Emily Wilson, celebrated classicist and translator of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, is back to take on another twelve vital works of Greek and Roman literature with the LRB’s Thomas Jones, loosely themed around truth and lies – from from Aesop’s Fables to Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations.
Episodes will appear once a month throughout 2024.
Among the Ancients is part of the Close Readings podcasts collection from the London Review of Books.
To listen to all the series in full, subscribe:
Directly in Apple Podcasts at the top of this podcast
For Spotify and other podcast apps here: https://lrb.supportingcast.fm/close-readings
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Emily Wilson, celebrated classicist and translator of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, is back to take on another twelve vital works of Greek and Roman literature with the LRB’s Thomas Jones, loosely themed around truth and lies – from from Aesop’s Fables to Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations.
Episodes will appear once a month throughout 2024.
Among the Ancients is part of the Close Readings podcasts collection from the London Review of Books.
To listen to all the series in full, subscribe:
Directly in Apple Podcasts at the top of this podcast
For Spotify and other podcast apps here: https://lrb.supportingcast.fm/close-readings
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apuleius’ ‘Metamorphoses’, better known as ‘The Golden Ass’, is the only ancient Roman novel to have survived in its entirety. Following the story of Lucius, forced to suffer as a donkey until the goddess Isis intervenes, the novel includes frenetic wordplay, filthy humour and the earliest known version of the Psyche and Cupid myth. In this episode, Tom and Emily discuss Apuleius’ anarchic mix of the high and low brow, and his incisive depiction of the lives of impoverished and enslaved people.
Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full and to our other Close Readings series, sign up:
Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq
In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings
Further reading in the LRB:
Peter Parsons: Ancient Greek Romances
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v03/n15/peter-parsons/ancient-greek-romances
Leofranc Holford-Strevens: God’s Will
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v25/n10/leofranc-holford-strevens/god-s-will
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.