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Intelligence Squared

Gods and Mortals: What Ancient Greek Myths Can Teach Us About Today

Intelligence Squared

Intelligence Squared

News, Society & Culture, News Commentary, Arts

4.21.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2023

⏱️ 44 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hercules, Prometheus, Pandora. The compelling characters of Greek mythology continue to fascinate readers thousands of years after their stories were first told. For this edition of the podcast, leading classicist Sarah Iles Johnston comes to Intelligence Squared to discuss their enduring popularity, which is the basis of her recent book, Gods and Mortals: Ancient Greek Myths for Modern Readers. Joining her in conversation is fellow classicist and author Daisy Dunn, author of Gods and Men: 100 Stories from Ancient Greece and Rome. We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be about. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com.  At Intelligence Squared we’ve got our own online streaming platform, Intelligence Squared+ and we’d love you to give it a go. It’s packed with more than 20 years’ worth of video debates and conversations on the world’s most important topics as well as exclusive podcast content. Tune in to live events, ask your questions or watch on-demand, totally ad-free with hours of discussion to dive into. Visit intelligencesquaredplus.com to start watching today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, this is Jeremy Bowen, the International Editor of BBC News, and I'm here because I want

0:05.1

to talk to you about an event I'm doing with Intelligent Squared on the 2nd of November in London,

0:11.5

and I'm going to be talking about the more than 30 years that I've spent reporting on major

0:17.6

events in the Middle East with my great friend and colleague over many, many years, Justin Webb.

0:25.6

And I'm sure we'll talk about a few other things as well, Justin and I started at the BBC on

0:31.6

the same day in 1984. So, if you'd like to join us either in person or online, then visit

0:41.6

IntelligentSquared.com to find out more.

0:49.4

Hello, it's Kamala Ahmed here, and I'm here to tell you about

0:52.5

energised, the brand new podcast Intelligent Squared is launching in partnership with E.

0:58.0

Bedrola. The climate crisis is the most pressing issue of our time. Temperatures are set to rise

1:05.0

more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in the next two decades, and increase that

1:11.5

will cause irreversible damage to our planet. But, is there still hope?

1:17.3

If humans are to blame for climate change, then we must also provide the solutions,

1:23.4

and that's where energised comes in. Join me as I bring together experts and policymakers

1:29.4

to delve deep into the key issues at the heart of the global drive towards net zero and the

1:34.4

innovations that promise to accelerate the energy transition and transform the way we live.

1:40.3

Just search energised wherever you get your podcasts.

1:46.8

Welcome to Intelligent Squared. I'm senior producer Connor Boyle.

1:53.8

Coming up, Sarah Isles-Johnston, the author of the recent book Gods and Mortals,

1:58.6

will be telling us why the myths of ancient Greece still capture our imagination in the present day.

2:05.6

Sarah Isles-Johnston is a professor of classics at the Ohio State University, and much of her

2:10.4

work looks at how narrative storytelling underpins belief systems and religions. This informs the

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