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Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! Greek & Roman Mythology Retold
Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! Greek & Roman Mythology RetoldSubscribed: 19,186Played: 618,451
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© 2023 Liv Albert
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The most entertaining and enraging stories from mythology told casually, contemporarily, and (let's be honest) sarcastically. Greek and Roman gods did some pretty weird (and awful) things. Liv focuses on Greek and Roman mythology's (mis)treatment of women, the wild things the gods did, and the all around incredible minds of the ancient world. Gods, goddesses, heroes, monsters, and everything in between. Regular episodes every Tuesday, conversations with authors and scholars or readings of ancient epics every Friday.
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This family has the worst luck! Iphigenia, Orestes, and Pylades deal with a bit of a misunderstanding. For background on Iphigenia's family and the events that lead to this play, check out this Spotify playlist. Submit your Q&A responses here! Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Sources: Iphigenia Among the Taurians, translated by Anne Carson; and another edition by George Theodoridis. Herodotus' Histories.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Liv reads the penultimate book of Ovid's Metamorphses, translated by Brookes More. We here about Circe, Aeneas, and far too much about Rome. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What happened after Iphigenia was sacrificed for a bit of good wind? Euripides has a theory... For background on Iphigenia's family and the events that lead to this play, check out this Spotify playlist. Submit your Q&A responses here! Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Sources: Iphigenia Among the Taurians, translated by Anne Carson; and another edition by George Theodoridis. Herodotus' Histories.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1Greek-American author Sophia Kouidou-Giles joins Liv to talk Circe, Skylla, Greece, and her new novel An Unexpected Ally. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Liv joins Genn and Jenny of Ancient History Fangirl to talk about the Roman Emperor Hadrian's obsession with Greece and his building projects in Athens! Keep up with the official Myths, Baby! group trip to Greece here. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Liv speaks with author Elodie Harper about the final novel in her Wolf Den trilogy, the Temple of Fortuna, but really they talk about Roman before, during, and after the eruption of Vesuvius and what that looked like. Find more from Elodie here. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Is it a love story when the woman is forced to choose between marriage and death? Acontius thinks so! Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Sources: Ovid's Heroides, translated by Grant Showerman; fragments of Callimachus.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Liv speaks with Phoenicia Rogerson, author of the novel HERC which finally treats the story of Heracles as it should: it's weird and funny and also, tragic. Follow Phoenicia on social media at @thatPhoenicia and learn more here. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After nearly four years of evading the plague, Liv has been snared by the Eris Variant. The official Halloween special will have to wait, in the meantime here are more Spooky Season Favourites. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Episodes featured (see the originals for more information): My Favorite [Ancient] Murder, Nyx, Eris, and their Deadly Dynasty; The Lycanthropic Tale of Lycaon & Other Ghosts & Werewolves; and Blood-soaked Trees, Erysichthon Eats Himself & Bonus Boogeywomen of Ancient Greece.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Revisiting all things Underworld: Persephone, Hades, and everyone in between. Follow Ellie on Tiktok and Twitter. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content! Find all six years of Spooky Season content on this Spotify Playlist! Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Revisiting the Supreme Spooky... Hecate! We look at everything there is to know about Hecate, all powerful goddess of witchcraft, and some real life women accused of witchcraft in ancient Greece. Find all six years of Spooky Season content on this Spotify Playlist! Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Sources: Early Greek Myths by Timothy Gantz; Theoi.com entries on Hecate and Hesiod's Theogony; Heroines of Olympus; Underworld Gods in Ancient Greek Religion both by Ellie Mackin Roberts; Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds by Daniel Ogden; Magic in the Ancient Greek World by Derek Collins.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Revisiting the vastness of classical witchcraft... Liv speaks with Antonia Aluko who studies Roman witches and intersectionality, they talk all things Medea and Circe as they're found in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Follow Antonia on Twitter for more on Roman witches.
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More spooooky ancient sources: this time, the two most famous descents into the Underworld, a mere 800 or so years apart... Homer's Odyssey, translated by Samuel Butler; Virgil's Aeneid translated by JW Mackail. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
This is not a standard narrative story episode, it's a reading of an ancient source, audiobook style. For regular episodes look for any that don't have "Liv Reads..." in the title! For a list of Roman/Latin names and who they were in the Greek, visit: mythsbaby.com/names.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Revisiting an unofficial Spooky episode... Zagreus, Zagreus, Zagreus. It's gross, it's weird, it's both an afterthought and supremely important. Welcome to the story of thrice born Dionysus, better known as Zagreus. Find all six years of Spooky Season content on this Spotify Playlist! Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: **this episode includes particularly egregious assault and incest, even for Greek myth** far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Sources: Early Greek Myths by Timothy Gantz; Nonnus' Dionysiaca, translated by William Henry Denham Rouse. Further reading: Orphic Tradition and the Birth of the Gods by Dwayne A. Meisner; The “Orphic” Gold Tablets and Greek Religion, Radcliffe G. Edmonds III; The Orphic Hymns, translated by Apostolos N. Athanassakis and Benjamin M. Wolkow. See last week's episode for even more Orphic sources.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Revisiting last's year's spooky... It's time for the infernal goddesses of the dead... Chthonic Cuties... the realm of the Underworld itself, and how the real people of ancient Greece worshipped and interacted with that realm while they're still in the land of the living... Find all six years of Spooky Season content on this Spotify Playlist! Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Sources: Early Greek Myths by Timothy Gantz; Theoi.com entries on Persephone, Melinoe, and Hades; Heroines of Olympus by Ellie Mackin Roberts.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The finale of Seneca's Thyestes is just... horror, from start to finish. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. And this one features *graphic* infanticide and cannibalism... Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Sources: Seneca's Thyestes, primarily the version translation by Emily Wilson with long passages quoted from the Frank Justus Miller.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Liv speaks with Alexandra Sills who studies spectacle! and, specifically: when Gladiators went to Greece... They talk mythologizing gladiatorial games, adapting things (splash zone!) and even, the evidence for women fighting in games. Read more from Alexandra at Bad Ancient and Working Classicists. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As Seneca's Thyests continues, Atreus finalizes his plan for revenge and Thyestes returns home to Argolis with his beloved children. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. And this one features infanticide and cannibalism... Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Sources: Seneca's Thyestes, primarily the version translation by Emily Wilson with long passages quoted from the Frank Justus Miller; Hyginus' Fabulae; Theoi.com entry on Erinyes and quote from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Some things are eternal. What does Persephone have in common with Sidney Prescott? Or Antigone with Marion Crane? Let Vanessa tell you all about it... Find more about Vanessa's study of horror in myth and Greek tragedy here, and follow her on Twitter for more.
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It's time to return to Seneca and the play whose only woman character is a goddess of vengeance. Tantalus' cursed grandsons are about to f**k things up. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Sources: Seneca's Thyestes, primarily the version translation by Emily Wilson with long passages quoted from the Frank Justus Miller; Hyginus' Fabulae.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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I'm so baffled by the incels in these comments. Being a feminist means believing men and women deserve to be treated with equal respect. How tf could anyone argue against that? And for everyone whinging about it, imagine how tired women feel
semi related Nemisis fact: there was a shrine to her in the Roman Amphitheatre in Chester. Chester is a city in northern England that still has it's Roman walls. It is speculated to have been intended to become the capital of the British isles, or at least a staging post for the conquest of Ireland.
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This book was such a disappointment to me for much the same reasons you gave. I was so excited about it…and it was such nonsense. I’m glad to hear I’m not alone as almost everyone I have spoken to thinks it’s great. I hated almost everything about it. 🤷🏼♀️
Whether or not Euripides added the epilogue is something we may never know definitively. However, two earlier versions of the story, one from the Cypria and one from Hesiod's Catalog of Women, do not end with the death of Iphigenia by sacrificial blade on the altar at Aulis. The Cypria fragment 1 from the synopsis in Proclus' "Chrestomathia" says: "When the expedition had mustered a second time at Aulis, Agamemnon, while at the chase, shot a stag and boasted that he surpassed even Artemis. At this the goddess was so angry that she sent stormy winds and prevented them from sailing. Calchas then told them of the anger of the goddess and bade them sacrifice Iphigeneia to Artemis. This they attempt to do, sending to fetch Iphigeneia as though for marriage with Achilles. Artemis, however, snatched her away and transported her to the Tauri, making her immortal, and putting a stag in place of the girl upon the altar." Note that this took place the 2nd time the fleet mustered at Aulis. And th
Partheneion is a song/poem to be sung by a chorus of young, unmarried girls. The etymology is from the Greek word for virgin, (Παρθένος Parthenos). The Parthenon is named for the virgin goddess Athena, who like Hestia and Artemis, were perpetual virgins.
One of the reasons the Spartan men "loved" to sing and dance was because music enhanced the precision of their hoplite phalanx formation. On the battlefield they marched together singing in unison to inspire morale and patriotic emotions. And a piper played the aulos to keep time as they moved and turned in lock step. They drilled and practiced to the same music. The role of the Spartan king on military campaigns was to perform religious sacrifices and decide whether or not the signs were auspicious for a Spartan victory. If they were not, the Spartans did not fight that day. While Plutarch may have relied on the Roman re-creation of ancient Spartan practices for his Life of Lycurgus, it is also likely that he relied on other sources which are now lost. Scholars estimate that only 10% of the writings from archaic, classical and Hellenistic Greece have survived to our time. So let's not be too quick to disparage Plutarch. Xenophon wrote the Polity of the Lacedaemonians, a treatise/book
stop with the feministic victim bs already...we don't care about slanted views of reality. just stick with mythology
I looked up the statue that you mentioned in the podcast and from what I saw in the pictures it is really beautiful I can just imagine how beautiful it would be in person definitely going to be on my bucket list now oh and by the way I love the podcast I just found it today and I've been listening to it Non-Stop
Liv, your take is rubbish.
Excellent! and the poem at the end, the best!
Episode 367 on Alcestis was amazing- insightful, funny, and full of historical information. I would like to add that Alcestis in my opinion was definitely a satyr play. Satyr plays were first and foremost comedies. Typically they had a bawdy theme, with humor that appealed to men. After all the audience, the actors, chorus and playwrights were all men. So let's have a lot of jokes about dicks and then let's go get drunk. But this subversive play is a satire. It makes fun of the gods, Apollo and the Fates break all the rules and allow Admetus to live beyond his fated time to die. It allows Heracles to beat Death ( the god Thanatos) and Hades to yield back a person who did die. While men were supposed to protect their families with their very lives, here Admetus allows his wife to die in his stead. He now must take on the role of mother of his children. Respect for one's father was a basic tenet of Greek culture. But Admetus expects his shocked indignant and very unwilling father to die
This episode on the Orphic tradition is not Liz's finest hour. It casts more shade than light.
Amazing podcast! Has been keeping me entertained and educated for years and still going! thank you from the Netherlands :)
three episodes in.. does the man hating ever stop? don't know if I can keep it up.
hey there how can I find the transcripts? btw well done 👏🏻
It is shame that it's a bit hard to hear what Princess O'Nika is saying ❤️ love this episode.
Great pod cast
looking forward to this!!!
just found your podcast and I'm really enjoying it 🥰 I will also be ordering your book, thank you!