Instant Classics

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Join world-renowned classicist Mary Beard and Guardian chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins for Instant Classics — the weekly podcast that proves ancient history is still relevant. Ancient stories, modern twists… and no degree in Classics required. Discover The Odyssey and join the book club at: https://www.exploringtheodyssey.com

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  1. -9 ч

    BONUS Emily Wilson on translating the Odyssey

    A few months back we spoke to Emily Wilson on our subscriber series Exploring the Odyssey. Emily has been in the news recently, partly because her acclaimed 2017 translation of The Odyssey inspired Christopher Nolan, and partly because her criticisms of Nolan’s film have sparked debate. So we thought we would share the episode here on Instant Classics. In  the episode, Emily tells Mary and Charlotte why translating from Ancient Greek to modern English is so difficult, the choices she had to make from the outset and the challenges she encountered once underway.  In a surprise revelation, Emily confesses that she enjoyed the process so much she has decided to do it all over again and will ultimately publish a SECOND translation of The Odyssey - which is the equivalent of Odysseus spending ten years getting home only to decide he enjoyed the experience so much he’s going to repeat the whole trip.  Further reading: One of Mary’s favourite ancient “reflections” on the story of Odysseus (inc the Laestrygonians) is the so-called “Odyssey landscapes” found in Rome, an ancient depiction of this part of the Odyssey story. If you are interested in digging down into different translations, Patrick Reardon has a useful online essay, which compares passages of Emily’s translation with Daniel Mendelsohn’s and Richmond Lattimore’s. The Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson, is published in paperback by Norton Her volume of essays, Crossing the Wine-dark Sea, is published by Profile Books. Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci Producer: Jonty Claypole  Video Editor: Jak Ford Theme music: Casey Gibson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    BONUS Emily Wilson on translating the Odyssey

  2. -1 дн. • Только для подписчиков

    The Odyssey#26: Eumaeus’ story

    Mary and Charlotte discuss the second half of Book 15. With Telemachus on his way back to Ithaca, his father Odysseus remains (in disguise) at the lodging of his loyal swineherd Eumaeus. Earlier, we heard the elaborate shaggy-dog story Odysseus told about his life. Now we hear Eumaeus’ story - how he was born the son of a king, but was abducted by a Phoenician woman and sold as a slave to Odysseus’ father. Again, there’s the question of what these long backstories are for? Each seems to reinforce the idea of impermanence and social instability, the way a king can become a slave and vice versa. The book ends with Telemachus arriving back on Ithaca and there is a sense of real jeopardy - in this world, the fact that Odysseus is King is no guarantee of a warm homecoming. Odysseus and Telemachus must fight to reclaim what is theirs. Mary and Charlotte suggest some further reading… T. Rihill, “Slavery in Homer and Hesiod” in C. O. Pache (ed.), the Cambridge Guide to Homer (Cambridge UP, 2011) is a good introduction to the subject. Eumaeus’s status as a slave is discussed by Patrice Rankine, "Odysseus as Slave: The Ritual of Domination and Social Death in Homeric Society" in R. Alson et al. (eds), Reading Ancient Slavery (Bristol Classical Press/Bloomsbury, 2011). A more technical study of similar themes is W. G. Thalmann, The Swineherd and the Bow: Representations of Class in the Odyssey (Uni of Texas press, 1998), Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci Producer: Jonty Claypole DOP - Ben Warburton Video Editor: Tom Green Theme music: Casey Gibson

    The Odyssey#26: Eumaeus’ story

  3. -5 дн.

    Classic Chats: Charlotte Higgins on Ukrainian Lessons

    Mary talks to Charlotte about her book Ukrainian Lessons: Art in a Time of War. For the last four years, Charlotte has returned repeatedly to Ukraine to report on the cultural life of the nation as it defends itself against Russia. Part of Putin’s attempts to legitimise the war lies in an age-old argument that Ukraine is simply an extension, or part of, Russia itself. Art and culture have always played a critical role in Ukraine’s identity and self-determinism –and never more so than now.  Charlotte talks about what first took her to Ukraine in 2022, some of what she has learned over the last four years, and how reading the classics, especially Homer and Greek tragedy, have helped her make sense of the current situation. And Mary and Charlotte discuss Ukraine’s classical past: histories of Ukraine often start with Herodotus and his account of the Scythians of the steppe; and the Black Sea coast, and Crimea, are dotted with some of the earliest Greek “colonies” or trading emporia. Further reading  Charlotte’s book Ukrainian Lessons: Art in a Time of War (Cape) is published on 20 August. Charlotte and Mary also mentioned Oleksandr Mykhed’s book The Language of War (Penguin, paperback, 2026), and Cassandra by Lesia Ukrainka (HURI, 2023) On the classical connections of Ukraine, there is a good introduction to the ruins of Olbia. Euripides’ fifth-century play, Iphigeneia in Tauris (Iphigeneia among the Taurians) is set in the Crimean peninsula (English translations widely available in Oxford World’s Classics, Penguin Classics etc).  A BBC news article about the return of Scythian artefacts to Kyiv after a decade of court hearings. @instaclassicpod for Insta, TikTok and YouTube @insta_classics for X email: instantclassicspod@gmail.com Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci Producer: Jonty Claypole  Video Editor: Jak Ford Theme music: Casey Gibson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Classic Chats: Charlotte Higgins on Ukrainian Lessons

  4. 10 авг. ·  Бонусный контент

    BONUS: Which Translation of the Odyssey should I read?

    With the world gripped by Odyssey fever, Mary and Charlotte keep being asked the same question: which translation should I read? So here is a quick bonus episode to help you decide.  Mary and Charlotte cover the waterfront of the modern translations (Emily Wilson and Daniel Mendelsohn), but also celebrate some past classics, like E.V. Rieu’s. In the end, the simple answer is don’t worry - work with what you’ve got most easily at hand. Any translation that has been printed by a major publisher has its merits.  Further reading:  The two recent translations we discuss at the start are: Emily Wilson (translator), The Odyssey (W. W. Norton and co) Daniel Mendelsohn (translator), The Odyssey (Chicago UP and Penguin Classics) Both are available in paperback. Earlier translations which you might enjoy, and trust, include:: Richmond Lattimore (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) Robert Fagles (Penguin Classics) Robert Fitzgerald (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Peter Green (University of California Press) E. V. Rieu (Penguin Classics) Charlotte referred to Matthew Arnold’s lectures from the 1860s, “On Translating Homer”  @instaclassicpod for Insta, TikTok and YouTube @insta_classics for X email: instantclassicspod@gmail.com Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci Producer: Jonty Claypole  DOP - Ben Warburton Video Editor: Tom Green Theme music: Casey Gibson   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    BONUS: Which Translation of the Odyssey should I read?

  5. 6 авг.

    Classical Beach Reads

    Summer is here (in the northern hemisphere at least) and with many listeners eyeing trips to the beach, Mary and Charlotte are here with some cracking beach read suggestions. Move over Carley Fortune, Ann Patchett, and Tana French and make way for Herodotus, Lucian and Longus. Charlotte does a hard sell for Herodotus’ Histories (all 700 pages) and Ovid’s (mercifully shorter) Heroides. Mary pushes the science-fiction humour of Lucian’s Selected Dialogues (while acknowledging it could do with a better title) and Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe. Turning to modern books set in the ancient world, Charlotte champions Colm Tóibín’s House of Names, while Mary chooses Samuel Butler’s The Authoress of the Odyssey - which, published in 1897, pushes the definition of ‘modern’ a little, but we don’t expect anything less from a Cambridge don!  Finally, something for the kids… Mary is a fan of Caroline Lawrence’s Roman Mysteries and Charlotte feels equally enthusiastic about Percy Jackson.  Charlotte’s recommendations: Herodotus, The Histories comes in many translations – Robin Waterfield for Oxford World’s Classics, and Tom Holland for Penguin Classics Ovid, Heroides, also has translations in the World’s Classics and Penguin Classics series Colm Tóibín, House of Names, Penguin, 2018 Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Puffin, 2013 Mary’s recommendations: For Lucian’s Dialogues, the handiest translation is a selection of some of the best of his satire in Oxford World’s Classics. Peter Thonemann is producing a new translation of the whole lot in the Loeb Classical Library (Harvard UP), including the original Greek text too. Two volumes have appeared so far. Longus, Daphnis and Chloe is also published in World’s Classics, and in Penguin Classics (with other works of ancient Greek fiction), and on its own in the Penguin Little Black Classics series. Samuel Butler’s Authoress of the Odyssey is available in various modern reprints (often independently published) listed in online bookstores Caroline Lawrence’s series of Roman Mysteries is published by Orion. @instaclassicpod for Insta, TikTok and YouTube @insta_classics for X email: instantclassicspod@gmail.com Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci Producer: Jonty Claypole  Video Editor: Jak Ford Theme music: Casey Gibson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Classical Beach Reads

  6. 3 авг. • Только для подписчиков

    The Odyssey#25: Telemachus returns

    With Odysseus recuperating in the hovel of his loyal slave Eumaeus, the action switches back to Telemachus who is still where we left him many books - and months - ago, feasting with Menelaus and Helen in Sparta. Athena appears and tells Telemachus that it is time to return but that the suitors will be waiting to ambush him. Armed with this knowledge, Telemachus makes his farewells and Helen sends him off with an intriguing gift - a bridal dress for his future wife. Telemachus is on his way home. All roads lead now to the palace at Ithaca - and Penelope. Mary and Charlotte suggest some further reading… Helen’s gifts to Telemachus are discussed by Ruby Blondell, Helen of Troy (Oxford UP, 2013), chap 4 A technical point! The role of the prophet, Theoclymenus, who appears for the first time in this section of the poem, may puzzle readers, as it has puzzled many Homer specialists. Why is he introduced at such length when his role is relatively minor? (G. S. Kirk in The Songs of Homer (Cambridge UP, 1962) observes that “he is the only character… whom one feels to have arrived almost by mistake”). Has he been incorporated from some wider epic tradition? A very learned defence of his role in the last books of the Odyssey is given by B. Fenik, Studies in the Odyssey (Franz Steiner, 1974). Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci Producer: Jonty Claypole DOP - Ben Warburton Video Editor: Tom Green Theme music: Casey Gibson

    The Odyssey#25: Telemachus returns

  7. 3 авг. ·  Бонусный контент

    Classic Chats: Count Binface (Bonus episode)

    In this Clacton byelection special, Count Binface takes a break from the campaign trail and zooms in from his spaceship to chat with Mary and Charlotte about his deep interest in Ancient Greece and Rome.  While denying all connection with an earthling called Jon Harvey who studied Classics at Oxford, Binface reveals the lessons he has learned by studying classical writers, like the Greek satirist Lucian, the failings of Athenian democracy and Roman republicanism, and his views on Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.  All of which begs the question: will Count Binface make compulsory Latin in state primary schools a central pledge in his manifesto? Listen to find out! Further reading:  If you are confused about who Count Binface is, there’s a piece in the Guardian that explains it all… Binface’s review of the Odyssey (paywalled)  And a link to Jon Harvey’s broadcasting including his BBC Radio 4 series, Could an Ancient Athenian Fix Britain? For all the candidates in this byelection: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckge923jk3vo  @instaclassicpod for Insta, TikTok and YouTube @insta_classics for X email: instantclassicspod@gmail.com Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci Producer: Jonty Claypole  Video Editor: Jak Ford Theme music: Casey Gibson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Classic Chats: Count Binface (Bonus episode)

  8. 30 июл.

    Classic Chats: Tom Hiddleston on Pompeii

    Last week, actor Tom Hiddleston launched his new series - not the further adventures of Loki (at least, not yet), but Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston. Mary and Charlotte talk to Tom who reveals his life-long fascination with the ancient world, including a degree in Classics at Cambridge where he attended the lectures of one Professor Mary Beard.  Tom talks about the impact Mary’s teaching had on him and how that fascination for the Classics has never gone away. His new series, available to watch on Disney+ and National Geographic, focuses on several real people and the decisions they made in the hours before the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. It draws on new research and technology to uncover the hidden lives of some of those who survived - and some who didn’t.  Further reading  Mary Beard’s book Pompeii is strongly recommended by Charlotte! And there is a recent book by Jess Venner, The Lost Voices of Pompeii (Harper Collins, 2026), which picks up and develops some of the same themes. In one of his first roles, Tom appeared in the Cambridge Greek play. You can find out more about this marvellous institution here: https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/prospective/undergraduate/greek-play and here: https://www.cambridgegreekplay.classics.cam.ac.uk/  @instaclassicpod for Insta, TikTok and YouTube @insta_classics for X email: instantclassicspod@gmail.com Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci Producer: Jonty Claypole  Video Editor: Jak Ford Theme music: Casey Gibson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Classic Chats: Tom Hiddleston on Pompeii
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Join world-renowned classicist Mary Beard and Guardian chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins for Instant Classics — the weekly podcast that proves ancient history is still relevant. Ancient stories, modern twists… and no degree in Classics required. Discover The Odyssey and join the book club at: https://www.exploringtheodyssey.com

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  • Автор
    Vespucci
  • Годы выхода
    2025 - 2026
  • Выпуски
    84
  • Поставщик
    Vespucci

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