Literature and History
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Literature and History
With millions of downloads, hundreds of hours of soundtracked content, and an overall emphasis on the cultural history behind famous works of literature, Literature and History is one of the most popular independent podcasts on its subject. Starting with Sumerian cuneiform in 3,100 BCE, Literature a...
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117 episodi
Episode 117: The Qur'an, Part 1: Overview
Learn the basics of the Qur'an - its size, structure, how and when it came together, and the book's most important contents.
Episode 11...
Episode 116: The Life of Muhammad, Part 3: Conquest
During the final years of the Prophet Muhammad's life and the immediate aftermath of his death, the Muslims conquered Mecca, the first caliph Abu Bakr...
Episode 115: The Life of Muhammad, Part 2: Community
Between 622 and 628, Muhammad and the first Muslims made a home from themselves in Medina, fended off assaults from the Quraysh and others, and change...
Episode 114: The Life of Muhammad, Part 1: Cobwebs
An orphan and caravan trade agent, Muhammad (570-632) lived a fairly ordinary life up until the age of 40. Then, everything changed.
Ne...
Episode 113: Antarah ibn Shaddad
Antarah ibn Shaddad, a killer, a lover, and an epic hero, was also one of early Arabic literature's most famous poets.
Parker's Song:
Episode 112: Pre-Islamic Arabic Poetry
Prior to the dawn of Islam, the Arabian Peninsula had a great poetic tradition, with many genres, and many poets who are still celebrated and studied...
Episode 111: Pre-Islamic Arabia
Leading up to the birth of the Prophet Muhammad in about 570 CE, the Arabian Peninsula was an increasingly populous and globally interconnected region...
Episode 110: Questions
In Episode 110, Literature and History host Doug Metzger answers dozens of listener questions about making the show, books, and how and why the podcas...
Episode 109: Cornerstones
Episode 109 brings our long season on Late Antiquity to a close, reviews the past 24 programs on the beginnings of the Middle Ages, and introduces our...
Episode 108: Isidore of Seville
One of the great scholars of Late Antiquity, Isidore (c. 560-636) left behind a compendium called the Etymologies, an encyclopedia of his epoch’s know...
Episode 107: Venantius Fortunatus
The Merovingian court poet Venantius Fortunatus (c. 530-600), at work in Francia in the late 500s, shows us the world of the Middle Ages blooming from...
Episode 106: Gregory of Tours, Part 2
The second half of the History of the Franks (591) is a deep dive into the grime and intrigue of the Merovingian dynasty, written in a style that's as...
Episode 105: Gregory of Tours, Part 1
Gregory of Tours (c. 539-594) completed The History of the Franks in 591. The long book's account of Clovis and the Merovingian Dynasty has been one o...
Episode 104: An Introduction to the Talmud
Second only to the Tanakh, the 63 Tractates of the Talmud are the main text of Rabbinic Judaism, containing the teachings of thousands of ancient rabb...
Episode 103: Boethius
In the twilight of the Western Empire, Boethius (c. 476-523) served as consul, but ended his life imprisoned by the Ostrogothic King Theodoric, writin...
Episode 102: An Old Man's Book (Augustine's City of God, Part 2 of 2)
Augustine’s City of God, Part 2 of 2. The second half of the City of God contains some of Late Antiquity’s most influential writings – most notably Au...
Episode 101: Against the Pagans (Augustine's City of God, Part 1 of 2)
Augustine’s City of God, Part 1 of 2. The first half of the City of God is a broadside against paganism – its culture, religion, and history, subjects...
Episode 100: Late Have I Loved You (Augustine's Confessions, Books 9-13)
Augustine’s Confessions, Part 2 of 2. The second half of Augustine’s Confessions contains some of the most famous theology in Christian history.
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Episode 99: The Boy Who Stole Pears (Augustine's Confessions, Books 1-7)
Augustine’s Confessions, Part 1 of 2. The first half of Augustine’s Confessions tells of his wayward early years, his intellectual journey, and his sp...
Episode 98: The Life and Works of Saint Jerome
Polyglot Jerome (347-420) had a gigantic impact on all subsequent Christian history, leaving behind a huge body of works, including the Latin Bible.
Episode 97: Blood and Ivy (Nonnus' Dionysiaca, Books 25-48)
The Dionysiaca, Part 2 of 2. The last surviving Greek epic of antiquity draws to a close with Dionysus fighting wars far to the east, in India.
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Episode 96: The Last Pagan Epic (Nonnus' Dionysiaca, Books 1-24)
The last epic from Greco-Roman antiquity that survives in full, Nonnus’ fifth-century Dionysiaca tells of the wine god Dionysus’ journey eastward, to...
Episode 95: Rutilius Namatianus
In 417 CE, the Roman poet Rutilius Namatianus journeyed from Rome back to his homeland of Gaul, not knowing whether there was a home to return to.
Episode 94: Ausonius
One of the later Latin poets of the Empire, Ausonius’ expansive body of work gives us a window into the changing world of fourth-century Roman culture...
Episode 93: Severus' Life of Saint Martin
Sulpicius Severus’ (c. 363-425) life of St. Martin is one of the great hagiographies – a portrait of a timeless saint, but also of a human being and w...
Episode 92: Athanasius' Life of Antony
Athanasius (c. 297-373) wrote a wildly popular biography of the desert hermit St. Anthony, touting the ideals of asceticism and triumph over demonic t...
Episode 91: The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity
In Carthage, in 203 CE, a Roman noblewoman and her retinue were butchered in an amphitheater. Learn her story, and the earliest history of Christian m...
Episode 90: Ante-Nicene Catholicism
Learn the documentary history behind how the Catholic Church was founded and set up as an organization, together with some of the works of the earlies...
Episode 89: The Aethiopica of Heliodorus
Heliodorus of Emesa (3rd/4th century CE) wrote the longest novel to have survived from antiquity, an adventurous romance that reemerged into Europe in...
Episode 88: Ancient Greek Sci-fi
In roughly the 160s CE, the Greek satirist Lucian of Samosata wrote A True Story, one of history’s earliest surviving novels, with strong tinges of wh...
Episode 87: Lucian of Samosata
The satirist Lucian (c. 125-180) was popular in his own time and during the Renaissance, among other things probably being the first author of science...
Episode 86: An Introduction to Late Antiquity
Once pervasively described as a period of fall and decline, today Late Antiquity is often understood as a period of cultural flowering and economic re...
Episode 85: River
A primer on Biblical canon formation, retrospective on what we’ve covered so far, and introduction to the upcoming season.
Episode 85 Q...
Episode 84: Manichaeism
After 300 CE, Manichaeism spread quickly from its origins in modern day Iraq and Iran. Recent archaeological discoveries have finally allowed us to le...
Episode 83: Gnosticism
The Nag Hammadi Library, Codex Tchacos, and Berlin Codex, as they came to light in the twentieth century, radically changed our understanding of early...
Episode 82: Zoroastrianism
Learn the basic tenets and early history of Zoroastrianism, one of the most important and widespread religions in the ancient world, and possibly eart...
Episode 81: Revelation
One of the most spectacular pieces of writing in the world’s religious texts, Revelation influenced generations of writers and theologians.
Episode 80: The General Epistles
The later epistles of the New Testament show early Christian theology expanding and evolving in the ancient Mediterranean.
Episode 80 Q...
Episode 79: The Pauline Epistles
Possibly the most influential theologian in history, Paul codified and clarified Christianity as it emerged into the diverse world of the Eastern Medi...
Episode 78: The Book of Acts
The story of Christianity’s first missionaries is a sweeping , intercontinental narrative, filled with danger, strange encounters, and the hope for a...