Young Heretics

Welcome to Young Heretics, the classical education you didn't know you were missing. It's Good Friday...in the year 1300. And also now! Because Dante's Divine Comedy is a poem for all time and our time. Today we are (finally!) beginning our Young Heretics journey through this masterpiece, following Dante's pilgrim step by step as he wanders from the straight and true way into a dark and dangerous adventure that will lead him, ultimately, to the heights of heaven. We'll talk about gu(w)elphs, gh(w)ibellines, art, theology, and of course Studio Ghibli memes. Join me on this new adventure! Check out Klavans on the Culture, my new podcast with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://youtu.be/ZJpXAoIlbxI?si=3uzICi-kmeShxezu Sign up for Hebrew, Greek, or Latin courses at the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/heretics/ Listen to Inferno read aloud on the Digital Dante site: https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/sound/bausi-readings/ Check out Jonathan Pageau on Dante: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/dantes-inferno-the-course Get the Durling and Martinez translation: https://amzn.to/47zWZPK Get the Anthony Esolen translation: https://amzn.to/4sgKLTj

Welcome back!! Happy 2026!! After a holiday hiatus, we're starting the year off strong with the Second Annual Inkling Awards for Literary Excellence. As an exciting new term of teaching kicks off for me at the University of Austin, TX, It's a good time to be thinking about some of the best questions: why should we read? How should we read? And how much? Without further ado, here are Dr. Klavan's rules of thumb for reading, the best books I read last year, and the books I'm looking forward to in 2026. Plus: C.S. Lewis on why you should read old books. Check out my cover essay in First Things on Virgil's Aeneid: https://firstthings.com/in-the-footsteps-of-aeneas/ Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

It's the most wonderful time of the year: that's right, the Lent of St. Martin! Okay okay, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, but the lead-up--known as the season of Advent--is an unbelievably rich tradition filled with deep meaning. On this Young Heretics special, I explain the big ideas of Advent through the surprising history of everyone's favorite song of the season, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." And God bless us, every one! Read my co-authored essay with Andrew Klavan (no relation) on AI: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/12/07/ai-idols-consciousness-religion-llms/ Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

It's time to talk about the shocking, the dramatic, the THRILLING and also, the kind of confusing end of Virgil's Aeneid. What a journey it's been! The story is never truly over, but as we leave Aeneas behind we have to ask--did Virgil mean for it to end this way? With Turnus' blood spilled ruthlessly on the ground and after that, the dark? Some say no--this is an incomplete ending that would have horrified the Emperor Augustus. I say yes--and Augustus would have been delighted. What do you say? Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Read my latest essay on AI cand ancient Jewish wisdom: https://www.civitasinstitute.org/research/ai-and-the-divine-test Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

The planets are aligning, the moment is almost here, the fates are sealed...or are they?? Today, in our penultimate episode, right as Aeneas looks poised to take up the mantle of his destiny and live out the greatness that Augustus will one day inherit, everything seems to fall apart. The Gods throw up their hands, and the Rutulians go ferociously to war against the Trojans. Can it be that Virgil actually doesn't want us to know what happens next? Can it be the future of Rome is not as guaranteed as it seemed to be? Find out on this episode--plus, advice for writers to hone their skills. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Read my latest essay on why AI can't do your writing for you: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com/p/writing-is-thinking Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

Today on Young Heretics: a violent and unjust seizure of indigenous land!!! At least, according to Juno and the Furies, goddesses of retribution and blood guilt. Actually, the situation in Rome and in the Aeneid is a lot more complicated than that, which is one reason why the conclusion of the poem is a refreshingly sophisticated antidote to our often-oversimplified conversations about history, territory, colonialism, and the sins of the past. Plus: a mailbag question about Charlie Kirk and Julius Caesar. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

...And also, pizza. Kind of. This might be one of the coolest parts of Virgil ever, and even though I've been reading the Aeneid since high school, I feel like I only just figured it out. One of the most famous lines of the poem—forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit, "one day it will be pleasing to remember even these things—finds its answer in Book 7, when Aeneas arrives on shore and has to face the possibility of war with the, erm...indigenous Latinx peoples. So much to discuss, here, and a great mailbag question about how to deal with situations you can't change. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com Read my essay on why we should read in thea ge of AI: https://www.thefp.com/p/what-happens-if-no-one-reads-culture-education

And now for something completely different. The Odyssey portion of our tour is over, and the Iliad portion will now begin. But wait! Wasn't the Iliad a poem about war? And isn't Aeneas supposed to do battle for Latium? So why is it all sunshine, butterflies, and love goddesses? Today we launch into Part II of the poem with a passage that has bamboozled scholars for centuries, and of course I will deliver the definitive interpretation so that everyone can stop arguing. Plus: a plot summary of what's to come, and advice on reading classic literature if you're having trouble understanding it. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com Listen to my sister's podcast, Storytime for Grownups: https://faithkmoore.com/storytime-for-grownups/ EPIC, the Musical: https://faithkmoore.com/storytime-for-grownups/ Stephen Fry, Odyssey: https://a.co/d/1rIbSBu Gareth Hinds, The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel: https://a.co/d/2kClqmN

It's time we finally talked about the elephant in the room: does Virgil actually like Augustus? Or is he just pretending? This doesn't seem to have been much of a question in the ancient world--the commentator Servius wrote quite bluntly that "Virgil's intention was to imitate Homer and praise Augustus." But in the wake of the two world wars, scholars in the Anglosphere started to wonder whether there might not be a hint of menace behind Virgil's apparently rosy picture of imperial Rome. This week on Young Heretics: the definitive take on all this, plus recommendations for the best translation of the Odyssey. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com Read my essay on translating Homer: https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/homer-without-heroes/

Everyone, everywhere, thinks about the afterlife. If you think you don't, you're wrong: you do. Because what you believe about life after death is an expression of how you think the universe is ordered, and whether you believe there's such a thing as ultimate justice. That in turn affects how you live--and almost no one has had a bigger impact on how we think about this in the West than Virgil. This week, we're going in--down through the Egyptian Book of the Dead, past the churning waters of the Babylonian afterlife, into the carefully mapped-out world of the Greco-Roman afterlife. Plus: one final, heartbreaking meeting with one of the poem's truly unforgettable characters. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

One of the West's great recurring characters, the Sibyl of Cumae, takes center stage today. Deranged, holy, prophetic, and apparently totally jacked, she guided Rome throughout its history and now teaches Aeneas what he must do to become the man who can found Rome. She may have been one of the pagan visionaires who prophesied the coming of Christ. Plus she's part of a crazy history that goes back to the invention of the alphabet and all the way to the creation of Star Wars. Then: another figure of speech you'll see everywhere once you learn it. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

If, like me, you're still sore about what they did to the Gladiator franchise, let this episode be part of your healing journey. It's certainly part of Aeneas': with the fleet grounded back in Sicily, the crew realizes it's been one year since the death of his father Anchises. This is the occasion for a good old fashioned fight night, with funeral games in honor of the great patriarch. It's a connection between Rome's gladiatorial entertainments and the heroic passtimes of yore, a way for Aeneas to seek closure after his year of grief, and a pause between the emotional tryst with Dido and the biggest challenge yet: the descent into the underworld. More on ancient sports: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/young-heretics/id1513602173?i=1000661793645 Check out our Sponsor, The Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/heretics Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

There are some indelible scenes inscribed forever into the psyche of the West, and the death of Dido is one of them. When William Congreve wrote that "Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd," he surely had in mind this archetype of all scorned women, the tragic heroine who stands in for every abandoned lover and for an entire civilization. Aeneas--and Rome--must leave her ruthlessly in the dust. But no one knows how to guilt trip you like your ex, and no one knows how to remonstrate with Rome like Carthage. All the same, in the end...destiny awaits. Check out our Sponsor, The Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/heretics Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com Judith Hallett, "Can Love Alleviate the Unseen Wounds of War?" https://www.openstarts.units.it/server/api/core/bitstreams/307c3466-87d4-4018-9cb0-598fa21d7200/content "I'm Not Sorry for Loving You," from EPiC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M3gzo-hSCo Readings in Western Civilization from the University of Chicago Press: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/RWC.html

Major Doron Spielman has dedicated much of his life to excavating the City of David, the ancient archaeological site just outside modern Jerusalem which confirms much of the Jewish history recorded in the Bible. It's an astonishing tale of theological warfare, cutting-edge scholarship, and contemporary politics that shows just how dramatically ancient and modern history sometimes converge. Major Spielman's NYT-bestselling book, When the Stones Speak, is rich with fascinating details about the impressive and ongoing effort to uncover the mysteries of ancient Jerusalem. Order When the Stones Speak: The Remarkable Discovery of the City of David: https://a.co/d/ejf3JRl Check out our Sponsor, The Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/heretics Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

I'm not saying that the catastrophe in Carthage could have been avoided. I'm just saying, everyone--the two main characters especially--behaved very badly. Now the deed is done, the nymphs are ululating, the "wedding"(?) announcements are out, and the gods are on the move to put a stop to all this. Which means Aeneas has some hard conversations he has to have and he...punts. Not his proudest moment. But instructive for us and as always, beautiful, timeless poetry. Enjoy! Check out our Sponsor, The Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/heretics Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

This is it: Book 4 of the Aeneid. The storm of love that's been brewing now breaks into full force. Two human sisters start flirting with disaster while two divine frenemies enter into a catty pseudo-alliance. It's a nuclear-grade meltdown of relations between the sexes, all taking place under the soaring vault of destiny. Dido transforms before our eyes into a deranged Greek tragic heroine on the model of Phaedra or Medea, while Juno and Venus find their power dynamic flipped on its head from what it used to be in Homer. It's master craftsmanship and master politics on Virgil's part...and hot tea for us. Check out our Sponsor, The Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/heretics Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

Virgil, master of the setup, is now laying the groundwork for some of the Aeneid's major setpieces: the love affair with Dido, the voyage into the underworld. But first Aeneas has to pass a different milestone, one that people sometimes miss: he has to say goodbye to his father. It's one of the most human moments of the poem--something every single one of us has to go through--elevated to magisterial significance in the hero's journey. Follow along with us to the end of Book III as Aeneas enters a new stage in his adventure. Plus: a firsthand update from the Ivies after my trip to Ithaca to give a speech at Cornell. Check out our Sponsor, The Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/heretics Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com