Possibly the most influential theologian in history, Paul codified and clarified Christianity as it emerged into the diverse world of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The story of Christianity’s first missionaries is a sweeping , intercontinental narrative, filled with danger, strange encounters, and the hope for a better future. Episode 78 Quiz: https://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-78-quiz Episode 78 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-078-the-book-of-acts Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory  

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the heart of the New Testament. And today, historians and Biblical scholars know more about them than ever before. Episode 77 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-77-quiz Episode 77 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-077-the-gospels Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

The Roman client king Herod (c. 73-4 BCE) ruled Judea for thirty years. Learn about his rule, and the political and religious climate of Judea just before the birth of Christ. Episode 76 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-76-quiz Episode 76 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-076-judea-under-herod Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

A retrospective on the material we’ve covered thus far as we head into Early Christianity and Late Antiquity, plus some announcements. Episode 75 Transcription: https://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-075-dusk-and-starlight Bonus Content: https://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations show an intelligent emperor coping with the realities of an empire buckling under its own weight. Episode 74 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-74-quiz Episode 74 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-074-marcus-aurelius Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Apuleius’ The Golden Ass is Ancient Rome’s only novel to survive in full – a strange, often disturbing fairytale that had a huge influence on posterity. Episode 73 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-73-quiz Episode 73 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-073-the-golden-ass Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Juvenal’s Satires, produced some time in the decades around 100 CE, mercilessly mock some of the more colorful aspects of Roman life. Episode 72 Quiz: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-72-quiz Episode 72 Transcription: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/episode-072-bread-and-circuses Bonus Content: http://literatureandhistory.com/index.php/bonus-content Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/literatureandhistory

Statius’ Thebaid, Books 1-6. This epic is hardly ever read or taught these days, but in 100 CE, it was as famous as anything in the Roman world.

Petronius’ Satyricon is a contender for history’s first novel, a picaresque filled with sex, misadventures, and details about daily life.

Seneca’s Phaedra (c. 50s CE) is the story of an illicit passion, a stoic cautionary tale and simultaneously vivid character study.

Seneca’s Thyestes, probably written around the 50s CE, is one of the most horrifying and influential plays ever written.

Stoicism, starting with Zeno in 300 BCE, was a popular philosophy by the lifetime of Seneca, perhaps even making its way into the New Testament.

Seneca the Younger (c 1 BCE-65 CE) practiced the philosophy of stoicism over the course of several volatile, and very different imperial reigns.

For mysterious reasons, in 8 CE, Ovid was exiled from Rome. Ovid’s last works were composed an ocean away from  Italy, on the western shore of the Black Sea.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Books 11-15. The vast Metamorphoses draws to a resonant conclusion as Ovid brings his great poem to Rome itself.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Books 6-10. In the middle portion of Ovid’s great poem, psychological transformations become as gripping as physical ones.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Books 1-5. This book influenced thousands of years of later literature, and remains one of our best source texts on classical mythology.

Ovid’s Art of Love is ancient Rome’s manual of seduction – a record of the steamier side of the Augustan Age.

The love poetry of Ovid (43 BCE-17 CE) was standard Latin curriculum for hundreds of years, but it was also the product of a very specific historical moment.

Propertius (c. 50-1 BCE) took the Latin elegiac form to new heights of complexity and passion, even weaving subtle satire throughout his work.

Virgil’s Aeneid, Books 10-12. The end of Rome’s great epic is about something Romans of Virgil’s generation knew very well indeed. War.

Virgil’s Aeneid, Books 7-9. Aeneas’ arrival in Italy begins auspiciously enough, but soon things take a turn for the worse.

Virgil’s Aeneid, Books 4-6. The story of Dido and Aeneas, and his subsequent journey to the underworld, is the heart of Rome’s most famous poem.