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Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics Podcast
Martial

Martial

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics vor 2 Jahren

Epigrams, jokes and absolute filth, that's Martial. With Robin Ince and Llewelyn Morgan.

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27:29

Epigrams, jokes, highly-polished poems in praise of the Emperor.
Oh, and absolute filth. These are what made the name of the
first-century Roman poet Martial. It has taken nearly two
thousand years for Martial's work to be considered a fit subject
for study by classicists. His poems to the Emperor may have been
as highly crafted as a Fabergé egg, but nestled beside these
jewels, in the same volume, were works of 'incomprehensible
obscenity'. The Romans loved both, apparently. His work is still
funny, and still shocking.

Natalie is joined by Professor Llewelyn Morgan and comedian Robin
Ince to discover what we can learn about the poet and his readers
from his work, and if he can still make us laugh.

Spoiler: he can.

‘Rock star mythologist’ and reformed stand-up Natalie Haynes is
obsessed with the ancient world. She explores key stories from
ancient Rome and Greece that still have resonance today. They
might be biographical, topographical, mythological or epic, but
they are always hilarious, magical and tragic, mystifying and
revelatory. And they tell us more about ourselves now than seems
possible of stories from a couple of thousand years ago.

Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery