Media Age. To paraphrase Sideshow Bob, I’m aware of the irony of utilizing social media in order to decry it, so don’t bother pointing that out.
The theme music is from Brent Arehart. Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments.
And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.
Our old friend Conor O’Neill stopped by to preview both Duke and Wake Forest. We cover strength of schedule issues, a new coach in Winston-Salem, and turnover in Durham. The Blue Devils get high marks from Conor, so we’re telling you there’s a chance. Also, don’t schedule weddings in the Fall people. Just don’t.
And we discuss the most painful Duke losses in the last twenty-five years. Which are your most painful Blue Devil losses?
Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.
After our episode with Dr. Nat Katz on Roman regime change, I wanted to learn more about the Roman state’s governmental structures. That led me to an excellent article by Dr. Benjamin Straumann about whether Rome had a constitution. After reading it, I reached out to Dr. Straumann to see if he would be willing to discuss the idea of Rome’s constitution and, fortunately, he agreed to. The result is an episode covering whether Rome had a constitution, the ways in which Rome’s leaders expressed constitutional norms and how the framework of Rome’s constitution came into existence.
We also discuss the concept of a “constitutional crisis”, which is a term that is used a lot but is probably not well-defined and is imprecisely utilized. Turns out Dr. Straumann wrote a book on the subject which I would recommend to you.
The theme music is from Brent Arehart. Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments.
And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.
In an effort to help bridge the gap between “Byzantine” and Roman history, I reached out to Madeleine Duperouzel to see if she’d be interested in talking about Empress Theodora. Madeleine was more than happy to, so the result is an outstanding episode regarding a legendary figure in Roman history. After briefly covering finicky weather patterns, we discuss Theodora’s life, her historical significance and how she has been treated by her contemporaries and by later historians. This naturally involves a discussion about the historical inkblot that is The Secret History (I explain the inkblot reference in the episode, but if you search for “Bork 9th Amendment inkblot”, you’ll find what I’m talking about). We also cover the general hostility that a specific group of men felt towards Theodora and the unique control over her life that she possessed.
To get more updates on history from Madeleine, please check subscribe to her Substack, The Empress of Byzantium. It’s really good!
The theme music is from Brent Arehart. Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments.
And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.
First, apologies for my audio at times in the podcast. I’m not sure what happened. Second, apologies for the two movies we’re about to review. While the Centurion squandered a chance to be good, The Last Legion is just awful. As we discuss these movies, we reference the brilliant Black Zeus X and then try to figure out what it is that Hollywood gets wrong when it makes movies “based on” Antiquity. We also discuss how great actors are constantly wasted in these movies and resurrect the term “McNulty Subplot“.
The theme music is from Brent Arehart. Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments.
And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.
As I mentioned on an earlier episode, I’ve been wanting to put together a series of episodes about what we collectively consider to be significant works from Antiquity. One such work is Seneca’s Letters. Fortunately, I was able to find Dr. Liz Gloyn who is an expert on Seneca. She stopped by to talk about Seneca’s letters, his Stoic origin story and how he ended up in the proximity of the imperial court. Dr. Gloyn also covers some of Seneca’s other writings which we should all take a look at and we discuss her upcoming project. (Don’t forget to check out her book which I linked to above!)
The theme music is from Brent Arehart. Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments.
And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.
As a companion to our recent episode with Dr. Le Blanc, I thought it would be interesting to do an episode about collecting ancient coins. I reached out to Kinzer Coins and the result is this episode with Dean and Josh. After discussing their origin stories, Dean and Josh tell us what collectors should know when they start collecting, where to buy coins, how to store coins and grail pieces. I hope you all learn something from this and are more informed if you decide to start a coin collection.
Please check out their podcast to learn more information about their work and this interesting, and potentially not too expensive, hobby. You can also check out their respective sites to see if they have any coins you may want to buy.
The theme music is from Brent Arehart. Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments.
And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.
Bull City Coordinators - A Duke Football and Roman History Blog 