A podcast on all things Greek myth, scripted and narrated

The Greek Myth Files

43 episodes indexed · 22 hours

Periods · The Bronze Age, Archaic Greece, The Persian Wars, Classical Greece, Philip and Alexander, The Hellenistic world, Greece under Rome

Themes · Religion War Theatre

The description names only Greek myth as scope, seven words in total; the measurement carries the rest, with 43 of 44 episodes included, spanning two eras across 22 hours.

Where to start. Start with the earliest indexed episode, 'Episode 10: Centaurs!' (2020); the run is in order.

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Minoans and Mycenaeans c. 3000 - 1100 BC · 14

57mEpisode 40: The Wrath of Achilles The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Nicole Sanfilippo's script follows Achilles' famous rage after being insulted across the Iliad's span of just a couple of months in the war's tenth year, ending in his redemption after losing honor and his friend.

43mEpisode 34: Alexander Paris, the One Who Started it All The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Christopher Nadeau's script follows Paris, also called Alexander, from his judgment of the goddesses through his seduction of Helen to his killing of Achilles and his own death at Philoctetes' hands.

42mEpisode 41: The Myth of Meleagros and the Iliad The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Devin Agnello's script covers the Iliad moment where Phoinix, Achilles' childhood caretaker, tells him the myth of Meleagros in the hope that he will do what he should.

42mEpisode 37: The Particular Parable of Palamedes Polymetis The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Hyde Morrison's script explores metis, or cunning intelligence, through Palamedes, who uses his mind to benefit humankind, contrasted with Odysseus, who turns the same cunning to self-benefit and revenge.

41mEpisode 35: The Judgment of Paris The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Reilly Salisbury's script covers the judgment of the three goddesses that helped precipitate the Trojan War, tracing the story's added elements and some ancient authors' funny takes on it.

40mEpisode 32: Helen of Sparta, Helen of Troy The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

David Wilson's script covers Helen, daughter of Leda and Zeus, whose infidelity the episode frames as the cause of the Trojan War.

38mEpisode 31: The House of Tantalos, or, the Family of Agamemnon The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Jordan Tryon's script covers the family of Agamemnon, chief commander at Troy, and his brother Menelaus who married Helen, alongside Ixion and Sisyphus and their eternal punishments.

37mEpisode 39: The Homeric Question The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

R. Scott Smith works through the Homeric Question, asking whether Homer existed, whether oral poets could sustain a story that takes about a day to narrate, and whether writing was necessary for the Iliad's coherent structure.

36mEpisode 30: The Trojan War, An Introduction The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

36mEpisode 28: Ajax the Greater: Greatness and Depression The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Laura Hills' script covers Ajax the Greater, son of Telamon from Salamis, whose tragic end is told by the playwright Sophocles, framed here as a story of depression.

32mEpisode 38: Young Achilles The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Emma Swain and R. Scott Smith's script covers Achilles' life outside the Iliad, his unusual conception and parentage, and his tutelage under the Centaur Cheiron.

30mEpisode 36: Mustering Forces at Aulis, or The Sacrifice of Iphigenia The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Conner Floyd and R. Scott Smith's script covers the mustering of forces at Aulis, Agamemnon's mistake there, and his resulting sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia.

29mGMF Special Editon: Nolan’s Odyssey, a Review The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Prof. R. Scott Smith reviews Nolan's Odyssey as a myth scholar, calling it big and epic in scope and worthy of the original in its power and basic story.

24mEpisode 33: Trojan Myth The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

R. Scott Smith traces Trojan genealogy from the area's earliest figures, the local Teucros and the immigrant Dardanos, down to Priam's children Hector and Paris.

Greek Life, Thought and the Wider World across the centuries · 29

41mEpisode 21: Typhoios, Illuyankas and Hittites, Oh My! The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Hittite expert Prof. Gregory McMahon joins to compare the Greek Typhoios myth with its counterpart in Hittite culture, the Illuyanka story.

40mEpisode 27: Medousa and the Gorgons The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

R. Scott Smith surveys the Gorgons and their mortal member Medousa through early poetic and artistic depictions, discussing Ovid's telling of the story and an interview with UNH professor Paul Robertson.

37mEpisode 9: Greek Myth Is (Not) Greek Religion The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Guest scholars Sarah Iles Johnston and Paul Robertson explore how Greek myth and religion differ, discussing Johnston's book The Story of Myth and its argument that mythic storytelling supported the Greeks' belief in it.

35mEpisode 6: The Uses of Greek Myth, Pt. 1 The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Dr. Greta Hawes and Dr. Stephen Trzaskoma join to offer their views on what Greek myth is and whether it can be defined, after summaries of Daphne, Theseus and the Minotaur, and Hippolytos.

34mEpisode 12: Wonder Woman and Amazons The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

The episode traces Greek myth's influence on the creation of Wonder Woman, the contemporary issues behind introducing a female superhero, and the ancient Amazons.

34mEpisode 2: Death, Dying and Healing in Greek Myth and Religion The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

The episode covers the healing gods Apollo, Paion and Asklepios, then turns to the myth of Admetos and Alcestis that Euripides dramatized on stage.

33mGMF Special Edition: Euripides’ Hecuba The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

32mEpisode 23: The Python The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

32mEpisode 20: Monsters: A First Look The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

R. Scott Smith explores the meaning of monster with Debbie Felton, Professor of Classics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an expert on the super- and preternatural world.

31mAristaeus, the God of Bees (and Orpheus and Eurydice) The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Charlie Bijesse's script pairs the importance of bees in antiquity with the god Aristaeus and his role in the tragic death of Eurydice.

30mEpisode 10: Centaurs! The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

With Emma Aston

The episode covers half-human, half-horse Centaurs with Professor Emma Aston on their role in the identity of certain Greek regions, and Professor Hawes reading a passage from an ancient medical writer imagining life as a Centaur.

29mEpisode 17: Jason Gets the Golden Fleece…with a Bit of Help The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Written and narrated by R. Scott Smith, the episode covers Jason's three challenges at Colchis: taming fire-breathing bulls, plowing a field, and battling earthborn warriors, tasks Medeia helps him complete with her magic.

28mEpisode 22: Giants in Greek Myth The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

27mEpisode 19: Medeia’s Last Act The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

27mEpisode 18: The Argonauts’ Voyage Home The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

R. Scott Smith follows the Argonauts' winding voyage from Colchis to their home in Thessaly: Medeia, daughter of King Aietes, saves them on the way, and after they arrive helps Jason take revenge on the usurper, King Pelias.

26mEpisode 26: Atlas, Man or Mountain? The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

R. Scott Smith weighs whether Atlas was a mythical figure or part of the landscape, and how that story has shaped the modern world.

26mEpisode 16: The Voyage Begins The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Written and narrated by R. Scott Smith, the episode follows the Argo from Thessaly to the Bosporus and the Clashing Rocks, covering the Lemnian Women, the death of Cyzicus, Polydeuces' boxing win over Amycus, and Phineus and the Harpies.

26mEpisode 13: The Golden Fleece The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Written and narrated by R. Scott Smith, the episode traces the Golden Fleece back to the ram that saved two Greek children, the fleece that becomes the object of the Argonauts' quest aboard the Argo.

25mEpisode 11: The Olympian Gods The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

The episode surveys the Olympian gods' attributes and epithets, their descriptive titles, and how the Romans later borrowed these Greek gods' stories for their own deities.

25mEpisode 5: What Greek Myth Is…And Is Not, The Basics The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

The episode lays out the basics of what a Greek myth is, tracing the shift from oral tradition to writing and each storyteller's freedom to change details.

24mEpisode 25: Niobe The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

R. Scott Smith covers two myths explaining a rock formation that resembles a human figure, tracing Niobe's transformation into stone through grief caused by her own arrogance.

23mEpisode 14: The Man with One Sandal The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

R. Scott Smith covers Jason, leader of the Argonauts and the famous man with one sandal, tracing the story's roots and a wall painting in Pompeii that depicts the myth.

23mEpisode 8: Did the Greeks Believe Their Myths? The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

The episode asks whether the Greeks believed their myths: an important cultural phenomenon that everyone knew, yet full of unbelievable events whose truth many intellectuals tried to tease out, with a look at Centaurs ahead of Episode 10.

22mEpisode 4: The World Is Out To Get You, Human The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

R. Scott Smith covers how disease and plagues are among the ways the world is set up to make humans suffer, framing the tense relationship between gods and mortals.

21mEpisode 24: Daphne The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

The episode breaks down the myth of Daphne and her transformation, using the multiple locations where it is set as a clear example of a floating myth.

21mEpisode 15: The Argo and the Argonauts The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

The episode covers the ship Argo and her crew as Jason prepares to reclaim the Golden Fleece, asking whether the Argo was the first ship.

21mEpisode 7: The Uses of Greek Myth, Pt. 2 The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Part two of The Uses of Greek Myth is an interview with Professor Ken Dowden, author of the books Death and the Maiden and The Uses of Greek Myth.

18mEpisode 3: Demeter’s Grief and Loss The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

Kennis Barker's script follows Demeter's grief at losing Persephone, a loss that set her wandering and brought her to Eleusis, where her failed attempt to make the king's son immortal leads to the founding of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

13mEpisode 1: Mythical Plagues The Greek Myth FilesPodcast

The opening episode covers the major plague myths in Greek tradition, focusing on the god Apollo, framed by the subtitle's open question of whether he brings cures as well as plagues.

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