A conversation with Paul Magdalino (St. Andrews and Koç University) about the literary traditions and genres that Constantinopolitans developed to talk about the origins, history, cosmic importance, and superlative beauty of their city -- the City. The conversation touches on themes in Paul's recent book, Roman Constantinople in Byzantine Perspective: The Memorial and Aesthetic Rediscovery of Constantine's Beautiful City, from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance (Brill 2024). Like the book, our discussion culminates with the majestic oration Byzantios by Theodoros Metochites.

A conversation with Hannah Moots (Center for Palaeogenetics, Stockholm) about paleogenetic research, its goals, methods, and conclusions. What does it mean to study ancient DNA, and what does it tell us about human history? The conversation is based on an article co-authored by Hannah and many other collaborators entitled "Ancient Rome: A Genetic Crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean," Science 366 (2019) 708-714.

A conversation with Maroula Perisanidi (University of Leeds) about the distinctive kind of masculinity that was fashioned by scholars and priests in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the challenges and deficits that it faced, and the masculine capital that men in those occupations tried to amass and then spend. The conversation is based on Maroula's just published book Masculinity in Byzantium, c. 1000-1200: Scholars, Clerics and Violence (Cambridge University Press 2024).