Literature And History

Virgil’s Georgics (c. 29 BCE), or agriculture poems, show the poet reaching his full strength as a writer, and using an old form to analyze the history around him. Episode 53 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-53-quiz Episode 53 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-053-then-came-hard-iron Episode 53 Song: "The Ancient Republican" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzNAutei6wA Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Virgil’s Eclogues (c. 38 BCE) are poems about country life. Far from being innocent celebrations, though they are often cryptic filled with a haunting darkness. Episode 52 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-52-quiz Episode 52 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-052-white-flowers-die Episode 52 Song: "Cyclops Power Ballad" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZOiQL5aJAA Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Horace (65-8 BCE) was a central figure in shaping Augustan Age tastes in satire and literary criticism. His bumbling, self conscious persona has been charming readers for millennia. Episode 51 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-51-quiz Episode 51 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-051-horace-and-augustan-poetry Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

The Roman poet Horace (65-8 BCE), a contemporary of Augustus, endured wars, regime changes, and became a literary spokesman for the new principate. Episode 50 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-50-quiz Episode 50 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-050-our-brutal-age Episode 50 Song: "Augustus Asks for an Epic" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU6nk9luAm8 Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Catullus (c. 85-54 BCE) is Rome’s most famous early poet. Departing from epic tradition, Catullus wrote a canon of short works that have been famous since antiquity. Episode 49 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-49-quiz Episode 49 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-049-the-strange-roots-of-love Episode 49 Song: "Catullus' Love Song" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myQERneu-mQ Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Following his consulship, Cicero did his best to salvage the battered Republic, eventually going head to head with the powerful young general Mark Antony. Episode 48 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-48-quiz Episode 48 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-048-the-right-and-the-expedient Episode 48 Song: "The Last Philippic" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES5WpZ1GH-A Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

The story of Cicero’s career is an epic tale, filled with courtroom dramas, corruption, conspiracy, greed, and Cicero’s own enduring hope for a better future. Episode 47 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-47-quiz Episode 47 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-047-o-tempora-o-mores Episode 47 Song: "First Catilinarian Rap" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDvjHnY6e9Q Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Cicero (106-43 BCE) was the undisputed master of the Latin language. During his first thirty years, he witnessed events that heralded the Republic’s end. Episode 46 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-46-quiz Episode 46 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-046-the-republic-at-twilight Episode 46 Song: "Roman Senate Barbershop" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWgg9aMq7gs Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Lucretius (c. 94-53 BCE) is our most important source for Epicurean philosophy, perhaps the most misunderstood school of thought from the ancient world. Episode 45 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-45-quiz Episode 45 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-045-the-uncuttables Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

The Roman playwright Terence (c. 184-159 BCE) produced a string of brilliant comedies in the 160s BCE. His masterpiece, The Brothers, continues to astonish us today. Episode 44 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-44-quiz Episode 44 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-044-homo-sum Episode 44 Song: "Would You Like to Be My Son?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdwb60Hn1-8 Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Plautus (c. 254-184 BCE) was a prolific comedy writer. His late play, The Rope, captures the dizzying changes sweeping Rome after the Second Punic War. Episode 43 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-43-quiz Episode 43 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-043-on-the-move Episode 43 Song: "Let's Write a Romantic Comedy" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsrdUFmhiUI Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Roman literature grew slowly from Greek traditions during the 300s and 200s BCE. Learn about its earliest figures, and how they paved the way for the Age of Cicero. Episode 42 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-42-quiz Episode 42 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-042-the-beginnings-of-roman-literature Episode 42 Song: "Stupid Puns About Rome" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OPNayS4wJ8 Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

A retrospective of everything L&H has covered so far, plus some special announcements. Episode 41 Exam: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-41-quiz Episode 41 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-041-everything-so-far Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

The Hellenistic period – 330-30 BCE, saw Alexander’s successor kingdoms rotting away in the east, the rise of Rome, and the birth of modern consciousness. Episode 40 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-40-quiz Episode 40 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-040-hellenism-and-the-birth-of-the-self Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Apollonius’ Jason and the Argonauts, Books 3-4. Mesmerizing Medea takes center stage at the Argonautica’s end, dominating the epic’s events. Episode 39 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-39-quiz Episode 39 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-039-medea-and-the-argonauts Episode 39 Song: "Jason's Power Ballad" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BqyO8XFT5U Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Jason and the Argonauts, Books 1-2. Journey with Jason to find the Golden Fleece, and learn about the Greco-Egyptian writer, Apollonius of Rhodes. Episode 38 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-38-quiz Episode 38 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-038-the-epic-anti-hero Episode 38 Song: "The Golden Moby-Dick Fleece" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BRSbaaK-i4 Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Menander’s Old Cantankerous (316 BCE), produced during the New Comedy period, shows theater beginning to take on its modern form. Episode 37 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-37-quiz Episode 37 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-037-the-new-comedy Episode 37 Song: "Alexander the. . .um. . .Great" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc2BYWLWtLw Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, with all of its nudity, sex, and explicit language, was nonetheless his most powerful salvo against the Peloponnesian War. Episode 36 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-36-quiz Episode 36 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-036-war-and-peace-and-sex Episode 36 Song: "Lysistrata in Three Minutes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaJxAK0HAxU Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Aristophanes’ The Clouds is a dazzling satire on Athenian philosophy, showing a very different Socrates than Plato’s. Episode 35 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-35-quiz Episode 35 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-035-the-great-thundercrap Episode 35 Song: "Aristophanes Barbershop" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhAbkjs9HWA Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Euripides’ The Bacchae, one of the darkest  and bloodiest works of Ancient Greek tragedy, is about the spread of cult religions during the late Peloponnesian War. Episode 34 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-34-quiz Episode 34 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-034-the-traditions-of-our-forefathers Episode 34 Song: "Interview with Dionysus" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxd0jATUZ-s Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory