Virgil’s Aeneid

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On The Classics Podcast, we’re exploring characters, themes and poetic techniques, our favourite Virgilian similes, the sounds of ancient languages, and diving into the rich imagery and literary heritage of the Aeneid.

Podcast host Katrina Kelly is joined by bestselling author Caroline Lawrence, to discuss Virgil’s epic poem, The Aeneid. In each episode, inspired by a particular word, Katrina and Caroline explore characters, themes and poetic techniques, their favourite Virgilian similes, hear the sounds of ancient languages, and dive into the rich imagery and literary heritage of the Aeneid.

Listen to each episode wherever you get your podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify for Podcasters and Spotify below, or watch on our YouTube channel – please give us a like and subscribe!

Episode 1: lumen

In Episode 1, we jump straight to Book 8 – in medias res, as Virgil would say – and a simile that has caught Caroline’s attention. We’ll discuss wheelie bins and copper bowls, Aeneas’ shield, the theories of intromission and focalisation, Apollonius of Rhodes, time travel, and a very hard stare…

Episode 2: limen (part 1)

Starting with the word for ‘threshold’, Katrina and Caroline explore storytelling techniques and the stages of the Hero’s Journey; the links between Paddington Bear and Aeneas; and dalliances with death, talismans, chihuahuas and K Pop Demon Hunters!

Episode 3: limen (part 2)

Following straight on from our last episode, we’re finding thresholds in Books 5-8 – featuring footraces, fatherly mentors, a fearsome Fury and The Shining.

Episode 4: cano (‘I sing’)

Cano – ‘I sing’! We’re heading back to the beginning, to Book 1, and in this episode, Caroline and Katrina explore the opening lines of the poem, translation difficulties, Aeneas’ heroism, and find out more about Virgil the man – as well as themselves!

Episode 5: musa (The Muses)

We’re sticking with the theme of song and Katrina explains the relevance of some of the minor characters in the Aeneid from Iopas the bard to the unfortunate Cretheus from book 9, with some comparisons to Homer and the oral tradition. Caroline has been revisiting the Muses – just why does Erato come to inspire Virgil?

Episode 6: cerva (Dido)

It’s our Dido episode at last! In Book VI Line 69 Virgil describes Dido as a ‘cerva’ – a ‘doe’, wounded by an arrow in one of his most impressive and ambiguous similes. But who is to blame in their ‘doomed’ relationship? We examine some other similes from books 1 and 4, with Aeneas as hunter (is he unknowing or just careless?) and Dido as Diana. Caroline has an interesting theory about ‘the horse in the bedroom’ and we talk funeral pyres, everlasting curses, young Ascanius, and a hunting dog…

Episode 7: viscum (The Golden Bough)

This week’s episode is a trip to the Underworld, as imagined by Virgil in Book VI. But what does ‘viscum’ mean? A ‘parasitic plant’ (no, not a new description of Aeneas!) and have you ever heard of ‘birdlime’?What links Meleager and Virgil? Would you trust the Sibyl? What’s Plato’s The Myth of Er got to do with it, and which talisman would you take?

Episode 8: pius Aeneas (faithful or traitor?!)

Was Aeneas a pious Faithful or a deceptive Traitor? Caroline and Katrina explore the importance of ‘pietas’ in the Aeneid, spill the tea on the latest episodes of Celebrity Traitors and discuss morality and heroism – is Aeneas perhaps more like Odysseus than we think?

Episode 9: pater (Fathers and Sons)

In this episode, politics come to the forefront as Katrina explains the historical context to Augustus’ principate and the grizzly proscriptions (cw: violence) and Caroline explains two different schools of thought about Virgil’s poetic intentions: the Optimists and the Pessimists.

Episode 10: lacrimae (Tears and Book 12)

Is the Aeneid fundamentally a melancholy poem? We revisit the Optimists and Pessimists whilst looking at examples of ‘tears’ and weeping, learning about the scholar Adam Parry, and taking a proper look at the closing scene of book 12, when Aeneas is enraged by sorrow to commit a terrible act…

Episode 11: purpureus (The Colour Purple)

The Aeneid is replete with interesting uses of the word ‘purpureus’ and in this episode we look at purple as a colour of beauty, death, danger and eroticism – as well as shades of gold and the mystery of Lavinia’s blush! Did you know that the colour purple in ancient Rome was a symbol of power and decadence but its origins are Phoenician? Camilla is our bonus feature this week: to listen to our bonus content, become a CA member today.

Episode 12: fidus (Faithful Sidekicks and Book 3)

Our final episode has a summary of the series to date and then jumps into Book 3 as Katrina explains why ‘The Wanderings’ is a bit of a misnomer, and Caroline takes us through the smellscape of Aeneas’ voyage from Troy to Carthage. We meet Helenus and Achates, two ‘fidus’ (faithful) sidekick companions and rate Aeneas’ powers of storytelling.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6gAuLBjBYhiWh7d2lFcfSx?si=9c97bc33397a4b6e

Episode 13 : with Prof. Llewelyn Morgan

There’s a bonus final episode! It’s a special one with Oxford don and Virgil super expert, Prof. Llewelyn Morgan. Find out what he thinks about our traitor theories and Aeneas’ character arc, his favourite passages, the importance of Hercules and enjoy the quick fire round!

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