Episode 01: Edward Nolan and Laurent Cases

Professors Edward Nolan and Laurent Cases both teach Latin & Greek Classics at National Taiwan University's Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.

In this episode, they discuss:

• 1:34–4:17: Reactions to the promotional content of Christopher Nolan's film The Odyssey
• 4:18–8:51: Researching the classics and finding what you want to research in grad school
• 8:52–12:07: Preparation for graduate school (some of which is Classics-specific)
• 12:08–16:30: The Latin program at NTU
• 16:31–19:54: Latin at the graduate level
• 19:55–21:20: Making Latin more accessible to graduate students who didn't study the Classics in their undergrad yeards
• 21:21–22:24: Prioritizing coursework and interests as a graduate student
• 22:25–25:17: Advice for the graduate journey
• 25:18–end: Reading recommendations for entering the Classics

Transcript: View PDF

References

Books

• Homer's Odyssey (translated by Emily Wilson)
• Homer's Iliad (translated by Emily Wilson)
• Augustine's Confessions (Books I-IV) (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics)
• Herodotus: A Very Short Introduction (Jennifer T. Roberts)
• Sallust's Bellum Catilinae (translated with notes by W. Trollope)
• Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics
• Theodor Mommsen's A History of Rome Under the Emperors

People

• Author R. F. Kuang
• Virgil
• Herodotus
• Cicero
• Professor Michael McCormick
• Professor Alan Cameron
• Emperor Justinian
• Professor Duncan Chesney at NTU

Links

• Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey (2026)
• Troy (2004) film
• Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech where he mentioned Homer's Odyssey (2016)
• Professor Cases's Spring 2026 Latin course on Augustine's Confessions
• Some Latin graffiti
• Theodor Mommsen's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (1902)
• Homeric ring composition

Edward Nolan is an Associate Professor of Classics in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at National Taiwan University. He received a PhD in Classical Studies from the University of Michigan in 2021. A cultural historian and philologist, he researches ancient social thought, with a focus on ancient ideas about language. His current book project examines the Classical Greek historian Herodotus through a linguistic lens, revealing his engagement with other fifth-century BCE thinkers and his anticipation of modern linguistic concepts.

Laurent Cases is a historian of Late Antiquity, Late-Roman administration, institutions, and law, and currently an assistant professor of Classics in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. He studied at the University of California, Santa Barbara (BA), the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds (MA), and the Pennsylvania State University (MA/PhD), and was an ERC postdoctoral fellow in the faculty of Law at the University of Pavia. His work traces how the Roman Empire constructed its administrative apparatus and how this apparatus helped inform and transform cultural productions.