Ad Navseam

Ad Navseam
  • 4.9 (91)
  • EDUCATION
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

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.

  1. NOV 8

    Gag Reflex: Our Second, More Abysmaler, Clip Show (Ad Navseam, Episode 200)

    Has it finally come to this? Again? Can't you guys come up with any new material? Well, no. Everybody needs a little time away, the fans will say, from each other. Even list'ners need a holiday, far away, from each other. So, that's what you're getting. Jeff and Dave kick back and let the fans do most of the work for this one. Thanks to all the contributions from a host of loyal listeners, the guys get a break this week to pursue their early-birding, lucubrating, and other sidelines, as well as spending time with their bevy of besties: Lazy Steve, Remote Ron, Ratio "Mark" Hellweg, Slideshow Bob, Local Will, Saswatch, The Abdominal Snowman, The Already But Not Yeti, Embryonic Mark, and the Garnier Fructis representatives. If you don't like inside jokes and running gags, maybe tune out at about minute 47.38. Or, stay until the end (and show up next episode for more substantive content). Thanks for listening!

    1h 32m

  2. OCT 30

    Eye Can't Get No Satisfaction: Polyphemus and Galatea in Theocritus' Idyll XI (Ad Navseam, Episode 199)

    "Whiter than cottage cheese", "bright as an unripe grape"? This is some world class woo-pitching, and Polyphemus the one-eyed wonder has high hopes that such romantic language will win fair Galatea, sea nymph extraordinaire, to his hirsute side. He may not be much to look at, monobrow and all, but the Cyclops boasts that he comes with many benefits: great musical skill, a cheez whiz packed man cave, and 1000 head of cattle. As Theocritus the famous Syracusan poet tells the tale, should we take it as farce? Or, is the song a serious philosophical inquiry into the healing nature of poetry? Join the guys this week as they take a close look at Idyll XI, an awkward, adolescent love song that the Alexandrian poet composes for that shaggy Cyclops as a backstory, before he encountered Odysseus. The insights of Brooks Otis, Erling Holtsmark, Robert Schmiel, and yes, Dronebrella, set the stage. So, cue your mixtape with Air Supply or Survivor, pray for gills, and don't miss this one!

    1h 9m

  3. OCT 21

    The Golden Age of the Classics in America by Carl Richard, Part IX (Ad Navseam, Episode 198)

    This week the guys wrap up their look at Richard's trenchant book with his final chapter on the classics and American slavery. Richard teases out how both pro-slavery factions (John C. Calhoun, Thomas Dew, George Fitzhugh) and abolitionists (William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass) marshaled Greco-Roman thinkers to support their respective causes. The South argued that the flourishing of the arts and thought in Athens was a result of the elite classes being freed from work by the slave population, while the North saw slavery as Athens’ biggest flaw. What do Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero have to say about it all? Did they believe that some swaths of humanity were naturally servile? And, what does “natural law” suggest? Tune in and find out. There's plenty of room here for all of us to learn, even the Twainees.

    1h 2m

  4. OCT 14

    Did St. Paul Speak Latin? and, The Forms You Really Need to Know: Souter and Mahoney (Ad Navseam, Episode 197)

    Dave and Jeff this week tackle two fascinating articles in a portmanteau of Classical learning (Sahoney-Mahouter). First up, it's the 1911 article by famed philologist and New Testament scholar Alexander Souter. Examining the evidence, and building a cumulative argument, Souter argues that the Apostle Paul in all probability could speak the language  of Rome's seven hills. But how strong is his case, and where might it be vulnerable to pushback? Then after halftime, Anne Mahoney (Tufts Univ.) leads the show back on to the gridiron for some computer-aided analysis of what Greek and Latin forms are indispensable as to frequency, and which are more of a purple unicorn that can safely be shelved until the third or fourth semester. For language gurus, you won't want to miss the surprises here: vocative outranks dative? Present and perfect tense verbs constitute almost 75% of all Latin verb forms? Quid rei est? And, be sure to send in your own audio clips for episode 200 to join the fun.

    1h 10m

  5. OCT 7

    H.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part XVII (Ad Navseam, Episode 196)

    All you Marrou fans out there may have been wondering, "Where did that fabulous Frenchmen go"? After all, this little podcast has not covered H.I.'s theme since April 1 of the current year. Fitting date? Don't be fooled, Jeff and Dave have not given up on all things ancient education, and this week the guys return to Part II, Chapter IX. In this portion of the larger section, Classical Education in the Hellenistic Age, Marrou is dealing with what he entitles "Lesser Forms". How was the ephebia structured, and how did the architectural forms change to match this? What did the typical syllabus contain, and what of the formation of a canon? What is the connection between thinking great thoughts and walking? Should you look out for roving hygienists in your neighborhood, and can you earn a certificate or award for φιλοπονία (love of industry)? The disscussion next moves on to the "birdcage" center of ancient learning, the Museum (Alexandria, et alia), where MacArthur Fellowship recipients complained about the sluggish wifi and were feted by the Ptolemies. But we digress. Stick around for the closing bit on medicine and vo. tech, and think about sending us your own reflections for episode 200!

    1h 9m

  6. SEP 30

    Ma, ma, ma, my, Pomona! (Et Alii) in Two More Ovidian Vignettes (Ad Navseam, Episode 195)

    The guys are back to Ovid this week for another pair of vignettes. First up it’s the tragic, would-be love affair between little-known Trojan prince Aesacus and his would be wooed Hesperia. Like Eurydice, Hesperia forgets her little galoshes, and is struck down by a deadly snake in the grass before Aesacus can catch her. Aesacus can’t handle it and goes full Greg Louganis, until the gods turn him into a diving bird. What is Ovid saying here about fate and love's destructive power? Then its on to Pomona who turns down every “prom-posal” till Vertumnus, the sylvan Cicero, gives it a go. Even then it’s no picnic…he’s forced to become his own “wing man”…er, woman? What’s the message? Stop chasing, fellas, and up your disguise and persuasion game? Tune in and find out. Also, don't miss the on-air drawing for the Plato prize.

    1h 10m

  7. SEP 23

    The Golden Age of the Classics in America by Carl Richard, Part VIII (Ad Navseam, Episode 194)

    What hath Athens to do with Jerusalem, Corinth with Philadelphia, or Ephesus with Ft. Lauderdale? Perennial questions these, no doubt, and it doesn't take a Tertullian to ask or answer them. Charles Sumner, Nathaniel "Crimson Digit" Hawthorne, James Fenimore Cooper, or Charles Francis Adams will do. Join the guys this week for the penultimate look at Carl Richard's taut, thrilling, barn-burner, as we peel back the layers on the relationship between Christianity and Classical culture at the apogee of the latter's popularity in those British castoffs, the former colonies. Does pagan morality dovetail nicely with the Christian faith, or is it sharply at odds? What of the antithesis between Christ's "love your enemies and pray for those who hate you", and the Homeric honor code of strict vengeance? Is this conflict real or imagined? And, just how much nudity is acceptable in statuary and painting, whether a Venus di Urbino, or George Washington, who, says Hawthorne, had so much gravitas that he was born clothed? All this and more, plus the usual servings of bad puns (not all Dave's, as it turns out). Don't miss this!

    1h 7m

  8. SEP 16

    Mythbusting Asbestos We Can: Fire at the Library of Alexandria? (Ad Navseam, Episode 193)

    Check this one out! This episode is long overdue! All will be fine(s). Don't get all Dewey-eyed (and other book-borrowing puns)! This week the guys delve into the history (and some stubborn myths regarding it) of the Library of Alexandria. Most people have heard of its “burning”, but do the generally accepted versions of it hold water? Once you get past the cover it seems like things are a bit more complicated: it didn’t all burn down at once; it probably wasn’t the devastating, permanent loss of knowledge as it’s sometimes portrayed, and the whole pagan vs. Christian finger pointing doesn’t help. Join Jeff "Jamie Franklin Hyneman" Winkle and Dave "Adam Savage" Noe as they look at the ancient sources and the archaeology (or lack thereof), and attempt to get down to the nittus-grittus.

    1h 14m
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4.9
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About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Ad Navseam
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    205
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Ad Navseam

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