It's all Greek (and Latin) to me!

Launching a Classics podcast

The format is predictable. Two podcast hosts (often middle aged or older men) chat about something about which they have thoughts. Yet when I decided to create a Classics podcast, it was because nothing like the podcast I wanted to hear about Classics existed.

On the one hand, there’s an undying fascination with ancient literature in itself. As a Professor and tutor of Classics at Oxford, there is a vast range of Greek and Latin classics that I study, teach, and research, from Homer and Sappho to Virgil and Horace. They reward close attention, and there’s much to know and learn about them. On the other, there’s a sense that these authors and texts have something to teach us in the modern world, and that people often have a dim sense of that without knowing much in detail about the literature itself. Could one bridge the gap by doing some close reading of passages of ancient literature while also thinking more generally about what they might mean for us today?

Jimmy Mulville, a successful former comic and TV producer and a lover of Classics (which he studied at a comprehensive school in Liverpool and at university in Cambridge), happily agreed to cohost. (He’s also chairman of Classics for All, a great charity that funds Latin teaching in state schools that I’ve worked with for years). I chose Greek and Latin topics in alternation: e.g. the Latin phrase ‘carpe diem’, often translated ‘seize the day’ - what does it imply, and where is it from? Or the Greek ‘eureka!’ - ‘I’ve got it!’ - what is its history and significance?

It’s been a learning experience for me, and great fun for Jimmy. Or vice versa. But what was the show to be called? ‘Classics’ doesn’t mean to everyone what it means to classicists. We needed to get “Greek and Latin” into it. My friend Rebecca Dobbs, TV and film producer (co-owner of Maya Vision, which produces Michael Wood’s wonderful documentaries), came up with the title and designed the logo above.

We’ve now recorded ten episodes, around 30 minutes each, and will be launching them in August across the podcast platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. We’ll be continuing to record, and in future will be inviting special guests to chat to us about their particular areas of expertise.

Here’s the trailer on Spotify. I hope you’ll want to listen, and to sign up for more.