In this episode we utilize our amazing artistic abilities to *checks notes* stop time(?) and discuss Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, a modern retelling/allegory of the Catilinarian Conspiracy that took place during the late Roman Republic. Here to help analyze this fever-dream of a film is Dr. Hannah Čulík-Baird, Associate Professor of Classics at UCLA, co-editor of Res Difficiles, and last but not least, a self proclaimed “unrepentant Adam Driver stan”. Join us in our attempt to make...

In this episode we learn that your hosts do not know how to behave themselves without an awesome guest to keep them in line! That being said, Colin, Elijah, and Christie delve into the latest iteration of Tomb Raider from the new Netflix animated series. It has a fully realized Lara, beautiful animation, and a plot that actually requires the heroine to intervene in order to save the world. Yet it feels a little too late for it to make the same impact as Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider. We unpack...

Your favorite Tomb Raider is back, and this time she taking a beating. With the help of archaeogaming specialist, Julie Levy, we take a look at the rebooted version of Lara Croft introduced in the 2010s. Considering the film is supposed to be based on the 2013 game, it is wild to see how drastically different the two mediums present Lara Croft's new origin story. Let's just say, we end up loving the game more than a film, even with its supernatural AND super-gorey elements. Will Lara ever put...

As the old adage goes, "Well-behaved women seldom make history" and Tomb Raider takes that to a whole new level. Based on the popular late 90s action-adventure video games, Angelina Jolie plays the titular Lara Croft in these high-energy films released during the early 2000s. To help us unpack the early inspirations for this character and her initial film adaptations, we are joined by Egyptologist (and sometimes Lara Croft cosplayer), Dr. Marina Escolano-Povdeda. While these films definitely...

If you've been hankering for a good modern take on ancient myth, then this is the show for you! We join forces with super-special guest Amy Pistone to talk about Netflix's new take on the Greek gods in Kaos (2024). We talk about how this show adapts oft- and less-oft-seen stories to its unique world and its novel takes on many familiar characters. Does everything in the end come back to Romeo + Juliet? Disclaimer: We didn't know about its impending cancellation when we recorded (though we...

We're back with the second part of our promo-preview for the newest season of Movies We Dig: Archaeology on Film. We round out our discussion of the previous season on Rome on TV with some trivia games, make predictions on the films we're about to review and reflect back on what brought us to our fields, in some cases literally.

Before we dig our way through some of the most famous archaeologists found on screen, we figured it would be a good idea to reflect back on Season 4 of Movies We Dig. We talk about the season as a whole, our favorite and least favorite series, and...Demon Slayer? Come on, you should all know we're big nerds at this point. Come for the anime discussion, but stay for the bonus content on Spartacus! Our friends and fellow podcasters, Dr. Rad and Dr. G of the Partial Historians have a new...

That's right, we did a thing! Our first-ever livestream crossover event with the hosts of Movies We Dig, Ancient History Fangirl, and Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! And if you want a chance to watch rather than just listen to the show, you can do so on our new YouTube channel! Here is the link for the recorded livestream: https://youtube.com/live/qtUMQm0no1c To celebrate International Podcast Day your favorite podcasters on antiquity and pop-culture indulged in an evening of fun, frolicking...

You already got a small taste of Season 5, but get hyped as we prepare to discuss all your favorite fictional archaeologists! We love that Hollywood makes us (Lij and Christie specifically) look like bad asses, but sometimes they miss out on what makes archaeology awesome. We have an amazing lineup of guests from both the academic and the public scholarship world, so grab a trowel and help us dig into the newest season of Movies We Dig! And if you like what you hear, please be sure to...

Elementary my dear Adso! We kick off our new archaeology-focused season with director Jean-Jacques Annaud's 1986 adaptation of Umberto Eco's medieval mystery thriller The Name of the Rose. Joining us are super-special return guests: Joel Christensen & Tim Gerolami. We host our own little ecumenical discussing everything from the poverty of Christ to the hotness of Christian Slater. Come learn how cult horror films inform medieval dogma.

Ready your quardriga and place your bets as we race to the finish of Movies We Dig Season 4! We end the season with the most recent series depicting ancient Rome, Peacock's Those About to Die. Oddly enough, there's not a single Julio-Claudian in sight. That's right, new imperial family=new opportunities to plot and scheme your way to the top! And if anyone can pull it off, it's Ramsey Bol...excuse us, its Tenax and company. It's time to "Rise or Die!" (sigh). Anyone else getting a strong...

Rome wasn't founded in a season of television, but you can watch it on Tubi. Joined by super-special guests and experts of archaic Rome, Dr. Peta Greenfield and Dr. Fiona Radford (aka The Partial Historians), we dig into the first season of Romulus (2020), an Italian historical drama retelling the founding of Rome. Familicide, divine epiphanies, pre-agricultural wolf cults, eyeball-poking-masks, this show has everything. It's also the only piece of television (to our knowledge) spoken...

What if you made a coming of age film, but it was about a Macedonian Prince who conquered Asia? Joined by super special guest and Alexander expert (*Alexpert) Jenn Finn, we psychoanalyze history's most famous military wunderkind as presented in Oliver Stone's 2004 historical epic Alexander. As we learn from the film, the secret to making a great conqueror is equal parts traumatic childhood and cave-based myth lessons.

He's just a Big Guy who does Big Guy things! Joined by special return guest, Amy Pistone, we unpack this true gem of a Greek myth adaptation that's really just a delightful D&D excursion. Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the titular hero, Hercules, it's no surprise that we all come away loving this quirky film produced at a time when every one else is trying to be gritty with their mytho-historical retellings. All it really needs is one more living-breathing female character and a...

Returning to our debut topic, we dig into the 2004 attempt to keep the Gladiator train going, Wolfgang Petersen's Troy. Joined by super-special guest Joel Christensen (of Sententiae Antiquae fame), we revisit this oddly situated film. Spurned by many, beloved by some, and forgotten by most, this film sits at an interesting crossroads in Hollywood and classical reception. Is it a secret masterpiece? Probably not. Is it an interesting mirror of what had and was yet to come? Definitely.

Podcasters, what is your profession? If it's bragging about how you don't have a job, then you might be a Spartan! We return once again to the film that launched a thousand memes: Zack Snyder's 2006 adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel 300. Joined by super-special guest and military history extraordinaire, Roel Konijnendijk, we approach this film as the revealing study of masculinity it really is. Why did this movie stick in our collective cultural craw like it did? What does it's...

Straight from the Oracle's mouth! Once again, we have the great pleasure of chatting with the Parlapanides Bros about the second season of Netflix's Blood of Zeus. We discuss everything from the season's delayed production, themes of justice and forgiveness, and all our favorite mythological, archaeological, and Classics media Easter eggs! The Fates also offer a glimpse of a future spin-off...but we must all make a sacrifice the the God of Streaming (Hermes? Apollo?) in the form of watch-time...

Long awaited and much anticipated, we return for the second season of Netflix's anime fantasy series Blood of Zeus. We dig into this show's many references and Easter-eggs, both ancient and modern, along with its larger themes on godhood, humanity, vengeance and forgiveness. And the Hades+Persephone of it all. How could we leave that out?

Pack your bags because we are headed to St. Louis for the Classical Association of the Midwest and South’s annual conference! That’s right, your hosts are not just nerds who really enjoy Classically-inspired media; they’re also serious scholars! Our host Christie talks to various participants (some of which are old friends of the podcast) to learn what they love about CAMWS. It’s not all serious academic talk though, because at the end of the day, we’re ALL big nerds that love to discuss film...

We all knew Spartacus and his followers would meet a tragic end, but damn if they didn't make it look sexy as hell! Joining us for one final Girls' Night at MWD are the hosts of Ancient History Fangirl podcast, Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy. Listen as we laugh and discuss the terrible outfit choices, surfer-boy Julius Caesar's dubious alias , and the apparent apotheosis of Gannicus . While we had our doubts at the beginning of this series, War of the Damned brings the story to a...

What happens when a bunch of gladiators break out of a ludus? They loot villas, burn down an arena, and party with some Germans, that's what! And all in the name of lov... I mean "VENGEANCE!" The ladies of MWD are joined by special return guest, Christina Hotalen, to discuss the second season of Starz's Spartacus. This season might be the most fun of them all! Now if certain characters would just stay dead... If you want to check out Christina's work, both academic and otherwise, use this...

Present ears for listening and broach subject! Joined by our special guest doctore, author and host of Let's Talk About Myths, Baby!, Liv Albert, we strip down to our subligacula to break down the prequel series of the Spartacus franchise: Gods of the Arena. Hear us discuss this show's hyper-stylized cocktail of blood, sweat and sex. Opinions vary but we're all in agreement that this show does not do anything half-measure.

The ladies decided to have a good ol' Girls' Night! And what better series to discuss than the first season of Starz's Spartacus? With its Zack Snyder aesthetic, impressive gladiatorial fights, and sad attempt to include romance, where could we go wrong? Joining in is our resident Roman spectacle specialist, Alexandra Sills, to help us distill the true essence of Blood and Sand...which is apparently "T**s and swords!" Joking aside, there is much to admire about this show. And no, we don't...

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