Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Strait of Messina

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2021

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Dividing Sicily from Italy, the Strait of Messina is a small stretch of water with an incredible history that stretches back to ancient times. It was likely here that the mythical sea monsters of Scylla and Charybdis were supposed to have wreaked havoc on Odysseus’ crew. It was an area of the ancient Mediterranean renowned for its whirlpools and vicious currents. And it was also on either side of this strait, that two ancient cities enjoyed a long and connected history: Rhegium and Messana. To shine a light on this waterway’s importance in antiquity, Tristan was delighted to be joined by Dustin Mackenzie from Macquarie University.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the ancients on history hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host and in today's
0:06.7	podcast now in ancient history there were certain features of the landscape
0:10.8	certain places which held particular importance in certain stories whether
0:15.4	that's the pillars of Hercules at the western end of the Mediterranean Sea
0:20.2	whether it's the Caspian gates in the Caucasus the River Nile in Egypt the
0:24.6	River Oxas in Afghanistan the Pamirs the Hindu Kush the Alps and Hannibles
0:29.1	crossing and many many others in today's podcast we're going to be focusing on
0:33.9	one such feature the importance of a narrow stretch of water that divides
0:39.8	Sicily and southern Italy the straight of Messina now join me to talk about the
0:44.7	importance of this narrow stretch of water particularly for two cities in
0:50.0	antiquity the cities of Messana and Regium I was delighted to be joined by
0:55.4	Dustin McKenzie a PhD student from Macquarie University in Sydney now a few
1:01.1	years back when I was studying at the University of Queensland in Brisbane
1:04.1	Dustin taught me for a short period of time so it was great to see him again
1:08.7	and to talk all things the straight of Messina his Dustin
1:18.0	Dustin it is great to see you again how have you been good man good lovely to see
1:23.9	you again it's been a few years last time we spoke I was halfway through the
1:28.2	M Phil at the University of Queensland in Brisbane Australia and now I'm
1:32.5	halfway through the PhD at Macquarie University in Sydney Australia I'm Macquarie
1:37.5	University not Macquarie University a mistake I have made in the past and I'm now
1:42.0	learning from but we are talking about another M today we are talking about
1:46.1	this amazing this remarkable stretch the straight of Messina in antiquity that's
	...

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