Julius Caesar – The Classical Antiquity Sidequest

Sidequest 22 – Caesar’s Civil Wars with Jen Gerrish

Our old friend Dr. Gerrish returned 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.

Your reading assignment is the Robin Waterfield translation of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations.

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, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, on Reddit, or on Instagram.

And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.

Sidequest 16 – Dr. Robyn Le Blanc and Ancient Coins

Those of us who are casual fans of Antiquity spend a lot of time talking about our favorite emperors and kings, in addition to discussing specific battles of significance along with myths and legends. One thing we probably don’t spend enough time talking about is ancient currency and the various purposes coins were used for during Antiquity. To remedy that, Dr. Robyn Le Blanc hopped on the pod to discuss numismatics (the study of coins and other units of currency). Turns out that coins were used for a lot more than just purchasing things and paying the soldiers.

During this episode, we cover the renaming of Dr. Le Blanc’s academic department, sources other than coins themselves which shed light on these ancient artifacts, whether ancient coins belong in a museum (don’t take a drink every time I reference Indiana Jones), how coins were made and distributed and how important it was to sack cities so you could make the money necessary to pay your soldiers. And we also learn about an early Robin Hood figure who lived during the reign of Septimius Severus. How cool is that?

We also discuss one famous coin that sold for more than FOUR MILLION DOLLARS. This is serious stuff, folks!

Your reading assignments are Moneta and When Money Talks: A History of Coins and Numismatics.

And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.

Interview – Jennifer Gerrish, Ph. D. talks Roman History

Dr. Jennifer Gerrish, Classics professor at the College of Charleston (Go Cougs!), stopped by to talk about one of my favorite topics, Ancient Rome. During our almost hour long conversation, we learn about Dr. Gerrish’s Ancient Rome origin story, cover the problems inherent in studying Antiquity and spend a lot of time going over the political genius, yet completely destructive force, that was Julius Caesar. SPOILER ALERT – he gets assassinated. Dr. Gerrish provides the greatest characterization of Caesar I’ve ever come across. You’ll love it. We also spend a fair amount of time talking about why governments fall and what appears to be the unchanging pattern of human nature.

If you want to learn more about Roman history and read some of Dr. Gerrish’s writings, check out the below –

Dr. Gerrish’s books: