Iranian Freedom
Freedom has a long intellectual history in the West, and it is obviously one of the core values that we hold in American culture, amplified by the upcoming 250th anniversary of our founding as a nation. Freedom, indeed, has been thought of as the sole possession of the Western intellectual and democratic traditions, originally tracing its roots back to Greece and Rome. Our guest in this episode, Jake Nabel, the Tombros Early Career Professor of Classical Studies and Assistant Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Penn State University, has a different story to tell about freedom. While Prof. Nabel recognizes the Greek and Roman traditions of freedom, he argues that freedom also has a long history in ancient Iran, one that parallels and intersects the intellectual development of freedom in Greece and Rome. Prof Nabel and I have a lively conversation about freedom and its intellectual ancestors and even delve into the ways studying the cultures of ancient Iran can help nuance our understanding of this region today.
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