Ready your quardriga and place your bets as we race to the finish of Movies We Dig Season 4! We end the season with the most recent series depicting ancient Rome, Peacock's Those About to Die. Oddly enough, there's not a single Julio-Claudian in sight. That's right, new imperial family=new opportunities to plot and scheme your way to the top! And if anyone can pull it off, it's Ramsey Bol...excuse us, its Tenax and company. It's time to "Rise or Die!" (sigh). Anyone else getting a strong sense of déjà vu here?

And whenever we see a gladiator, you know we have the call in our good friend and Roman spectacle specialist, Alexandra Sills! Does a show about Roman entertainment manage to entertain a modern audience? Let's find out!

Want to learn more about gladiators in modern media? Then be sure to check out Alexandra’s webpage, writing, social media, and much more at https://linktr.ee/alexandrasills.

Rome wasn't founded in a season of television, but you can watch it on Tubi. Joined by super-special guests and experts of archaic Rome, Dr. Peta Greenfield and Dr. Fiona Radford (aka The Partial Historians), we dig into the first season of Romulus (2020), an Italian historical drama retelling the founding of Rome. Familicide, divine epiphanies, pre-agricultural wolf cults, eyeball-poking-masks, this show has everything. It's also the only piece of television (to our knowledge) spoken entirely in Archaic Latin. We also did the whole episode in Archaic Latin too.

You can find out more about the Partial Historians on their website and listen to their show on most streaming services. Pre-order their new book, Your Cheeky Guide to the Roman Empire, now!

What happens when a bunch of gladiators break out of a ludus? They loot villas, burn down an arena, and party with some Germans, that's what! And all in the name of lov... I mean "VENGEANCE!" The ladies of MWD are joined by special return guest, Christina Hotalen, to discuss the second season of Starz's Spartacus. This season might be the most fun of them all! Now if certain characters would just stay dead...

If you want to check out Christina's work, both academic and otherwise, use this link: https://linktr.ee/infestissima

Present ears for listening and broach subject! Joined by our special guest doctore, author and host of Let's Talk About Myths, Baby!, Liv Albert, we strip down to our subligacula to break down the prequel series of the Spartacus franchise: Gods of the Arena. Hear us discuss this show's hyper-stylized cocktail of blood, sweat and sex. Opinions vary but we're all in agreement that this show does not do anything half-measure.

The ladies decided to have a good ol' Girls' Night! And what better series to discuss than the first season of Starz's Spartacus? With its Zack Snyder aesthetic, impressive gladiatorial fights, and sad attempt to include romance, where could we go wrong? Joining in is our resident Roman spectacle specialist, Alexandra Sills, to help us distill the true essence of Blood and Sand...which is apparently "Tits and swords!" Joking aside, there is much to admire about this show. And no, we don't mean all the gladiators' abs. Well, not just their abs.

You can find Alexandra’s webpage, writing, social media and much much more at https://linktr.ee/alexandrasills

Find out what we're all about! Please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe if you like what you hear and follow us on social media. Thanks for listening!

Girls can be warlords too! To celebrate Women's History Month we're looking back at the 90's cult classic series Xena: Warrior Princess. Joined by super special warrior-guest Amy Pistone, we carve up this show's sparagmatic approach to antiquity, storytelling, fan-fiction, feminism, queer representation and all things 90's. ***INSERT XENA WAR CRY***

After completion of the Disney+ Percy Jackson series, the MWD crew thought it would be a good(?) idea to revisit the original film with new perspectives and participants. Has time improved our overall view of the film? Maybe the better question to ask is which of the hosts end up hating this film the most. Grab your magical pens with the same level of skepticism as Lerman's aged-up Percy as we delve into this quintessentially 2010s young adult film. And be sure to avert your eyes when Medusa shows up! Or when Grover decides to go pantsless.

And a special thanks to Hannah Bazinaw for her participation and assistance in covering the Percy Jackson series! You made for an excellent psychopomp:)

We wrap up our in-depth analysis on Disney+'s newest adaptation of Rick Riordan's series, Percy Jackson and The Olympians! Joined by special guest and PJ-expert, Hannah Bazinaw, we review our final thoughts on this series now that it's wrapped. What about this show did we love? What did we hate? what did we love to hate? Get it here, as we talk family trauma, hero's journeys and when actually was the golden age of television (hint: it's True Blood).

Season 1 of Percy Jackson and The Olympians comes to an end. All deals are completed; the traitor is revealed; and our trio is headed off on their next ventures (while giving Disney a shameless plug). Special guest Laura Porto joins Christie to discuss the good and bad of the season finale. While the episode mostly ends on a high note of Percy reuniting with his mom, we still can't quite shake the "ick" feeling the final scene gave us. Here's hoping season 2 leads to some monster slaying we'll be happy to see!

What is a hero without a good katabasis to their name? Special guest Emma Coffey joins us the discuss the trio's descent to the Underworld, arguably one of the best arcs in the series thus far. Percy and the gang must contend with Charon, Cerberus, the Asphodel Fields, and a (dare I say) reasonable Hades. No complaints on that front, but what happened to the Medusa subplot? Why does Poseidon have a sexy Aussie accent? Why in the Underworld did Sally put a match in an ice cream sundae? We attempt to address all these questions and more in the our latest minidsode.

We're back with another of our special installment series: Extremely Strained and Incredibly Forced. this Week, Alexandra Sills returns to talk about the connection between civic trauma and gladiators as we get into classical allusions and parallels in the new film, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. We talk Rome, Carthage, Troy, the Underworld, snakes and much more. Volunteer as tribute now!

You can find Alexandra's webpage, writing, social media and much much more at https://linktr.ee/alexandrasills

What if you made a coming of age film, but it was about a Macedonian Prince who conquered Asia? Joined by super special guest and Alexander expert (*Alexpert) Jenn Finn, we psychoanalyze history's most famous military wunderkind as presented in Oliver Stone's 2004 historical epic Alexander. As we learn from the film, the secret to making a great conqueror is equal parts traumatic childhood and cave-based myth lessons.

As the master of all time and space, host Colin joins us to analyze the sixth episode of Disney's Percy Jackson! While there is not much to say about the Lotus Eaters themselves, we do discuss the unnaturalness of casinos and the meta-ness of the entire Riordanverse. Then there are questions regarding Lin-Manuel Miranda's fashion choices as Hermes. But hey, Grover finally saved some animals!

It's time to get wet! Joined by special return guest, Chiara Sulprizio, professor at Vanderbilt University and creator of Animated Antiquity, we dive into Netflix's anime adaptation of Mari Yamazaki's time-traveling bath manga. We talk history, baths and the absolute unmitigated charm of this show. Grab your towel and your sponge stick because it's bath time!

We are over half-way through the first season of Percy Jackson and we get to meet two godly brothers that have a lot more in common than you might initially realize. Our demi-gods and their "Big Cousins" Ares and Hephaestus are all just looking for some love from their parents, but at what cost? Hannah officially takes on the role of co-host for the minisodes and we are joined with a new special guest, Merri Willis! We discuss just how dysfunctional the Olympians are and whether or not we like Grover's first real step into the spotlight (though we're still waiting for the arrival of Gladiola).

After the previous week's tough take on Medusa, we are excited to meet Echidna: Mother of Monsters in this episode. And apparently nothing strikes more fear into the hearts of young demi-gods (and us mere mortals) than a suburban mom with a chihuahua...er...I mean, Chimera. Christie and Hannah break down the episode and provide some new questions for us all to ponder: Does Annabeth have a belly button (that being said, does Athena)? Why do all the bad people and monsters have to be female? What happened to Riordan to make the poor man so jaded?

We brush up on the latest season of the historical TV drama, Domina. Join us as our conversation wanders all over the politics and intrigue surrounding Rome's most (in)famous first lady. We talk about the push-and-pull of navigating history in story-telling, baboon attacks, ghosts (literal and figurative), and how everything in Roman history can be traced back to daddy issues. Plus, Christie plays with a new sound board!

It's the episode we've all been anticipating...and dreading. Can a third attempt at Medusa's story in the Percy Jackson world prove successful in a post- #MeToo world? Christie and special guest/host, Hannah Bazinaw, breakdown episode 3 of the new Disney+ series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

*Update: Reposted with improved volume levels. We have a new crew working on editing. We are quickly learning so that we can provide you with the quality of editing that you are used to. Thank you for your patience.

We continue our survey of ancient Rome on the small screen with our review of the first season of the British-Italian historical drama television series, Domina. Joined by special guest, Christina Hotalen, we dig into this re-re-envisioning of Rome's most infamous first lady, Livia Drusilla. We talk feminist retellings, history vs. narrative and the best ways to dispose of a body ca. 23 BCE.

You can find images from Christina's dissertation project, "Embodying the Empire: Imperial Women and the Evolution of Succession Ideologies in the Third Century," here.

To keep up with increasing demand and this timely release, we're trying a new format: minisodes! This week, Christie and new special guest/host, Hannah Bazinaw, breakdown the first two episodes of the new Disney+ series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

We finish out our discussion of this classic BBC adaptation of Robert Graves' novel. This half, we dig into the reigns of Caligula, Claudius and Nero, their adaptation on the series and our understandings of their reigns. Can you be a good emperor in a corrupt system? Are Roman woman in film caught in an inescapable Catch-22? What's the historical truth behind 'Herman the German'? Listen to find out the answers to these questions and more!

We finally take on the elephant-in-the-room of Rome on television: I, Claudius (1976). Joined by super-special guest Liz Gloyn, we dig into the first half of the BBC adaptation of Robert Graves' novels in all its glory. With a winning combination of history, humor, intrigue, top-tier actors and bargain-bin old-age make-up, there's no shortage of material to dig through. But don't touch the figs!

You can follow more from Liz in her new book Tracking Classical Monsters, on her blog Classically Inclined, as well as on bluesky and Twitter @lizgloyn.

He's just a Big Guy who does Big Guy things! Joined by special return guest, Amy Pistone, we unpack this true gem of a Greek myth adaptation that's really just a delightful D&D excursion. Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the titular hero, Hercules, it's no surprise that we all come away loving this quirky film produced at a time when every one else is trying to be gritty with their mytho-historical retellings. All it really needs is one more living-breathing female character and a good heist to make it the greatest film of all time! And maybe drop the random date. Just sayin'.

You can learn more about Amy and her research at https://www.amypistone.com/ or find her on Twitter under the handle @apistone.

And if you like what you hear, please be sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For the latest updates on the show, check out our social media pages available here.

We're back to finish out our discussion on HBO's historical drama, wrapping up with our thoughts on the much-containing Season 2 of Rome (2005). We talk about the highs and lows, our favorites and not-so-favorites, and the arc of Rome and Romans in US/UK television history. Who's the bigger hero of Rome: Jesus or Spartacus?

We venture out into new seas -- or new remote cabins-in-the-woods -- with a new Halloween special listen-along commentary. Hear our real-time gasps, jeers and cheers as we group watch Travis Stevens' indie horror / Greek tragedy A Wounded Fawn (2022). We discuss theater, art, shoes and much more. Let us know if this format works!

We're back to discuss the rise and fall of prestige television and Julius Caesar, now in one neat stab-able package. This episode we break down the back half of HBO's historical drama Rome with super special guest Alexandra Sills. We talk tyrants, politics, plebeians and all the dirty gossip from the ancient world. Justice for Cicero?

You can find Alexandra's webpage, writing, social media and much much more at https://linktr.ee/alexandrasills

Gird your togas, it's time for part one of our much-anticipated look back at HBO's 2005 prestige drama series, Rome. A big favorite of ours, we dig into what this show gets about antiquity, from the graffiti-ridden alleys of the Suburra to the partisan gridlock of the Curia. We especially love its marriage of the plebeian with the patrician, how it combines the fancy parties and politicking of the Julii clan with the quotidian troubles of regular people, and how both elements come together to far-reaching effects. Politics, class, religion, medicine, insane penises, disgraced 80's presidential candidates; it's all there.

We're coming back! We debut our plans for upcoming episodes featuring Rome in Television (HBO's Rome, I Claudius, Domina, Thermae Romae Novae) and a special contest. In anticipation for reviewing the eternal city on the small screen, we discuss our picks for best and worst of Rome in the Theaters. Follow us on Instagram and Threads for more. #WineOnTheLine.

Vote for your favorite Rome movie here

Follow us on Instagram, Threads and BlueSky. Donate at Ko-Fi

How does an empire fall, from within or without, and would it make a good movie? Those are just some of the many questions we dig into with special guests and hosts of the Partial Historians podcast, Dr. Fiona Radford and Dr. Peta Greenfield (@p_historians), as we take on Anthony Mann's historical epic drama Fall of the Roman Empire. We dive into the history and reception of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, this movie's place in the pantheon of Hollywood sword-and-sandal epics and the tension between historicity and ideology in films such as these. We also make our Gladiator 2 predictions. They should call it GLADIATOR$!

It's British edu-tainment at its finest? Opinions, like empires, are divided over this movie, a raunchy comedy adapted from of a popular TV/Youtube series adapted from a popular book series. Joined by a new wonderful guest, Emma Coffey, we get into Boudica's revolt, representation of historical women in film and Britain's representation of its own colonial history as mediated through its ancient past. And poop jokes. All in all pretty standard fair. Is this a clever and effective way to teach history or Youtube sketch that overstayed its welcome?

Upload your stacks and get ready to get spun back up because we're taking on the labors of Netflix's cyberpunk action noir Altered Carbon. Super special guest Methuselah and Metal Classicist Jeremy Swist pitches to the Reception Police™ his idea on future super-soldier Takeshi Kovacs being a reception of the mighty Heracles. We get into this show's genre roots, the motivations of (anti-)heroes, the archaeology of spinning the dead back up and - in true Platonic fashion - the nature of the soul. It's Plotinus meets Philip K Dick. Verdict: you cannot disembody the embodied body.

you can find Jeremy on Twitter @MetalClassicist and his website https://heavymetalclassicist.home.blog/

This might be perhaps the wildest piece of classical reception we've covered to date, at least if we're going by number of dismembered body parts. Joined by super special guest Pramit Chaudhuri, we dig into Julie Taymor's 1999 Titus, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. This is a real gold mine of reception: Shakespeare adapting ancient Rome, us adapting Shakespeare, us adapting Shakespeare adapting ancient Rome via a smoothie of Ovid, Seneca and Livy. As the references pile up, we consider whether this play a unmitigated disaster or secret masterpiece. Other important questions: What if Pee-wee Herman was a fascist? Why does Steve Bannon love this play so much? What's the best way to cook your enemy's children into a pie? There's a full menu to pick from. Pun intended.

CW: This episode contains discussion of sexual violence

That's right all you hard boppers, we're back with a new episode on the 1979 cult classic, The Warriors. Joined by special guests Joel Christensen, Tim Gerolami and 60,000 soldiers, the streets are ours. We get into Xenophon's 5th c. travel blog that (maybe) inspired this tale, gang life in the movies, Tim's dad and the ultimate question one can pose on this show: CAN YOU DIG IT?

Returning to our debut topic, we dig into the 2004 attempt to keep the Gladiator train going, Wolfgang Petersen's Troy. Joined by super-special guest Joel Christensen (of Sententiae Antiquae fame), we revisit this oddly situated film. Spurned by many, beloved by some, and forgotten by most, this film sits at an interesting crossroads in Hollywood and classical reception. Is it a secret masterpiece? Probably not. Is it an interesting mirror of what had and was yet to come? Definitely.

We're back with a special, in-person episode recorded at the annual SCS/AIA meeting in New Orleans, LA. Christie pitches us on looking at the second season of HBO's The White Lotus through the lens of Hesiod and the idea of kalon kakon, the beautiful and the bad. We talk sex, relationships, betrayal, murder, tragedy, didactic poetry and the dangers women pose to your grain storage.

We're back to close out the year with a long awaited (and maybe the original) episode of Extremely Strained and Incredibly Forced. Joining us is very special guest, Adam Rabinowitz, who explains why the best adaptation of Homer's Iliad ever produced in the U.S. of A. was not a tediously long epic poem about the War of 1812 - for that, see the Fredoniad - but the HBO crime drama, The Wire. We break down this television classic, its roots in Greek literature and how Omar Little has become a modern Achilles.

You can follow Adam's work with UT Austin's Battle Cast collection, the excavation at Histria, and Planet Texas 2050: Stories of Ancient Resilience.

The Reception Police are back with another take on the how Vergil's Aeneid is secretly lurking behind all your favorite shows and movies. This week, Maxwell T Paule pitches his theory that AMC's The Walking Dead (2010-2022) is an American re-imagining of Aeneas' search for a new home set against the zombie apocalypse. We talk kings and police, doomed walled cities, father-son relationships and the one true sign you've found a place to settle down: farming.

We dig back into the MCU with return guest and (pseudo-)archaeology expert, David S Anderson to excavate The Eternals (2021). Once more we revisit the thorny issue of what exactly is and isn't a god in this universe and how to reconcile these immortal robo-stewards against the broader universe. We also dig into the problematic nature of its source material, the way ideas about myth and history slip in and out of cultural discourse and underlying assumptions about what humans are and are not good for. Is is love, creativity, hope, pyramid-building? Namor also pops up for reasons

We fly over to New Asgard and Omnipotence City to talk gods and god butchers with special guest Jason Nethercut. We dig into Thor in the MCU, the relation between myth and Marvel comics, and one big question that's thundering our bolts: what is a god? Are we gods? Is the hammer a god? Are we the hammer? Probably no, on all counts...

Dig into the firstest episode of our new special segment, Extremely Strained and Incredibly Force, where we seek out and/or create connections between ancient and modern popular media. Debuting this new project is super special three-peat guest, Ayelet Haimson Lushkov, and her question: "Is Moana the Aeneid?" Sailing into unknown horizons, we chart a new course looking at these two works - one a 1st c. BCE Latin poem, the other a 2016 animated Disney film base don Polynesian myth - and their sea-sailing, destiny-guided heroes. Join us as we consider the nature of reception and its limits (is Hamilton the Aeneid?), tales of displacement and homecoming, the figure of the hero and, of course, the coconut (the roots and the leaves!)

"

A Note to Our Listeners: In the time since we recorded and edited this episode, new and troubling information has come to light as multiple women have accused its creator, Neil Gaiman of sexual coercion and assault. We at Movies We Dig believe these allegations and fully support the women who had the courage to come forward. While it is unlikely we will cover any future work associated with Gaiman, for the time being, we have decided to leave our episode on The Sandman available. We do this primarily to recognize the contributions of our guest, Kira Jones, as well the work done by the many other writers, actors, directors and other artists who contributed to series. Understand that this episode is reflective of our thoughts at the time. Reconciling how to receive art - especially such widely influential and beloved art - in the light of terrible truths about its creator is a difficult process, one we encourage all our listeners to consider seriously. Most importantly, our new priority going forward must be the stories of these women and how they want them told.

If you’d like support after learning that someone in your life has experienced sexual violence or if you are a survivor yourself and want to talk, feel free to call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) or chat online at online.rainn.org (y en español rainn.org/es) 

Joined by a very special guest and the Rock's personal Latin teacher, Dr. Kira Jones (@FlavianSophist), we enter the dreaming of Netflix's The Sandman, based on the 1989-1996 comic of the same name. We dig the show's mythological foundations, the nature of dreams and our favorite bits of Latin in modern pop culture. Come for the hot takes, leave never because you're trapped in an eternal waking nightmare!

This is a little at of order as we actually recorded prior to the last two episodes, but hey that's showbiz! We reflect back on the adventure archaeology genre with Sandra Bullock's send-up of tomb-raiding, artifact-looting treasure hunters. We also talk a lot of about romance novels and how we'd like to see more from/on/about them. You can tell by the sheer amount of laughing in there we were quite fond of this one (and a lot more was edited out).

We continue our excavation of the Indiana Jones franchise with its fourth (but not final) installment. Joining us is Mesoamerican archaeologist and expert in (combating) pseudo-archaeology, David S. Anderson. We dig into adapting Indiana Jones to the modern age, the troubling history of pseudo-science plaguing archaeology and where we think this franchise could and should go. The fifth film is currently in the works...

After much ado, we finally tackle the big question: why did it have to be snakes? Joined by Egyptologists and hosts of the Afterlives with Kara Cooney podcast, Kara Cooney and Jordan Galczynski, we uncover Steven Spielberg's 1981 archaeology-adventure classic, Raiders of the Lost Ark. We talk real vs. fantasy archaeology and the myths and ideals embraced/propagated by Indiana Jones. We also discuss our own personal Belloqs (re: nemesis), where artifacts do(n't) belong, the relation between government and archaeology and what creatures we wouldn't want to find while digging. No artifacts were harmed in the making of this podcast.

You can hear and read more from Kara and Jordan at their websites: https://karacooney.squarespace.com/ and https://jagalczynski.squarespace.com/

Podcasters, what is your profession? If it's bragging about how you don't have a job, then you might be a Spartan! We return once again to the film that launched a thousand memes: Zack Snyder's 2006 adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel 300. Joined by super-special guest and military history extraordinaire, Roel Konijnendijk, we approach this film as the revealing study of masculinity it really is. Why did this movie stick in our collective cultural craw like it did? What does it's enduring appeal say about our own cultural ideals and aspirations? Why is something so beloved by self-described alpha-males so homoerotic? Listen now to find out.

Follow Roel on Twitter and read his posts as Iphikrates on r/askhistorians

This episode, it's all about the three C's of classical education: Caesar, Cicero and Cheating at trivia contests. We dig into The Emperor's Club (2002), the oft-forgotten antithesis to Dead Poets Society about how Kevin Kline instills soon-to-be-famous teen actors with moral rigor among by talking about Rome. We discuss the value and shortcomings of teaching classical civilizations, our own pedagogical knacks and how much we'd charge to help an eccentric millionaire cheat at his own trivia contest. Answer: one bottle of nice-ish wine. Justice for Šutruk-Nakhunte!

Or as we like to call it "It Should Have Been Set on Crete." Join us with special guest from Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! Liv Albert as we dive into the semi-historical, semi-mythological world (maybe alternate dimension?) of BBC's Atlantis (2013). This show is a real who's who of mythological characters and British character actors (Vincent Reagan once again graces our screens). We get Oedipus, Minos, Ariadne, Pasiphae, Circe and many others. At the center of our adventure are our heroes: a debauched Hercules, a love-interest Medusa, an oddly historical Pythagoras, all led by an uncharacteristically competent and often shirtless Jason. Overall, this is a light-hearted and often enjoyable but deeply shallow take on ancient mythology which, ironically, felt a little out of time on network TV circa 2013.

You can find Liv at her website https://www.mythsbaby.com/, where you can find her podcast and books, including the latest cocktail book, Nectar of the Gods, and on twitter at @mythsbaby

Back again with yet another video game! Joined by expert archaeologist and gamer, Deb Trusty, we dig into Assassin's Creed's take on 5th century BCE Greece. We talk the sites, sounds and characters of Greece circa the Peloponnesian War; what we like, what we quibble over and the pleasure of being able to experience the ancient world first hand through the medium of games. At the end of the day, all we love all archaeological sites, except Gla.

You can find more of Deb Trusty talking video games on at doctordebitage on twitch and youtube

We tackle yet another late-aughts violent historical epic featuring a Roman centurion, painted barbarians and *sigh* the 9th Legion. This Gladiator-aspirant feels like a generic assemblage of every cliche from the last 60 years of sword and sandal films (along with more recent fantasy and war films); almost every discrete parts feels lifted from at least half-a-dozen other movies. For us, the most frustrating part is the movie touches on interesting ideas and themes concerning life in Roman Britain, only to fly right past them in favor of fireballs and pee-pee jokes. One thing we all agree on: this movie would be better with werewolves.