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Alicia Walker on Everyday Magical Culture in East Rome
In the previous episode we looked at learned, elaborate, elite magical practices and the books that enabled them in East Rome. In this episode we dis…
3 hours ago
Three Ancient Sages: On East Roman Magical Books
Looking through the lens provided by three central figures of the western esoteric tradition -- Hermes Trismegistus, Apollonios of Tyana, and King So…
3 months, 1 week ago
Gerasimos Merianos on East Roman Alchemy in Late Antiquity and Beyond, Part II
We delve further into the laboratories, workshops, and even state coffers of East Rome with Gerasimos Merianos. East Roman alchemy becomes mathematis…
4 months, 3 weeks ago
Gerasimos Merianos on East Roman Alchemy in Late Antiquity and Beyond, Part I
In Part I of a two-parter we explore the contours of East Roman alchemy from the seventh century onward. Gerasimos Merianos is our guide to the many …
5 months ago
The Horoscope of Islām and The Alchemical Stone: Maria Papathanassiou on Stephanos of Alexandria, Part II
In Part II we explore two of Stephanos' works: the astrological piece entitled Apotelesmatikē pragmateia, with its katarchic ‘Horoscope of Islam’, an…
5 months, 3 weeks ago
Philosophy and Occult Sciences at Constantinople: Maria Papathanassiou on Stephanos of Alexandria, Part I
We speak with Maria Papathanassiou about Stephanos of Alexandria: the last known Platonist/Aristotelean philosopher trained at Alexandria, a politica…
6 months ago
Esoteric Orthodoxy in East Rome: Jonathan Greig on Maximus the Confessor
We head back to Constantionple with Jonathan Greig at the controls, to discuss the quintessentially Orthodox mystic, Maximus the Confessor. Late-Plat…
8 months, 2 weeks ago
Introducing the Apocalypse of the Pseudo-Methodios, with Christopher Bonura
Christopher Bonura introduces us to the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodios, a seventh-century Syriac prophetic universal history. Come for the Arab conqu…
9 months, 4 weeks ago
Jewish Apocalypse in the Seventh Century: Martha Himmelfarb on the Sefer Zerubbabel
In this interview we explore a crucial document of seventh-century Judaism: the Sefer Zerubbabel, an apocalyptic ‘future history’ allegedly written i…
10 months, 4 weeks ago
Touraj Daryaee on Zoroastrianism in the Seventh Century and Beyond
With the Arab conquest of Sasanian Persia, a new religion enters the west. Once the great religious Other to the Græco-Roman world, the Zoroastrians …
11 months, 1 week ago