Welcome to Pages of History...
Welcome to "Pages of History", a podcast brought to you by Peter Adamson, who is also the host of the podcast “History of Philosophy without any gaps.” In this series Peter steps beyond philosophy to speak to a wide range of specialists on various aspects of pre-modern philology around the world: how were texts written down, preserved, and interpreted? How did textual practices, from habits of reading to formal commentary, shape the traditions of the pre-modern world? What happened when texts moved across cultural and linguistic boundaries? We’ll also learn from them about some cutting-edge techniques, like advances in digital editing and the processing of large amounts of data, using the tools of today to learn about the writings of the past.
This new, monthly podcast is made possible by the Cluster of Excellence on Cross-Cultural Philology that began in 2026 here at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. The podcast guests will be members and visitors of the cluster, experts on cultures ranging from ancient China, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, down to early modern Europe, India, and Latin America. Many thanks to the German Research Foundation (DFG) and LMU for making this possible!
Latest Episodes
3. Holger Gzella on Aramaic
In this interview we learn about the Semitic language called Aramaic, the language of government in the Achaemenid empire: what do we know about this language, which texts use it, how was it written, and can we say anything about Aramaic as spoken by everyday language users?
2. Beate Kellner on Cain and Abel
The famous story of Cain and Abel in the Book of Genesis is surprisingly sketchy. In this interview, we learn how later commentators and storytellers through the middle ages filled out the tale and what significance they found in it.
1. Lorraine Daston on Philology as a Science
In this opening episode of the series, Peter talks to Lorraine Daston about the surprising parallels between philology and sciences like astronomy. Daston argues that philology is not just a science, but an empirical science, and one of the oldest sciences known to humankind.
The Cluster of Excellence Cross-Cultural Philology brings together 25 departments at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, one at Julius-Maximilians-Universität in Würzburg and a broad range of international cooperation partners. The result is a truly unique, interdisciplinary research network. The cluster draws on innovative approaches to explore 5,000 years of cultural history from multiple perspectives, across cultures and with a solid historical foundation, all of which highlights the enormous relevance of philology to the present day.
As such, the cluster ranks among the most important humanities projects supported by the German Research Association (DFG).
