Lesche: Ancient Greece, New Ideas

Johanna Hanink
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In Greek antiquity a lesche (λέσχη) was a spot to hang out and chat. Here Brown University professor Johanna Hanink hosts conversations with fellow Hellenists about their latest work in the field.

  1. FEB 11

    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 mentioned Aeschylus Agamemnon (chorus fragmentation)Seven Against Thebes (use of semi-choruses)Suppliant Women ("choral swarm" with multiple groups)Sophocles Oedipus Rex (actor-chorus interaction)Euripides Phaethon ( "augmentation" and secondary choruses)Trojan Women (chorus entering in fragmented small groups)Hippolytus ( subsidiary chorus appears before the main chorus)Orestes (unusual choral divisions)Suppliant Women (exceptional choral activity)Other ancient texts Aristotle, Poetics (mentioned for lack of interest in the chorus)Aristophanes, Birds (for having a 'differentiated' chorus)Plutarch, On Listening (de Audiendo) 45e-f (Euripides training a chorus; a chorus member bursts out laughing)Antiphon 6 (On the Chorus Boy: I don't mention it by name, but this is the speech regarding the death of a choreute by performance enhancing drugs)Modern works Azoulay, Vincent and Paulin Ismard. 2020. Athènes 403: une histoire chorale. Paris / 2025. Athenes 403 BC: A Democracy in Crisis, trans. Lorna Coing. Cambridge.Carlson, Marvin. 2003. The Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine. Ann Arbor.Diggle, James. 1970. Euripides: Phaethon. Cambridge.duBois, Page. 2022. Democratic Swarms: Ancient Comedy and the Politics of the People. Chicago. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (on choral powerlessness/inertness)Halliwell, Stephen. 1998. Aristotle's Poetics. Bristol/Chicago.Jackson, Lucy. 2019. The Chorus of Drama in the Fourth Century BCE. Cambridge.Sansone, David. 2016. "The Size of the Tragic Chorus," Phoenix 70: 233-54.Uhlig, Anna. 2019. Theatrical Reenactment in Pindar and Aeschylus. 2019.About our guest Rosa Andújar is Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Studies at Barnard College, Columbia University. She has published widely on Greek drama in its fifth-century Athenian context as well as on its modern global reception, particularly across the Americas. She is the author of Playing the Chorus in Greek Tragedy (Cambridge, 2025) and the editor of The Greek Trilogy of Luis Alfaro (Methuen Drama, 2020), which won the 2020 London Hellenic Prize.  ________________________________ Thanks for joining us in the Lesche! Podcast art: Daniel Blanco Theme music: "The Song of Seikilos," recomposed by Eftychia Christodoulou using Sibelius This podcast is made possible with the generous support of Brown University’s Department of Classical Studies and the John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study. Instagram: @leschepodcast Email: leschepodcast@gmail.com Suggest a book using this form

    55 min

  2. JAN 28

    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 Late Antiquity: AD 150-750. It's been reissued in various editions, including a 2024 illustrated one from Thames & Hudson (relatively affordable!). I mention Philogelos joke 203 in the episode introduction.  About our guest Michael Satlow is Professor of Judaic Studies and Religious Studies at Brown University. A historian of religion in antiquity, his work explores how Jews, Christians, and others experienced the sacred in everyday life. His new book, An Enchanted World, draws on inscriptions and material culture to reveal a shared religious landscape in Late Antiquity, one filled with gods, angels, demons, and divine presence.  ________________________________ Thanks for joining us in the Lesche! Podcast art: Daniel Blanco Theme music: "The Song of Seikilos," recomposed by Eftychia Christodoulou using Sibelius This podcast is made possible with the generous support of Brown University’s Department of Classical Studies and the John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study. Instagram: @leschepodcast Email: leschepodcast@gmail.com Suggest a book using this form

    48 min

  3. JAN 14

    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 texts Hebrew Bible, GenesisPlato: Timaeus, Phaedrus, Symposium, ApologyAristotle: Nicomachaean EthicsLucretius, De Rerum NaturaOvid, MetamorphosesPhilo of Alexandria, On the Creation (de Opificio mundi: treatise on the Genesis creation narrative)New Testament: Acts of the ApostlesPseudo-Longinus, On the SublimeCalcidius, Latin translation of much of Timaeus (4th century CE)Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, mystical treatises (c. 500 CE)Later sites of reception & influence In Literature and Philosophy Johannes Scotus Eriugena (John "the Scot"), translation of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (9th century)Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Divine Names (1260s)Dante, Paradiso (early 1300s)Marsilio Ficino's work on Plato and Timaeus (15th century)Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), scientific treatisesAlfred North Whitehad, Process and Reality (1929)Ezra Pound, Cantos (1915-1959)In Visual Art and Architecture Raphael, "School of Athens" (1509-11, Apostolic Palace, Vatican) and Chigi Chapel (1510s, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome)Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel (1508-1512)Botticelli, "Birth of Venus" (mid-1480s)Crypt of San Magno in Anagni (11th century)Sculptures of Chartres Cathedral (12th century)About our guest Piero Boitani is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at the University of Rome “Sapienza.” A Fellow of the British Academy, the Medieval Academy of America, the Accademia dei Lincei, and the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, in 2016 he received the Balzan Prize for Comparative Literature. He is chairman of the Fondazione Lorenzo Valla and general editor of its series of Greek and Latin Writers.  His most recent books include Il grande racconto dei classici (Bologna, Il Mulino, 2024); «Reconnaître est un Dieu». L’anagnorisis dans la littérature occidentale (Paris, Garnier, 2025); Timaeus in Paradise: Metaphors and Beauty from Plato to Dante and Beyond (Princeton University Press 2025). A new book, The Five Elements-I cinque elementi, with a preface by Stephen Greenblatt, will be published by Mondadori, in the Lo Specchio series, in February 2026. ________________________________ Thanks for joining us in the Lesche! Podcast art: Daniel Blanco Theme music: "The Song of Seikilos," recomposed by Eftychia Christodoulou using Sibelius This podcast is made possible with the generous support of Brown University’s Department of Classical Studies and the John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study. Instagram: @leschepodcast Email: leschepodcast@gmail.com Suggest a book using this form

    50 min

  4. 12/31/2025

    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 sources Aristotle, 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' birthplace)Other Diogenes testimonia from a variety of sourcesFor an accessible English-language collection of testimonia for Diogenes, see Robert Dobbin's The Cynic Philosophers, from Diogenes to Julian (Penguin Classics, 2012). About our guest Inger Kuin is a researcher, writer, and teacher focused on the intellectual history of ancient Greece and Rome. She is Associate Professor of Classics General Faculty at the University of Virginia. Originally from The Netherlands, she splits her time between Charlottesville (VA) and Rotterdam, and publishes both in English and in Dutch. ________________________________ Thanks for joining us in the Lesche! Podcast art: Daniel Blanco Theme music: "The Song of Seikilos," recomposed by Eftychia Christodoulou using Sibelius This podcast is made possible with the generous support of Brown University’s Department of Classical Studies and the John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study. Instagram: @leschepodcast Email: leschepodcast@gmail.com Suggest a book using this form

    52 min

  5. 12/17/2025

    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 texts Homer, 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 Mechanical Questions (Μηχανικά)Philo of Byzantium, Μηχανική Σύνταξη Works on mechanics by Hero of Alexandria Polybios, History 12.13, on the mechanical snail in the procession at Athens Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists 2.5, on Herodes Atticus’ mechanical Panathenaic shipAthenaeus, Deipnosophistai 196a-203c, on the πομπή of Ptolemy PhiladelphusModern bibliography Eric Csapo's work on ancient theaterAlfred Gell’s work on art agency, particularly "technologies of enchantment"Susan Harvey, 2006. Scenting Salvation: Ancient Christianity and the Olfactory Imagination. Berkeley, Ca. Verity Platt, 2011. Facing the Gods: Epiphany in Graeco-Roman Art, Literature, and Religion. Cambridge.Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, 1997. Toward a History of Epistemic Things: Synthesizing Proteins in the Test Tube. Stanford, CA.________________________________ Thanks for joining us in the Lesche! Podcast art: Daniel Blanco Theme music: "The Song of Seikilos," recomposed by Eftychia Christodoulou using Sibelius This podcast is made possible with the generous support of Brown University’s Department of Classical Studies and the John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study. Instagram: @leschepodcast Email: leschepodcast@gmail.com Suggest a book using this form

    52 min

  6. 12/03/2025

    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 criticism? What do editors wish review authors knew or would consider before writing a review? Some bibliography Clifford Ando, "BMCR: A view under the hood." Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2022.11.26. (Read all the papers from the 30th anniversary celebration of BMCR here. Several deal with book reviewing.)Mary Beard, Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures, and Innovations. Liveright 2013. (See especially the Afterword, "Reviewing Classics".)Daniel Mendelsohn, "A Critic's Manifesto," The New Yorker, August 28, 2012.About our guests Clifford Ando teaches Classics and History at the University of Chicago.  His work focuses on the histories of law, religion, and government in the ancient world.  He is the author, editor, and translator of some 20 books, and he has served as an editor, associate editor, or senior editor of Bryn Mawr Classical Review for not quite twenty years. Mary Beard is professor emerita of classics at the University of Cambridge, a fellow of Newnham College, and professor of Ancient Literature at the Royal Academy. She is also the classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, a fellow of the British Academy, and an international member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  She is the author of more than twenty books on the ancient world. Her latest book, Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old, is due out in spring 2026 with Profile Books (UK) and the University of Chicago Press (USA). ________________________________ Thanks for joining us in the Lesche! Podcast art: Daniel Blanco Theme music: "The Song of Seikilos," recomposed by Eftychia Christodoulou using Sibelius This podcast is made possible with the generous support of Brown University’s Department of Classical Studies and the John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study. Instagram: @leschepodcast Email: leschepodcast@gmail.com Suggest a book using this form

    1 hr

  7. 11/19/2025

    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 mentioned Agatharchides of Cnidus, On the Erythraean Sea (2nd C. BC)Philip de Loutherbourg, "Shipwreck" (painting, 1793).Demuth, Bathsheba. 2019. Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait. W. W. Norton.Dening, Gregory Moore. 1980. Islands and Beaches: Discourse on a Silent Land, Marquesas, 1774–1880. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.About our guest Paul Kosmin completed his undergraduate degree at Oxford and earned a PhD in Ancient History from Harvard University in 2012. He was appointed an Assistant Professor in Harvard's Classics Department in 2012, was tenured in 2019, and in 2020 became the Philip J. King Professor of Ancient History, where he currently serves as Interim Chair. His research focuses on the political and cultural history of the ancient Greek world, concentrating on the globalizing and colonial Hellenistic period, and now includes an environmentally-oriented turn. ________________________________ Thanks for joining us in the Lesche! Podcast art: Daniel Blanco Theme music: "The Song of Seikilos," recomposed by Eftychia Christodoulou using Sibelius This podcast is made possible with the generous support of Brown University’s Department of Classical Studies and the John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study. Instagram: @leschepodcast Email: leschepodcast@gmail.com Suggest a book using this form

    54 min

  8. 11/05/2025

    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 website Ancient texts mentioned Demosthenes, speechesAeschines, speechesAbout our guest James Romm is an author, reviewer, and the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics at Bard College in Annandale, NY. He specializes in ancient Greek and Roman culture and civilization. His reviews and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, the London Review of Books, the Daily Beast, and other venues. He has held the Guggenheim Fellowship (1999-2000), the Birkelund Fellowship at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars at the New York Public Library (2010-11), and a Biography Fellowship at the Leon Levy Center of the City University of New York (2014-15). ________________________________ Thanks for joining us in the Lesche! Podcast art: Daniel Blanco Theme music: "The Song of Seikilos," recomposed by Eftychia Christodoulou using Sibelius This podcast is made possible with the generous support of Brown University’s Department of Classical Studies and the John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study. Instagram: @leschepodcast Email: leschepodcast@gmail.com Suggest a book using this form

    52 min
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In Greek antiquity a lesche (λέσχη) was a spot to hang out and chat. Here Brown University professor Johanna Hanink hosts conversations with fellow Hellenists about their latest work in the field.

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  • Creator
    Johanna Hanink
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    40
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Lesche: Ancient Greece, New Ideas
  • Show Website
    Lesche: Ancient Greece, New Ideas

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