Downstream: Europe’s Ancient Myths, Current Crises & Future Possibilities w/ Roderick Beaton

In this episode of Novara Media's Downstream, host discusses Roderick Beaton's new book, 'Europe: A New History,' which traces the continent's identity from ancient Greece through to the present. Beaton argues that Europe is not defined by race, territory, or religion, but by a shared cultural and historical narrative—what he calls 'the story of Europe.' He explores how the boundary between Europe and Asia was first drawn by the Greeks at the Hellespont, a line later weaponized by Herodotus to frame the Persian Wars as a continental clash. The conversation delves into the Roman Empire's role in unifying Europe through conquest and law, the failure of later emperors like Charles V to replicate that unity, and the enduring legacy of Roman ideas in modern institutions like the U.S. Capitol. Beaton examines how Christianity and Islam shaped Europe’s self-definition, particularly through the Reconquista and the Ottoman threat, and how the Inquisition’s persecution of Jews and Muslims reveals the deep entanglement of religion and race in European identity. He also reflects on Russia’s ambiguous status—historically European in culture but geographically and ideologically contested—and how Putin’s narrative of Ukraine as a Russian invention challenges Europe’s borders. Ultimately, Beaton calls for a unified European voice, including a European army and possibly a nuclear deterrent, to resist domination by either America or Russia in an age of multipolarity.