New Books in Ancient History Podcast
1) William H. F. Altman, "Ascent to the Good: The Reading Order of Platoâs Dialogues from Symposium to Republic" (Lexington, 2018)
At the crisis of his Republic, Plato asks us to imagine what could possibly motivate a philosopher to return to the Cave voluntarily for the benefit of others and at the expense of her own personal ha...Show More
2) Jessica Clarke, "A New History of Ancient Roman Theatre" (Liverpool UP, 2025)
"Roman theatre" is a term often used to describe the theatre of ancient Italy during the second and third century BCE. Plautus and Terence are referred to as âRoman playwrights,â and Rome itself is ge...Show More
3) Kim Bowes, "Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent" (Princeton UP, 2025)
The story of ancient Rome is predominantly one of great men with great fortunes. Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percentï»żÂ (Princeton UP, 2025) unearths another history, one of ordinar...Show More
4) Imperial Depths: Mark Letteney and Matthew Larsen on the Roman Prison System (JP)
The notion of abolishing prisons strikes some as an impossible dream: could we could reasonably conceive of a society that responded to harm without the possibility of long-term confinement in purpose...Show More
5) The Augustan Revolution: On Ancient Rome with Reece Edmends
In this second episode of Season 5, I interview Dr. Reece Edmends, a graduate of Kingâs College, Cambridge, and a junior faculty member in the Classics Department at Princeton University. Drawing on ...Show More
6) Warwick Ball, "Ancient Civilizations of Afghanistan: From the Earliest Times to the Mongol Conquest" (Reaktion, 2025)
Today, Afghanistanâif it ever reaches global headlinesâis portrayed as an unstable land, known more for the wars great powers fight (and often lose) on its territory. Yet for most of human history, Af...Show More
7) David Frankfurter ed., "Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic" (Brill, 2019)
In the midst of academic debates about the utility of the term âmagicâ and the cultural meaning of ancient words like mageia or khesheph, this Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic seeks to advance the ...Show More
8) The Far Edges of the Known World: A New History of the Ancient Past
When Ovid was exiled from Rome to a border town on the Black Sea, he despaired at his new bleak and barbarous surroundings. Like many Greeks and Romans, Ovid thought the outer reaches of his world was...Show More
9) Caillan Davenport, "Behind Caesar's Back: Rumor, Gossip, and the Making of the Roman Emperors" (Yale UP, 2026)
In Behind Caesar's Back: Rumor, Gossip, and the Making of the Roman Emperors (Yale UP, 2026), Professor Caillan Davenport presents a thrilling exploration of what Romans thought about their emperors, ...Show More
10) Arnoud S. Q. Visser, "On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All" (Princeton UP, 2025)
A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice Intellectuals have long provoked scorn and irritation, even downright aggression. Many learned individuals have cas...Show More