Myths and movies with a doctor of classics; only the Greek episodes are indexed
29 episodes indexed · 32 hours · Sara Hales-Brittain, Luke Patrick, and Sam Siegel
Periods · The Bronze Age, Archaic Greece, The Persian Wars, Classical Greece, Philip and Alexander, The Hellenistic world, Greece under Rome
Themes · Religion War Empire and colonies
A podcast about myths, movies and one doctor of classics teaching history and mythology to two friends; only the Greek episodes are here, 29 of 56, 7 eras, 32 hours.
Where to start. The earliest indexed episode is '300 - The Battle of Thermopylae and the Persian Wars' (2023); 29 episodes of this show are in the section.
I feel like…
ideas, belief and how a polis was ordered
stories, performance, art and ordinary lives
war and expansion
when it happens
how much time you have
Minoans and Mycenaeans c. 3000 - 1100 BC · 5
In the series premiere, Sara Hales-Brittain teaches Luke and Sam the legend of the Trojan War, the epic cycle, and Paris's past, weighing the film Troy against the Iliad.
Sara, Luke, and Sam trace Homer's Odyssey through the loose adaptation O Brother, Where Art Thou?, covering tricksy heroes, the Underworld, and Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey and Edith Hamilton's Mythology.
Sara and Sam revisit Homer's Odyssey through the film Ulysses, exploring its supporting characters, Polyphemus wooing Galatea, ancient fanfiction, and more Kirk Douglas on screen.
Sara and Sam revisit the Trojan War through the 2018 series Troy: Fall of a City, weighing its chariots, birth plans, retelling of Helen, and distracting bowl cuts.
Sam and Sara examine Epic: The Musical, a Gen Z Odyssey retelling, discussing amoral heroes and the best bit of the Odyssey that this adaptation left out.
The Persian Wars 499 - 449 BC · 3
Sara, Luke, and Sam turn from myth to ancient history with the 2007 film 300, covering the Battle of Thermopylae, the Persian Wars, Spartan life, jock rock, and the Greeks' aversion to pants.
Sara and Sam tackle the Chronicles: Battle for Greece campaign in Age of Empires 2, discussing Europeans stealing historical treasures, ancient tyrants and the Ionian revolt.
Sara and Sam continue their Age of Empires 2 campaign into the Persian War, covering ostracism procedures, wily old Themistocles, and Sara's waning tolerance for podcasting while pregnant.
Classical Athens and Sparta 479 - 386 BC · 1
Sara and Sam close their Age of Empires 2 series with the Peloponnesian War, covering optimistic peace agreements, ancient plague and a look back on the highlights of Season 3.
Philip and Alexander 359 - 323 BC · 1
Sara, Luke, and Sam explore the life of the Macedonian king and general Alexander the Great, weighing four film versions, Irish accents, and a slip mixing Persian Wars with Peloponnesian.
The Hellenistic Age 323 - 31 BC · 1
Sam and Sara pit two Total War versions of the Battle of Raphia against each other, covering the Hellenistic successor kingdoms, the pronunciation of Seleucid, and African and Asian elephants meeting in one clash.
Rome and the Greek World 200 - 31 BC · 1
Sara and Sam discuss the Battle of Pydna in Total War: Rome II, with Plutarch, Livy and Polybius on the Macedonian War, plus layoffs, unions and war elephants.
Greek Life, Thought and the Wider World across the centuries · 17
Sara and Sam discuss Theseus, styled here as Heracles 2.0, weighing Greek geography, myth soup movies, and the film Immortals starring Henry Cavill.
Sara and Sam break down the myths behind the Netflix series Kaos, weighing Prometheus against Zeus, trans people in myth, prophecy interpretation, and Hera's creepy tongue room.
Sam and Sara explore the Amazons behind Wonder Woman, weighing misogynistic geographers, Artemis's rage, Scythian warrior women, and the myth of Actaeon from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Sara, Luke, and Sam chase the Golden Fleece through 1963's Jason and the Argonauts, tracing Hecate worship, stop-motion magic, the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, and Phineus and the Harpies.
Sara, Luke, and Sam pair The Princess Bride with the underappreciated ancient Greek novels, the subject of Sara's blog Medea Palatina, which argues The Princess Bride is actually an ancient Greek novel.
With Jackie Banigan
Guest Jackie Banigan joins Sara and Sam to explore the myth of Orpheus as the rock star of ancient Greece, with Eurydice's loss, the Argonauts saved by his song, and the Parisian demimonde of Moulin Rouge.
Sara, Luke, and Sam tackle Aristophanes's comedy Lysistrata through Spike Lee's Chi-Raq, weighing a vow of chastity, a big brass bed, and John Cusack's role in the film.
Sara and Sam dish up the myth soup that is Percy Jackson, with Phidias's Athena Parthenos, Chiron's anatomy, Athena and Poseidon competing to be patron of Athens, and Aeschylus's Eumenides.
Sara, Luke, and Sam tour Disney's Hercules as Sara teaches everything about this himbo hero, with Sophocles' Women of Trachis on his death and Euripides' Alcestis, where he saves the heroine.
The hosts end their time with the Titans on 2012's Wrath of the Titans, taking in Pandora, Hephaestus and Rip Torn's Greek God kudos, with Pseudo-Apollodorus's Library and the Gigantomachy frieze of the Pergamon Altar.
Sara, Luke, and Sam open the Titans saga with 1981's Clash of the Titans, tracing Perseus and Andromeda through Ovid and Ray Harryhausen, plus ancient art, special effects, and Laurence Olivier.
Sara, Luke and Sam break down the myth of Pygmalion, the original incel, with ancient pickup artists, blurred lines between sculpture and real life, the movie Lars and the Real Girl, and Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Sara and Sam bring hot takes on the Broadway musical Hadestown, recapping the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice before wedding night ceremonies, opera adaptations, unionizing, and the perfect song.
Sara and Sam discuss two constructed women, Pygmalion's statue and Pandora, tracing Pandora's story in Hesiod's Works and Days and a nod to Jewish folklore's Golem of Prague.
Sam and Sara puzzle over Krapopolis and its fish man, with Orion's unsavory origins in Ovid's Fasti and the story of Ate's banishment in the Iliad.