Roman History – The Classical Antiquity Sidequest

Sidequest 29 – The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use the Classics

I’ve been a fan of Dr. Curtis Dozier for a while. I stumbled on his podcast, The Mirror of Antiquity, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I then came across his website, Pharos, where he chronicles (mostly horrible and some who are only somewhat horrible but still horrible) people invoking the Classics to justify their horrible beliefs. When I reached out to Dr. Dozier to see if he would come on the podcast, not only did he say yes, but he told me about his current book which is now available for purchase – The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate. Naturally, this book which is now available for purchase, is the topic of the episode.

In Dr. Dozier’s book, which I read and highly recommend, he outlines the goals of white nationalists and where in the Classics white nationalists look to find support for their horrible beliefs. It turns out that they aren’t necessarily misrepresenting history to support their hate-filled, racist and reprehensible beliefs. Rather, such hatred, bigotry and racist beliefs are common and permeate our entire historical and philosophical narrative. And that is the key part of Dr. Dozier’s book – he isn’t just exposing the logical fallacies of white nationalists, he’s exposing the problems inherent with our historical narratives upon which white nationalists rely.

And it’s understanding that issue which makes the discussion we need to have about history so important. Put simply, if we’re going to have a discussion about white nationalists co-opting the Classics, we need to have a discussion about what the Classics are, what they aren’t and our obligations as students and teachers to telling an accurate and complete narrative about the past and how that reflects on the present. We have to stop idolizing the subject matter and be honest about it. Look, folks, if there’s one theme of this podcast, it’s that history is messy. And this episode returns to that theme again and again and again. There’s nothing perfect about the past. The folks who preceded us weren’t saints. They were people, and people are imperfect. So, let’s stop putting the past on a pedestal and get to work making our present and our future a better place.

While I often kick around politics and current events, this is one of the few episodes that covers both in detail. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed participating in the discussion.

Your reading assignment is Empire of Ruin.

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 28 – Labor Movements in Ancient Rome with Dr. Sarah Bond

Dr. Sarah Bond, Roanoke, Virginia native and author of the hit book Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire, stopped by the podcast to talk about how people engaged in collective action in Antiquity. In addition to discussing how Roman workers engaged in actions that are similar to the modern labor movement, such as by forming collegia of various types, we cover a lot of topics including why Roanoke is so great, how we should approach the study of history and the power that laborers have. Another topic we get into is how the Roman state restricted collegia and why Christians were persecuted. And if that weren’t enough, we also discuss the Mint Strike during Aurelian’s reign. Not to give away the ending, but as Omar warned us, “You come at the king, you best not miss.”

Your reading assignments include The Great Leveler and Surviving Rome.

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

Sidequest 24 – Antiquity on Screen Part II: Those About to Die and The Odyssey with Monica Cyrino

Our friend Monica Cyrino returned to the podcast to discuss Those About to Die and the upcoming Christopher Nolan film, The Odyssey. Those About to Die is a Peacock series which is set in the Flavian dynasty. It’s an ambitious project that has some good parts and some not so good parts. If we were to give it one of our movie review ratings, I’d give it a Probus. It is worth watching as there are some good moments that are historically accurate. There are some other moments that are … not.

We also get into the futures game and play a version of conference realignment talk by discussing what shape The Odyssey may take. It’s an ambitious project and, to be honest, I’m not sure I see a movie in the source material absent extensive editing and rewrites. And, if that happens, I’m certain the notoriously happy OnlineClassics folks will react with calm, quiet reflection. Narrator: They won’t.

We conclude the podcast by talking about a few projects that Dr. Cyrino is working on which I highly recommend.

Your reading assignment is Judy Dench’s Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent.

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

Sidequest 23 – All Roads Lead to Rome with Dr. Rhiannon Garth Jones

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.

Your reading assignments include Strike by Dr. Sarah E. Bond (who I would love to have on the pod one day) and Dr. Kaldellis’ The New Roman Empire.

And while you’re reading stuff, why don’t you pick up a copy of Dr. Garth Jones’ book? It’s pretty darned good.

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

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.

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

Sidequest 21 – Dr. Benjamin Straumann on TheRoman Constitution

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.

Your reading assignments include The Constitution of the Roman Republic and The Roman Republic in Political Thought (Millar).

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

Sidequest 20 – Madeleine Duperouzel on Empress Theodora

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!

Your reading assignments include The Alexiad, Doppelgänger and The Name of the Rose.

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

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.

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.

Sidequest 15 – Nathaniel Katz on Imperial Transitions

In follow up to a suggestion by Dr. Kaldellis as to future podcast episodes, I reached to Dr. Nat Katz at Arizona to discuss how the Roman state handled transitions of power. During our discussion, we delve into general types of imperial transitions and the risks associated with such events. This includes detailing risks to those who chose the ultimate losing side in a power struggle, risks to those outside the walls of power and whether the Roman bureaucracy continued to function when a power vacuum opened up. It turns out the state generally functioned smoothly even during power disputes. We also cover how emperors portrayed themselves as deserving of power given the lack of formal rules regarding who could be emperor.

Dr. Katz also provides us with examples of what we could consider “good”, or generally smooth, transitions as well as ones that just didn’t go that well. We also make some solid references to Dennis Reynolds from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia which I know you all will appreciate.

Your reading assignment is Kill Caesar!: Assassination in the Early Roman Empire by Mary Sheldon.

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