A conversation with Jeremy Swist on why some heavy metal bands write music about Roman and Byzantine history. Expect “good” and “bad” emperors to be reversed here!
Jeremy Swist is a Lecturer in Classical and Early Mediterranean Studie at Brandeis University. Click here to view his Academia.edu page or follow him on Twitter @MetalClassicist
A conversation with Jeremy Swist on why some heavy metal bands write music about Roman and Byzantine history. Expect “good” and “bad” emperors to be reversed here!
Jeremy Swist is a Lecturer in Classical and Early Mediterranean Studie at Brandeis University. Click here to view his Academia.edu page or follow him on Twitter @MetalClassicist
Jeremy has published much on this, including ‘Satan’s Empire: Ancient Rome’s Anti-Christian Appeal in Extreme Metal,’ Metal Music Studies 5 (2019) 35-51; ‘Headbanging to Byzantium: The Reception of the Byzantine Empire in Metal Music,’ in “What Byzantinism is this in Istanbul!” Byzantium in Popular Culture (Istanbul 2021) 200-231; and online, ‘Enjoy My Flames‘ (Lapham’s Quarterly) and ‘Dawn of a Dark Age: Constantine the Great in Heavy Metal Music.’
Byzantium & Friends is hosted by Anthony Kaldellis, a Professor at the University of Chicago. You can follow him on his personal website.
You can listen to more episodes of Byzantium & Friends through Podbean, Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Top Image: Heavy metal fans at a concert in 2011. By Luka Knezevic /Flickr. CC BY NC SA 2.0
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