Ancient History Fangirl

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! ⁠ This is an episode about a plague that killed up to 100 million people by the time it was done—as many as 60% of its victims. It's the first documented occurrence of a pandemic that we have, and it's the first documented outbreak of the deadlyYersinia pestis. No, we're not talking about the Black Death of Medieval Europe. We're talking about the Plague of Justinian. The Plague of Justinian was just one part of the fallout of the global volcanic eruption of 536 AD. Three eyewitness accounts have survived--and, in the grand tradition of this podcast, we decided to read them to you whilst Yule-level drunk. Buckle up. It is a wild, plague-tastic ride. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In our last episode, we told you all about the rise of Theodoric the Great and the founding of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy. Now, we're going to tell you all about the women in his family—and the effect they had on his kingdom. Theodoric had a wife, a sister, and three daughters—all of whom played an important role in his empire-building. His wife was the daughter of another powerful Germanic tribe—the Franks—and he married off his sister and two eldest daughters to form strategic alliances. But three times he married off his kin, and three times it blew up in his face. Amalasuintha was Theodoric's youngest daughter—and when he died, she was the last woman standing. For a few years, the Ostrogothic Kingdom had a Queen—but these were turbulent times. Join us as we explore the rule of Amalasuintha and the lives of Theodoric's other tough-as-nails female kin. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! ⁠ What was the worst year to be alive? Some researchers have a very specific answer to this question: 536 AD.  This is a year when the global temperature dropped, and it was winter all year round—for multiple years. The sun disappeared for 18 months as the world was covered in a veil of sulfuric dust. Crops failed. People starved, and fell to eating each other and warring over scarce resources. From China to Mexico, thriving civilizations collapsed. And the culprit? A volcano. Or maybe multiple volcanoes. But which ones are still a mystery. This is a historical mass murder, and it's still unsolved.   Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! After 75 years under Hunnic dominion, the Ostrogoths seized their freedom and set about taking over control of the Western Roman Empire. The man who led them was named Theodoric the Great. He was a member of an ancient Gothic family called the Amali, which went all the way back to the Crisis of the Third Century. Supposedly.   Theodoric was the founder of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, which upended a thousand years of Roman rule in Italy. While Alaric sacked Rome, he couldn't hold it. He didn't try to hold it. Theodoric did hold it, and rule it. This is his story. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In our last episode, we talked about how the Visigoths came to be: forged in the fire of the Gothic War of 376-382 and the immigration crisis that went along with it. Now, we'll take a look at what happened to their kin who stayed on the northern side of the Danube—the Greuthungi who were not allowed to cross. What happened to them was 75 years under Hunnic dominion.   This time changed them. Some were brutally exploited. Still others were enriched beyond their wildest imaginings, riding at the head of a Wild Hunt that devoured all in its path—utnil, when next they met their kin who crossed the Danube, it was on opposite sides of a battlefield.   Join us as we map the rise of the Ostrogoths. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In our last few episodes, we've told you what we know about pre-Roman Gothic archaeology, culture, and history. We've told you about conditions both inside and outside the Roman Empire that kicked off the Migration Era.   And now we're going to tell you the story of one of those Gothic Wars in detail: the war of 376-382 AD. A war that may have occurred during Alaric's childhood—and that may have been a radicalizing event for him and for thousands of people who followed him.   It's the war—and the accompanying immigration crisis—that sets off a chain of events in which a people called the Visigoths rise—and the most famous of them, a man called Alaric, leads them all the way to the gates of Rome. This is where it all begins. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In our last episode, we took a look at the outside forces driving the engine of the Migration Era: Hunnic migrations and invasions, constant displacement and conflict at the Roman borders. But Goths lived inside Rome too—in the heart of the Italian peninsula, and also in the outer provinces, in territories that were conquered by force. This story isn't just about Goths that lived outside Rome. It's also about the Goths that lived inside the Empire—as everything from slaves to soldiers to free citizens. How they were treated within that empire fueled and fed the wheel of the Migration era. Hatred of immigrants played a major role in Migration-Era conflicts--in ways scarily similar to events today.   Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! It was the beginning of the Migration Era where the Goths' history with the Roman Empire begins. The Migration era was a cycle of wars and conflicts lasting hundreds of years. Alaric's sack of Rome was only a small part of it.    What started it? Nobody knows. But it would have been an extremely chaotic time to be alive, when ordinary people had to leave all that they'd built and flee in the face of invaders—who were also refugees fleeing violence that had wiped out their own homes. There would have been no safety anywhere.   The Migration Era was a vortex of death, where displaced victims, starving refugees, desperate people often wound up enacting the next round of violence on the populations they crashed into. And in this episode, we try to plumb the depths of that vortex. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In our last episode, we delved into the archaeology of the pre-Roman Goths. But what about Gothic culture? What do we know about pre-Roman Gothic culture, before the Goths were Romanized?   To get a real sense of what is authentically Gothic is really difficult. We don't have much information about the Goths' daily lives or culture. We know almost nothing about their pre-Christian religious practices and beliefs. What we do have is a lot of military history from a Roman lens, and accounts from chroniclers like Tacitus—which have a lot of issues.   In this episode, we try to peel back the layers and discover what we can about pre-Roman Gothic culture. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! The Roman Empire stood for a thousand years. Many causes have been given for its downfall—but if just one group of people could be said to be culpable, it would be the Goths.   They stormed its borders en masse, scored outsized victories that no one had won before, killed two emperors and raised up their own, sacked the city of Rome after a thousand inviolable years; and built their own kingdoms within the Empire's decaying corpse. Their name has inspired the names of architecture, literature and fashion into the modern day. Whenever you set the date of the fall of Rome, there's no question the Goths were instrumental in felling it. So who were these people? Who were the Goths?   In this episode, we're going to find out. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In Enemy of My Dreams, Jenny based her heroine Julia partially on Julia the Elder—rebellious daughter of Augustus who got herself exiled to Pandateria for being, as the ancients say, “too slutty.” Julia the Elder refused, REFUSED to rein it in. And for that, we adore her. But accounts of her life are told by men, sometimes her political enemies. She may have been a victim of slander, or engaged in deeper plotting that her dad wanted to keep secret. And while Julia the Elder was exiled for roughly five years, her daughter, Julia the Younger, was exiled for 20. Join us as we explore the lives of these indomitable women with historical fiction author and classics scholar Tana Rebellis, author of the Exile Duology and expert in Julio-Claudian exile. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In 450 AD, the Imperial Princess Honoria--daughter of Galla Placidia--was desperate to escape her arranged marriage. So she made an indecent proposal--to Attila the Hun. On this single action, cities were torched. Saints were raised. Thousands died. And Venice was founded. Find out how it all went down. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! He was a fierce barbarian warlord—a man who had stood between his people and the Roman Empire since the sack of Rome. She was a Roman Imperial princess with a core of iron strength. Born enemies, the love of Ataulf and Galla Placidia is marked by tragedy—but in its time, it burned hot enough to reshape an Empire. This is their story. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This week's Book Club author interview is none other than up-and-coming romantasy and historical romance author Jenny Williamson, discussing her upcoming debut Enemy of My Dreams: her huge historical crush on Alaric of the Goths, the inspiration for her entirely-made-up hot-mess heroine, and how she adds “verisimilitude” to her fight scenes. Join Genn and guest co-host Liv Albert, of Let's Talk about Myths, Baby!, as they crack open a beverage, and conduct a wild and slightly tipsy author interview. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Who was Alaric of the Visigoths, really? It's a difficult question to answer. Alaric left no manifesto. There is nothing in his own words to explain his motivations for sacking Rome, or all the choices he made leading up to that fateful day. All we have are the assumptions of his enemies, which sometimes don't' make a lot of sense. Enter Douglas Boin. His groundbreaking biography, Alaric the Goth: an Outsider's History of the Fall of Rome, explores Alaric's experience as an immigrant, marginalized by the Roman Empire and fighting for his place in it. Join us as we explore the life and times of this fascinating historical figure and what his life still has to tell us. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This week, we feature a conversation with the OG romance novelist—the one all our romance novelist friends list among their favorites. Nalini Singh has an impressive, multi-decade career with several long-running, blockbuster romantasy and paranormal series featuring sexy shifters, fallen angels, and dangerous psychic warriors. Join us as we explore these fascinating worlds and discuss the secrets to a long-running career in romance and fiction. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! On August 24, 410 AD, Alaric and the Visigoths sacked the city of Rome. Before he sacked it, he starved it. Before that, he went toe to toe with the Roman Empire for fifteen years—uniting disparate tribes, holding a people together, and achieving more against Rome than any barbarian leader before him. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! It's the end of Season 12--and what a year it's been! We had some big things happen in 2024 and we hope that 2025 will be even bigger and more exciting. Join us as we discuss what it was like covering the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, our upcoming books and novel projects, and our plans for the podcast going forward. Thank you so much for taking this journey with us! Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Janus is the two-faced god of the Roman pantheon. He was the god of beginnings and endings, of dual natures, of passageways and passage through time. He's the god of thresholds and doorways and gates, and the god of change, both concrete and abstract. He's constantly in motion; he's the god who's always just passing through. Janus may not be very well-known. But in his time, he was considered one of the most important gods—perhaps more important than Jupiter himself. Today, we're going to tell you all about him. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! How would Alaric of the Visigoths celebrate the midwinter holiday (Christmas? Solstice? Yule?). The idea was kicked around a lot between the two of us until it seemed imperative that we actually write this episode. And thus, an episode was born. In this episode, Alaric is about six years old. He doesn't exactly understand that his life is hanging by a knife's edge – caught between the invading Huns and the colonizing Romans. This is the story of a little boy just trying to do the right thing and not get his belly slit open by the Perchta, as one does around this time of year. So sit back, pour yourself a festive holiday beverage, and enjoy this very fictional, occasionally true episode.  Sponsors & Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This year, we've found one of the most metal and wild Yuletide goddesses yet – Frau Holle. Human sacrifices, spindles in yer vag, plague, starvation, caves of offerings and bones, the Grimms brothers, golden showers, child cannibalism, ZOMBIES – are any of these putting you in the Yuletide spirit? They should. Because we're about to share with you the story of a very Frau Holle Christmas. Sponsors & Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! You may recognize Dr. Emily Rath from our series on Project 2025. Today, we've invited her on to discuss her most recent project—North is the Night, a historical fantasy story with a strong, sapphic romantic thread. Join us as Emily introduces us to a world of terrifying metal death goddesses, mystical talking ravens, queer witches and warriors, and a Christianity that seeks to devour everything it touches.  Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Ah, Christmas—it's a time of cheer, of gift-giving and generosity; and a time to eat yer babies. This year, we're focusing on two different cannibalistic monsters from Christmas folklore: Père Fouettard and Hans Trapp. Because it turns out that child cannibalism really is the reason for the season—and perhaps Santa Claus is the biggest cannibal of all. What is Santa hiding under those jolly cheeks and that big white beard? Strap in, pour yourself your favorite holiday beverage, and get ready for a wild ride into the dark side of Christmas. Sponsors & Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In our last two episodes we discussed what worship looked like at the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. How the goddess was worshipped, who worshipped her, and what they believed. Now, we're going talk about what the temple looked like, who built it, who burned it to the ground, who rebuilt it, and what people did at the temple (besides worship). It's time to dig into the ground and build back up this temple, stone by stone, with the stories of the people who walked its hallowed halls. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! What do you know about Yule? Maybe a lot. The holiday is widely celebrated in Scandinavian countries, and it's an important part of Wiccan and Pagan tradition. But for many of us, the version that's come down through history is strongly associated with Christmas--and heavily sanitized. When we scratched the surface, however, we found that the origins of Yule were older and darker and weirder than we ever imagined. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This year, we decided that the holiday season wouldn't be complete without a mythological foray into one of the most famous characters of the season: The Krampus. And some of you might be saying: wait a minute, Krampus isn't ancient; he's modern. Also, everyone knows about Krampus, the festive demon of Christmas. Why are you covering this well-trodden topic? Wait until you hear the wild things we uncovered about him and his history, and then make your judgements about how old and well-trodden this topic is. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Last week, we discussed the history of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus—and just who served here, and why. This week, we delve into the mythology of the temple and the goddess worshipped there. The Artemis at Ephesus was a far more ancient goddess than her Classical Greek counterpart. She has roots in the ancient Near East, and is cousin to ancient deities such as Kybele and the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet. What happened to this goddess—and the people who worshipped her—as the world changed? Join us as we explore how the wild, untameable Artemis at Ephesus fared in the face of Roman occupation, Christian suppression, and natural disasters. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! What did it take to be a gladiator? Who ended up in the arena, and why? And how did the gladiatorial games—one of the bloodiest sporting events known in the ancient world—come to be? From the ancient roots of Etruscan funeral games to the height of Roman spectacle, we examine the history of gladiatorial combat—and explore what life was like for gladiators in the time of Spartacus. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This week, we welcome internationally bestselling author and noted enemies-to-lovers enthusiast Thea Guanzon to the podcast. Thea's debut novel, the Hurricane Wars, is an enemies-to-lovers romantasy with complex layers of worldbuilding and intrigue, rich with mythic resonance, airships, elemental magic, world-rending storms and eclipses, and passionate romance. Join us as we discuss the inspiration for her in-world mythology, our mutual love for hot-mess heroines, and what makes guys named Alaric so sexy. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This week, we're covering the final Wonder on our list of Seven Wonders: and this may be the one that broke us. It's a Wonder located at the nexus of seawater and freshwater on the brackish headwaters of an epic river; a biodiversity hotspot. It was in this primal land that legend of a divine huntress grew. This is not the Artemis of the Classical Greeks. This is the Artemis of Ephesus: a ferocious huntress, yes. But also a wild and fecund goddess of childbirth; a protectress of women and children, so fertile and fierce that she would tolerate no masculinity: men had to undergo castration before they could serve in her temple. And we've barely begun to scratch the surface of what it meant to serve. Join us as we get to know the mysterious and primal Artemis of Ephesus. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! When you think of Artemis, what springs to mind?  Perhaps it's a fierce huntress with a bow and arrow, a sort of female Peter Pan—wild and untamed, haunting forests drenched in moonlight—a goddess who's taken a stern vow of chastity, and refuses all company save that of her nymphs. That's one version of Artemis—the Classical version. But there's an older, wilder version that pulls back the curtain on a more ancient way of life in Greece. Join us as we explore who Artemis was, how she was worshipped, and how she evolved into a goddess who fit into the Classical Athenian idea of what an ‘eternal maiden' should look like. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Think the Amazons of Greek myth were mythical? Think again. The Greeks based their Amazons on the real-life warrior women next door. Centuries ago, ancient writers claimed that Scythian women of the Eurasian Steppe fought in battle alongside their men. Now, with modern bioarchaeology, the bones of real female warriors have emerged from their grave mounds and begun to speak to us. This is their story. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Lucian's A True History has been called the world's first work of science fiction—but above all, Lucian of Samosata was a satirist. And he had a bone to pick with the famous historians of his time—guys like Herodotus and Ctesias of Knidos. They were Lying Liars who Lied, you see, and Lucian was mad about it. So he set out to write his OWN monument to lies—lest he be the only writer out there “exempted from the liberty of lying.” The only true thing is what he tells us in his intro: “for this one thing I confidently pronounce for a truth: that I lie.” This fabulous story has everything: sexy tree women, an intergalactic war, an interlude inside a whale—and we can't get enough of it. Join us and Liv Albert from Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! on this amazing adventure of which every word is a lie, and yet surprisingly relevant to our time. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! What tales kept people from thousands of years ago up at night? This Halloween, Ancient History Fangirl teams up with Liv Albert from Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! to delve into spooky stories from the ancient world that will send a shiver up your spine—tales of shrieking Banshees, deathly Furies, and the terrors of Samhain. So spread some salt over your threshold. Settle into your favorite chair. Pour yourself a drink to take the chill from your bones. And if there's a knock on your door, whatever you do—don't answer it. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! We've covered werewolves in the ancient world before—and their connection to the Berserker myth. But wait til you hear what happened to werewolf mythology when the Catholics got their hands on it. This episode is a wild ride, taking you from the ancient Greek and Roman werewolves to a Medieval monster tied to the mysteries of serial killing, mental illness, domestic abuse, and the paranoia of the Witch Trials. It turns out Catholic werewolves stalked a very dark, very violent landscape—and we are just itching to explore it. Join us. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! The werewolf myth as we know it today generally involves getting bitten by a werewolf, transforming during the full moon, and being very susceptible to silver bullets. But werewolves in ancient Greece and Rome were a little different. Join us for a spooky-season deep dive into ancient werewolf mythology from thousands of years ago. We'll take a look at the pre-Christian origins of the werewolf myth and its connections to death, starvation, cannibalism, and transformation. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In the last episode we discussed why the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are the only Wonder that historians don't believe existed. There's no archaeological evidence for it, and archaeologists have been scouring the ruins of Babylon since the 1800s. Also, Nebuchadnezzar himself—who could not shut up about all his own great building projects—never mentioned it. But there's one audacious theory that suggests the Hanging Gardens did exist—just not in Babylon. In fact, they were built by Babylon's arch enemy 324 miles to the north. The theory goes that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were actually the Hanging Gardens of Nineveh. Join us as we do a deep dive into this fascinating theory. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! What is it that makes the grimdark so sexy? NYTimes bestselling author Carissa Broadbent would know. She has been, in her own words, “concerning teachers and parents with mercilessly grim tales since she was roughly nine years old.” Today, her worlds are dark, gritty, war-blasted magical realms featuring (hot) characters caught in desperate, heart-pounding situations—and relentlessly drawn to each other. Join us as we explore a world of tender and torrid love stories set amidst war and struggle. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This week, we're going to cover what may be the most mysterious of the Seven Wonders: a wonder that rose from the desert like a mirage, one whose name suggests it defied gravity itself; a wonder that may not have been a wonder at all: that may, in fact, never have existed. Join us as we explore the enigma of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! The hosts of the Partial Historians Podcast—Dr. Rad and Dr. G—have written a book! Your Cheeky Guide to the Roman Empire takes you from the regal period through to the so-called 'fall' in the 5th century, covering topics such as: We Built This City on Rock and Roads - learn about the walls and aqueducts! Let's Get Mythical  Armed and Dangerous - the Romans didn't always win on the battlefield!  Of course, no book on ancient Rome would be complete without covering Spartacus. Please enjoy this excerpt from the Spartacus chapter of their upcoming book, With a Rebel Yell. Your Cheeky Guide to the Roman Empire is available November 5 and can be pre-ordered here. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Preorder Enemy of my Dreams here! Epic news alert! We're so thrilled that the cover for Jenny's Alaric historical romantasy, Enemy of My Dreams is here! As many of you know, the research for this book was her inspiration for this podcast, and our listeners have been with her every step of the way. We are so excited for you to continue following her on this journey. To celebrate the cover reveal, we put together this brand new episode where Genn interviews Jenny and we both fangirl about Alaric, the Fall of Rome, and the Migration Era in a ridiculous manner. We hope you enjoy! Enemy of My Dreams will be out in hardback, ebook and audio on February 4th, 2025. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Today we're going to talk about yet another giant statue in the Seven Wonders lexicon—one that was once pictured straddling the harbor at Rhodes, holding aloft a torch. He was supposed to depict the god Helios, although some said it looked more like Alexander the Great. Rhodes was an island full of pirates, smugglers and ne'er-do-wells. What would have possessed them to build a giant statue of Helios in their harbor? Why that god? Why in that place? What did it all mean? And what did it have to do with Demetrius the Besieger?  Join us as we unravel the mysteries that surround this statue, the cult of Helios, the island of Rhodes and meet a few of Jenny's favorite historical figures from the War of the Diadochi. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This week, we invited onto the show one of our all-time favorite romance authors—New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Katee Robert. Katee has written over 100 books and sold over two million copies worldwide. They are truly an author who Goes Big, swimming in the currents of dark and taboo romance, romantasy, paranormal and monster romance—with relationships that are often queer, poly, and kinky. Join us as we explore the dark and dangerous--incorporating kink into romance, what makes a dark romance so dark, and why we are all endlessly falling for the villain. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Today, we're going to talk about a wonder that was built for a man who was once extremely powerful. But today, he's known primarily for the grandness of his tomb—a tomb commissioned not by him, but by his wife (and sister)—a tomb so great that much like the Pharos' name has been used in some languages to mean all lighthouses, his name in English now means all tombs.  Who was Mausolus? What made his tomb so great? And why was it named after him and not his wife, who was also buried there? Join us as we explore the mysteries of the Mausoleum. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! It's easy to get the impression that no women were allowed in the war games of the ancient world, but nothing could be further from the truth. Female generals and warrior queens were everywhere—leading armies into battle by land and sea. In this episode, we cover five female military commanders—powerful allies and enemies of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This is a Podcast Takeover about the real threat that is Project 2025. Joining us is Dr. Brad Onishi, co-host of the podcast Straight White American Jesus, a podcast that explores the culture and politics of Christian Nationalism from the perspective of two ex-evangelical ministers turned professors of religion. In this episode, Brad walks us through the influence of Christian Nationalism on Donald Trump's second-term agenda--and exactly how, through Project 2025, Trump could dismantle our democracy, wield our military against us, and impose a rigid view of Christianity on a non-consenting public. This may be the last election we ever get to vote in. So we all need to vote like our lives and our country depend on it.  Sponsors and Advertising This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task. This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This is a Podcast Takeover about the real threat that is Project 2025. If enacted, Project 2025 would touch on all aspects of American life—and we couldn't get into all of it in one episode. This week, we invited Dr. Emily Rath onto the show to give us a first-hand perspective on what life would be like if Project 2025 was made into law. In addition to a bestselling romance novelist, Dr. Rath has been a professor in Florida under the “Don't Say Gay” law and other “anti woke” legislation, much of which is replicated in Project 2025, that put her livelihood and safety under threat. Join us for a personal discussion of what Project 2025 will do to all of us—with a focus on LGBTQ+ people, queer creators, women and AFAB people, and the box these laws would imprison us in.  Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This is a Podcast Takeover about the real threat that is Project 2025. We decided to take a break from our usual ancient history episodes to tell you about the Christo-fascist playbook that's closer to being enacted into law than you might think. Project 2025 is a 900-page document that, if enacted, would rearrange our government to put unprecedented power in the hands of the president. And that president would be Donald Trump. Joining us to break down this document is Professor Buzzkill himself: Dr. Joseph Coohill, public historian and host of the Professor Buzzkill podcast. In this episode, Professor Buzzkill explains exactly how Project 2025 would change our government, the historical power and influence of the Heritage Foundation (its creator) and why we all need to VOTE this November. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Angela J. Ford is the author of over 30 books, mostly steamy fantasy romance and romantic thrillers. Like Jenny, she fell in love with the Phantom of the Opera at an early age. And she wrote a romance novel inspired by that story--with the mysterious Phantom as the hero. Join us as we discuss Angela's Phantom-inspired novel, Music of the Night, and what makes a certain Opera Ghost so sexy. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! With the 2024 Olympics beginning any day now, you're probably (if you're a nerd like us) asking yourself one question: what would it have been like to attend a day at the world's first Olympic Games? The Games in ancient times were not like they are today. The punishment for cheating was being whipped before a screaming crowd, Opening Ceremonies involved making sacrifices at a thousand-year-old primordial mound of gelatinous flesh and bone—and women were not allowed to attend. On pain of death. What would YOU risk to watch the Olympic Games? Come join us for a day at the ancient-world Olympics—from the perspective of someone who risked death to watch. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Sav R. Miller is a USA-Today bestselling author of steamy dark romances often inspired by Greek mythology, including the Monsters and Muses series and the upcoming Monsters Within. Her romances are often contemporary, and frequently delve into the dark and steamy side of the underworld, the mafia, and the criminal element. Join us as we discuss why we're so intrigued by the dark side of romance—and what is it about morally grey villain-heroes that has us weak at the knees. Sponsors and Advertising This episode is brought to you by Happy Mammoth. For a limited time, you can get 15% off on your entire first order at happymammoth.com with the code FANGIRL at checkout. This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices