The Nature Of Disaster

Figurative Language in the Classical World: Similes in The Iliad

In this week’s episode of Figurative Language in the Classical World, Claire and Lucia talk about some of their favorite similes in the Iliad and how they add meaning to the text. Claire focuses on similes pertaining to Achilles, while Lucia analyzes various nature similes.

Greek and Roman Creation Stories

A discussion of the similarities and differences of three different creation stories. The Ancient Greek Theogony compared to the Christian Creation Story and the scientific ideas of the Roman philosopher Lucretius in order to understand each culture's possible relationship to the environment.

Lucretius' Rhetoric in the Modern World

In this episode, Paul and Colin explore how Lucretius draws readers into his work. They then discuss how these literary techniques can be applied to our daily lives.

The Nature Of Disaster

Inspired by Lucretius' account of the plague at the end of The Nature of Things, as well as Hughes' descriptions of disasters faced by ancient Greeks and Romans, we set out to investigate the difference between naturally-occurring and human-created environmental disasters. In order to do so, we looked at four different contemporary examples of disasters our modern world has experienced, including wildfires in Alaska, Hurricane Sandy, Deforestation of the Amazon, and The Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Classical Man and the Divine: The Changing Relationship Between Humanity and the Gods

In this podcast we discuss how the ancient Greeks and Romans' perception of the divine changed over time. We discuss Homer's Iliad, the Pre-Socratics, and Lucretius' The Nature of Things.