Pages of History is a podcast hosted by Peter Adamson that explores pre-modern philology across world cultures. It examines how texts were written down, preserved, and interpreted, and how reading habits and commentary shaped pre-modern traditions. The series also considers what happened when texts crossed cultural and linguistic boundaries. It features conversations with specialists on these aspects of textual history.
Episodes
4. Susanne Reichlin on the Thirty Pieces of Silver
When Judas betrayed Jesus he was given thirty coins in payment for his treachery. According to medieval legend, these were not just any coins: they were created by the ancient people who first invented money! We hear the full story and explore its implications in this interview.
3. Holger Gzella on Aramaic
In this interview we learn about the Semitic language called Aramaic, the language of government in the Achaemenid empire: what do we know about this language, which texts use it, how was it written, and can we say anything about Aramaic as spoken by everyday language users?
2. Beate Kellner on Cain and Abel
The famous story of Cain and Abel in the Book of Genesis is surprisingly sketchy. In this interview, we learn how later commentators and storytellers through the middle ages filled out the tale and what significance they found in it.
1. Lorraine Daston on Philology as a Science
In this opening episode of the series, Peter talks to Lorraine Daston about the surprising parallels between philology and sciences like astronomy. Daston argues that philology is not just a science, but an empirical science, and one of the oldest sciences known to humankind.
