January 2025 Update

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This episode is sponsored by Better Help.

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H-E-L-P dot com slash Byzantium.

Hello, everyone.

Happy New Year.

Another quick update on things at this end.

I am busy working on the narrative.

I've just reached the Black Death.

I can't believe it's been 12 years since I last encountered Yosinia Pestis,

and he's even nastier this time around.

Anyway, I have two interviews coming out shortly for you to enjoy.

One with David Hendrix of the Byzantine Legacy website.

Check him out on social media.

And a return visit from Father John Strickland to answer more questions about orthodoxy.

Both those episodes are being sponsored by Telepidea, a collection of live online courses in Latin, Ancient Greek, and the classical humanities offered by the Paideia Institute.

So, if you've ever had a thought in your mind about maybe I would like to read a bit of Latin or ancient Greek, they have beginner classes for you.

They have conversation groups, and there are other courses in Italian, literary Arabic, biblical Hebrew, and Egyptian.

And one of the new courses they're offering this term will follow the Greek anthology, a collection of short poems from classical Greece through the Byzantine period, which has informed some of the Byzantine stories I've done.

You can also follow Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica.

So it's a really exciting opportunity.

Telepaidea courses are 10 weeks long.

They meet in small groups of no more than five students.

And the spring term will begin on February the 23rd.

So register now at paidiainstitute.org or use the link in the episode description or at the website and I'll be talking more about that over the course of the next two episodes.

If you're looking for something to listen to in the meantime, then you can hear me being interviewed about my life and the podcast on the Ancient Office Hours podcast, hosted by the charming Lexi Henning.

It's a show that interviews academics and podcasters about their work in history.

And I really enjoyed talking to her.

I was quite open about the way the podcast has developed and what I've enjoyed and not enjoyed about the process.

And she then made me read the poem Ozzy Mandias by Shelley at the end,

which

was particularly interesting to me because that's what my dad used to do.

One of the things he did in his acting career was reading poems aloud and bringing them to life dramatically.

So he would either be very proud or very ashamed of my efforts.

Do check it out.

And do check out some of her other other interviews.

Lots of fascinating academics.

Oh, look at that.

Episode 101, Anthony Caldellis.

So search ancient office hours wherever you get your podcasts or go to the Aussie Mandiasproject.com.

Finally, for today, do get your tickets for the podcast conference Intelligent Speech.

That's coming up on the 8th of February.

And I will be there live online as part of two roundtables.

One discussing byzantine deception and the other a game of historical call my bluff

so a game of lies where you'll have to figure out if i'm telling the truth about a piece of history audience interaction and audience questions are very welcome so do come and join in Your ticket will get you access to the whole day with lectures and roundtables from a host of fellow history podcasters.

Go to intelligencepeechonline.com to find out more.

And of course, I'll remind you nearer the time.

That's it for today.

More podcasts coming your way soon, and thanks for listening.