Category: Podcast

Features Podcast

Ibn Sina and Biruni with S. Frederick Starr – The Medieval Podcast, Episode 266

Experimenting, translating, and philosophizing about physics and metaphysics, biology and geology, two great thinkers from Central Asia stand out both for their achievements, and their completely opposite points of view. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with S. Frederick Starr about the work and the lives of Ibn Sina (aka Avicenna) and Biruni, their contributions to science and culture, and the reason they outright despised each other.

Features Podcast

The Otherworld with Lisa Bitel – The Medieval Podcast, Episode 265

A place of supernatural encounters both incredibly good and spectacularly bad, the Otherworld featured in stories and songs throughout the Middle Ages, especially on the storied isle of Ireland. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Lisa Bitel about what the Otherworld was like, why Otherworldly beings were interested in humankind, and where we find these enchanting stories.

Features Podcast

Latin Words in Ancient and Byzantine Greek, with Eleanor Dickey

Byzantium & Friends, Episode 122: A conversation with Eleanor Dickey on Latin words in ancient and Byzantine Greek. Eleanor has tracked them down and compiled them in a specialized dictionary, where she also offers new arguments about when, how, and why they were borrowed by Greek-speakers. It reaches down to 600 AD, but many of them survived later too, even into modern spoken Greek.

Features Podcast

Bad Chaucer with Tison Pugh – The Medieval Podcast, Episode 264

When it comes to classics of literature, it can feel like there’s a lot of pressure to nod along with the crowd and say that some authors are just brilliant, full stop. But sometimes even great literature isn’t so great. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Tison Pugh about the good, the bad, and the downright ugly in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.