Books of All Time

In our second episode on the Ramayana, which began to be written down in Sanskrit c. 350 BCE, we dive deeper into the theme of dharma. We explore some of the many different meanings of this term and trace the development of the three oldest dharmic faiths: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. We also compare how Buddhist and Jain retellings of the Ramayana differ from the one revered by today's Hindus. Finally, we fangirl out over Hanuman a little more. Want to read the transcript? Click here. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review us—and share with your friends!

It's time for some good old-fashioned epic action with our first episode on the Ramayana, one of the great Sanskrit-language epics from India. Composed as a written work from about 350 BCE onward (but probably much earlier as an oral poem), the Ramayana tells of the trials and tribulations of Rama, Prince of Kosala and avatar of the god Vishnu. It has everything from romance and battle to deep spiritual wisdom and a divine monkey hero who overthinks a lot.Want to read a transcript or see our references? Click here. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a rating or review, and share us with others!

We come to the end of our three-episode exploration of Plato’s Republic, the seminal work of political philosophy composed mostly around 380 BCE. This episode covers pre-Socratic philosophy, the life of Socrates, and a really regrettable period of Plato's life when he tried to go into business as a political consultant and wound up stuck in the middle of what almost became a civil war. Don't leave the academy, bro.In this episode, Rose also announces an exciting upcoming guest spot on the Omnibus podcast, where she'll be talking about E.A. Wallis Budge. For a transcript and a full list of references for this episode, click here to visit our website. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share!

In this episode, we continue our three-part, supersized exploration of Plato's Republic. Having defined morality and the ideal society in the first half of the book, we now move on to the pure philosophy part, which features Plato's theory of forms, his ideas about what constitutes true knowledge, and, of course, a ton of allegories—including the famous Allegory of the Cave. Listen now and know the true, Platonic form of a podcast. Want to read the transcript or see our reading list? Click here. Thank you for listening, and don't forget to subscribe, review and share us!

It's philosophy time, friends. Join us for the first of three episodes about the ancient Greek philosopher Plato's book The Republic, the most influential work of philosophical literature ever written by a single author. It's the record of a long conversation Socrates has with some friends, in which they pick over two questions: what is morality? and does morality really have any intrinsic benefits for those who practice it? This conversation also covers what the ideal society should look like, including the best plan of education (heavily censored, obviously), how the ruling class should live (in communes with eugenically controlled matings, duh) and a surprising number of metaphors that mention shoemakers. Episode one covers the first half of The Republic, which focuses on politics. Want to read the transcript or see the reading list we used to write it? Click here. Don't forget to rate, review, and share us!

Aaaaaand we're back. Aristophanes, the comedian of ancient Athens, has a reputation for getting into hot water for his jibes about the demagogue Cleon (which landed him in hot water, legally) and his portrayal the philosopher Socrates (which, according to Plato, fatally damaged Socrates' image for a generation). But is this reputation deserved? This episode looks at the evidence for how much Aristophanes really influenced Athenian politics and discourse.Want to read the transcript? Click here. Don't forget to rate, review, and share us with your friends!