Lesche: Ancient Greece, New Ideas
In Greek antiquity, a lesche (λέσχη) was a place to gather and talk. Brown University professor Johanna Hanink hosts conversations with fellow Hellenists about their latest work in the field. The podcast explores ancient Greece and new ideas in classical scholarship.
Episodes
A New "Green and Yellow" of Odyssey 11, with Richard Hunter and Rebecca Laemmle
Richard Hunter and Rebecca Laemmle join me in the Lesche to discuss their new commentary on Odyssey Book 11, in the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics ("Green and Yellow") commentary series. Ancient textsHomer, Odyssey (general) and Iliad (esp. Book 9 and Book 23) Aristophanes, Frogs Plato /Platonic eschatological accounts/underworlds, esp. the Myth of Er in in Republic 10 Timon of
A New Anacreontic Poem on Stone, with Andrej Petrovic
Andrej Petrovic joins me in the Lesche to discuss a new verse-inscription from Teos (in Turkey) discovered in 2013 by Musa Kadıoğlu, director of the excavations at Teos. Together with Mustafa Adak (Professor of Greek Language and Literature, University of Akdeniz) and Christian Marek (University of Zurich), Andrej has co-authored a monograph with edition, commentary, and interpretative essays on t
Migration and the Early Greek World
Naoise Mac Sweeney joins me in the Lesche to discuss her ERC-funded multi-year project "Migration and the Making of the Ancient Greek World" (MIGMAG). Read more about the project here.The first major output is a volume titled Local Migration and the Making of the Ancient Greek World (c.1200-550 BCE), edited by MIGMAG team members Naoíse Mac Sweeney, Jana Mokrišová, and Francesco Quondam.
Dream Interpretation, from Homer to Aristotle
Mirjam E. Kotwick joins me in the Lesche to discuss her new book The Ancient Interpretation of Dreams: Early Greek Hermeneutics and Its Sources, which is hot off the (Princeton University) press.For more on Katerina Evangelatou's 2015 production of Rhesus, as part of the Epidaurus-Athens Theatre Festival, see this article by Scott Andrew Cally in Didascalia.Ancient works Homer, Odyssey: Penel
Luck (and Lucklessness) in Ancient Greek Thought
Daniel Schillinger joins me in the Lesche to discuss his new book Luckless: The Idea of Luck in Ancient Greek Thought, which recently appeared with Oxford University Press.Find out more about Daniel's work here: https://www.danielschillinger.com/Ancient authors and textsSophocles, Oedipus RexEuripides, Trojan Women (and Hippolytus)ThucydidesAristotle, Physics, Nicomachean Ethics, Poetics (Dan
Stasis: Political Violence in Classical Greece
Scott Lawin Arcenas joins me in the Lesche to discuss his new book, Political Violence in Ancient Greece: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches to Stasis, 500-301 BCE (Cambridge University Press 2026).Ancient texts (select)Homer, Odyssey and IliadAlcaeusSolonHerodotus, esp. the account of the stasis in ChiosThucydides, esp. the account of the stasis at Corcyra (Book 3) Xenophon, Hellenika, esp
Lost Histories of Childbirth in Ancient Rome
Content warning: This episode contains detailed descriptions of childbirth complications -- including maternal and infant mortality -- and of how such complications were handled by ancient midwives and physicians. There are graphic references to surgical procedures.Tara Mulder joins me in the Lesche to discuss her brand new book, A Womb of One's Own: Lost Histories of Childbirth in Ancient Ro
A Social and Economic History of the Theater to 300 BC
Eric Csapo and Peter Wilson join me in the Lesche to discuss their three-volume A Social and Economic History of the Theatre to 300 BC (Cambridge University Press). Volume 1, The Theatre Festivals of Athens: Documents with Translation and Commentary, appeared earlier this year. Volume 2, Theatre Beyond Athens: Documents with Translation and Commentary, came out in 2020. Volume 3, on theater person
(Translating) the Scholia to the Iliad
Bill Beck joins me in the Lesche to discuss his new translation of the vetera scholia to Iliad Book 1-2: The Ancient Scholia to Homer's Iliad: A Translation, Volume 1 (Cambridge 2025). The book is the first in a series dedicated to translation of the Iliadic scholia.For an episode on the Iliad itself, and its translation, see Lesche episode 1.6, "Translating the Iliad, with Emily Wilson&
Seal-Impressions (typoi) and Ancient Image Making
Art historian Verity Platt joins me in the Lesche to discuss her much-anticipated new book Epistemic Impressions: Making and Mediating Classical Art and Text (Oxford 2026).On May 11, the Queen Mary University of London Imagination Research Network will be hosting a "launch symposium" to celebrate the book's publication. Information and tickets are available here.The novel that Verit
Time and Ancient Textiles
Marie-Louise Nosch, former director of the Centre for Textile Research at the Saxo Institute of the University of Copenhagen, joins me in the Lesche to discuss her new book Time of Textiles in Ancient Greece (DeGruyter 2025).If you like this episode, you might also enjoy Lesche episode 1.10, "Wedding Poetics in Ancient Greek Literature," with Andromache Karanika.Ancient textsHomer, Iliad
The Doloneia (Iliad Book 10)
Christos C. Tsagalis joins me in the Lesche to discuss the Doloneia, i.e., Iliad 10, which is the topic of both Christos' monograph The Homeric Doloneia: Evolution and Shaping of Iliad 10 (Oxford 2024) and his chapter in Jonathan Ready's recent edited volume, the Oxford Critical Guide to Homer's Iliad (Oxford 2024).The Doloneia/Iliad 10 is traditionally divided into two sections: th
Reappraising the Choruses of Greek Tragedy
Rosa Andújar joins me in the Lesche to discuss her new book, Playing the Chorus in Greek Tragedy (Cambridge, 2025).Tragedies mentionedAeschylusAgamemnon (chorus fragmentation)Seven Against Thebes (use of semi-choruses)Suppliant Women ("choral swarm" with multiple groups)SophoclesOedipus Rex (actor-chorus interaction)EuripidesPhaethon ( "augmentation" and secondary choruses)Troj
The Enchanted World of Late Antiquity
Michael Satlow joins me in the Lesche to discuss his new book An Enchanted World: The Shared Religious Landscape of Late Antiquity, which will be published on February 3 by Princeton University Press. Resources"Lived Religion Project" at the University of Erfurt's Max Weber Institute If you're new to Late Antiquity, the foundational work is Peter Brown's 1971 The World of
The Influence of Plato's Timaeus: Beauty & Creation
Piero Boitani joins me in the Lesche to discuss his new book Timaeus in Paradise: Metaphors and Beauty from Plato to Dante and Beyond (Princeton University Press 2025). Ancient textsHebrew Bible, GenesisPlato: Timaeus, Phaedrus, Symposium, ApologyAristotle: Nicomachaean EthicsLucretius, De Rerum NaturaOvid, MetamorphosesPhilo of Alexandria, On the Creation (de Opificio mundi: treatise on the Genes
The Life (and Times) of Diogenes 'the Cynic'
Inger Kuin joins me in the Lesche to discuss her new book Diogenes: The Rebellious Life and Revolutionary Philosophy of the Original Cynic (Basic Books 2025). Ancient sourcesAristotle, Politics 1.3-7 (on 'natural' slavery)Diogenes Laertius, 2.6, Life of DiogenesPlutarch, Life of Alexander 14 (on the 'get out of my sun' episode)Xenophon, Anabasis 5-6 (on Sinope, Diogenes' b
Enchantment Technologies of Ancient Greek Religion
Tatiana Bur joins me in the Lesche to discuss her new book Technologies of the Marvellous in Ancient Greek Religion (Cambridge University Press 2025). Ancient textsHomer, Iliad 18 (on Hephaestus and his self-moving tripods) Many Athenian tragedies and comedies that made use of the μηχανή or κράδη (in comedy)Aristotle, Poetics (on the theatrical ‘crane’/μηχανή) The Aristotelian/Peripatetic work Mec
Book Reviewing in Classics, with Clifford Ando (BMCR) and Mary Beard (the TLS)
Mary Beard, Classics editor at the Times Literary Supplement, and Clifford Ando, senior editor of the Bryn Mawr Classical Review, join me in the Lesche to discuss the state of Classics reviewing today. How do the TLS and BMCR assign appropriate reviewers? What makes for a good review? What's the line between critique and nastiness? Why are reviews these days so often lacking in susbtantive cr
The Ancient Shore
Harvard University historian Paul Kosmin joins me in the Lesche to discuss his recent book The Ancient Shore (Harvard University Press 2024), winner of the American Historical Association's 2025 Prize in History Prior to CE 1000. Works mentionedAgatharchides of Cnidus, On the Erythraean Sea (2nd C. BC)Philip de Loutherbourg, "Shipwreck" (painting, 1793).Demuth, Bathsheba. 2019. Floa
The Life of Demosthenes
James Romm joins me in the Lesche to discuss his new biography Demosthenes: Democracy's Defender. The book is a part of Yale University Press's Ancient Lives series, of which James is also the editor. James's author websiteAncient texts mentionedDemosthenes, speechesAeschines, speechesAbout our guestJames Romm is an author, reviewer, and the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classic
"Bilingual" Ionic Column Capitals
Sam Holzman joins me in the Lesche to discuss "bilingual" Ionic column capitals (i.e., column capitals that combined an archaic convex style of relief carving with a more modern concave style). These are the subject of his book Retrospective Columns: Ionic Capitals and Perceptions of the Past in Greek Architecture, which just came out with Princeton University Press.Ancient sourceVitruvi
Classicism and Other Phobias, with Dan-el Padilla Peralta
Dan-el Padilla Peralta joins me in the Lesche to discuss the critique of classicism that he articulates in his recent book Classicism and Other Phobias (PUP 2025).Works mentioned (select)Adeshei Carter, Jacoby. “Racing the Canon.” In The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Race, edited by Paul C. Taylor, Linda Martín Alcoff, and Luvell Anderson, 163–174. New York: Routledge, 2017.Baldwin, James.
The Art of Hellenistic Queenship
Patricia (Tricia) Kim joins me in the Lesche to discuss the art of Hellenistic queenship -- i.e., art that depicted Hellenistic queens, art patronized by Hellenistic queens, and art that spoke to the construction of queenship across the Hellenistic world. Egypt Museum on the "Arsinoe-Aphrodite" statueFranck Goddio write-up of the statueLesche episode 18 is a conversation about Isis Worsh
Why Classicists Should Care about Byzantium, with Anthony Kaldellis
Anthony Kaldellis joins me in the Lesche to discuss an in-progress edited volume about the transmission of classical texts in the East Roman Empire (aka Byzantium), and why, more generally, classicists should be better informed about the Greek Middle Ages, aka the Byzantine Millennium.Anthony is the host of a wonderful podcast called Byzantium and Friends, which was (and still is) a major inspirat
SPECIAL: Literary Sources for the Roman House
Marden Fitzpatrick Nichols joins me in the Lesche to discuss her new book How to Make a Home: An Ancient Guide to Style and Comfort, a curated collection of passages (by Cicero, Juvenal, Ovid, Pliny, Vitruvius, and others) that relate to the design, decor, and ideology of the ancient Roman house and home. The book is part of Princeton University Press's "Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers
Homer's Bronze Age Women
Emily Hauser joins me in the Lesche to discuss the lives of the real Bronze Age women remembered in Homeric epic, the subject of her new book Penelope's Bones: A New History of Homer's World through the Women Written Out Of It (UK title: Mythica). We also discuss the popularity of feminist retellings of Greek myth, and why (it's good) they're not going anywhere anytime soon.Thi
Symbola (Monetiform Tokens)
Clare Rowan and M.E. (Mairi) Gkikaki join me in the Lesche to discuss the use of monetiform tokens in Greek (and a bit of Roman) antiquity. Clare was the PI on the ERC-funded project "Token Communities of the Ancient Mediterranean." Mairi was a postdoctoral researcher on the project, and her edited volume Tokens in Classical Athens and Beyond was published (open-access) with Liverpool Un
Classical Athenian Funerary Sculpture
Seth Estrin joins me in the Lesche to discuss Classical Athenian funerary sculpture -- the largest single corpus of classical sculpture -- and his emotion-based readings of it. Seth is the author of Grief Made Marble: Funerary Sculpture in Classical Athens (Yale University Press 2024).A couple of images that accompany this episode are on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leschepodcast/If you&ap
Monsters in Classical Myth
Debbie Felton and Carolina López-Ruiz join me to discuss monsters -- and what they mean and represent -- in classical mythology. Debbie is the editor of the new Oxford Handbook of Monsters in Classical Myth, to which Carolina contributed a chapter on the Sphinx.Ancient sourcesApollonius of Rhodes, MedeaAvianus/Aesop, "The Satyr and the Traveler"Euripides, MedeaHerodotus (esp. 3.38, on th
Athens, 403 BC: A Choral History
Vincent Azoulay and Paulin Ismard join me in the Lesche to discuss their study of the restoration of democracy in Athens in 403 BC, in which they examine the Athenian civil war through the prism of chorality. A translation of their 2020 book Athènes 403: une histoire chorale (Flammarion, Paris) has just appeared in an English translation by Lorna Coing with the title Athens, 403 BC: A Democracy in
Isis Worship in the Greek East
Lindsey Mazurek joins me in the Lesche to discuss Isis worship during the Roman Empire, and how it intersected with and contributed to constructions of Greek identity.Ancient textsApuleius, Metamorphoses (esp. Book 11)Plutarch, Isis and OsirisAlso mentionedBarrett, Caitlin E. (2019) Domesticating Empire: Egyptian Landscapes in Pompeian Gardens. Oxford.Bricault, Laurent (2005) Recueil des inscripti
SPECIAL: Classicism & Chronopolitics: Sasha-Mae Eccleston's EPIC EVENTS
Sasha-Mae Eccleston joins me in the Lesche to discuss classicizing and chronopolitics in the contemporary United States. And yes, we talk about that Virgil quotation.Ancient textsHomer, Iliad Euripides & Seneca, MedeaVirgil, Aeneid 9.447 (nulla dies umquam memori uos eximet aeuo)Also mentioned (selection)Modern creative worksEric Fischl, "Tumbling Woman" (2001) (sculpture)Ben Lerner,
The Case for Global Ancient History
Buckle your seatbelt and prepare to clutch your pearls! Walter Scheidel joins me in the Lesche to discuss his case for globalizing the study of ancient history -- and for killing off Classics as we know it. Scheidel is the author of What is Ancient History?, a new manifesto published by Princeton University Press.MentionedSheldon Pollock, "Future Philology? The Fate of a Soft Science in a Har
Herodotus and the Presocratics
Scarlett Kingsley joins me in the Lesche to discuss Herodotus' place in the intellectual milieu of the fifth century, the subject of her book Herodotus and the Presocratics: Inquiry and Intellectual Culture in the Fifth Century BCE.If you enjoy this episode, you might also like Episode 11 on The Sophists, with Josh Billings and Christopher Moore.Ancient textsHerodotus, Histories (especially t
Translating the Odyssey, with Daniel Mendelsohn
Daniel Mendelsohn joins me in the Lesche to discuss his new translation of Homer's Odyssey, out on April 9 with the University of Chicago Press. Daniel Mendelsohn's websiteAncient textsHomer, Iliad and OdysseyAlso mentionedPrevious translations of the Odyssey by Richmond Lattimore, Robert Fitzgerald, and Emily Wilson (and Alexander Pope); also Caroline Alexander's Iliad.Previous boo
The Small Cycladic Islands Project
Alex Knodell, co-director of the Small Cycladic Islands Project (SCIP), joins me in the Lesche to reflect on this amazing six-season survey project, which wrapped up last summer. Alex's co-directors on the project were Demetrios Athanasoulis (Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades) and Žarko Tankosić (University of Bergen).Works mentionedSCIP publicationsChristy Constantakopoulou, The Dance
Myths of Kingship in Greece and the Near East
Christopher Metcalf joins me in the Lesche to discuss his new book Three Myths of Kingship in Early Greece and the Ancient Near East, as well as the potential that Ancient Near Eastern texts and literary traditions have to shed light on early Greek ones -- and vice versa. Ancient textsGilgameshThe Hebrew BibleVarious Sumerian and Akkadian texts about Sargon, Dumuzi/Tammuz, and InannaIliad, esp. Bo
Plato and Athens
Carol Atack joins me in the Lesche to discuss Plato's civic entanglements (and disenchantments) with his native Athens. Carol is the author of a new biography of Plato titled Plato: A Civic Life (Reaktion Books/University of Chicago Press 2024). The book is the second in a new series, Great Lives of the Ancient World, edited by Paul Cartledge. Ancient textsPlato: lots and lotsXenophon's
The Sophists
Josh Billings and Christopher Moore join me in the Lesche to discuss the fifth-century BCE 'sophists', the subject of their new edited volume The Cambridge Companion to the Sophists.Works and fragments of the 'sophists' are most easily accessible in:André Laks, Glenn W. Most, Early Greek Philosophy. 9 volumes. Loeb Classical Library, 524-532. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard Un
Wedding Poetics in Early Greek Literature
Andromache Karanika joins me in the Lesche to discuss how we can detect traces of wedding poetics in early Greek literature, especially poetry (hexamter and lyric). Andromache is the author of Wedding, Gender, and Performance in Ancient Greek Poetry (OUP 2024).Primary textsIliad, esp. the Teikhoskopeia (Book 3) and the Deception of Zeus (Book 14)Odyssey, esp. the start of Book 6Homeric Hymn to Dem
The Cambridge Greek Lexicon
James Diggle joins me in the Lesche to discuss the 2021 Cambridge Greek Lexicon (2 vols.) of which he was editor-and-chief. We discuss why it was time for this sort of thing (and why it took 24 years to complete), how to use it, and why it improves on LSJ ... plus, how the team approached translating some of the naughtier words. Some links'Liddell and Scott' poem by Thomas Hardy (1843)Ca
The Longue Durée of the Greek Polis
John Ma joins me in the Lesche to discuss the longue durée of the Greek polis. John is the author of the new, monumental, and much anticipated book Polis: A New History of the Ancient Greek City-State from the Early Iron Age to the End of Antiquity (Princeton 2024). Happy Holidays!About our guestJohn Ma was born in New York of Chinese parents. He grew up in Geneva, where he studied Greek and Latin
SPECIAL: Pasolini's THE RETURN, with Homerist Barbara Graziosi
(Spoiler alert! This episode is jam-packed with plot spoilers for THE RETURN.) Homeric scholar Barbara Graziosi joins me in the Lesche to discuss Umberto Pasolini's THE RETURN, a film adaptation of the second half of the Odyssey starring Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus and Juliette Binoche as Penelope.About our guestBarbara Graziosi is Department Chair and Professor of Classical Studies at Princeto
(Imperial) Greek Epic
Emma Greensmith and Tim Whitmarsh join me in the Lesche to discuss how Imperial Greek epic fits into our understanding of Ancient Greek epic as a whole. Emma has just edited the Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Epic, and she was also a member of the research project Greek Epic of the Roman Empire: A Cultural History, which Tim directed. About our guestsEmma Greensmith is Associate Professor of
Translating the Iliad, with Emily Wilson
Emily Wilson, acclaimed translator, joins me in the Lesche to discuss the challenges and pleasures of translating the Iliad. We discuss the Greek of two passages in detail: Book 6 lines 482-502 and Book 22 lines 199-204 (lines as in the OCT).Ancient textsHomer's Iliad and OdysseyPlato, Hippias MinorLonginus, On the Sublime (ch. 9) Also mentionedKaren Emmerich, Literary Translation and the Ma
The Athenian Funeral Oration
David M. Pritchard joins me in the Lesche to discuss what appears to have been, in Nicole Loraux's famous words, a "very Athenian invention": the epitaphios logos, or funeral oration given over the war dead at their public burial. Both the Athenian funeral oration and the legacy of Nicole Loraux's pioneering study of it are the subjects of David's new edited volume The Ath
Alexander in the East
Rachel Kousser joins me in the Lesche to discuss Alexander III of Macedon's post-Persepolis campaigns in Asia (330-323 BCE), the subject of her recent book Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great.About our guestRachel Kousser writes and teaches about Alexander the Great, the destruction of monuments in ancient Greece, and the representation of gende
Athenian Drama in Sicily (Ferdia Lennon, GLORIOUS EXPLOITS)
Ferdia Lennon joins me in the Lesche to discuss his award-winning and bestselling novel, Glorious Exploits (UK Penguin Fig Tree/US Macmillan 2024), which is set in Syracuse in the aftermath of the Athenian invasion of Sicily during the Peloponnesian War.About our guestFerdia Lennon was born and raised in Dublin. He holds a BA in History and Classics from University College Dublin and an MA in Pros
SPECIAL: Netflix's KAOS, with creator Charlie Covell
Charlie Covell joins me in the Lesche to discuss their hit Netflix show KAOS, a modern, dark dramedic take on Ancient Greek mythology. The show, set in something like modern-day Crete (and on Olympus and in Hades), interweaves stories of Prometheus, the Olympian gods, Orpheus and Eurydice, Minos/Ariadne/Theseus/the Minotaur, and Caeneis.Special thanks on this one to Mike Farah & Jess Sze. Abou
Subject Communities of the Athenian Empire
Leah Lazar and Christy Constantakopoulou join me in the Lesche to discuss their work on the relationship between Athens and its subject communities (the "allies") during the fifth-century Athenian "empire" (ἀρχή). Leah has a new book out on the subject, Athens and Power in the Fifth Century BC; Christy’s monograph Dance of the Islands (a favorite of my Classical Greek History s
The New Euripides Papyrus
Yvona Trnka-Amrhein and John Gibert join me in the Lesche to discuss their editio princeps of a newly-discovered papyrus (P.Phil.Nec. 23) containing lines from two of Euripides' fragmentary plays, Ino and Poluidos. The publication, in ZPE, is currently only available in print. The ToC for the issue in which it appears is available here.Information about the conference on 'The New Euripid
Introducing Lesche: Ancient Greece, New Ideas
Welcome to Lesche, a podcast on new books and ideas in the field of Ancient Greek Studies. In each episode, we'll be talking to classicists about their latest contributions to the field.We’re going to start by releasing two episodes each month, on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month. The first episode will debut on Wednesday, September 11.You can find us on Instagram, @leschepodcast
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