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PODCAST

Ancient History Fangirl

Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy

An ancient history podcast run by two Millennial women. Misbehaving emperors, poison assassins, mythological mayhem; it’s like if Hardcore History met up with My Favorite Murder in the ancient world, with a heavy helping of booze and laughter.

history

All Episodes

80:34

RE-RELEASE: Frau Holle: Wicked Woman of Yule

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/12/24

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

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60:18

AHFG Book Club: Metal Death Goddesses, Ravens, and...

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/12/19

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

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84:15

RE-RELEASE: St. Nicholas and the Christmas Cannibals

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/12/17

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

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97:53

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: Part 3

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/12/12

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

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89:19

RE-RELEASE: You Don't Know Yule

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/12/10

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

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49:37

RE-RELEASE: Krampus: The Goat Knows What You Did

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/12/05

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

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71:19

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: Part 2

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/11/28

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

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83:00

RE-RELEASE: How to Train Your Gladiator

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/11/26

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

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58:32

AHFG Book Club: Hot Mess Heroines and the Alarics Who...

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/11/21

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

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79:45

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: Part 1

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/11/14

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

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53:45

RE-RELEASE: Gender Rebels of Greek Mythology: Artemis

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/11/07

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

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64:25

RE-RELEASE: Amazons, Part 2: Warrior Women of the...

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/11/05

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

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90:41

This Episode is Full of Lies: Lucian's A True History...

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/10/31

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

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74:44

RE-RELEASE: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark:...

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/10/29

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

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77:44

RE-RELEASE: Catholic Werewolves

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/10/24

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

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84:20

RE-RELEASE: Werewolves of Wolf Mountain: Terrors of...

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/10/22

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,

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49:46

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon: Part 2

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/10/17

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

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63:16

AHFG Book Club: Smouldering Hellscapes and Sexy Vamps...

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/10/10

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

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63:09

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon: Part 1

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/10/03

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

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37:51

A Cheeky Preview: With a Rebel Yell (an Excerpt from...

Ancient History Fangirl ·

2024/10/01

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

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327 results

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