Key to All Mythologies
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Ep. 61: Dante, Purgatorio, Cantos 16 – 18.
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why does the discourse on love begin with the words of a minor character, Marco of Lombardy, rather than Virgil? Are Virgil’s discourses on love...
Ep. 60: Dante, Purgatorio, Cantos 13 – 15.
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Some questions discussed in this episode: Can love undo the damage inflicted – to the self and the the community – by envy? Is there a Golden M...
Ep. 59: Dante, Purgatorio, Cantos 10 – 12.
02 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Some questions discussed in this episode: What role does art have to play in the transformation of vice into virtue? What is the connection, if t...
Ep. 58: Dante, Purgatorio, Cantos 7 – 9.
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We are now through Cato’s gate, and into the antechamber, the incorporeal coat-room, the final stage before Purgatory proper. Dante moves among th...
Ep. 57: Dante, Purgatorio, Cantos 4 – 6
12 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We continue our climb up the mountain of Purgatory. Canto Four begins with a consideration of the meaning of prayer for the process of purgation. Go...
Ep. 56: Dante, Purgatorio, Cantos 1 – 3.
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We join Dante and Virgil as they begin their climb up the mountain of Purgatory. Why is Cato, a pagan who lived before Christ and died by suicide, the...
Ep. 55: Dante’s Divine Comedy (Hollander trans.), “Inferno,” Cantos 31 – 34.
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We arrive at the end of the Inferno, where Satan is frozen in a lake of ice. Dante’s Satan is a mechanistic creature, seemingly without agency, pers...
Ep. 54: Dante’s Divine Comedy (Hollander trans.), “Inferno,” Cantos 28 – 30.
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We are now deep in Hell. Two of the sinners we encounter in canto 29 introduce a new wrinkle to the poem’s psychology. They seem to have some degree...
Ep. 53: Dante’s Divine Comedy (Hollander trans,), “Inferno,” Cantos 25 – 27.
18 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today we discuss Dante and Virgil’s encounter with Ulysses. The Greek hero gives a cavalier and almost rousing account of himself, spit from the fla...
Ep. 52: Dante’s Divine Comedy (Hollander trans.), “Inferno,” Cantos 22 – 24.
12 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today we take up a set of thorny questions surrounding the punishment of hypocrites in the 8th circle of the Inferno. What forms of corruption pollute...
Ep. 51: Dante’s Divine Comedy (Hollander trans.), “Inferno,” Cantos 19-21.
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Simoniacs, sorcerers , barrators, and their just and fiery punishments. Are their punishments just? And should we rejoice in the punishments of those ...
Ep. 50: Dante’s Divine Comedy (Hollander trans.), “Inferno,” Cantos 16-18.
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Cantos 16, 17, and 18 revolve around interactions with violent sinners from the recent political conflicts in Florence, Dante’s home city, and the c...
Ep. 49: Dante’s Divine Comedy (Hollander trans.), “Inferno,” Cantos 13-15.
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
[Special note: The Episode covering Cantos 10, 11, and 12 was lost to history and the fires of Hell/Zoom]. Friends, a periodic warning. This podcast i...
Ep. 48: Dante’s Divine Comedy (Hollander trans.), “Inferno,” Cantos 7-9.
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In these Cantos Dante continues his journey deeper into Hell, guided by Virgil. They cross the river Styx, where the shades of the wrathful are boilin...
Ep. 47: Dante’s Divine Comedy (Hollander trans.), “Inferno,” Cantos 4 – 6.
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today we continue our journey into Hell, discussing cantos 4-6 of Dante’s Inferno. Canto 5 contains one of the most famous monologues in the Inferno...
Ep. 46: Dante’s Divine Comedy (Hollander trans.), “Inferno,” Cantos 1 – 3.
20 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We begin our epic journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven, accompanied by Dante the poet, Dante the character created by the poet Dante, with Virg...
Ep. 45: Aristotle’s On the Soul (Sachs trans.), Book III, pt. 2
04 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We finish Aristotle’s On the Soul, where, near the end of Book III, Aristotle claims, possibly, that there is, maybe, something of the soul, perhaps...
Ep. 44: Aristotle’s On the Soul (Sachs trans.), Book III, pt. 1.
27 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, is it being at work sounding, despite the absence of one who is being at work hearing? Th...
Ep. 43: Aristotle’s On the Soul (Sachs trans.), Book II, pt. 2
18 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Another over-stuffed, stimulating conversation on this very captivating, very ancient, shockingly modern text. We first discuss how Aristotle thinks a...
Ep. 42: Aristotle’s On the Soul (Sachs trans.), Book II, chapters 1 – 3.
30 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This is, no doubt, a dense and difficult text, where a lot of deep insights are packed into Aristotle’s short arguments. Our conversation is corresp...
Ep. 41: Aristotle’s On the Soul (Joe Sachs translation), Book I.
15 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Here are the opening lines of today’s reading, which we parse in great detail: “Since we consider knowledge to be something beautiful and honored,...
Ep. 40: Flannery O’Connor, The Violent Bear it Away, pg. 203 – end.
28 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The novel concludes with a shocking act of sexual violence against young Tarwater, which propels him back to his home at Powderhead, and back to the g...
Ep. 39: Flannery O’Connor, The Violent Bear it Away, pg. 148 – 202.
21 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week we are discussing the end of part two, in which the novel confronts us, yet again, with the problem of freedom. Specifically the problem of ...
Ep. 38: Flannery O’Connor, The Violent Bear it Away, pg. 97 – 147.
24 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes, perhaps, it feels to us as if there is meaning in human life, as if our suffering can be redeemed, as if God and the Devil are locked in an...
Ep. 37: Flannery O’Connor, The Violent Bear It Away, pg. 53 – 93.
05 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What is the place of true silence in human life? Not merely quiet, or even deafness, but the silence which strands you alone with the inner voice, tha...
Ep. 36: Flannery O’Connor, The Violent Bear It Away, pg. 1 – 52.
22 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Francis Tarwater is a teenage boy who has been raised in near-isolation by his great uncle Mason Tarwater somewhere in deepest backwaters of the Ameri...
Ep. 35: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book XV (trans. Rolfe Humphries).
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After 14 books and more than 15,000 lines of poetry, we have reached the final book of Ovid’s epic, the Metamorphoses. And in the final book we enco...
Ep. 34: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book XIV (trans. Rolfe Humphries).
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This book completes the story of Aeneas, as he ventures into the underworld, guided by Sybil. Returning to the human world, Sybil tells Aeneas that sh...
Ep. 33: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book XIII (trans. Rolfe Humphries).
22 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Book 13 features monologues from heroes like Ulysses and Ajax, from queens and nymphs like Galatea, and monsters, like Polyphemus. All in all, this bo...
Ep. 32: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book XI (trans. Rolfe Humphries).
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode we are reading Book 11 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Book 11 opens with the grisly dismemberment of Orpheus, whose severed head floats do...
Ep. 31: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book X (trans. Rolfe Humphries).
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Book Ten begins with the familiar story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Orpheus, famous bard, uses his songs to re-claim his new bride Eurydice from the Unde...
Ep. 30: The Fall of Rome by W.H. Auden
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this bonus episode of the Key, we have a very off-the-cuff, very free-ranging discussion of Auden’s short poem “The Fall of Rome,” which you ...
Ep. 29: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book IX (trans. Rolfe Humphries)
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hercules takes center stage in book nine, but we spend most of our time discussing the story of Byblis, who pines for her brother Caunas. Byblis has a...
Ep. 28: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book VIII (trans. Rolfe Humphries)
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We begin and end with a consideration of the myth of Erysichthon. Herein Erysichthon, a man with no reverence for the gods, mutilates the sacred grove...
Ep. 27: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book VII (trans. Rolfe Humphries)
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we mainly discuss two complicated love stories: Jason & Medea, and Cephalus & Procris. Both these stories begin with happiness...
Ep. 26: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book VI (trans. Rolfe Humphries)
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Book VI contains three stories of horrific violence, each somehow more horrific than the last. First, the goddess Athena beats Arachne almost to death...
Ep. 25: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book V (trans. Rolfe Humphries)
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Book V the narrative veers away from Bacchus and tells the story of Perseus, who escapes an angry mob by using the head of Medusa to turn them all ...
Ep. 24: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book IV (trans. Rolfe Humphries)
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We continue to discuss the meaning of the worship of Bacchus among the women of Thebes. The few women who hold out against the new cult are punished f...
Ep. 23: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book III (trans. Rolfe Humphries)
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Book III contains the story of Narcissus, the beautiful boy who falls in love with own reflection, and then drowns himself because he will never be ab...
Ep. 22: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book II (trans. Rolfe Humphries)
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We again consider the question of Jove and his behavior. Sometimes he behaves like a great and noble king, other times like a petulant child, and othe...
Ep. 21: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book I (translated by Rolfe Humphries)
26 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We start by trying to establish the terms of the moral universe Ovid depicts. Are the gods meant to be figures of ridicule? Does Ovid take them seriou...
Ep. 20: Vergil’s Georgics, Books III and IV
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We wrap up our discussion of the Georgics with a lot of talk about the meaning of bees, bee-keeping, and the fact that bees sleep very peacefully at n...
Ep. 19: Vergil’s Georgics, Books I and II
12 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Here we begin our two part digression into the Georgics of Vergil. We consider the meaning of the implicit contrast Vergil draws between the solitary ...
Ep. 18: Vergil’s Aeneid, Book XII (translated by Sarah Ruden)
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We arrive at the final book of Vergil’s epic. We consider the meaning of conquest and Roman identity, considering that it is the Trojans, not the La...
Ep. 17: Vergil’s Aeneid, Book XI
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We spend a lot of our time in this episode discussing the beguiling character of Camilla, a fearsome warrior and virginal acolyte of the goddess Diana...
Ep. 16: Vergil’s Aeneid, Book X
14 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Book X is the first book of the Aeneid where battle scenes dominate the narrative. As such, we consider the battlefield conduct of Aeneas in light of ...
Ep. 15: Vergil’s Aeneid, Book IX
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At the center of Book IX is the night raid of Nisus and Euryalus. Modeled closely on the night raid of Odysseus and Diomedes in the Iliad, the raid he...
Ep. 14: Vergil’s Aeneid, Book VIII
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We spend much of our time on this episode comparing and contrasting the shield that the maker god Vulcan (called Hephaestus in the Greek pantheon) for...
Ep. 13: Vergil’s Aeneid, Book VII
24 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Now that Aeneas and the Trojans have successfully landed in Italy, the narrative switches from one a journey to one of founding and colonizing. As suc...
Ep. 12: Vergil’s Aeneid, Book VI
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode we discuss Aeneas’ trip to the Dis, the underworld of Roman mythology. There seems to be something a bit obligatory about t...
Ep. 11: Vergil’s Aeneid, Book V (translated by Sarah Ruden)
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode we discuss the meaning of the funeral games Aeneas hosts to honor his father Anchises. The funeral games are a trope of Epic poetry, a...
Ep. 10: Vergil’s Aeneid, Book IV
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode we discuss the doomed romance of Aeneas and Dido, and her subsequent tragic suicide. We continue to consider the major themes of this ...
Ep. 9: Vergil’s Aeneid, Book III
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In which we discuss the third book of the Aeneid. Book three has Aeneas relating the tale of the Trojans as they journey from the shores of burning Tr...
Ep. 8: Vergil’s Aeneid, Book II (translated by Sarah Ruden)
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We continue to consider the essential questions posed by the Aeneid. Chief among them, perhaps, is an ancient question central to the epic tradition a...
Ep. 7: Vergil’s Aeneid, Book I (translated by Sarah Ruden)
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We begin our discussion of the Aeneid by considering the nature of Aeneas as a hero. Compared to the previous heroes of the epic tradition, such as Od...
Ep. 6: Bhagavad Gita, chapter nine through the end
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing our discussion of the Bhagahvad Gita. We spend much of the episode trying to understand how the metaphysical, ethical, and epistemological ...
Ep. 5: Bhagavad Gita, chapters one through nine
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As we are not, by any stretch, experts in the history or theology of Hinduism, we spend a fair bit of time just trying to find our footing in this beg...
Ep. 4: Book of Second Samuel, chapters one through 13
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode we discuss the first half of 2nd Samuel, which chronicles David’s rise to power, his famous sin with Bathsheba, and the beginnings o...
Ep. 3: The Book of First Samuel
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode we discuss “First Samuel,” the eighth book of the Old Testament. We mostly focus on the distinction between Saul and David. Why di...
Ep. 2: Aristotle’s Poetics, Part II
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We begin by discussing whether Aristotle is attempting to explain how to write good poetry, or merely classifying what tragedians and other poets have...
Ep. 1: Aristotle’s Poetics, Part I
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of The Key to All Mythologies we discuss the first half of Aristotle’s Poetics, often considered the origin of literary criticism. I...