Scott McGill & Susannah Wright — The Aeneid - with Nandini Pandey
September 17, 2025
52 min
Full
320 of 672

September 17, 2025
Scott McGill & Susannah Wright — The Aeneid - with Nandini Pandey
0:00 / 52:02
Excerpt playback isn’t available for this episode — use the full-episode link.
Search the Record
Moment search isn’t open for this episode yet
When it opens, you’ll be able to type any phrase and jump straight to the second it was said.
Politics and Prose Episodes Around September 17, 2025
Episode 320 of 672 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
52:02This episodeScott McGill & Susannah Wright — The Aeneid - with Nandini Pandey
Summary
<p>Crafted during the reign of Augustus Caesar at the outset of the Roman Empire, Virgil's <em><strong>Aeneid</strong></em> is a tale of thrilling adventure, extreme adversity, doomed romance, fateful battles, and profound loss. Through its stirring account of human struggle, meddling gods, and conflicting destinies, the poem brings to life the triumphs and trials that led to one of the most powerful societies the world has ever known. Unlike its Homeric predecessors, which arose from a long oral tradition, the <em>Aeneid</em> was composed by a singular poetic genius, and it has ever since been celebrated as one of the greatest literary achievements of antiquity. <br />This exciting new edition of the <em>Aeneid</em>, the first collaborative translation of the poem in English, is rendered in unrhymed iambic pentameter, the English meter that corresponds best, in its history and cultural standing, to Virgil's dactylic hexameter. Scott McGill and Susannah Wright achieve an ideal middle ground between readability and elevation, engaging modern readers with fresh, contemporary language in a heart-pounding, propulsive rhythm, while also preserving the epic dignity of the original. The result is a brisk, eminently approachable translation that captures Virgil's sensitive balance between celebrating the Roman Empire and dramatizing its human costs, for victors and vanquished alike. This <em>Aeneid</em> is a poem in English every bit as complex, inviting, and affecting as the Latin original. <br />With a rich and informative introduction from Emily Wilson, maps drawn especially for this volume, a pronunciation glossary, genealogies, extensive notes, and helpful summaries of each book, this gorgeous edition of Rome's founding poem will capture the imaginations and stir the souls of a new generation of readers.</p><p><br /></p><p>PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9781324096436?ic_referral=ArJwJnVepb9uapMBQgBKENh2p-bNJjYnsfAi44nffUUwMzabD-YWhypoMh8rRHFl12n92KtPdWJ2ftP44QXhHd85VgVnb05-lDxqzkqIHYiWq0qpr6f5kFOexaOsWYcXGqCM6SQ</p><p><br /></p><p><strong>Scott McGill</strong> is Deedee McMurtry Professor in Humanities at Rice University. He lives in Houston, Texas.<br /><strong>Susannah Wright</strong> is an assistant professor of classical studies and Roman history at Rice University. She lives in Houston, Texas.</p><p>McGill and Wright will be in conversation with <strong>Nandini Pandey</strong>, an associate professor of classics at Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.</p><p></p>
Episode details and artwork are published by the show’s own feed. Sentinel plays short cited excerpts and links every episode back to its publisher.