Footnotes & Folly

Welcome to Footnotes & Folly — where the great books of the ancient world get read aloud, properly, then gently taken apart by someone who's clearly read far too many of them.

Your host, Professor Reginald St. John Pemberton, narrates the classics — Herodotus, Tacitus, the myths and chronicles — and stops, often, to tell you what's actually going on: what the author claims, what historians still argue about, and what might still be buried out there… if any of it is true. Each episode pairs a clean, modern reading of a public-domain text with original maps, reconstructions, and plain-English summaries — so you leave entertained and genuinely knowing something.

Ancient history & literature, read and annotated
Original maps, art, and timelines
Public-domain texts, in fresh modern English
Long-form. Built for deep listening.
 
  Subscribe, and let the old books ruin your evening — beautifully.