Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean

This is an episode of Ancient History Fangirl. Have you noticed that our tech overlords cannot be normal about the Roman Empire? Elon Musk has approximately 14 known children, which he refers to as his “Legion.” Mark Zuckerberg famously took the Emperor Augustus on his honeymoon. And in some of the darker corners of the Internet (and real life), wildly rich techbros openly fantasize about a “Red Caesar” who will come to rule us all. Why is that? Where does this obsession with ancient Rome come from, specifically among our techbro overlords? In this episode, we’re going to attempt to unpack that.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.

More 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.

Liv 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.

This 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.

This 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.

This 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.

This 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.

Liv 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.

We 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.