Is it August already? This is my last episode as host of Tell Me Muse, and I’m so excited to bring to you Charlène Frigon-Beaupré, our host for Season 2, which starts in September. We chat about her experience at McGill, plans for the podcast, and what Classics means to both of us. Cue the introspective music, and off we go!

Does there exist an authority in interpreting the Classics? Who gets the final say on what messages ancient authors really intended to convey? Throughout the growth of classical scholarship, different groups have claimed ownership of the mantle to continue the Graeco-Roman legacy, but when all work is done through interpretation, who's to say that one reading is more authentic than another? And what happens when some groups decide to use the Classics to discriminate and denigrate another? Join me and my guest Daniel Whittle on a journey through these questions about how to achieve authenticity in interpretation. We focus on the writings of formerly enslaved African-Americans in the 18th-19th c., who communicated their experiences through Classical tropes, stories, and characters, and found not only comfort but also a way to dispel racist ideology around who could become a proprietor of the classical tradition.

What does a popular politician, a noble girl, and a petty thief in early Republican Rome have in common? According to our sources, they were all killed by their fathers with "just cause," reasons which, as it turns out, are less than persuasive to modern ears. My guest this month is Janan Perkins, an MA student at UC Boulder studying all sorts of catastrophes in the Ancient Mediterranean world. She'll take us through the writings of four ancient historians, who document different cases of a father killing his child without suffering any consequences, and will lay out the difficulties that each source presents, because let's just say that when Livy sat down to write, a good story was not the only thing he wished to pen. So, grab a drink, grab a pencil, and get ready to learn about how to get away with murder: the Roman edition.

Today, we talk about the destruction of monuments. My guest, Sasha Boghosian, is an MA student at the University of British Columbia in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies, and her research focuses on the importance of a society's collective memory for the development of their culture and identity. In this conversation, Sasha explains how, throughout the 19th-20th c., the state of Azerbaijan undertook a revisionist history agenda to strengthen their claims to a region in the Caucasus called Nakhichevan. This involves both the rewriting of history books and the obliteration of funerary stelae, which mark the presence of previous Armenian inhabitants in the region. Suffice it to say I am learning for the vast majority of this conversation, and I hope the connections we draw between Roman practices and events in more recent history will illuminate the consistent desires and actions of humans on opposite ends of a two millennia divide. 

How does one build a dome? How do arches stay upright? What good is a Classics degree outside of Classics? In this episode, Marina and I will traverse through all such questions as I get a run-down of a Roman construction method to "vault with air." I'm excited to bring you Marina Martin because vaulting tubes are simply fantastic and deserve appreciation, and because she has experience both within Classics and beyond it. After completing her Bachelor's in Classics at McGill, she's now at Cambridge in Architecture and Urban Design, and we talk about how she's able to apply the skills she learned in her undergraduate in a new field (e.g., to find unique solutions to climate change by referring to ancient construction techniques). So join us and prepare to look at archways with renewed fascination and a better understanding of how you can make one for yourself.   

For most Classics students, North Africa is mentioned for a few reasons (say it with me now): Hannibal, Queen Dido in Carthage, Cleopatra, and as the birthplace of Emperor Septimius Severus. In this episode, my guest Avery Warkentin introduces us to another region that was flourishing in culture, trade, and contacts with the ancient Mediterranean world: Nubia -- and within it, the metropolitan site of Naqa. Join me as I learn about a kiosk (note: not the "let me sell you some stuff by the side of the road" kind but the religious kind) and a Lion Temple, which provide insight into how Nubians interacted with Greco-Roman influences and negotiated their display alongside their own, local styles.  

Philology? What's that? Fair enough. It's not a term one often hears outside language courses in Classics, but it's actually a fascinating discipline that explores ancient cultures and their beliefs through textual remains. Any piece of ancient literature you read (be it in the original language or in translation) has passed through the hands of a philologist at some point -- as Sara tells us, the practice of analyzing, deciphering, and commenting on texts dates back to scholars at the Library of Alexandria in the 3rd c. BCE. So, let's talk about it! Join me as I interview Sara Rahajason on her research about the Latin poet Lucretius, his work explaining how everything in the natural world works, and her investigation into the Latin words for pleasure, sweetness, and (implicitly) deception. 

Last spring, Lil Nas X released a music video featuring a quote from Plato's Symposium, which brought Classics to the forefront of pop culture. While these kinds of references to the ancient world are not uncommon in the media, sometimes they are misinterpreted and ancient figures are coopted as figureheads for ideas they did not support. Join me and Keisuke Nakajima (Jima) as we discuss the discipline of Classical Reception, Plato's (perhaps undeservingly persistent) legacy in queer media, and the Roman poet Ovid, who may be a better author to reference, should one wish to talk about the acceptance of diverse kinds of love and of the female perspective in the ancient world.