Liv Albert on Greek myths and the wider ancient Mediterranean, told casually and with sarcasm; only the Greek episodes are indexed
539 episodes indexed · 442 hours
Presented by Liv Albert
Periods · The Bronze Age, Archaic Greece, The Persian Wars, Classical Greece, Philip and Alexander, The Hellenistic world, Greece under Rome
Liv Albert tells Greek myths and the history of the wider ancient Mediterranean in a casual, sarcastic voice, with scholar and author conversations and readings of the epics alongside; only the Greek episodes are here, 536 of 860, 7 eras, 440 hours.
Where to start. The earliest indexed episode is 'Eatin' Kids & Killin' Dads, an Introduction to Greek Mythology' (2017); 539 episodes of this show are in the section.
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Minoans and Mycenaeans c. 3000 - 1100 BC · 309
With Charlotte Gregory
Charlotte Gregory discusses the reception of masculinity in Christopher Nolan's Odyssey and in the Hollywood epic tradition.
With Emily Hauser
Author Emily Hauser discusses her book on the women of Homer's epics and, through them, the women of the Bronze Age.
With Joshua Cannon
Classicist and veteran Joshua Cannon discusses the Iliad and warfare in the ancient Mediterranean, exploring how war is bad, actually.
With Christie Vogler, Joel P. Christensen, Joe Goodkin
Christie Vogler is joined by Homerist Joel Christensen and modern Homeric bard Joe Goodkin to discuss EPIC: The Musical and their favourite moments from it.
With Flint Dibble
Flint Dibble explains how animal bone evidence ties climate change and failing food production to the Late Bronze Age collapse.
With Cora Beth Fraser
Dr. Cora Beth Fraser joins Liv to examine the Minotaur, Asterion, within the Labyrinth and his relationship to autism and autistic people.
With Julia Perroni
Liv reads Books 8 and 9 of Homer's Odyssey in Ian Johnston's modern translation, where Odysseus's story finally begins as he starts narrating his adventures.
With Eric Cline
Eric Cline discusses what is known about the end of the Bronze Age and what did and did not contribute to its collapse.
With Ruby Blondell
Conversations: author and scholar Ruby Blondell joins Liv to discuss Helen of Sparta, Troy, and the Silver Screen, tied to her new book Helen of Troy in Hollywood.
With Joel P. Christensen
Liv and Michaela talk with returning guest Joel Christensen about the Iliad as an anti-war epic, questioning who gets the choice to fight and who doesn't.
With Kacper Szymczak
Game director Kacper Szymczak discusses Minos, a game inspired by the myth of Theseus, and what counts as canon in Greek mythology.
Liv continues reading Homer's Odyssey, Books 16 and 17, as Telemachus returns to Ithaca and reunites with his father Odysseus.
Liv opens a new audiobook-style reading of Homer's Odyssey in Ian Johnston's modern translation, kicking off what she calls a never-ending Odyssey with Books 1 and 2.
With Maya Deane
Conversations: Maya Deane, author of Wrath Goddess Sing, joins Liv to discuss her retelling of the Iliad with a trans Achilles, set in a historically Bronze Age Trojan War.
Liv continues her audiobook-style reading of Homer's Odyssey in Ian Johnston's modern translation, moving into Book 4 as another reading of an ancient source.
With Helen Lovatt
Conversations: Helen Lovatt, professor of Classics and author of a book on the Argonauts, joins Liv to discuss the Argonautika and its many varied versions.
With Emma Pauly
Classicist and dramaturg Emma Pauly joins Liv to examine a nonbinary reading of Dionysus in Euripides' Bacchae and its implications for Pentheus.
With Laura Jenkinson Brown
Liv and Laura Jenkinson Brown of Greek Myth Comix compare their separate projects retelling the Odyssey, each in distinct ways.
With Felicia Day
Author Felicia Day discusses her graphic novel imagining the untold story of a little-known daughter of Sparta.
Liv continues reading Homer's Odyssey, Books 12 and 13, as Odysseus escapes Scylla and Charybdis twice before finally reaching Ithaca.
With Rani Selvarajah
Conversations: Rani Selvarajah joins Liv to discuss her novel Savage Beasts, a retelling of Medea recast with Jason as a colonizer, set in colonial India.
Joel Christensen discusses Odysseus and what the long, wandering journey of the Odyssey should actually be understood to mean.
Liv speaks with Laura Jenkinson Brown of Greek Myth Comix about the heroes of epic, weighing the good and bad of Achilles, Odysseus and Aeneas.
With Emily Edwards
Liv speaks with Emily Edwards of F***bois of Literature to break down the horrors committed by Theseus in the most casual, ranty style, declaring him the absolute worst.
With Kim Shelton
With Alexia Burrows Charalambidou
Conversations: Alexia Burrows Charalambidou discusses the kalon kakon, the beautiful evil ascribed to mythological women including Pandora, Helen, Medea, and Circe.
With Meagan Cleveland
Conversations: debut author Meagan Cleveland joins Liv to discuss Thebes and her YA novel Riddles of the Sphinx, about Oedipus' underrated daughter and sister, Ismene.
With Julie Levy
Independent scholar Julie Levy joins Liv to discuss asexuality in Greek myth through Atalanta and Hippolytus, with hints of Artemis, Athena and Hestia.
Part two of the New Year Q&A: Liv answers questions on studying the ancient Mediterranean, on Odysseus and Theseus, and on finding good translations of Greek texts.
With Ioanna Papadopoulou
Conversations: author Ioanna Papadopoulou joins Liv to discuss Greece in myth retellings, the feminism of Demeter's rage, and her novel Winter Harvest.
With CW Marshall
Conversations: CW Marshall, who has written the book on Euripides' Helen, joins Liv to discuss its background and context, and Euripides' fragmentary play Andromeda.
Liv reads Book 22 of Homer's Odyssey in Ian Johnston's modern translation, an entire book that amounts to a massacre after Odysseus finally comes home.
Liv continues her audiobook-style reading of Homer's Odyssey in Ian Johnston's modern translation, moving through Books 6 and 7 as another reading of an ancient source.
This bonus episode is Liv's unstructured reaction to Christopher Nolan's Odyssey film and Emily Wilson's review of it for the LRB.
Liv finishes reading Quintus Smyrnaeus' Fall of Troy, covering the war's final horrors and the Greeks' troubled journey home.
Liv continues reading Quintus Smyrnaeus' Fall of Troy, covering the funeral games the Greeks held for Achilles, organized by Thetis.
Liv continues reading Quintus Smyrnaeus' Fall of Troy, where the Trojans gain a new champion in Eurypylus, grandson of Heracles.
With Kyle Lewis Jordan
Liv speaks with Kyle Lewis Jordan about the complexities of Hephaestus in relation to his impairment and broader scholarship on disability in the ancient world.
Liv continues reading Quintus Smyrnaeus' Fall of Troy, covering the Trojan Horse stratagem and its disastrous outcome for Sinon and Laocoon.
Liv reads Book 10 of Homer's Odyssey in Ian Johnston's modern translation, welcoming listeners to Aiaia for a chapter of winds, giants, and witches.
Liv closes her audiobook-style reading of Homer's Odyssey in Ian Johnston's translation, with dramatic reunions of the living and the dead, more unnecessary lies, and a tidy final bow in Books 23 and 24.
With Vanessa Stovall
Liv speaks with Vanessa Stovall about depictions of hair across myth and tragedy of the Classical world, plus a healthy dose of why Apollo isn't all that.
With Jennifer Saint
With Sophia Kouidou-Giles
Conversations: Greek-American author Sophia Kouidou-Giles joins Liv to discuss giving Circe the agency she deserves, Skylla, Greece, and her novel An Unexpected Ally.
Liv continues reading Quintus Smyrnaeus' Fall of Troy, as the wounded Paris turns to the wife he abandoned for Helen to save him.
With Natalie Haynes
Liv continues reading Quintus Smyrnaeus' Fall of Troy, as Neoptolemus helps the Greeks defeat Eurypylus before Troy's final stand.
Liv continues reading Homer's Odyssey, Book 11, as Odysseus journeys to the realm of the dead.
Liv continues reading Homer's Odyssey, Book 19, as Odysseus and Penelope finally speak together before the story's climax.
Conversations: bestselling author Jennifer Saint, now a four time guest, joins Liv to discuss the heroine Atalanta and reimagining her in Saint's new novel of the same name.
The second conversation with Kyle Lewis Jordan turns to Hephaestus's relationship with Athena and Aphrodite and to modern reception of the god and disability today.
This episode looks at how later ancient sources retroactively expanded and revised Odysseus's story beyond what the Odyssey itself tells.
Liv continues reading Homer's Odyssey, Books 20 and 21, as Odysseus and Penelope's household moves toward its climax.
Liv continues reading Homer's Odyssey, Book 14, as Odysseus returns to Ithaca and begins telling more lies.
Liv reads from Quintus Smyrnaeus' Fall of Troy, in which the Greeks honor the dead Achilles with funeral games organized by Thetis.
With Amy Pistone
With Anwen Kya Hayward
Liv speaks with Anwen Kya Hayward, author of the Medusa novella Here, the World Entire, about the intricacies and nuances of Medea, with Jason and Theseus dragged into the conversation too.
With Aimee Hinds
Phaedra, reduced to a stereotype in Euripides' Hippolytus, gets a fuller telling in this episode, alongside a conversation with author Jennifer Saint about her new book Ariadne.
Liv and Michaela debate Helen and Clytemnestra, weighing everything the two women are recorded doing across the ancient sources.
Liv continues reading Homer's Odyssey, Book 15, as Telemachus prepares to return home from his travels with divine help.
Liv continues her audiobook-style reading of Homer's Odyssey in Ian Johnston's modern translation, moving into Book 3 as another reading of an ancient source.
Book XVI of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Patroclus entering battle wearing Achilles's own armour, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
With Danielle LaRose
Actor and playwright Danielle LaRose discusses her new play The Amazonomachy, retelling the myths of the Amazons, in this conversation with Liv.
Liv continues reading Homer's Odyssey, Book 18, as the disguised Odysseus returns to a palace in crisis.
Liv continues Quintus Smyrnaeus' The Fall of Troy, the only surviving source retelling the end of the Trojan War, as Troy reels after the Amazon Penthesilea's death.
With Christie Vogler
Euripides is credited here as the source of all of Medea's lasting fame, paired with an original song about her written and performed by listener Alison Rush.
This Q&A answers listener questions about the Ethiopian king Memnon and other unresolved pieces of the Trojan War story.
Liv continues reading Quintus Smyrnaeus' Fall of Troy, as Odysseus and Diomedes search for Achilles' son Neoptolemus to counter Eurypylus.
Liv reads Homer's Iliad Book V in Samuel Butler's prose translation, in which Diomedes runs rampant on the battlefield through this bonus reading episode.
Liv and Michaela discuss Odysseus's encounter with Polyphemus and how the Odyssey frames the Cyclops as a monstrous outsider.
Liv discusses writing her own modern retelling of the Odyssey and reads a passage from the finished book.
This episode retells the myth of the Lemnian women, who took revenge on their abusers and oppressors.
This first-ever live recording at the Vancouver Podcast Festival covers the stories of Zeus, Io, Hera and Argus, plus Orpheus and Eurydice, followed by audience questions.
Clytemnestra's anger and Iphigenia's strength close out this third part of Euripides's tragedy about the sacrifice of Agamemnon's eldest daughter that let the Greek fleet sail for Troy.
Book XI of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Achilles sending Patroclus to find out what has been going on in the war.
Book XIII of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, has a prophet warning Hector about Achilles in this bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Book XXIII of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows the ghost of Patroclus visiting Achilles, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
In this New Years episode, Liv and Michaela react to the news that Christopher Nolan is adapting the Odyssey.
Book XXIV of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Zeus forcing Achilles to return the body of Hector, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Book IV of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Telemachus visiting Sparta for news from Menelaus, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
This reading of Book IV, part two, of Apollonios' Argonautika follows the fleeing Argonauts reaching Circe's island on their way toward the Phaeacians.
This episode surveys Bronze Age Greece's contact with the wider Mediterranean, weighing the evidence for a historical Troy.
This brief history covers the Minoan people of Bronze Age Crete, drawing on written sources such as Thucydides and Rodney Castleden.
Liv reads the final part of Apollonios' Argonautika: the Argonauts leave Phaeacia with Jason and Medea already married, then get lost in Libya before finally reaching the Greek mainland.
Ariadne is more than the Minotaur, the Labyrinth, Theseus or even Dionysus, argues this conversation with author Jennifer Saint about her new book retelling Ariadne and Phaedra.
In this rambling holiday special, Liv and Michaela debate who was worse, Achilles or Odysseus, in a lighthearted Battle of the Bastards showdown.
Euripides' Orestes concludes: Apollo enters to tie everything in a nice little bow, amid murder, mayhem, and weirdly helpful gods.
A crossover with the Next Door Villain podcast has Liv, Joe and Tiana discussing Medusa's story, the good and the bad, with fair warning that politics and feminism come up.
Book XVII of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, covers the fight over the body of Patroclus in this bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
This reading of Book III, part three, of Apollonios' Argonautika follows Medea helping Jason complete Aeetes's quests, beginning with a team of angry bronze bulls.
This episode examines the women encountered in the underworld during Odysseus's journey in Homer's Odyssey.
Liv continues her audiobook-style reading of Homer's Odyssey in Ian Johnston's modern translation, entering Book 5 and introducing what the show calls a less than heroic Hero.
And It All Goes Up In Flames: in the finale of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos, everything long expected finally comes out.
Siblings Orestes and Electra's murderous party continues in a story that, again, all three remaining Greek tragedians found worth telling.
This episode traces the historical Mycenaeans of Bronze Age Greece, the archaeological reality behind Homer's mythic king Agamemnon.
Book XV of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Zeus sending Apollo to help the Trojans in this bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Prometheus Bound continues: Prometheus tells Io of her ongoing suffering and the dynasty she will start, before Hermes arrives with news from Zeus.
Beware the Wrath of the Furies: Euripides' Orestes takes place after the end of the Trojan War and the death of Agamemnon, with the Furies screaming for blood.
This bonus reading covers part one of Book I of Apollonios' Argonautika in RC Seaton's translation, as the heroes of the Argo assemble and plan their quest for the Golden Fleece.
Getting Down & Dirty With Mortals: Aphrodite's affair with the Trojan Anchises led to the birth of the Trojan prince Aeneas, more interesting before the Romans got hold of him.
Sophocles' Antigone continues: Kreon speaks with his son, who was set to marry Antigone, before Antigone is finally sentenced to her death, as destiny eclipses everything.
Parthenogenesis, Prehistoric Goddesses, and the Threat of an Independent Woman: parthenogenic births, Bronze Age goddess figurines, and theories of goddess history in Hesiod's Theogony.
Euripides' Orestes continues: Orestes pleads his case to Menelaus and Tyndareus, and his beloved friend Pylades enters, in the episode Setting the House Ablaze, Not Using Fire.
This reading of Book II, part three, of Apollonios' Argonautika follows further deaths and adventures before the Argonauts finally reach the land of Colchis.
This reading of Book IV, part one, of Apollonios' Argonautika follows Medea fleeing Colchis with Jason as the Argonauts plot to escape her brother Apsyrtus.
The Ancient Heist You Never Knew You Needed: in the finale of Euripides' Helen, Helen and Menelaus execute their escape from Egypt, and Theoclymenus receives unexpectedly divine guests.
Sophocles' Antigone continues: Antigone is caught burying Polyneices, and both she and Ismene are blamed by Kreon, testing where the law's limits lie.
That Paris Guy Is Worse Than You Think: the famous prince of Troy had a wife before Helen, the nymph Oenone, whose story unfolds here.
Estranged Siblings, a Mysterious Statue, and a Dramatic Escape: the newly reunited siblings of Euripides' Iphigenia Among the Taurians plan their escape from the Taurians.
Book XIX of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Odysseus finally speaking with Penelope while spinning even more detailed lies about his identity.
Prometheus vs. the Tyranny of Zeus: Prometheus laments his fate, meets the Titan Oceanus, and finally encounters Io, a woman and survivor of Zeus.
Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos continues: Oedipus defends himself against the accusations, though there is far more to the death of Laius than he understands, amid so many prophecies.
No One Does a Dramatic Sibling Reveal Quite Like Euripides: Iphigenia, Orestes, and Pylades deal with a bit of a misunderstanding, this family's worst luck continuing.
Liv reads Homer's Iliad Book I in Samuel Butler's prose translation, opening mid-story as a priest arrives to ask the Greeks to return his captive daughter.
Liv reads Homer's Iliad Book IX in Samuel Butler's prose translation, a bonus episode in which Agamemnon tries to make amends with Achilles.
Book XI of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Odysseus traveling to the Underworld to visit with the dead.
Euripides' Helen: circumstances are difficult for Helen in Egypt, and grow more complicated when Menelaus arrives on the scene.
Euripides' Trojan Women follows the horror after Troy's fall through Hecuba its queen, Cassandra its prophetess, and Andromache, the widow of Hector.
Oceanus, Nereus and the many Oceanid and Nereid nymphs populate this survey of the gods, Titans and creatures ruling the waters of Greek mythology.
Helen of Sparta, later of Troy, shifts depending on where you're looking; examining the Helen of Homer, and of Sparta itself.
So Much More Than Just Achilles' Mother: Thetis may have been mother to one of the most famous heroes, but she did and meant so much more, a strong-willed saviour.
Who Doesn't Like a Good, If Deadly, Riddle?: the Sphinxian background to Oedipus Tyrannos, why the Sphinx was sent to Thebes, and whether it was Laius' fault.
Zeus fathered most of the second generation of Olympians through conquests involving several women and, in one story, a man.
The Trojan War ends with Achilles and his famous heel, the Trojan horse, and the fate awaiting the Trojans once the Greeks are done.
This second part delivers the bloody, gruesome finale to Euripides' last play, Bacchae, drawing on translations by Emily Wilson, James Morwood and Anne Carson.
Book XXI of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Achilles fighting the corpse-filled river Xanthus, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
The Greek fleet cannot sail for Troy until Agamemnon sacrifices his eldest daughter Iphigenia, a story Euripides's tragedy tells at its darkest here.
Euripides' Helen: Menelaus and Helen are reunited in Egypt and begin plotting their escape, following Euripides' surprisingly sympathetic take on Menelaus.
Just a Nice Young Man From a Nice Family: Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos, the story of a man who kills his father and marries his mother, proves supremely complex and its characters sympathetic.
This opening episode of the Bronze Age Collapse series grounds Greek mythic history in a distant, unfamiliar Bronze Age world.
Book IX of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Odysseus telling of his men's arrival on the island of the Cyclopes.
Medusa resists a single story here, framed across monster, beautiful woman, survivor, mother, and one of three mortal queens, drawing on Ovid's Metamorphoses and The Medusa Reader.
Book XVII of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Telemachus returning to Penelope before Odysseus and Eumaeus reach the palace and its suitors.
Jocasta's story, known primarily through Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos, gets a more satisfying telling in Euripides's Phoenician Women, the source this episode uses for the queen of Thebes.
Jocasta's life after the tragedy of her marriage to Oedipus continues into further tragedy in the city of Thebes, told from Euripides' The Phoenician Women.
Gaia, also called Ge, appears here as Mother Earth, the first goddess and mother of the gods and Titans, drawn from Hesiod's Theogony and the Homeric Hymns.
Dionysus's love reaches across genders in the story of his relationship with the satyr Ampelos, told here alongside a bout of sexy wrestling.
Liv reads the opening of Thucydides' History, in which the Athenian historian sets out his own account of Bronze Age Greek history.
This bonus episode gives Liv's unstructured reaction to Nolan's Odyssey film, focused mainly on its treatment of the women.
Helen of Sparta: the most well known mortal of Greek myth is also a complete and utter enigma; an examination of the choices that led to the Trojan War.
Orestes, Captaining the Ship of Catastrophe: more tension, more unknown sibling secrets, and the hatching of a plan, in Euripides' Iphigenia Among the Taurians.
The Greeks were only able to sail for Troy because of the sacrifice of Agamemnon's eldest daughter, Iphigenia; Clytemnestra enters taking no sh*t in this second part of Euripides's tragedy.
Theseus's epic and varied awfulness runs through bandits, Hippolyta the queen of the Amazons, Ariadne, and the Minotaur, with a nod to Wonder Woman.
Achilles, furious and heartbroken, takes it out on Hector as the gods weigh in once more on this epic war's crashing finale.
This episode pairs two kinds of horror in the transformations of the Daughters of Minyas, who angered Dionysus, and of Procne and Philomela, undone by Tereus.
The first episode of International Women's Month gathers stories of women wronged by history and mythology, naming Jocasta, Medea, Medusa, Helen, Andromeda, Clytemnestra and Penelope among them.
This episode traces the origins of Laomedon of Troy's fancy horses and the familial origins of Heracles, tangled together in myths of abduction and apology.
This reading of Book II, part one, of Apollonios' Argonautika follows the Argo, now without Heracles and Hylas, meeting the boxer Amycus and an unfortunate prophet.
Pandora's story has drifted far from its ancient form, a tale of a woman and a jar mistranslated and misrepresented until modern versions turned more misogynist than Hesiod's own telling.
Hephaestus proves more than the drama around him here, credited with a lasting impact that the episode ties to the invention of robots at his forge.
Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound: Prometheus, punished for giving humanity fire, is brought to his punishment and meets the chorus of Oceanids, an examination of tyranny and the rule of Zeus.
What If Helen Was a Ghost, Though? Euripides' Helen explores a ghost theory, an eidolon theory, in which Helen was never taken by Paris or brought to Troy.
Odysseus is fed up, and it is finally time for the suitors to die, in this installment of the Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson.
Penthesilea, one of the most formidable Amazons, encounters Achilles in this story, which shows little kindness toward the hero known for his weak ankle.
Book X of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Diomedes and Odysseus terrorizing the Thracians, part of a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Book XXII of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Achilles and Hector fighting before the walls of Troy, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Marking the official 100th episode, this installment sings of the Oracle of Delphi, the woman who held the fates of the Greeks, and of the Muses themselves.
Book X of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, covers the winds, the Laestrygonians, and the witch Circe, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Book XV of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Telemachus leaving Sparta for Ithaca while Odysseus talks further with the swineherd Eumaeus.
This bonus reading covers Book XXIV, the final book of Homer's Odyssey in Samuel Butler's prose translation, ending with Odysseus reuniting with his father and a scuffle against the suitors' family.
This reading of Book I, part three, of Apollonios' Argonautika follows the Argo's heroes through a few odd heroic feats before Herakles and Hylas run into trouble.
Before Agamemnon and Achilles ever reached Troy, the city already had a messy encounter with a sea monster, Heracles and a set of very fancy horses.
This reading of Book III, part one, of Apollonios' Argonautika follows Jason and the Argonauts meeting Aeetes, his daughter Chalciope, and Medea on Colchis.
After killing Medusa, Perseus encounters the Phoenician-Ethiopian princess Andromeda awaiting death by sea monster and steps in to save her, for a price.
Murder After Murder, Generation After Generation: the most horrifying stories from myth turn to that cursed and murderous family, the Tantalids and the Pelopidae.
This bonus reading of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter tells of Hades, called Aidoneus here, kidnapping Persephone and of Demeter's search for her daughter, translated by Hugh Evelyn-White.
No Crime Have I Committed, Save to Speak the Truth: cursed Cassandra, princess of Troy, remains an enigma whose story survives only in disjointed, fragmentary pieces.
Liv reads the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, translated by HG Evelyn-White: the Cytherean goddess's encounter with the mortal Anchises and the conception of the Trojan prince Aeneas.
A Case of Ancient Fanfiction: Euripides imagines what happened after Iphigenia was sacrificed for a bit of good wind, in Iphigenia Among the Taurians.
Telemachus, the whiny grown son of Odysseus and Penelope, sets out with help from Athena on a mission to find information about his father.
Murder, monsters, and mayhem define the voyage of Jason, Medea, and the Argonauts in an episode drawing on Robin Waterfield's Greek Myths.
The Trojan War's origins begin at the disastrous wedding of Peleus and the nymph Thetis, followed by the births of Paris and Achilles.
Dionysus gets introduced as quite the god before a detailed and dramatic telling of Euripides' Bacchae, called here one of the most violent plays of Greek tragedy.
Liv reads Homer's Iliad Book VIII in Samuel Butler's prose translation, a bonus episode framed simply as gods versus humans, drama, drama, drama.
Book XX of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Achilles punishing the Trojans for the death of Patroclus, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
This bonus reading of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes retells his birth and the plentiful adventures of his newborn days, translated by Hugh Evelyn-White.
Book XIV of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows a disguised Odysseus weaving an intricate story for his own swineherd, Eumaeus.
The Amazons, warriors including Otrera, Hippolyta, Antiope and Penthesilea, exist across both myth and history, though their myths tend to revolve around certain Greek heroes.
This reading of Book I, part two, of Apollonios' Argonautika follows the Argo setting sail and landing on Lemnos, where Jason meets Hypsipyle and the Lemnian women.
The Titans, the first race of gods in Greek mythology, wage the Titanomachy in this account of their war against the new race of gods, the Olympians.
This reading of Book III, part two, of Apollonios' Argonautika, translated by RC Seaton, is devoted entirely to Medea.
Perseus's quest continues as he searches for the Gorgon sisters with considerable help from the gods, this episode tracing the many variations on one of the most ancient hero myths.
Pandora, the first woman, ruins everything, while the early people of Athens turn out to have had a real fondness for snakes.
Odysseus is finally back in Ithaca after a journey that took him long enough, though the episode notes that nothing in Greek mythology comes easy.
Penelope and the disguised stranger who is Odysseus finally speak here, while the suitors inch closer and closer to their doom, per Emily Wilson's translation.
Medea, called badass, powerful and misunderstood, returns to Iolchus with Jason in this continued retelling drawn from Ovid's Metamorphoses and Apollonios Rhodis' Argonautica.
Book XII of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, covers the Trojans attacking the Greek camps in this bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Book XIV of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Hera pulling one over on Zeus in an attempt to help the Greeks.
Rosy-Fingered Eos, a Titan goddess with a habit of pulling a Zeus, anchors the stories of Cephalus, Procris, and Tithonus in this episode.
Pegasus is a pretty famous horse, but the episode asks whether you actually know who rode him: Bellerophon, the myth, the man, the horse.
Perseus's origin story is revisited in full detail, including the details and variations, following the hero's quest to save his mother Danae.
Euripides' Medea is singled out as one of the bloodiest plays in Greek mythology, and one of the few to treat its women as humans.
A generational curse runs through the House of Atreus, from Pelops and Myrtilus through Atreus, Thyestes, and Aegisthus.
Eris gets involved in the war as Achilles keeps being a jerk, while Paris is a dink and Hector and Odysseus come off as kickass.
Poseidon, god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses, emerges as the earth-shaker brother of Zeus and a generally troubling guy.
Odysseus and Telemachus get closer to finally doing away with the suitors here, but first come confrontations, plus a cameo appearance by Penelope herself.
Continuing Spooky Season, this episode follows king Erysichthon of Thessaly facing a gruesome punishment for his crimes against Demeter, alongside the monstrous Lamia and Empusa.
Book V of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Calypso, on orders from Zeus, finally allowing Odysseus to leave Ogygia.
Book XII of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Odysseus and his crew facing the Sirens, Scylla, Charybdis, and the cattle of Helios.
Book XVI of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Telemachus returning to Ithaca for a reunion with his father while the suitors plot.
Book XXII of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, covers the deaths of the suitors at the hands of Odysseus, Telemachus, and Eumaeus.
Hera is treated as more than Zeus' vengeful wife here, her own experiences and traumas shown to shape how she handled life with the king of the gods, including the time she tried to overthrow him.
This reading of Book II, part two, of Apollonios' Argonautika follows the Argonauts navigating the risky passage through the Clashing Rocks.
The tragic story of Dionysus and Ampelus continues in Nonnus' Dionysiaca as Ampelus dies and Eros tries consoling Dionysus with two further tragic lovers, Calamos and Carpos.
Oedipus Part Two involves more revelations and more inconceivable ignorance on Oedipus' part; it's definitely not dramatic.
Liv reads Homer's Iliad Book IV in Samuel Butler's prose translation, in which Hera influences Zeus to act against the Trojans.
Liv reads Homer's Iliad Book VI in Samuel Butler's prose translation, a bonus episode in which Hector rallies the Trojans.
Perseus's story includes a warning about consulting the Oracle, one of Zeus's creepiest tricks, and the beheading of the Gorgon Medusa.
Heracles Part One exposes the hero's true origins in Greek myth and compares them against the more familiar Disney movie version.
Siblings Orestes and Electra reunite to plot revenge in the Oresteia's second part, a story dramatized by all three remaining tragedians.
Penelope beyond Odysseus and the Odyssey is paired with a second installment on Medea, framed here as two fascinating and underrepresented women of mythology.
Theseus finally encounters the Minotaur in Part 3, then leaves on an island the very woman who had helped him, true to his callous form throughout the tale.
Book III of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Telemachus traveling to Pylos for news of Odysseus from Nestor, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, saves Zeus and marries a daughter of Aphrodite and Ares, in an episode that finds even the gods petty and vindictive.
The Iliad opens with Achilles and Agamemnon locked in a major spat over a prize, drawing the gods in to settle the matter.
Hector nearly breaks down the walls with god-power before Poseidon intervenes for the Greeks, while Hera plots an intricate seduction of Zeus.
After Theseus leaves her alone on an island, Ariadne moves on to the god Dionysus, whose own backstory includes being kidnapped by pirates.
For Spooky Season, this episode covers ancient werewolves, ghosts, and haunted houses, centered on the lycanthropic tale of Lycaon, drawn from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Closing out Spooky Season, this episode traces the mother-daughter goddesses of darkness, Nyx and Eris, and their deadly dynasty of murder drawn from Hesiod's Theogony.
Book XIII of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Odysseus finally reaching the shores of Ithaca, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Book XVIII of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows a still-disguised Odysseus stirring trouble among the suitors of Penelope.
Book XXI of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, poses the question of who can string that fabled bow, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Heracles Part Two covers his first six labours, work that carries a lot less fun than the Disney portrayal ever let on.
The Iliad's second installment follows the Greeks planning their approach while the Trojans prepare for the coming attack, full of vineyards and doves.
The Trojan War wages on as the gods involve themselves in the action once more, again to the detriment of the humans.
Odysseus is finally found on the beguiling nymph Calypso's island and set free after so many years, just as the Odyssey's larger journey is beginning.
Odysseus and his men visit Aeolus, keeper of the winds, then the Laestrygonians, before finally landing on the witch Circe's island of Aiaia, per Emily Wilson's Odyssey.
Odysseus and his men escape from Scylla and Charybdis here, closing what the episode calls the final dramatic episode before a whole new type of drama begins.
This live episode recorded at the Vancouver Fan Expo covers Apollo and Cyrene, Aristaeus, Cyparrisus, Hyancinthus again, and Pomona and Vertumnus.
Minoan Crete's obsession with bulls gets a dark and wildly entertaining mythological history here, centered on Europa and Minos, per Apollodorus and Robert Graves.
Liv reads Homer's Iliad Book VII in Samuel Butler's prose translation, a bonus episode built around the duel fought between Hector and Ajax.
Brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus set out to create humanity from a slab of clay, sourced from Robin Waterfield's Greek Myths.
Results of the oath sworn between Paris and Menelaus bring godly intervention and drama before the Iliad's first actual battle begins.
More of Diomedes' madness sets the stage for a day in the life of Hector, warrior prince of Troy.
Odysseus is reunited with his son Telemachus, and the two enjoy some quality father-son plotting of murderous revenge, per Emily Wilson's Odyssey translation.
King Aegeus of Athens seeks an heir through troubling means here, while King Minos wages war against Attica, creating yet another tragic version of Scylla.
Theseus, convinced he is destined to be a hero, proves willing to kill anyone along the way to prove it, per Plutarch and Apollodorus among the stated sources.
A Pride special retells the love between Heracles and Hylas, drawn from the Argonautika by Apollonios of Rhodes, as one of Greek mythology's love stories that end badly.
Book XIX of the Iliad, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Achilles stewing in grief and anger, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Book I of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, opens 20 years into Odysseus's absence as Telemachus complains about Penelope's suitors.
Book II of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Telemachus gathering together a counsel, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Book XX of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows tension rising between the disguised Odysseus and the suitors of Penelope.
This episode tells the full story of the Greek flood myth, the Great Deluge of Deucalion and Pyrrha, drawn from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Oedipus Part One turns on the Oracle's awful advice, plus a brief encounter with a sphinx and with a father.
A Halloween collection of ancient Greece's most famous and most obscure monsters turns up a pattern of serpentine, female figures.
A flashback recounts the birth of Aeneas through the affair between Anchises and Aphrodite, as the gods again make the war worse for humans.
This obnoxious hero's adventures continue here through dealings with Medea, a war among family, the killing of the Marathonian bull, and his most famous story beginning.
Book XXIII of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Penelope and Odysseus reuniting at last, a bonus, non-narrative reading of Homer.
Queen Pasiphae of Knossos learns the hard way what god-magic can make her do, hinting at the Minotaur, and the episode moves into the secrets of the Labyrinth, the inventor Daedalus, and his son Icarus.
Liv reads Homer's Iliad Book III in Samuel Butler's prose translation, covering Paris's offer to fight Menelaus one on one.
Hades kidnaps Persephone, sending her mother Demeter on a quest to find her, and the Underworld's warning against eating food offered there.
Paris and Helen jet off to Troy, leaving Helen's husband peeved, while Agamemnon assembles an expedition amid familial hiccoughs.
Persephone, the Dread Goddess and Bringer of Death also known as Kore, anchors countless myths with Hades in the Underworld alongside her mother, Demeter.
Heracles' final labours bring more Cerberus, a replacement wife, and more cows, even after he has killed his own family.
Aphrodite, married to Hephaestus, finds Adonis super hot too and would rather be chained to a bed with Ares.
A Halloween special maps everything there is to know about where Hades and Persephone, god and goddess of the dead, actually live.
Agamemnon returns home to Argos after the decade-long Trojan War, only for it not to go super well for him, opening the Oresteia.
As a newborn, the trickster god Hermes invents the lyre using a tortoise, steals cattle, and lies through his teeth within moments of birth.
Book VII of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Odysseus meeting Alcinous and Arete, king and queen of the Phaeacians.
The debut episode retells the Theogony, the violent Greek creation story covering the origin of the universe and the pantheon of gods through patricide and castration.
Circe's mythology here covers Glaucus and Scylla plus her ties to Medea, drawing on Ovid and Robert Graves alongside Madeline Miller's novel Circe as a source.
A Halloween special offers a more detailed introduction to Medea and her witchy family, sourced from Apollodorus and Daniel Ogden's sourcebook on ancient magic and witchcraft.
Book VI of the Odyssey, read in Samuel Butler's prose translation, follows Odysseus arriving on Scheria and encountering Nausicaa, princess of the Phaeacians.
Aesclepius, son of Apollo and pupil of Chiron, becomes the god of Medicine, alongside some fun historical facts tied to him.
Atalanta is introduced as Greek mythology's one mortal heroine, described here as a real and true badass, drawing on Edith Hamilton's Mythology as its source.
Dionysus, Pan and Hermaphroditus are gathered here as LGBTQ icons among the Olympians, described as nothing if not very selectively progressive, per Theoi.com and Ovid.
The Danaids, their father Danaus, and a very large extended family anchor this murderous mythology story, drawn from Edith Hamilton, Robert Graves and Apollodorus.
Apollo's role as a god of plague runs through Greek mythology and Greek theatre in this mini myth, which also touches on a real historical plague.
The Heliades mourn Phaethon here alongside the many faces of the swan-man Cygnus, drawn from Ovid's Metamorphoses and Robert Graves' Greek Myths.
Pallas Athena gets both historical and mythological origins here, badass ones, drawn from Apollodorus' Library of Greek Mythology and Hesiod's Theogony as stated sources.
The Orphic Tradition turns out to be weird enough to include Chronos, the god of Time himself, distinct from Cronus, complicating any chronology of Greek mythology.
What, exactly, Sisyphus did to deserve being the most famous man in hell is the question this episode poses.
Robert Graves' Greek Myths supplies this zodiac tale of Aries, the golden ram who saves a guy from certain death at the hands of his own dysfunctional family.
Castor and Polydeuces, the twin brothers of Clytemnestra and Helen, are traced here as sons of Leda by both Zeus and Tyndareus, the zodiac's Gemini pair.
A crab and a lion, two of Heracles' victims, anchor this Cancer and Leo zodiac tale, which notes a strong woman stands behind every mythological monster.
Gaia sends her Giant children to wage war against the Olympians in this mini myth on the Gigantomachy, sourced from Apollodorus' Library of Greek Mythology.
An epilogue possibly not written by the tragedian himself is examined here as an alternate ending to Iphigenia at Aulis, beyond her walk toward sacrifice.
Phaethon's stupidity ruins the earth and the sun in the sky, and wrecks his relationship with his father Helios in the process.
Euripides' play The Bacchae is retold as basically the first rager, full of partying, wine, and violence courtesy of an easily offended god.
The nymph Echo suffers a tragic, unrequited love for Narcissus, and the words echo and narcissist turn out to share a common origin.
Tantalus is presented as one of the most gruesome myths of ancient Greece, a man famous chiefly for his punishment in the Underworld.
The Zodiac sign Scorpio gets traced back to a scorpion figure, one of the constellation myths covered this episode.
Ovid's Metamorphoses and Theoi.com supply the tragic story of Apollo and Hyacinthus, framed here as starting Pride off with a bang.
Ixion, a bad dude who wanted what he couldn't have, is given something very different in its place, in an episode that also covers the origin of centaurs.
The Zodiac sign Sagittarius is identified with Chiron, the beloved centaur trainer covered in this episode.
This zodiac mini myth covers both Aquarius and Pisces, tracing Aquarius to Ganymede, Zeus' cup-bearer, alongside a separate myth involving a couple of fish.
Orpheus and Eurydice's trip into the Underworld brings tragic death, a quest to the gods of the dead, and repeated tragic deaths.
Hecate, goddess of witchcraft, magic, ghosts, and necromancy, is traced back to an origin as one of the most powerful female figures around.
Artemis and Actaeon's famous run-in leaves the mortal learning the hard way not to mess with the goddess of the hunt, animals, and girls.
Pygmalion and Galatea's myth, super weird and creepy, is traced as the origin of both My Fair Lady and She's All That.
Thanatos, god of death, and Kratos, god of strength, headline a listener-requested collection of minor characters, likened jokingly to God of War.
Dark Age and Archaic Greece 1100 - 480 BC · 7
With Michael Furman
Conversations: Michael Furman, professor of ancient Thebes and Boeotia, joins Liv to discuss the forgotten polis, its history and mythology, and pseudoarchaeological claims about the ancient city.
Liv discusses Sappho, the real Greek poet, with Ellie and Alyse of the Sweetbitter podcast, drawing on Diane Rayor's translation of her poetry.
With Leesa Charlotte
Liv speaks with Leesa Charlotte of the Sweetbitter podcast about Sappho's sexuality and the papyrology controversy you never knew you needed to hear about.
This Hermes Historia segment covers Greek colonization efforts abroad during the 6th century BC.
Sappho, a real poet of the island of Lesbos known as the Tenth Muse, supplies the origin of the terms Lesbian and Sapphic in this account of a woman who loved both men and women.
The Persian Wars 499 - 449 BC · 3
BONUS: Ben of Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens joins Liv to tear apart the movie 300, a mess of so many issues, holding nothing back.
Michaela opens Herodotus's Histories, the first history text from Greek antiquity, tracing the beginnings of the Persian Wars through as many tangents as the father of history can manage.
Herodotus returns to Croesus's mad dash to take on the Persian Empire, tangents included, as book one of the Histories continues toward the capture of a third city.
Classical Athens and Sparta 479 - 386 BC · 10
With Katherine Backler
Katherine Backler discusses the lives and lore of the real women of ancient Athens, from the beautifully mundane to the righteously remembered.
With Rebecca Futo Kennedy
Conversations: Rebecca Futo Kennedy joins Liv to discuss the politics behind Theseus' mythology, the rights of foreigners in Athens across different periods, and how women fit into that picture.
With H. Voss
Writer H. Voss discusses queer relationships within the ancient Greek military alongside Virgil's Roman story of Nisus and Euryalus.
Dr. Amy Pistone argues that Sophocles matches or exceeds Euripides, weighing plays including The Women of Trachis, Oedipus Tyrannos, Ajax and Philoctetes.
With Justin Lorenzo Biggi
Conversations: Justin Lorenzo Biggi discusses Athenian citizenship and autochthony, the myth of being born of the snakey-legged early peoples, and its intersection with disability in ancient Athens.
This episode pairs the myth of Europa of Tyre with the story of the siege of Milos, revisited from Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War.
This episode reclaims Aspasia as an intelligent, independent figure at the center of Classical Athenian politics who also worked as a sex worker.
Aristophanes' Lysistrata imagines the women banding together in a sex strike, wondering whether they can stop a war they don't believe in.
This second half of Aristophanes' The Frogs stages a comic battle of the poets between Euripides and Aeschylus, per translations by David Barrett and Stephen Halliwell.
Aristophanes' comedy The Frogs opens this two-part telling, billed here as exactly the laugh everyone needs, with comedic references to suicide, per translations by David Barrett and Stephen Halliwell.
Philip and Alexander 359 - 323 BC · 1
With Meg Finlayson
Liv speaks with Meg Finlayson about Alexander the Great and Macedon, weighing history and mythology against the 2004 film adaptation.
The Hellenistic Age 323 - 31 BC · 8
With Talia Prussin
Talia Prussin joins Liv and Michaela to discuss the Seleucid Empire and the wider Hellenistic period, with many shenanigans and debate over everyone's favourite little guy.
With Jerome Ruddick
With Eduardo Garcia-Molina
Part two with Eduardo García-Molina: more on Hellenistic kings' mythic callbacks and cosplaying heroes, the Seleukids, and the cultures and people of the Hellenistic east.
Conversations: Eduardo García-Molina, who studies the Hellenistic Period and the Seleukids, joins Liv to discuss Hellenistic kings and empires and the cultures and people of the east.
This episode finishes the First War of the Diadochi as the Hellenistic succession struggle after Alexander's death continues.
This episode opens a Hellenistic subseries covering the Greek rebellions and the Lamian War that followed Alex's death without a will.
This episode continues the Wars of the Diadochi, introducing Ptolemy and the alliances that formed after the Lamian War.
This episode covers 318 BC, the tense interbellum year between the first and second Wars of the Diadochi.
Greek Life, Thought and the Wider World across the centuries · 201
Translator Emma Pauly discusses reshaping their translation of Bacchae around a transgender, non-binary reading of Dionysus.
With Ellen Zachos
Plant expert Ellen Zachos discusses mythical plants like moly alongside the real hemlock that killed Socrates.
With Maria Pretzler
Conversations: Maria Pretzler, a professor specializing in Pausanias, joins Liv to discuss the culture of the Peloponnese, what the late travel writer Pausanias reveals, and the mythology of ancient Sparta.
Christie Vogler continues discussing the ancient history of women's medicine, focused this time on Hippocratic medical theory.
Author Emily Hauser discusses her book on how women became recognized as poets across the long history of Greek literature.
With Ryan Denson
Ryan Denson returns to discuss ancient and mythical sea monsters of the Mediterranean, drawing on his own book on the subject.
With Andromache Karanika
With Debbie Felton
Debbie Felton discusses serial killers in the ancient world, both mythological and otherwise, plus monsters and monstrosity.
With Alexandra Sills
Conversations: Alexandra Sills, who studies spectacle, joins Liv to discuss gladiators in the Greek world, mythologizing gladiatorial games, and the evidence for women fighting in games.
Emily Hauser discusses how ancient and mythological women shared stories and built a collective memory of their own.
With Dan-el Padilla Peralta
Dan-el Padilla Peralta discusses his book challenging the 'Founders of Western Civilization' myth built around the field of Classics.
With Ellie Mackin Roberts
Conversations: Dr. Ellie Mackin Roberts returns to unpack Euripides' Alcestis, tragedy, and tragedy competitions, and theories on the how and why behind this strange play.
With Stephen Hodkinson
With Melissa Funke
Conversations: Dr. Melissa Funke joins Liv to discuss Phryne, the Hetarae who may or may not have stripped in an Athenian courtroom to prove her innocence, and endless Hetarae stories of ancient Athens.
This crossover with Historical Homos discusses how Disney's Hercules reads as a queer coming-of-age story set against Thebes.
Conversations: returning guest Julie Levy joins Liv to discuss the Thesmophoriazusae, what made Aristophanes tick, and why Euripides is, actually, perfect and amazing.
With Alecto Hardwick
Alecto Hardwick discusses the women of Euripides, starting from Medea and expanding across his other tragedies.
This KAOS crossover with Christie Vogler discusses the show's depiction of Zeus, Hera, and Dionysus in Netflix's adaptation of Greek myth.
Christie Vogler traces the long and storied, utterly infuriating ancient history of women's medicine in the West.
With Cosi Carnegie
Conversations: Cosi Carnegie joins Liv to discuss Charybdis as a gaping, hungry hole, fear of the monstrous woman, the threat of a sexual woman, and all the erotic pottery imaginable.
With Christie Vogler, Anastasia Pantazopoulou
This KAOS Takeover continues with Christie Vogler and Anastasia Pantazopoulou discussing the show's mortal characters, including its version of Orpheus.
With Bettina Joy De Guzman
Conversations: musician and teacher Bettina Joy De Guzman joins Liv to discuss ancient instruments, music, and singing the songs of Greek myths and stories.
With George Kovacs
Conversations: associate professor George Kovacs joins Liv to give a much needed appreciation of Aristophanes and the Thesmophoriazusae, redeeming the play.
With Carla Ionescu
Conversations: Dr Carla Ionescu, the Artemis Expert, joins Liv to discuss Artemis, bears, and goddess worship, and so much more.
With Chiara Baldini
Researcher Chiara Baldini discusses Dionysus, pre-patriarchal goddess worship, and the tradition of ecstatic ritual behind his cult.
With Nadhira Hill
With Dan Stewart
Conversations: lecturer Dan Stewart joins Liv to discuss the world of Greece, particularly Crete, during the Roman Period, when the emperors ruled Greece.
With Stephanie McCarter
Stephanie McCarter discusses ancient women in power, moving between the historical, the mythical, and the details somewhere in between.
With Helen King
Helen King joins Liv to discuss her book Immaculate Forms, tracing the history of the female body from the wet and spongy ancient world to the modern Man Discovers Clitoris, plus Artemis and periods.
With Kate Minniti
Conversations: Kate Minniti joins Liv to explore the weird and wonderful claims the influential Herodotus made about what he saw and learned in Egypt.
Conversations: Vanessa Stovall explores what Persephone shares with Sidney Prescott, and Antigone with Marion Crane, tracing scream queens of myth into modern horror.
Conversations: Ryan Denson joins Liv to discuss ancient sea monsters, Ketos and beyond, sharks, whales, and everything in between ocean life.
With Roel Konijnendijk
Conversations: Roel Konijnendijk, who teaches at Oxford and specializes in ancient Greek warfare, joins Liv to cover Spartan warfare and how it differed, and did not differ, from other Greek city-states.
With Nikita Gill
Poet Nikita Gill, author of Great Goddesses, speaks with Liv about reimagining goddesses and monsters of Greek mythology through Medusa, misogyny and colonialism.
With Emily Wilson
Translator Emily Wilson discusses her new book on translating Homer and the many choices involved in rendering his epics today.
Halloween Special: Dr. Ellie Mackin Roberts returns to discuss all matters Underworld with Liv, from Persephone and Hades to everyone in between.
Joel Christensen discusses the oral storytelling tradition behind the Iliad and Odyssey and current theories on its ancient origins.
With Curtis Dozier
Classicist Curtis Dozier discusses the troubling, tragically unsurprising connections between white supremacists and ancient Greece and Rome.
With Victoria Austen
Dr. Victoria Austen joins Liv to survey classical reception across modern retellings of Troy, Circe, The Silence of the Girls and The Song of Achilles, and even the Aeneid.
With Gillian Glass
Conversations: Gillian Glass joins Liv to discuss epiphanic experiences in antiquity, in both Greek mythology and the Torah, and what the gods might smell like.
Alexandra Sills discusses the origins of the ancient Olympic Games, where competitors traditionally performed naked.
Melissa Funke discusses gender and the female characters found only in the fragmentary, non-surviving plays of Euripides.
This anniversary Q&A covers listener questions on Greek pronunciation, the Odyssey, and whether Heracles could beat a hundred gorillas.
With Kaitlyn Boulding
Conversations: Kaitlyn Boulding joins the show for more context on Plato's Timaeus, his story of Atlantis, and how Plato connects with and mimics Hesiod.
With Yentl Love
Conversations: PhD student Yentl Love, the Queer Classicist, joins Liv to discuss queerness in the ancient world and Greek mythology, and classical reception in Lil Nas X.
Conversations: returning guest CW Marshall joins Liv to discuss ancient Greek theatre culture, its festivals, winners and losers, how a play gets made, and who pulls the strings.
This listener Q&A continues answering questions on Greek myth and history with extended historical context behind each answer.
With Genn McMenemy, Jenny Williamson
In this crossover with Ancient History Fangirl, Liv teams up with Genn and Jenny to tell the first half of Lucian's True History.
In this Q&A, Liv answers listener questions on myth, mostly circling back to the Odyssey, touching on Meticulous Metis, Audacious Odysseus, and the Age Old Infamy of the Orphics.
A New Year Q&A: Liv answers listener questions on favourite goddesses, book recommendations, and the wild wonder of ancient Greece sources, mythology, and history.
With Jasmine Elmer
Jasmine Elmer joins Liv to discuss her new book Slay and how much fun there was in considering Medea a dragon slayer and what that means.
Conversations: author and classicist Natalie Haynes joins Liv to discuss Medusa and her new novel about the tragic Gorgon, Stone Blind.
Conversations: returning guest Amy Pistone, who specializes in Sophoclean tragedy, shares the complexities hidden within the Trachiniae and discusses Sophoclean prophecies.
With Hannah Parker
Conversations: Masters student and TikTok star Hannah Parker, Historical Han, joins Liv to discuss the goddess Tyche and teaching classics through TikTok.
With Phoenicia Rogerson
Conversations: Phoenicia Rogerson, author of the novel Herc, joins Liv to discuss treating the story of Heracles as it should be, weird and funny and also tragic.
With Joe Goodkin
Modern Homeric bard Joe Goodkin joins Liv to discuss his musical works Joe's Odyssey and the Blues of Achilles alongside the field of Classics.
With Brendon Zatirka
Translator Brendon Zatirka discusses his upcoming volume of Sappho's poetry, covering translation choices and ancient queerness in her verse.
Recorded live in London, Liv and Cosi Carnegie discuss Medusa in her many different mythic forms.
Conversations: fellow Classics podcaster Jasmine Elmer joins Liv to discuss monstrous myths, particularly volcanic monsters, in the myths of both Greece and Rome.
With Katharine Beutner
Conversations: Katharine Beutner, author of the re-released novel Alcestis, joins Liv to discuss writing a queer retelling before Song of Achilles, and giving a voice to the voiceless.
With Eva Rummery
Conversations: Eva Rummery joins Liv to discuss plants in Greek myth and archaeology, covering plant myths, sacred groves, and how plants were grown in the ancient world.
With Jeremy Swist
The Metal Classicist Dr. Jeremy Swist joins Liv to trace Greek mythology's presence in modern and classic metal music and the ancient world generally.
With David J. Wright
With Rachel Smythe
Conversations: Rachel Smythe discusses adapting Hades and Persephone's story, and many others, into her Webtoon, and now book, Lore Olympus.
With Lindsey Mazurek
Conversations: Dr. Lindsey Mazurek discusses retconning the Olympians, the time Isis was worshipped as a Greek goddess, even sometimes counted among the Olympians.
This crossover with Historical Homos surveys the toxic relationships of Greek mythology and what typically leads to someone's death in them.
Conversations: Ben of Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens joins Liv to discuss how the Classical world lends itself to memes, plus Classics and much more.
With Maciej Paprocki
Theologizing the Gods continues: Dr. Maciej Paprocki returns to discuss Zeus and the chaos of the Greek Pantheon, looking for rules and order amongst the mess.
With Maxwell T Paule
Conversations: Maxwell T Paule joins Liv to discuss witches of classical myth and Roman poetry; the poem recited is Horace's Epode 5, translated by Maxwell T Paule.
With Daniel Ogden
Conversations: professor and author Daniel Ogden joins Liv to discuss dragons, witches, werewolves, and the ancient supernatural; his own books on werewolves and dragons are recommended.
Conversations: Dr. Maciej Paprocki joins Liv to discuss theologizing the gods, assigning order to the chaos and looking for rules amongst the mess of the Greek Pantheon.
New Year Q&A: Liv answers listener questions, digging deeper into minor gods, exploring Greece, and praising Dionysus.
With Kira Jones
Liv and Dr. Kira Jones discuss Assassin's Creed Odyssey's Kassandra, covering the game's historical intricacies and its diversity, plus an anecdote about the real Alcibiades and Herms.
Cosi Carnegie discusses sparagmos, the ritual tearing apart of Pentheus, in Euripides' Bacchae.
With Sarah Olsen
Sarah Olsen, editor of the volume Queer Euripides, discusses performance and gender, and performing gender, in Euripides.
With Steph Halmhofer
Conversations: archaeologist Steph Halmhofer discusses conspiracy and conspirituality in archaeology and pseudoarchaeology, and how Atlantis developed into the dangerous idea it is today.
This Q&A ranges from cats in modern and ancient Greece to Hera's attempted coup and everything in between, answered by Liv for listener questions.
Liv speaks with Yentl Love of the Queer Classicist about Dionysus and queer theory, floating Harry Styles as a modern-day Dionysus.
This episode revisits an early Myths Baby episode on Zeus, unpacking traces of an older matriarchal tradition inside his crime stories.
BONUS: returning guest Kira Jones discusses where the historically accurate Assassin's Creed Odyssey got its version of Atlantis, exploring the game's Atlantis DLC.
Liv answers listener questions covering Musical Epics, a reincarnation of Sappho, and Kaos, where ancient curiosities and modern touches collide.
In this listener Q&A, Liv fields questions on Greek myth, history, and the correct ancient pronunciation of Sappho's name.
New Year Q&A continues: Liv answers more listener questions, digging deeper into minor gods, exploring Greece, and praising Dionysus.
Marking eight years of LTAMB, Liv answers listener questions about any and everything, from the horrors of Zeus to the patriarchy's hold on society.
This Q&A answers listener questions on anachronisms in retelling Greek myth and references a stage adaptation of Medusa.
BONUS: Leesa Charlotte of Sweetbitter and Cult America joins Liv to contrast the anti-colonial story of Disney's Atlantis with the racist lies behind the modern Atlantis myth.
With Karen Carr
Conversations: Professor Karen Carr joins Liv to discuss the stories of Hero and Leander and ancient swimming practices across the world, and what swimming meant to different cultures.
CW Marshall discusses the lost fragments of Euripides' Oedipus and Antigone, asking whether Oedipus was blind before he reached Thebes.
This bonus Q&A answers overflow listener questions on Greek myth and history that did not fit the earlier episodes.
With Princess O'Nika Auguste
Conversations: Caribbean scholar and writer Princess O'Nika Auguste discusses people of colour in Greek mythology and the whitewashing of Greek myth and history.
This New Years Q&A answers listener burning questions, touching on Helen the kingmaker, Lucifer the Morningstar, and Enyo, the bloody.
Conversations: Natalie Haynes joins Liv to discuss her non-fiction book Divine Might, though really, they talk about Hestia, because Hestia deserves the world.
With Mari Phillips
A 2020 Pride special surveys queer and trans stories across Greek mythology, featuring a conversation with Mari Phillips of Myths & Tits about representation in myth.
This crossover with the Missing Witches podcast discusses ancient Greek witches and the women branded as such for claiming freedom.
With Owen Rees
This new Hermes Historia mini-series opens with a brief history of ancient Greek theatre.
They Really Just Loved to Sing & Dance: more of Sparta's history and culture, including a brief overview of the Persian and Peloponnesian wars and Sparta during the Roman period.
This episode places Euripides within 5th-century Athens, tracing how contemporary events likely shaped the plays he chose to write.
This Hermes Historia segment gives a brief history of ancient Greek funerary practices for the spooky season.
This episode examines mythology as a concept and the ancient sources through which Greek myths were originally transmitted.
This Q&A answers questions on heroes who cry for their mothers, gender fluidity among virgin goddesses, and the so-called bad women of Homer.
This episode traces a brief history of women's labour, moving from Greek myth through etymology into its modern legacy.
Deconstructing Atlantis begins with the story of Atlantis as it actually exists in Plato's Timaeus and Critias, the original source behind centuries of fascination.
By popular demand, Liv reads Plato's Critias dialogue, rounding off the Atlantis series of episodes; further reading points to Benjamin Jowett's translation of Timaeus and Critias.
Holiday Special: Battle of the Bastards pits Theseus against Jason, breaking down from memory who is worse between the two infamous Greek heroes.
This episode finishes revisiting the podcast's early Zeus episode, unpacking traces of an older matriarchal tradition inside his crime stories.
In this installment of Aeschylus' Agamemnon, Clytemnestra reveals the man who helped her kill the king.
Very Extravagant Rich People: an exploration of Spartan culture, everything that made ancient Spartans Spartan and set them apart from the rest of the Greek world.
Mythology vs. Myth Making: from the Heracleidae to Thermopylae, covering the Children of Heracles, the famous Spartans of the Homeric world, and the myth-making behind 300.
Liv teams up with Emily Edwards of Fuckbois of Literature to dive into Circe by Madeline Miller, also touching on Song of Achilles and Greek drama.
Why Is Sparta So Weird?: an introduction to the new series on ancient Sparta and the Spartan Mirage, covering the history of Archaic and Classical Sparta, its truths and misconceptions.
Liv answers questions on Assassin's Creed Odyssey's mythology and historicity, confirming Alcibiades was a very real figure alongside her favourite food and the gods.
This Halloween Hermes Historia segment covers ancient divination practices, including extispicy, and rituals for communicating with the dead.
There's Life After Death: Liv breaks down the mysterious Orphic tradition, which may or may not have been more of an ancient religion, centered on the Thracian singer Orpheus.
All I Really Want Is to Talk About the Fire-Breathing Goat: Bellerophon, the perpetually forgotten hero who defeated the magnificent Chimera and alone rode Pegasus.
In this installment of Aeschylus' Agamemnon, Clytemnestra's fury gives way to Kassandra's prophecies inside the broken kingdom of Mycenae.
Arachne Weaves Her Tragedy: Liv reads a selection of Ovid's Metamorphoses on Arachne, then turns to the cursed legacy of Thebes through the stories of Ino and Semele.
Liv continues reading Hesiod's Theogony, the oldest surviving source for the beginning of the ancient Greek world, translated by HG Evelyn-White.
Fragments of an Ethiopian King, Memnon: a look at the African continent in Greek myth, including Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia and the Greek stories about those peoples and places.
A Very Atlantean Q&A: Liv answers listener questions about Atlantis, this messy, messy non-mythological idea, pointing to David S Anderson, Flint Dibble, Steph Halmhofer, and BadAncient.com.
This Q&A answers questions on Helen of Sparta's tangled mythic biography, the trouble with translations, and pesky personification deities.
This episode closes Euripides' Ion with Creusa considering burning Apollo's oracle to the ground over the god's crimes.
This Hermes Historia segment traces the evolution of the physical theatre space used for ancient Greek drama.
This Q&A episode answers a listener's question on why Clytemnestra chose to kill Cassandra, recorded around the time Liv announced a live show in London.
This episode opens Aeschylus' Agamemnon, a tragedy Liv suggests could as easily be called the Clytemnestra show.
She Gives, She Takes Away: an examination of Hecate, all powerful goddess of witchcraft, and real life women accused of witchcraft in ancient Greece.
Egregious Euripides Slander continues: the fictional Euripides and Mnesilochus work to infiltrate the Thesmophoria festival, and matters get very, very weird.
There's No One Quite Like Dionysus: mysterious and wonderful, new and old, local and foreign, the wine daddy of Greek myth who seriously loved his wife Ariadne.
Nobody Labours Like Heracles: examining the historical and cultural impact of the panhellenic hero, a really big deal for over a thousand years.
In Euripides' Ion, Creusa and Ion continue to share stories while Xuthus steps into the role of patriarch.
Deconstructing Atlantis asks why Plato's Timaeus and Critias resist being termed myths, and what history might lie behind Plato's Atlantis if it is not one.
Spartan women had interesting and unique lives, from worshipping and dancing with Helen to having their brother-in-law's babies, marginally better than elsewhere.
Socrates and Alcibiades, the Lovers You Never Knew You Needed: Plato's Symposium continues to hype up love between men as literally godlike, and Aristophanean soulmates.
Before Heracles, There Was Alcmene: the woman behind the greatest hero was so much more than just the mother of a hero.
This episode traces the phallic origins of Athenian theatre and retells Euripides' Cyclops, the only surviving satyr play.
This episode researches the Delphic oracle specifically, given its outsized importance within ancient Greek cultural understanding of prophecy.
Mythology Meets History: the myths of Theseus, an oh-so-problematic and generally awful guy, are uniquely Athenian, tying mythological heroes to Athenian might and Homeric tradition.
TikTok Teen Heartthrob or Creepy Cherub?: Eros, the troublesome god of love, rarely left humans unscathed; a Valentine's Day look at his and Cupid's messy evolution.
This episode compares Metis and Thetis, two goddesses whose stories were shaped by prophecies and patriarchy.
Plato's Atlantis, never intended to convey history, may still carry a Bronze Age natural disaster as inspiration, and the episode traces how Atlantis became a dangerous conspiracy.
A 3 year anniversary Q&A ranges across Lore Olympus, Cupid and Psyche, Hellenism, and the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology.
This episode surveys the complex, sympathetic and villainous women in Euripides' surviving plays, alongside his interest in foreigners and enslaved people.
Liv reads Hesiod's Theogony, the oldest surviving source for the beginning of the ancient Greek world, translated by Hugh Evelyn White.
Liv continues reading Lucian's True History: Lucian and his companions are swallowed by a whale, fight a war inside it, and land on the island of the blessed.
Living Amongst the Dead: the infernal goddesses of the dead, the Chthonic Cuties, and how the real people of ancient Greece worshipped and interacted with the Underworld while still alive.
Plato Says Being Gay Is Absolutely Divine: Plato's Symposium hypes up love between men as literally godlike, and provides the wild idea of Aristophanean soulmates.
This episode opens a look at Euripides' life, noting that more of his plays survive than those of the other two tragedians combined.
Independent, Industrious, Badass & Brave: Atalanta, the heroine, or heroines, of ancient Greece, sometimes conflated into one, who fought the Calydonian boar and wrestled Peleus.
Liv reads the Shield of Heracles, attributed to Hesiod: a battle between Heracles and Cycnus, son of Ares, that serves mostly as a description of a shield made by Hephaestus.
Finally, the story of Zagreus arrives: the messy, gross, and supremely important tale of the Orphic thrice born Dionysus.
No Boys Allowed: comedic relief and Euripidean slander arrive with Aristophanes' Women of the Thesmophoria, celebrating Demeter and Persephone at a women's only festival.
Men Writing Absurd Female Characters, But Make It Ancient: the Thesmophoriazusae series finally concludes, with Liv admitting only that she is sorry.
Before she was Aphrodite, she was Kypris, and before that, Astarte and Inanna/Ishtar: the story of Aphrodite's wandering origins in ancient Phoenicia and Mesopotamia.
This episode traces the mythological origins of the ancient Olympics, drawing on victory odes Pindar composed for the games' winners.
That Is One Cursed Necklace: how the curse of Cadmus and Harmonia filters down the generations, following the deadly fate of their family.
Beyond the famed battle of Achaeans and Trojans lies an equally epic battle, the satirical silliness of the Batrachomyomachia, the Battle of Frogs and Mice.
Hero and Leander's story is one of the most widely known myths of ancient Greece, even though no ancient Greek text sources for it survive.
Turns Out They're Just As Interesting As Men, Who Knew?: a little taste of what the lives of real women in the ancient Greek world might have looked like.
Not Those Pesky Golden Apples Again: the other Atalanta, the Boeotian one, who lost a foot race after being distracted by a golden apple.
Slow But Steady Wins the Race: ancient Aesop, not at all a children's author, and his oh so famous fables.
In this installment of Aeschylus' Agamemnon, the king returns home while Clytemnestra plots against him.
Liv reads her own new short story reimagining Medusa, written for the anthology Medusa, New and Ancient Greek Tales.
This episode introduces Mnemosyne, the Greek goddess of memory, and the concept of memory itself in Greek thought.
So Many Snakes: Spooky Season turns to Typhoeus, the Father of Monsters, also called Typhon, and Echidna, a nearly as monstrous counterpart, of this prolific monster dynasty.
Back On His Sh*t: Heracles, purified after murdering his wife and children, looks to get married again, with encounters with Iole and Omphale.
A Bit of Father & Son Fighting Over Who Deserves to Live: Euripides' Alcestis, the eponymous character dies, and the tragicomic play turns everything on its head.
Liv reads the remaining, shorter Homeric Hymns to gods and heroes, including Aphrodite, Dionysus, Pan, Hermes, Hestia, Athena, Artemis, and the mother of all gods.
Beloved of Aphrodite: a little look into the lives of ancient Greek sex workers, particularly the Hetairai Phryne and Rhodopis, whose accomplishments earned 2300 plus years of legacy.
Orpheus and Eurydice are famous for their doomed love story, and Orpheus is also credited with inventing an entire religion separate from traditional ancient Greek mythology and practice.
Famous for Being Hot: Adonis was beautiful enough to catch the eye of the goddess of Beauty, Aphrodite, and there's so much more to their tumultuous relationship, including origins in Mesopotamia and Phoenicia.
In this Q&A, Liv answers listener questions on Hera's attempted coup, jewellery, and other angry women speaking truth to power across Greek myth.
Sing, Goddess, of the wrath of Artemis, goddess of the hunt: drawn from Callimachus' Hymn to Artemis, translated by AW Mair, and the Homeric Hymns to Artemis.
Daughter of Gods Meets Phoenician Hero: revisiting the story of Cadmus and Harmonia, the mysterious yet deeply important couple, and the origins of their family's curse.
That Guy Really Got Around: Heracles had lovers all over the ancient Greek world, many of them men, told here in brief mentions and anecdotes.
Giving Lovesick a Whole New Meaning: Acontius and Cydippe, and whether it counts as a love story when a woman is forced to choose between marriage and death.
He Is Not All That: Pygmalion, the misogynist mythological incel, and the time a man fell in love with a statue.
This episode reads Euripides' Ion as a meditation on ancient ideas of parenthood, framed through mistaken identity.
Euripides' Alcestis takes an even stronger turn into comedy as Heracles finds out the truth of the situation in Pherae.
Far-Shooting Phoebus Apollo, god of everything and nothing: what is Apollo exclusively the god of, anyway, covering the good and the very, very bad.
You Could Say She's Living & She's Dead: Euripides' Alcestis is a fascinatingly weird play that barely fits the genre of tragedy, as Admetus cheats fate at a cost.
An Assault On Olympus: the twin giant sons of Poseidon, Otus and Ephialtes, once tried to conquer Mount Olympus itself, becoming troublemakers among the gods.
For the God of Bloodlust He's Kind of a Softy: a close look at Ares, god of war and gore, and all the ways he was actually kind of cool.
Apollo, God of Traumatic Transformations: the many mythologies of Daphne, the most famous woman ever turned into a tree, and her horrible encounters with Apollo.
Heracles' reign of terror continues as he finds another woman to marry, fighting the river god Achelous and defeating the centaur Nessus, inadvertently causing his own mortal demise.
Herodotus, the world's first historian, travelled the Greek world recording recent events, folding in famous myths and badass women along the way.
BONUS: in a brief finale to the Spartan Mirage series, Liv answers lingering listener questions about the ancient city-state and its mythology.
BONUS: the finale of the QCODE Cupid tie-in episodes asks what the deal with Greek myth actually is, and why it remains so fun and fascinating.
BONUS: more mythological episodes tied to QCODE's podcast Cupid, this time covering the Furies, Underworld gods, and Tartarus itself.
Hubris and Hamartia, the Tragic Flaw, are explored through the story of Oedipus as a concept.
Plato's Symposium supplies the origin of the concept of soulmates, translated here by Christopher Gill, a story the episode calls weird but ultimately lovely.