Ad Navseam
The Ad Navseam podcast, where Classical gourmands everywhere can finally get their fill. Join hosts Dr. David Noe and Dr. Jeff Winkle for a lively discussion of Greco-Roman civilization stretching from the Minoans and Mycenaeans, through the Renaissance, and right down to the present.
Episodes
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Ten Things We Hated about Grad School (Ad Navseam, Episode 43)
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Dear Starry-Eyed Undergrads, you know that dream of your future grad school you have where you’re strolling through a leafy quad on your way to share a bottle of port with a kind, nurturing mentor, as you scoop up tray parfaits? Well, in this episode Dave and Jeff take those notions, drop them into the Cuisinart, and hit frappe. Take a trip with us down this pothole-ridden memory lane where you’ll find cutthroat politics, failed airport pickups, doomed lectures, lucubrations and excoriations, and sartorial disarray. So grab a repurposed pillow case (wait for it) and pull up a chair for this freak show. Rated R for “Regret”? Nah, it’s just that sometimes the only way out is through.Major programming announcement: https://www.gofundme.com/f/latinperdiem-launch
Tuesday Jun 22, 2021
Tuesday Jun 22, 2021
This week Dave and Jeff take a close look at a well-known passage from ch. 14 of the Lukan history of the early church. As the apostles extend their preaching ministry into the Lycaonian region of Anatolia, they are mistaken for the gods Zeus and Hermes because of a miraculous healing Paul performs. The priest of Zeus wants to gin up a sacrifice, but the apostles risk life and limb, barely averting the ceremony. This story bears some interesting resemblance to a famous account in Ovid’s Metamorphoses VIII of the old woman Baucis and her husband Philemon (and throw in the Christmas goose). Tune in for wide-ranging literary analysis of ξενία and more, possibly the worst pun Jeff has ever dropped, and a major programming announcement at the end. https://gofund.me/ad60e4a2
Tuesday Jun 15, 2021
"We Bulled This City”—the Mysteries of Mithras (Ad Navseam, Episode 41)
Tuesday Jun 15, 2021
Tuesday Jun 15, 2021
This week Jeff and Dave do some spelunking to try figure out what the strange mystery rites of the Persiany cult of Mithras were all about, and why they were so popular during the Roman Empire. We begin with a breakdown of what exactly a “mystery cult” is, and then move on to Mithras himself, a hero whose myths do not survive in any written form. What do we make of the strange iconography that does survive, such as the bull-slaying motif (tauroctony)? Was this some kind of death-killing, solar cult? What is that scorpion up to? And can we take Mithras seriously in that hat? So, wander down into the Mithraeum, have a snack or two, and peek into that mysterious box. Might just change your life.
Tuesday Jun 08, 2021
How to Tell a Joke—a conversation with Michael Fontaine (Ad Navseam Episode 40)
Tuesday Jun 08, 2021
Tuesday Jun 08, 2021
Join us for a lively discussion with Dr. Michael Fontaine (Classics, Cornell University) as we talk about his new book—How to Tell a Joke: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Humor—a translation and analysis of ancient Roman treatises on humor from both Cicero and Quintilian. Along the way we tackle such questions as “How can a politician or a lawyer use humor to win a room?”, “Is one born funny or can it be taught?” and “Did Cicero seal his own fate by telling jokes that went too far?” Tune in for the laughs, guffaws, and occasional snickers, and be sure to share your own opinion on this all important query: “Is it possible for really attractive people to be funny?”
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
This week Jeff and Dave take a trip to the Dutch Renaissance with a look at prolific Latin poet, theological secretary, Dutch patriot, and Greek scholar Daniel Heinsius (1580-1655). After a whirlwind introduction to leading Italian, French, and Dutch luminaries, we get right into the vita and opera of this amazing scholar. Heinsius served as secretary at the Synod of Dort (1618-1619) and also wrote some incredible Dutch poetry (sampled for us by Utrecht scholar Aron Ouwerkerk). He also tried his hand at a wide array of genres: emblems, love elegies, epithalamia (poems for weddings), funeral orations, tragedies like "Herod Babykiller" (Herodes Infanticida), and a 4-book hexameter poem "How to Despise Death" (De Contemptu Mortis) modeled on Vergil's Georgics. Be sure to stay with us until the end for the couplet Danny spoke to his foot. Fresh new kicks and pants!
Tuesday May 25, 2021
Tuesday May 25, 2021
Today Jeff and Dave dive into the oeuvre of Roman historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus (known as “Sallust” or “Crispy” to his friends), particularly sections 6-13 of his Bellum Catilinae. Dave argues that with this work Sallust invents the “monograph”, zeroing in on a narrow subject as his “hook” rather than trying to “do it all” more broadly and blandly. In the eight chapters referenced above Sallust zips through about 1200 years of Roman history, from Aeneas to the 1st century BC, highlighting the moral apex of the Republic down to the money-grubbing, wine-chugging, disco-clubbing depravities of his own day. Will you agree with Jeff that Sallust is a bit of a hypocrite, thundering against luxuries from the terraces of his lavish Quirinal gardens, or will you side with Dave and give old Sally a break?
Tuesday May 18, 2021
Tuesday May 18, 2021
After the smoke clears from some much needed post-slaughter fumigation, Dave and Jeff finally lumber their way to the end of the epic. At last we get a proper reunion between husband and wife in which Penelope wins the battle of wits. The occasion? Odysseus gets artichoked up when Penelope treats their bed like an IKEA futon. Now, roll the credits, right? WRONG. There's a whole other book to go! We see the suitors take the slip-n-slide down to Hades where Agamemnon gives them the raspberry. Back on Ithaca, Odysseus goes into "metis mode" and decides to test his aged dad with yet another false identity! But why? Does Odysseus even know who he himself is anymore? And be sure to stick around for the surprise, dea ex machina ending.
Tuesday May 11, 2021
Tuesday May 11, 2021
Dave comes into the Vomitorium in a bit of a gloomy mood, and what’s on tap in these books does not look like it will help much. All the planning and scheming by Odysseus finally comes down to this—the suitors (and a goodly portion of the house staff) get what’s coming to them, and only a handful of the loyal survive. Is this grisly, but acceptable justice? Athena (disguised as Mentor) wants it, so it has to be ok, right? Dave seems to agree, but Jeff (softie that he is) says, “hold up a minute”. Can we dismiss the death of the hapless Leodes, and especially the execution of the maids so easily? As they say, it’s complicated. LISTENER WARNING: this episode contains a grisly description (from the text of the Odyssey) of hanging and dismemberment at approx. 53.00 on. So if younger children listen, use discretion.
Wednesday May 05, 2021
Antipasto! Top 9 Reasons to Study Greek and Latin - Episode 35
Wednesday May 05, 2021
Wednesday May 05, 2021
What happened to Episode 35 and Dr. Michael Fontaine? Well, our hosts had some tech diffs. That planned episode didn't drop. It shattered. So instead Jeff and Dave go far off script and offer up a hastily-prepared, poorly-seasoned, half-baked, slightly rewarmed, partially-marinated impromptu side dish (or podcast upside down cake) that answers this burning question: why should I study Greek and Latin? Along the way, you learn about Cliff Clavin, Count Dooku, Eric Blair, J.K. Rowling, Dumbo's Stables, and the secret life of appendectomists. There is also the rare serious moment where we compare ἔρις and ἐριθεία from Philippians 1 with Jerome's translation contentio.
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
When does Penelope know who the stranger really is? This question is at the center of today’s episode as the storm continues to gather in Odysseus’ house. But first—a bum fight! With a bloody goat paunch on the line (and who wouldn’t step it up for something tasty like that?), Odysseus clocks the mouthy Irus (aka Arnaeus) with the ol’ one-two. Then Penelope overshares (or does she???) with the stranger, Eurykleia shrieks at a telling scar (or was it just the stranger’s b.o.?), and things wrap up with a weird, geesey dream that puts Odysseus on the defensive and his wife in the driver’s seat. Also, should we feel sorry for Amphinomus just because his name is really difficult to pronounce?