Philosophy – The Classical Antiquity Sidequest

Sidequest 37 – Julian the Apostate’s Religious Legacy with Dr. David Litwa

It’s been a minute, but the podcast is back with an episode we recorded over the summer with Dr. David Litwa. I reached out to Dr. Litwa after reading (listening to) his book “Julian Against the Apostates“. He agreed to come on the podcast which gave us this episode. During our talk, Dr. Litwa covers Julian’s religious and philosophical origins including the dangers he faced for simply believing in non-Christian gods. He also discusses Julian’s traditional Hellenic religious beliefs including the importance of sacrifice and how Julian received an honorable burial. This shows that the state honored him as a military hero and that, despite subsequent criticism by religious enemies, Julian was a respected figure in the Empire.

One topic that we cover in detail is whether Julian missed his calling as a philosopher and religious theorist which is apparently something that Julian wanted to ultimately do. After listening to this episode, I think you’ll see that if history had unfolded a little differently, Julian may have been able to leave decades of Hellenic religious writings behind him. Maybe that wouldn’t have done much to alter the course of history that unfolded, but as Mal Reynolds once observed, “May have been on the losing side, still not convinced it was the wrong one.”

You can keep up with Dr. Litwa at his YouTube channel or his website linked to above.

Your reading assignments include Julian Augustus by friend of the pod Jeremy Swist.

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.

You Have Friends Everywhere

Posting this because it seems like a good time to do so. If you haven’t watched Andor yet, which is where this is from, you should.

There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they’ve already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire’s authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try.

Sidequest 18 – Dr. Liz Gloyn Discusses Seneca and his Stoic Philosophy

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!)

Your reading assignments include Love At First Spite and Spoiler Alert.

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