A Classical Philologist’s Journey: Late Antiquity, Ancient Sex and Hagiography

In this fifty minutes long interview, Chris Mielke talks with Cristian-Nicolae Gaşpar of the Medieval Department at CEU about his journey as a classical philologist, ancient taboos and translating the vita of Saint adalbert of Prague. Was there really a decline after the “Golden Age” of the Roman Empire? Why is Late Antiquity as a period interesting to study for philologists and Historians? What exactly happened in this transitional period? The second part of the interview is about Cristian’s course, which deals with sexuality in antiquity: how did ancient people talk or not talk about sex? What were the taboos related to sexuality and nakedness? How did prostitution work in the ancient world? In the final part, Christian talks about translating the vita of Saint Adalbert, the bishop of Prague for the Central European Medieval text series produced by CEU Medieval Department, and some more details about Adalbert’s life and afterlife.Past Perfect! is CEU Medieval Radio’s show on medieval and early modern history and culture, where Christopher Mielke casually discusses with his guests various issues from the crusades to archeo-zoology to medieval urine sampling. The discussions are made with the aim to popularize medieval and early modern studies with the help of experts such as early musicians, historians, philologists and archeologists.This episode was first recorded and broadcast in 2012.