Classical Wisdom Speaks

How much of what we think we know about Cleopatra comes from history? 

And how much was created by Roman propaganda, Shakespeare, and centuries of storytelling?

In this fascinating episode of Classical Wisdom Speaks, host Anya Leonard speaks with international bestselling author Natasha Solomons about her novel I Am Cleopatra, the extraordinary life of Egypt's last pharaoh, and the challenge of separating the historical Cleopatra from the myths that surround her.

For more than 2,000 years, Cleopatra VII has captivated historians, writers, artists and audiences. Yet her story is so often told through the men in her life.

But who was Cleopatra beyond these famous relationships?

Natasha explains how rereading Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra inspired her to imagine a different version of the Egyptian queen: not simply a romantic heroine, but a formidable ruler, a shrewd political strategist and a woman navigating extraordinary dangers.

Together, Anya and Natasha explore the fascinating intersection of ancient Egyptian history, Roman politics, historical fiction and mythology.

They discuss how Cleopatra cultivated her image as the goddess Isis, used language and religion to appeal to her Egyptian subjects, and maneuvered between the competing worlds of Alexandria and Rome.

But they also examine a more intimate side of Cleopatra.

What was it like to be a woman wielding power in the ancient world? How did motherhood, personal vulnerability and the physical realities of women's lives influence the choices available to a queen?

From Shakespeare and Plutarch to the Library of Alexandria, Cleopatra's relationships with Caesar and Antony, and the enduring mystery of her death, this conversation reveals why Cleopatra continues to fascinate us.

Can we ever discover the real Cleopatra... Or does every generation create the Cleopatra it needs?

Key Topics:

Who was the real Cleopatra VII?

Cleopatra: history versus myth

Natasha Solomons and I Am Cleopatra

Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra

Why Cleopatra remains fascinating today

Roman propaganda and Augustus

Cleopatra's intelligence, charm and political power

Julius Caesar and Cleopatra's relationship

Mark Antony: romance or political alliance?

Cleopatra and the Egyptian goddess Isis

Ancient Egypt, Alexandria and the Ptolemaic dynasty

How Cleopatra used religion and public image

Women, power and vulnerability in antiquity

Cleopatra's children and motherhood

Plutarch and the ancient historical sources

The Library of Alexandria

Reimagining ancient history through fiction

Cleopatra's death and lasting legacy

⏱️ Timestamps:
00:00 Who was the real Cleopatra?
00:21 Introducing Natasha Solomons
01:31 Shakespeare's Cleopatra
03:53 Researching ancient history
07:17 Cleopatra: history vs. myth
09:14 Cleopatra's legendary charm
10:57 Roman propaganda and Augustus
12:25 Cleopatra and the goddess Isis
14:21 Can we know the real Cleopatra?
17:10 Cleopatra and her children
19:13 Women and power in antiquity
23:35 Everyday life in ancient Egypt
25:23 Secrets of ancient Alexandria
27:30 Cleopatra between Egypt and Rome
30:01 Julius Caesar and Cleopatra
34:07 Mark Antony: love or politics?
39:01 Alexandria's lost history
43:00 Cleopatra's death and legacy

What makes Cleopatra's story so compelling is that she was not merely a character in someone else's history. She was a ruler who actively shaped her own image, even as her enemies and later storytellers reshaped it for their own purposes.

Was Cleopatra primarily a brilliant politician, a romantic heroine, or something far more complicated?

And do you think historical fiction can bring us closer to understanding the ancient world?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

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👉 Buy Natasha Solomons' book 'I Am Cleopatra': https://www.amazon.com/Am-Cleopatra-Novel-Natasha-Solomons/dp/0063449757

About Natasha Solomons

Natasha Solomons is an international bestselling novelist and the author of I Am Cleopatra, a historical novel that reimagines the life of Egypt's legendary queen.

In this conversation, she discusses her research, her approach to historical fiction, and her fascination with the women whose stories have so often been told through the perspectives of powerful men.

What Counts as Classical? | Dan-El Padilla Peralta on the Future of Classics

Why do we call ancient Greece and Rome “classical”? And who decided that their literature, art and philosophy should hold such a privileged place in our understanding of history?

Is there a difference between studying the ancient world and treating it as uniquely authoritative?

In this thought-provoking episode of Classical Wisdom Speaks, host Anya Leonard speaks with Dan-El Padilla Peralta, Professor of Classics at Princeton University, about the history of classical studies, the politics of cultural value and the future of the discipline.

At the heart of their conversation is a provocative distinction: the classics versus classicism.

For Dan-el, studying Homer, Cicero or the ancient Mediterranean is not the same as accepting the historical process through which certain cultures and texts became designated as “classical.” His critique isn't simply a call to stop reading ancient authors. Instead, he asks us to examine why some traditions have been elevated while others have been overlooked.

From Sappho and Cicero to W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Aurelius and the modern Stoicism revival, the discussion challenges us to think more carefully about the ancient world—and how we choose to study it.

They also confront difficult questions about museums, colonialism, private collections, academic institutions and access to ancient knowledge.

Can we preserve the value of studying Greece and Rome while rethinking the assumptions and institutions that have shaped the field?

Key Topics:

What is the difference between classics and classicism?

Who decides what deserves to be called classical?

What determines which ancient texts survive?

Cicero, Augustine and the formation of the classical canon

Can the classics inspire liberation?

W. E. B. Du Bois and ancient Roman literature

Sappho, papyri and the antiquities market

The modern revival of Stoicism

Should ancient knowledge be accessible to everyone?

The role of academic institutions

How classical studies might change in the future

⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to Dan-El Padilla Peralta
00:21 Classics vs. classicism
02:21 What makes something classical?
03:51 Who gets excluded from the canon?
05:39 Would changing the name help?
07:50 Why Greece and Rome dominate history
09:33 Empire and the survival of texts
11:33 Cicero vs. Augustine
13:20 Can the classics inspire liberation?
15:21 How should we read ancient texts?
16:03 Chance, Sappho and preservation
17:45 Why Stoicism became popular
18:43 Empire and cultural influence
24:21 Classics and racial capitalism
25:15 Oxford, museums and empire
27:03 Ancient papyri and colonialism
29:09 Sappho and the antiquities market
32:28 Who should access ancient history?
34:34 Do we still need universities?
45:05 A revolution in classical studies

What makes this conversation especially interesting is that Anya and Dan-el  don't always agree. Their exchange raises questions about whether the survival of ancient texts reflects deliberate choices, historical accidents or both—and whether reforming classical studies means rejecting institutions or strengthening them.

Dan-el ultimately argues for a more global approach to studying the past, alongside greater solidarity between scholars, institutions and independent learners.

Who should decide what we preserve, study and celebrate from the ancient world?

Do you think the classics need fundamental reform, or can the existing tradition accommodate a broader understanding of ancient history?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

👉 Classical Wisdom Members can watch the FULL, extended episode on Substack: https://classicalwisdom.substack.com/p/who-decides-whats-classical-unpacking
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👉 Buy Dan-el's book 'Classicism and Other Phobias': https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691266183/classicism-and-other-phobias

About Dan-el Padilla Peralta

Dan-el Padilla Peralta is a Professor of Classics at Princeton University whose research examines ancient Mediterranean history, the formation of classical knowledge and the relationship between antiquity and modern systems of power.

In this conversation, he discusses his work on classicism and the future of classical studies, asking how we might approach ancient history with both intellectual curiosity and critical reflection.

What Can Greek Myth Teach Us About Being Human? | Why Myth Matters

Why have stories of gods, monsters, heroes and tragedy survived for thousands of years?

For the ancient Greeks, myth wasn't simply entertainment. It helped people understand the gods, society, suffering, morality and the unpredictability of human life.

In this special extended Classical Wisdom event, Why Myth Matters, Anya Leonard is joined by Natalie Haynes, Sarah Iles Johnston, Jeremy McInerney, Helene Foley, James Romm and Agnes Callard to explore what mythology meant in the ancient world, and why these stories still matter today.

The event begins by asking what the Greeks themselves meant by mythos. Jeremy McInerney and Sarah Iles Johnston explore storytelling as a way of making sense of an uncertain world, the power of the gods, shared identities and the dangers of human existence.

Then Natalie Haynes turns to one of Greek mythology's most disturbing figures: Medea. Did Euripides transform her story by making her deliberately kill her children? Why does his play remain so shocking, and why does Medea remain strangely sympathetic despite committing an unimaginable crime?

Haynes also explores Medea's position as a woman, foreigner and outsider, revealing how tragedy could challenge the assumptions of its original Athenian audience.

Finally, Helene Foley, James Romm and Agnes Callard examine tragedy, philosophy and ethics. Why did Aristotle see tragedy as philosophical and universal while Plato distrusted its emotional power? Can witnessing suffering make us wiser? What is catharsis? And can tragedy teach us how to live?

Through Medea, Oedipus, the Oresteia and the lost Greek plays, the discussion reveals something essential about Greek tragedy: these stories confront enormous questions without necessarily giving us easy answers.

Perhaps that is exactly why myth still matters.

Key Topics:

What myth meant to the ancient Greeks

Why humans tell stories

Myth, religion and the Greek gods

Myth across different cultures

Myth, identity and society

Natalie Haynes on Medea

How Euripides transformed Medea

Medea as woman, foreigner and outsider

Why Greek tragedy still resonates

Aristotle vs. Plato on tragedy

Emotion, grief and catharsis

Fate, morality and human responsibility

Wisdom from the lost Greek plays

Can myth teach us how to live?

Why ancient stories still matter

⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00 Why Myth Matters
04:18 What did myth mean to the Greeks?
07:35 Gods, danger & uncertainty
09:22 Myths across cultures
18:07 Myth, society & identity
30:43 Why myths explore extremes
38:38 Do we still need shared myths?
43:15 Natalie Haynes on Medea
48:14 Why Medea shocked Athens
49:18 Did Euripides reinvent Medea?
53:33 Medea: woman, foreigner, outsider
58:18 Why Medea still matters
1:02:30 Tragedy, ethics & modern life
1:04:00 What makes tragedy unique?
1:14:39 Plato vs. tragedy
1:16:14 Emotion, grief & catharsis
1:27:38 Why Plato distrusted drama
1:47:06 Morality, fate & human action
1:47:22 Audience Q&A
2:05:30 Does myth need a moral?
2:05:47 The greatest Greek tragedies
2:07:45 Why tragedy never truly ends

Myths change. Their characters and meanings change. But the questions beneath them remain remarkably familiar: Why do we suffer? What do we owe one another? How much control do we have over our lives? And how should we live when there are no easy answers?

Which ancient myth do you think still has the most to teach us today?

Tell us in the comments.

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About the Speakers

Natalie Haynes is an author, broadcaster and classicist whose books include Pandora's Jar, Stone Blind, A Thousand Ships and No Friend to This House.

Sarah Iles Johnston is a scholar of Greek religion and mythology and author of Gods and Mortals and Arachne's Threads.

Jeremy McInerney is a scholar of Classical Greece and author of Centaurs and Snake Kings and Greece in the Ancient World.

Helene Foley specializes in Greek epic, tragedy, women in antiquity and classical reception.

James Romm is a classicist and author of Since You're Mortal: Life Lessons from the Lost Greek Plays.

Agnes Callard is a philosopher specializing in ancient philosophy and ethics and author of Aspiration and Open Socrates.

Have We Misunderstood the Women of Ancient Athens? | Katherine Backler on Their Forgotten Lives

Were women in ancient Athens simply wives and mothers, largely confined to the home? Or does the surviving evidence reveal a much richer picture?

In this episode of Classical Wisdom Speaks, Anya Leonard speaks with ancient historian Katherine Backler, author of Athena’s Sisters: Reclaiming the Women of Classical Athens, to uncover the lives, work, friendships and identities of women too often missing from our picture of ancient Athens.

Watch the FULL, EXTENDED EPISODE by becoming a Classical Wisdom Member today:

👉 Become A Member: https://classicalwisdom.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=b28f7da1 

👉 Listen to the FULL episode: https://classicalwisdom.substack.com/p/who-was-your-tent-buddy 

👉 Buy Athena's Sisters:  Reclaiming the Women of Classical Athens by Katherine Backler's https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/athenas-sisters/D8D6C6AFCA4F22DACB79595E116A5D7C

Through inscriptions, tombstones, legal cases, dedications and even ancient curse tablets, we encounter individual women whose lives would otherwise have disappeared: craftspeople and traders, a working mother proud of what she had earned, women running businesses, and a midwife and doctor remembered by those whose lives she touched.

We also explore something fundamental but frequently overlooked: female friendship. In a society where marriage was not necessarily expected to provide emotional companionship, relationships between women could be built on trust, affection, shared experience and mutual support. One extraordinary tombstone even preserves a woman defining herself not as someone's wife or daughter, but as another woman's friend.

What emerges is a far more complex picture of the women of Classical Athens—and a reminder that ancient lives rarely fit neatly into the categories history gives them.

Key Topics:
What do we actually know about women in ancient Athens?
The traditional image of the Athenian wife
Marriage, motherhood and citizenship
Citizen, immigrant and enslaved women
Recovering ordinary women from ancient inscriptions
Working women in the Athenian economy
Female doctors, midwives, traders and craftspeople
How women helped build and maintain Athens
Ancient curse tablets and women's social networks
Friendship between women
Why friendship mattered in a gender-segregated society
Aristotle and different forms of friendship
Neighborhoods and women's communities
How relationships shaped ancient identity
What ancient Athens can reveal about our own relationships

Timestamps:

00:00 Meet Katherine Backler
00:48 What do we know about Athenian women?
02:30 A more complicated reality
04:10 Citizens, immigrants & enslaved women
07:36 Recovering ordinary women's lives
09:04 A working mother's own words
10:17 Women at work in Athens
11:59 The female doctor Phanestrati
16:03 Women, pubs & curse tablets
18:02 Why female friendship mattered
20:35 Friendship in ancient Athens
25:38 Aristotle & types of friendship
27:45 Women & neighborhood networks
32:12 Relationships, identity & belonging
36:06 Rethinking Athenian women
37:09 Final thoughts

If our understanding of ancient Athens comes overwhelmingly through male voices, what changes when we start looking for the women themselves?

Let us know what surprised you most in the comments.

About Katherine Backler

Katherine Backler is a lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Leeds and author of Athena’s Sisters: Reclaiming the Women of Classical Athens. Her work explores the lives and relationships of women in ancient Athens, using evidence including inscriptions to recover experiences that traditional historical narratives can easily overlook.

Where Should You Go in Greece for Ancient History? | Aristotle Koskinas on Hidden Gems & Must-See Sites

Planning a trip to Greece? Some of its greatest archaeological treasures are hiding in plain sight—and even at famous sites like Delphi, visitors can walk straight past monuments that changed Greek history.

So where should an ancient history lover actually go?

In this episode of Classical Wisdom Speaks, Anya Leonard speaks with archaeologist and veteran tourist guide Aristotle Koskinas for an insider's journey through Greece—from Olympia, Delphi and Thermopylae to Naxos, Santorini, Rhodes and remarkable sites most tourists never see.

With more than 20 years as a guide and experience of hundreds of archaeological sites, Aristotle explains not only where to go, but what to look for once you get there.

At Olympia, we explore the ancient Olympic Games and the workshop where Phidias created the enormous gold-and-ivory Statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

At Delphi, Aristotle takes us beyond the famous Temple of Apollo to inscriptions, treasuries and monuments connected to the Persian Wars—some so easily overlooked that visitors walk straight past them without realizing their importance.

Then there's Thermopylae. Where exactly did Leonidas and the 300 Spartans make their famous last stand? Aristotle explains how archaeology and the landscape can change the way we understand one of antiquity's most legendary battles.

But Greece is much more than its most famous sites.

We also discover quieter archaeological gems near Athens, the ancient city of Messene, the spectacular Royal Tombs at Vergina, and islands where extraordinary landscapes meet thousands of years of history—from ancient marble quarries on Naxos and Bronze Age Akrotiri on Santorini to medieval Chios and Rhodes.

Whether you're planning your next Greek holiday or exploring from home, grab a pen and paper—this is an archaeologist's guide to the Greece most visitors miss.

Key Topics:
The best archaeological sites in Greece
Ancient Olympia and the original Olympic Games
Phidias and the Statue of Zeus
What visitors miss at Delphi
Ancient inscriptions and the Persian Wars
Why Plataea deserves more attention
Rethinking the battlefield of Thermopylae
Leonidas and the 300 Spartans
Hidden archaeological gems near Athens
The Sanctuary of Amphiaraos and Rhamnous
Ancient Messene
The Royal Tombs at Vergina
Naxos and its ancient marble
Akrotiri and ancient Santorini
The medieval treasures of Chios
Ancient and medieval Rhodes

Timestamps:

00:00 What everyone misses at Delphi
00:39 An insider's guide to Greece
01:52 Meet Aristotle Koskinas
05:03 Layers of Greek history
07:03 Greece's must-see sites
07:12 Ancient Olympia
09:15 What tourists miss at Olympia
12:50 The secrets of Delphi
16:38 Monuments everyone walks past
19:25 Greece's must-see battlefields
19:45 Why visit Plataea?
22:22 Rethinking Thermopylae
25:40 Greece's hidden archaeological gems
26:28 Sanctuary of Amphiaraos
27:40 Ancient Rhamnous
28:54 Ancient Messene
30:01 Royal Tombs at Vergina
32:31 Greece's best islands for history
33:08 Naxos
34:44 Santorini & Akrotiri
35:24 Chios
42:30 Ancient & medieval Rhodes
44:02 The splendor of Greece

If you could visit just one archaeological site in Greece tomorrow, where would you go—Delphi, Olympia, Thermopylae, Akrotiri, or somewhere completely off the beaten track?

Let us know in the comments, and subscribe to Classical Wisdom for more conversations exploring the people, places and ideas of the ancient world.

🔗 LINKS

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👉 Aristotle Koskinas Blog: https://aristotleguide.wordpress.com/

About Aristotle Koskinas

Aristotle Koskinas is a Greek archaeologist and professional tourist guide with more than 20 years of experience guiding visitors through Greece. Before becoming a guide, he worked as an archaeologist for the Greek Ministry of Culture.

His experience spans hundreds of archaeological sites and museums, giving him a unique perspective on the many layers of Greek history—from prehistoric Greece and the Bronze Age through the Classical, Roman, Byzantine and later periods.