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PODCAST

Women Who Went Before

Rebekah Haigh & Emily Chesley

Women Who Went Before is on a gynocentric quest into the ancient world. Join hosts Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley as they interview the world’s top scholars and unearth the lives of women from the past. It’s a history podcast and detective journey in one, sifting through texts and tropes to find the women who lived beneath.

history courses

All Episodes

61:33

Wearing (Down) the Body: Asceticism in Late Antique...

Women Who Went Before ·

2025/08/14

In our Season 2 finale, we learn about Christian women from late antiquity who sought to transform their bodies inside and out: ascetics and monastics. From fasting to renouncing sexual “appetites” to special clothing—there were lots of things that marked a monk. Dr. Rebecca Krawiec explains all of this and more. Why did women join monasteries? What do we do with those extreme stories of saints punishing their bodies? How can letters give us a more full understanding of women monastics? Who w...

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55:12

Idols for Idling Eyes: The Female Form in Roman Art

Women Who Went Before ·

2025/07/31

Can we trust Roman statues to tell us about real people? What were the differences between gods and humans in art? How much of a say did the emperor have over how Roman women dressed and lived their lives? Dr. Caroline Vout answers these questions and many more in the penultimate episode of Season 2, as we learn how the Romans put bodies on display. Access full transcript and episode show notes Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley. Music i...

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58:44

From Athens to Ethiopia: Race and Gender in Ancient...

Women Who Went Before ·

2025/07/17

People groups, power, hierarchy, and othering—big themes in Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad. In this episode we learn from Dr. Jackie Murray about what race was and wasn’t in Ancient Greek literature. We see how gender and class intersected with race. We’ll learn about a Greek novel The Aethiopica, what a metic was, and what this all has to do with some recent Hollywood controversies. Transcript and episode show notes Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Rebekah Haigh and Emily...

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57:37

To Have and To Hold: Sexual Violence and the Bible

Women Who Went Before ·

2025/03/27

CW: This episode discusses themes of sexual assault and intimate partner violence. Dr. Rhiannon Graybill shares her research on sexual violence in the Hebrew Bible and ways of reading such messy stories for then and now. We also talk about violent tropes in modern romance literature and Rome's origin stories—and what these kinds of tales do to those who read them. She says, “In our world sexual violence is often grounded in or justified by the Bible, and the Bible is used against survivors of...

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57:00

Bad Blood: The Period Talk in Rabbinic Judaism and...

Women Who Went Before ·

2025/03/06

We talk with Dr. Shai Secunda about the Babylonian rabbis’ science of blood, breaking taboos through sex education, and menstruation as a cure for rabies. Today, taboos about menstruation keep thousands of girls from attending school. For Jewish sages in late antique Persia, such beliefs led to laws that required women to stay away from their husbands during their periods and to wash at prescribed times. (Whether women followed these laws is another question!) Blood could pollute, yet it coul...

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56:11

The Pee Test: Pregnancy and Childbirth in Ancient Egypt

Women Who Went Before ·

2024/12/19

Dr. Ada Nifosì tells us about the gymnastics of ancient Egyptian birth, why Egyptian women ate donkey balls and their cats ate penis cakes, and why the god Seth should be avoided at all costs.Childbirth was a scary time for women, and that desire for safety and comfort is reflected in their stories about their gods. The most important goddess, Isis, was enshrined in Egyptian mythology as giving birth in dangerous circumstances. Women turned to amulets, charms, midwives and wise wo...

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58:07

Blemished Brides: Women’s Bodies and Disability in...

Women Who Went Before ·

2024/12/05

Dr. Julia Watts Belser talks about ancient prenups, dancing at weddings, and what the rabbis had to say about beauty. We meet an Etruscan woman named Seianti Hanunia, an Egyptian Jewish woman Tapamet, and hear the (sometimes damaging) ideas of sages Shammai and Hillel. Paying attention to disability matters because it’s noticing a person’s full human experience. Access transcript and episode show notes: www.womenwhowentbefore.com/episodes/blemished-bridesWomen Who Went Before is written, prod...

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58:05

Veiled But Not Hidden in Ancient Greece

Women Who Went Before ·

2024/11/14

Dr. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells us about the veil in ancient Greek culture. Many women in the distant past (as today) wore veils during their life. Veiling meant many things to many people. It could be a means of patriarchal control, a sensual turn on, or a practical choice in a hot climate. From weddings to acts of piety and expressions of grief, veils "spoke." When she chose to reveal or not hide her hair, a Greek woman expressed something to the world. Access transcript and episode sh...

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59:11

Virginity and the Hype About Hymens

Women Who Went Before ·

2024/10/31

Dr. Julia Kelto Lillis asks, "To whom does a woman’s virginity belong?" Join her and your hosts as we dive into the world of early Christian purity culture, what wine has to do with the V-Card, and why the gods like to make babies with virgins. Like today, the concept of virginity was culturally significant in the ancient world. But unlike today, virginity as an act of devotion to God could propel a woman to the top of the social ladder. This episode we explore shifting ideas about what...

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58:31

Wandering Wombs: Greco-Roman Gynecology and Women’s...

Women Who Went Before ·

2024/10/17

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Rebecca Flemming and talk about ancient gynecology, wandering wombs, and what agency, if any, women had over the healing of their bodies. How did medical writers in Greece and Rome describe a woman’s anatomy and its inner workings? And how did those beliefs influence the treatments they prescribed? Read transcript and episode show notes: https://www.womenwhowentbefore.com/episodes/wandering-wombsWomen Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Em...

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16:07

Bodily Matters: The Lifecycle of an Ancient Woman

Women Who Went Before ·

2024/10/03

In a time when society is thinking passionately about bodily rights and who gets to make decisions about women’s bodies, Season 2 turns to history. Women in the ancient world mattered, and so did their bodies—maybe learning about them can give us new questions as we face our own world. In our season intro episode, meet an ancient high-priestess of Ur and the first known author in human history: Enheduanna. Climb Mount Sinai with the Christian pilgrim Egeria. These two women and the recor...

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58:39

Out of Pandora’s Box, Recovering Hope

Women Who Went Before ·

2023/01/24

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59:58

In Her Own Words: Ancient Women Authors

Women Who Went Before ·

2023/01/11

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59:19

Suffering Witches to Live: Jewish Women and the...

Women Who Went Before ·

2022/12/06

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47:02

Women Get a Head: Gender and Other Weapons

Women Who Went Before ·

2022/11/22

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56:24

Scepter and Sword: African Warrior Queens

Women Who Went Before ·

2022/11/08

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53:04

Was the Oldest Profession a Profession?

Women Who Went Before ·

2022/10/25

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49:18

“The Two Breasts of the Father”: Does Your God Look...

Women Who Went Before ·

2022/10/11

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50:19

Fall Girl: Theology, Gender, and How Eve Ruined Us All

Women Who Went Before ·

2022/09/27

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50:15

Ghostwriting the Daughters of Men

Women Who Went Before ·

2022/09/13

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