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Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean
It's One of the Most Ancient Cities on the Planet, Gaza (Conversation Re-Air, w/ Dr Chance Bonar)
Season 9
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The Western World is ready to sit back and watch as one of the oldest cities, in one of the most historical rich countries on the planet, is wiped off the face of the earth. The people of Gaza, and Palestine, are stewards of their land and have been since long, long before the 'West' even existed. This episode is selections from my episode on Palestine's rich ancient history and a reading of Herodotus, from 5th Century BCE, and considered to be the 'Father of History'.
This episode originally aired in February 2025: Liv speaks with ancient and biblical scholar Chance Bonar about the history of Palestine and the ancient Levant. This conversation examines the history of the place and the people, people which included Jews and Judaism co-existing with others who have called that land home since the Bronze Age, those same people the west seeks to erase. There is no attempt to delegitimize Jewish history in the region, only to examine how many peoples existed there and for how long. We look at the myth of the Roman Empire "inventing" Palestine and all the many crimes the Romans did in fact commit against the people in that region, primarily the ancient Jews and Judaism itself. The love being sent to Palestine here does not exclude Judaism but embraces all of the people who have called that land home. Everyone deserves to live freely on their ancestral land and no country should exist where one group has more rights and freedoms than another.
Submit to the quarterly Q&A at mythsbaby.com/questions and get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Further reading: Everyday Orientalism's Palestine primer; Rashid Khalidi's Hundred Years War on Palestine.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.
Learn more about Liv's next group trip to GREECE, this time following along with Ariadne's escape from Theseus. Check out Liv's new book, The Odyssey: a Modern Retelling. Get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby.
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817. Some More Herodotean Madness (Herodotus Bk. 3, pt. 3)
39:15||Season 10, Ep. 817More Herodotus because why not at the end of the day?AVAILABLE NOW! The Odyssey: a Modern Retelling. Submit your question for the next Q&A via email or a voice note. Get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby. Enter our podcast guest form if you'd like to be on the show as a conversation guest!CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. I try to provide direct warnings when there is reference to anything with overtly traumatic themes but be aware that Greek mythology regularly features assault, death, and many other potentially triggering events.Sources: Herodotus' Histories, translated by Tom Holland.Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.816. Liv Reads Homer: The Odyssey (A Modern Translation!) Book 22
01:13:13||Season 10, Ep. 816Liv reads Book 22of Homer's Odyssey, translated by Ian Johnston. This entire book is basically just a massacre... thanks Odysseus! This modern translation is used with immense gratitude to translator Ian Johnston and Vancouver Island University. Submit questions and prompts for future Odyssey readings at mythsbaby.com/questions and get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbabyCW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. I try to provide direct warnings when there is reference to anything with overtly traumatic themes but be aware that Greek mythology regularly features assault, death, and many other potentially triggering events.This is not a standard narrative story episode, it's a reading of an ancient source, audiobook style. For regular episodes look for any that don't have "Liv Reads..." in the title!Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.Back To School Replay: A Most Sophoclean Prophecy, Women & Wordplay in Sophocles’ Trachiniae w/ Amy Pistone
01:18:44||Season 10This episode originally aired in March 2022. Liv speaks with returning guest Amy Pistone who specializing in Sophoclean tragedy. Amy shares some of the complexities hidden within the Trachiniae and they discuss Sophoclean prophecies (ie., the origin of Never Trust the Oracle). Follow Amy on Twitter. AVAILABLE NOW! The Odyssey: a Modern Retelling. Submit your question for the next Q&A via email or a voice note. Get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby. Enter our podcast guest form if you'd like to be on the show as a conversation guest!CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. I try to provide direct warnings when there is reference to anything with overtly traumatic themes but be aware that Greek mythology regularly features assault, death, and many other potentially triggering events.Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.Back To School Replay: When Poisoned Shirts Have Got You Down, Deianeira & the Women of Trachis (Heracles & Sophocles’ Trachiniae Part 3)
44:57||Season 10This episode originally aired in March 2022. In the finale of the Trachiniae series, Deianeira deals with what she has inadvertently done, and Heracles finally returns to Trachis. AVAILABLE NOW! The Odyssey: a Modern Retelling. Submit your question for the next Q&A via email or a voice note. Get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby. Enter our podcast guest form if you'd like to be on the show as a conversation guest!CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. I try to provide direct warnings when there is reference to anything with overtly traumatic themes but be aware that Greek mythology regularly features assault, death, and many other potentially triggering events.Sources: Theoi.com; Sophocles' Women of Trachis/The Trachiniae, translations by Robert Torrance, George Theodoridis, and Peter Meineck. Quote from the Meineck unless otherwise noted in the episode. Thanks to Ash Strain for researching the play, as always!Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.Back To School Replay: Deianeira, Iole, & the Violence of Heracles’ Love (Hercules & Sophocles’ Trachiniae Part 2)
39:41||Season 10This episode originally aired in March 2022. Continuing on with Sophocles' Women of Trachis, Deianeira learns the truth of where Heracles has been all this time, and what he's been doing. Spoilers: it's not good. AVAILABLE NOW! The Odyssey: a Modern Retelling. Submit your question for the next Q&A via email or a voice note. Get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby. Enter our podcast guest form if you'd like to be on the show as a conversation guest!CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. I try to provide direct warnings when there is reference to anything with overtly traumatic themes but be aware that Greek mythology regularly features assault, death, and many other potentially triggering events.Sources: Theoi.com; Sophocles' Women of Trachis/The Trachiniae, translations by Robert Torrance, George Theodoridis, and Peter Meineck. Quote from the Meineck unless otherwise noted in the episode. Thanks to Ash Strain for researching the play, as always!Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.Back To School Replay: A Husband Like Heracles (Hercules), the Tragedy of Deianeira (Sophocles’ Trachiniae Part 1)
32:28||Season 10This episode originally aired in March 2022. Heracles is a complicated fellow... Or maybe it's not so complicated. Sophocles' Trachiniae, the Women of Trachis, looks at the life, and tragedy, of Heracles' last mortal wife, Deianeira. AVAILABLE NOW! The Odyssey: a Modern Retelling. Submit your question for the next Q&A via email or a voice note. Get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby. Enter our podcast guest form if you'd like to be on the show as a conversation guest!CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. I try to provide direct warnings when there is reference to anything with overtly traumatic themes but be aware that Greek mythology regularly features assault, death, and many other potentially triggering events.Sources: Theoi.com; Sophocles' Women of Trachis/The Trachiniae, translations by Robert Torrance, George Theodoridis, and Peter Meineck. Quote from the Meineck unless otherwise noted in the episode. Thanks to Ash Strain for researching the play, as always!Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.815. Conversations: Picking Apart Truth from Satire in Lucian's On the Syrian Goddess w/ Dr Gillian Glass
02:00:48||Season 10, Ep. 815Liv speaks with returning guest Dr Gillian Glass, and this one is for the hell of it (ie., not at all Gillian's specialty). Learn more about Gillian's work here, and the ANINAN project here. If you're curious about Lucian's On the Syrian Goddess you can find the full text here. AVAILABLE NOW! The Odyssey: a Modern Retelling. Submit your question for the next Q&A via email or a voice note. Get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby. Enter our podcast guest form if you'd like to be on the show as a conversation guest!CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. I try to provide direct warnings when there is reference to anything with overtly traumatic themes but be aware that Greek mythology regularly features assault, death, and many other potentially triggering events.Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.814. A Tale of Three Tyrants (Herodotus Bk 3, Part 2)
39:34||Season 10, Ep. 814We now explore the madness of Cambyses, the Samian tyrant Polykrates, and good old Periander, the tyrant of Corinth. It's a tyrant heavy episode y'all but perhaps Herodotus is asking us to consider power and how it affects people? That doesn't seem relevant in any way whatsoever to what is happening in our current day and age, no not at all.AVAILABLE NOW! The Odyssey: a Modern Retelling. Submit your question for the next Q&A via email or a voice note. Get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby. Enter our podcast guest form if you'd like to be on the show as a conversation guest!CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. I try to provide direct warnings when there is reference to anything with overtly traumatic themes but be aware that Greek mythology regularly features assault, death, and many other potentially triggering events.Sources: Herodotus' Histories, translated by Tom Holland.Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.813. Liv Reads Homer: The Odyssey (A Modern Translation!) Books 20 and 21
01:01:32||Season 10, Ep. 813Liv reads Books 20 and 21 of Homer's Odyssey, translated by Ian Johnston. It's time for Odysseus and Penelope to have a little chat, before things really kick off. This modern translation is used with immense gratitude to translator Ian Johnston and Vancouver Island University. Submit questions and prompts for future Odyssey readings at mythsbaby.com/questions and get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbabyCW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. I try to provide direct warnings when there is reference to anything with overtly traumatic themes but be aware that Greek mythology regularly features assault, death, and many other potentially triggering events.This is not a standard narrative story episode, it's a reading of an ancient source, audiobook style. For regular episodes look for any that don't have "Liv Reads..." in the title!Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.