A conversation with Anna Sitz (Universität Heidelberg) on how Byzantines read ancient inscriptions - or modified, re-used, and defaced them. Ancient cities were full of inscribed texts, many on temple walls or referring to the gods in prominent ways. How did Christians cope with these monuments when they took over the cities of Greece and Asia Minor? We talk about a number of cases, including the massive inscription of Augustus' Res Gestae in Ankara. The conversation is based on Anna's book Pagan Inscriptions, Christian Viewers: The Afterlives of Temples and Their Texts in the Late Antique Eastern Mediterranean (Oxford University Press 2023).
61. Being Roman in Syriac, with Hartmut Leppin
60. Representing the trauma of captivity, enslavement, and degradation, with Adam Goldwyn
59. What exactly ended in Late Antiquity?, with Polymnia Athanassiadi
58. The column and equestrian statue of Justinian, a landmark monument of Constantinople, with Elena Boeck
57. A global history of the Greeks, with Roderick Beaton
56. Cyril, Methodios, and the conversion of the Slavs, with Mirela Ivanova
55. If you could meet and interview one person from Byzantine history, who would it be and why? (Part II), with Paroma Chatterjee and Merle Eisenberg
54. The power and journeys of the True Cross and other holy relics, with Lynn Jones
53. What can we know about the life of the Prophet Muhammad?, with Sean Anthony
52. Crowd behavior in imperial Rome and Constantinople, with Daniëlle Slootjes
51. Byzantine poetry on its own terms, with Marc Lauxtermann
50. If you could meet and interview one person from Byzantine history, who would it be and why?, with Fotini Kondyli and Alexander Sarantis
49. Why is there an Egyptian obelisk in the hippodrome of Constantinople?, with Cecily Hilsdale
48. What did Byzantine music sound like? (The answer is more political than you’d expect), with Alexander Lingas
47. The materiality of Byzantine objects, with Elizabeth Dospěl Williams
46. Raiders, marauders, ravagers, and pirates: their impact on Byzantine life, with Alexander Sarantis
45. Neoliberalism in academia and its impact on the humanities, with Tamar Hodos
44. How can historians use new media to disseminate ideas?, with Merle Eisenberg
43. Is it time to abandon the rubric “Byzantium”?, with Leonora Neville
42. Byzantium in video games, with Troy Goodfellow
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra