The Classical Antiquity Sidequest

About The Classical Antiquity Sidequest

A Bull City Coordinators Podcast. This podcast covers topics from the era of Classical Antiquity. We cover the era that Edgar Allan Poe referred to as "the glory that was Greece, and the grandeur that was Rome. This is the ultimate historical sidequest podcast.

Publisher

Classical Antiquity Sidequest

Category

history

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

2 Apr 2024

Latest episode

1 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

37 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   1 Sept 2026

   Sidequest 37 - Julian the Apostate's Religious Legacy with Dr. David Litwa

   #julian #juliantheapostate #emperorjulian #romanempire #pagan #pagans #ancientreligion #christianity #antiquity #classicalantiquity #lateantiquity It's been a minute, but the podcast is back with an episode we recorded over the summer with Dr. David Litwa (https://mdavidlitwa.com/). I reached out to Dr. Litwa after reading (listening to) his book "Julian Against the Apostates (https://www.amazon.com/Julian-Against-Apostates-Translation-Reconstruction/dp/B0FXTPRR53)". He agreed to come on the podcast which gave us this episode. During our talk, Dr. Litwa covers Julian's religious and philosophical origins including the dangers he faced for simply believing in non-Christian gods. He also discusses Julian's traditional Hellenic religious beliefs including the importance of sacrifice and how Julian received an honorable burial. This shows that the state honored him as a military hero and that, despite subsequent criticism by religious enemies, Julian was a respected figure in the Empire. One topic that we cover in detail is whether Julian missed his calling as a philosopher and religious theorist which is apparently something that Julian wanted to ultimately do. After listening to this episode, I think you'll see that if history had unfolded a little differently, Julian may have been able to leave decades of Hellenic religious writings behind him. Maybe that wouldn't have done much to alter the course of history that unfolded, but as Mal Reynolds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Reynolds) once observed, "May have been on the losing side, still not convinced it was the wrong one." You can keep up with Dr. Litwa at his YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@m.davidlitwa) or his website linked to above. Your reading assignments include Julian Augustus (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/julian-augustus-9780197787519?cc=br&lang=en&) by friend of the pod Jeremy Swist. The theme music is from Brent Arehart. Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/antiquitypod.bsky.social), on Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@antiquitypod), on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanHistoryPodcasts/), or on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dukefbcoverage/). And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.

2. 

   7 Aug 2026

   Sidequest 36 - Ben and Victor Review The Odyssey

   #theodyssey #odyssey #moviereview #christophernolan #antiquity #classicalantiquity #troy #trojanhorse As you all may be aware, Christopher Nolan's latest movie is his take on The Odyssey. Before getting into the movie itself, I get a few thoughts off my chest about movie theaters selling Pepsi products. Put simply - that's some bull---t. Sell Coke or shut your business down. No one wants to drink a Pepsi while sitting in a theater. Now, I don't have any issues with the fine people at Barq's Root Beer, which is the beverage I had to settle for when I learned I couldn't have a Coke, but Barq's is not the beverage I want to drink when I'm watching a movie. With that out of the way ... In our review, both me and Victor try and avoid the political narrative that surrounds this movie. Neither of us think that this is a movie that is a critical statement for or against "Western Civilization" or the current state of our collective culture, whatever that term may mean, so we don't see any need to analyze the movie from that perspective. Rather, we're here to give our opinion about whether The Odyssey was or was not a good movie. And that's the tact we take when talking about this film. In doing so, we also explain why Christopher Nolan didn't have Odysseus call himself "Nobody" during his encounter with the Cyclops. Why? Well, because Better Call Saul already did it better. One thing we do cover in our review is how much of the movie actually happened. Was it real, or was it the poor memory of a broken man? Odysseus is perhaps the O.G. Unreliable Narrator and we know how much Nolan enjoys that narrative trick. Please chime in with your thoughts after you listen and watch the movie. Our overall thoughts are that the movie had its moments, but that it was a bit of a slog. Victor appreciated it more after a second viewing. I think I might do the same. And, if I do watch it a second time, we will review it a second time. We referred to a few characters by the wrong names during the review. I think we got it all corrected during the review, but if we missed some, let us know. The theme music is from Brent Arehart. Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/antiquitypod.bsky.social), on Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@antiquitypod), on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanHistoryPodcasts/), or on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dukefbcoverage/). And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.

3. 

   30 Jun 2026

   Sidequest 35 - Gladiators in the Greek World

   #gladiators #ancientgreece #antiquity #romanhistory #ancientrome #classicalantiquity Our next Sidequest takes us to Greece during the Roman era as we discuss gladiators with Alexandra Sills (https://bsky.app/profile/belovedofoizys.bsky.social). Ms. Sills just released a book on the topic (https://www.ancientalexandra.co.uk/gladiatorsinthegreekworld), "Gladiators in the Greek World: How a Roman Bloodsport Took Ancient Greece by Storm", which I highly recommend to all. During this episode, we discuss a number of topics including why gladiators became so popular in Greece, how gladiators were used by Roman political leaders and some problems associated with some historians who discussed gladiators without understanding sports. Before we get into gladiators, we discussed the British education and Alexandra's podcast, Ancient History 101 (https://www.ancientalexandra.co.uk/ancient-history-101). Your reading assignment is Lauren Jenkinsson-Brown's "You Are Odysseus (https://laurajenkinsonbrown.co.uk/2023/08/30/you-are-odysseus-the-choose-your-own-path-odyssey-project/)". You can find Ms. Sills by going to her website (https://www.ancientalexandra.co.uk/) and on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/belovedofoizys.bsky.social). The theme music is from Brent Arehart. Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/antiquitypod.bsky.social), on Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@antiquitypod), on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanHistoryPodcasts/), or on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dukefbcoverage/). And never forget that The Classical Antiquity Sidequest is a podcast without end.

Who has been a guest on The Classical Antiquity Sidequest

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Jen Gerrish
• Benjamin Straumann
• Dr. Roshan Abraham

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

7,561,449

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 49 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

37

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

60