Ancient History Fangirl

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! ⁠ Mammoths existed on our planet for roughly five million years, and they were perfectly adapted to the ice age world they inhabited. So perfectly adapted that when the last ice age ended, so did they. No woolly mammoths have walked the earth for the last 10,000 years. Or did they? It turns out that the last mammoths didn’t disappear 10,000 years ago. For thousands of years after their extinction in the rest of the world, a small population still lived on a remote island in the Arctic called Wrangel Island. And in their last days? In the end times? Things got weird. This is a story about a natural disaster that happened—to mammoths. Let’s dig in. Sponsors and Advertising This episode is brought to you by Vinted. Download the Vinted app for free, sell clothes you no longer wear, and keep everything you earn. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

⁠⁠⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! ⁠ Among the poets of early Augustan Rome, Virgil had a niche: nostalgia. He wrote poems about the Roman countryside, farmers, and a mourned, simpler past that may have never existed. And when Augustus came to power, he recognized Virgil’s skill as one he could exploit. Augustus commanded Virgil to write the Aeneid—an epic poem tying him (Augustus) to an ancient past going all the way back to the Illiad, and elevating his family as descended from Venus and divinely appointed to rule. Virgil’s act of resistance was endlessly writing this poem, never finishing it, and ordering it burned when he died (though Augustus had other ideas). What happens to an artist’s art when it is used in a way that transcends its creation? And how does an ancient poem connect to the Trump Administration’s war with the Smithsonian?  It turns out one of fascism’s most potent weapons is nostalgia. Join us as we dig into it. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Enemy of My Dreams is just $2.99 on Kindle! ⁠⁠⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Short answer: no. Long answer: no, and they didn't function that well in pluralistic Roman society, either. Many of the qualities of high-control Christianity--spiritual warfare, fascistic tendencies, the desire to bring on the end times through war in the Middle East, Christian persecution complex, refusal to follow societal norms, demons--were there at the beginning, date to very specific times in the Church's early history, and threatened Roman society in a way surprisingly similar to how they're threatening ours now. Join us as we attempt to chart the connection between the religious nonsense we're all being tortured with today and its deepest roots in history--with Brad Onishi, scholar of religion, author and co-host of the podcast Straight White American Jesus. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

⁠Enemy of My Dreams is just $2.99 on Kindle!⁠ ⁠⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! We are thrilled to welcome USA Today bestselling author Eva Leigh to the podcast. Eva has had two recent releases that piqued our interest: The Sea Witch (about a lady pirate who’s also a witch, paired with a hunky navigator) and a wild novella about a woman whose world is rocked by multiple werewolf highwaymen.  Join us as we discuss magic and mythology, the fun and challenge of writing why-choose, and the necessity of centering female pleasure. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

⁠⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! One of the most famous quotes from Augustus’ reign was “I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.” And Augustus did that—he had a real thing for construction. Augustus would leave his mark on Rome, and the city would never be able to forget him. Turns out this is…how do we put this…fascism-coded. Other authoritarians have also loved to build things—including, very noticeably, Donald Trump. Why is that? Why do dictators feel a need to build things and slap their names on buildings (even when they didn’t build them)? In this episode, we’re going to unpack that—comparing the record of Augustus and Donald Trump when it comes to building, defacing (under the guise of "renovation"), slapping their names on buildings and putting their claims on the narratives those buildings tell. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices