It's the Ancient's on History Hit by Interest in Hughes Your Host and today's podcast

we're going to be focusing on what the ancient thought lurked beneath the waves in antiquity,

particularly the ancient Romans and the ancient Greeks.

And this topic is going to vary from huge sea creatures terrifying beasts that apparently

fought with fishermen in the rough waters to dolphins and their enduring friendship with

humans.

Now to talk through this topic I was delighted to be joined by Emily Neibon from the

University of Nottingham.

Emily has recently written a book all about an epic piece of poetry called the Halliutica,

written by a figure called Opian in the 2nd century AD and dedicated to the Emperor

Marcus Aurelius and this piece of poetry was all about fishing but also about the sea

creatures that lurked or what they thought lurked beneath the waves.

This was a fascinating topic and it was great to get Emily on the show to talk through

it all.

Here's Emily.

Emily, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Now this is a remarkable subject.

This is the story about a Greek poem written in Roman times about the sea world, the sea

creatures and how the ancients viewed the sea.

That's right.

It's sort of a study and exploration of the marine imagination and the sort of alternative

birth marine world.

...