Hi there, you're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast.

Interview episode on the Illyrian Wars with Dr. Christopher Gribbon. Hi everyone. Today I have with me Dr. Christopher Gribbon, a classicist and historian based out of Melbourne,

Australia.

Dr. Gribbon is an expert in philosophy and religion in ancient Greece, but has taught a wide variety

of subjects

within the Greco-Roman world through such venues as his classic summer school out of the

of Melbourne, historical tours, or his course, How to Argue Like Socrates, out of the Hellenic

Museum. He has also appeared on the fellow ancient history podcast when in Rome, and I am glad

to say he has joined our program as well.

So welcome and have you happy on the show. Hey, thank you. Your resume is pretty varied in terms of your

output, ranging from academic to animation and architecture to philosophy. Can you give us some

brief insight as to what led you down to studying the classics?

Sure. Well, I've really been fascinated by the ancient Greek and Roman world since I was a kid.

Trace it back to an exhibition, a traveling exhibition from Pompeii that came to Melbourne where I grew up.

Back when I was four, in fact, I was taken along to that,

and that really struck a chord with me for some reason.

I don't know whether it was the aesthetic or whether it was, you know,

this great story of the town being buried in time or what have you. But something about that really resonated for me

and got me absolutely fascinated in the ancient world. So

that's something that always really stayed with me right through my childhood. When I went to

university, I then did every subject I could that looked at the ancient world through

classics and archaeology and philosophy and just tried to embrace that as much as I could.

...