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The Olympians

The pantheon of Olympian gods were the most important and influential in the ancient Greek world. They featured into most stories of myth, and loved to fuck around with humans in many ways, shapes, and forms. Included here are the standard Olympians, along with characters who are not always official Olympians, but might as well be. There are always twelve Olympian gods, and they always include: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, and Hermes. They sometimes include Hades, Demeter, Hestia, and Dionysus. Persephone is included here as she’s just as important, if not an official member of the club.

Not all episodes featuring the Olympians are included here, because that would simply be… most of the podcast.

Note: below the character’s primary Greek name is included their Roman (Latin) and/or alternative names.

The Whole Crew

These episodes feature the whole lot of them, including the stories of how the mythological world began and how the Olympians took their power.

The Beginning…

11.21 All This Over a Bit of Fire? Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound (Part 1)

Prometheus gave humanity fire, but he paid the price. Prometheus is brought to his punishment and meets the chorus of Oceanids. The Prometheus Bound is an examination of tyranny and the rule of Zeus, king of the gods.

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11.21 Prometheus vs. the Tyranny of Zeus (Prometheus Bound, Part 2)

Prometheus laments and laments, he meets the Titan Oceanus and, finally, the woman and survivor of Zeus, Io. The Prometheus Bound is an examination of tyranny and the rule of Zeus, king of the gods.

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11.21 Io the Wanderer and Hermes, Boot-Lick of the Gods (Prometheus Bound Part 3)

Prometheus tells Io of her ongoing story of suffering, but also hey! She's going to start quite the dynasty. Finally, Hermes arrives with news from Zeus.

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Titans and Giants and Coups…Oh my!

04.21 Mini Myth: The Gigantomachy, it’s a War, with Giants

Gaia sends her Giant children to wage war against the Olympians. Guess who wins?

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04.21 The Troubling Titan Timeline and Terrible Titanomachy

The story of the Titans, the first race of gods in Greek mythology, and the war between those Titans and the new race of gods, the Olympians.

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The beginning… from the early days of the podcast

07.17 Eatin’ Kids & Killin’ Dad, an Introduction to Greek Mythology

In the inaugural episode of Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! We cover the story of what the ancient Greek's called the Theogony, the dark and violent ancient Greek creation story. The universe's creation, and how their pantheon of gods came into existence. Gods, monsters, patricide, and some castration, I think we'll all have a pretty great time!

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12.17 Prometheus, & the Other Origin of Species

Forethought and Afterthought are brothers and they're here to create humanity. What could go wrong? this is the story of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and a slab of clay.

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king of the gods, god of thunder and lightning (and much more)

So, obviously Zeus is included in most of the episodes of the podcast… he’s the king of the gods. Zeus is the king of the gods, he’s both the youngest and oldest of the Olympians (check out the Theogony/origin stories for that!) and he loves to father children and start wars. Below is just a taste of episodes featuring Zeus. Otherwise, just listen to the whole show… he does a lot of bad stuff.

 07.17 Zeus, King of the Gods and Creepy Old Man Who Tricks Women

How did Zeus manage to father most of the second generation of Olympians? And what about all the women (and one man) that he "had sex" with in some of the world's most creative (and troubling) ways? Zeus was a creep, but he sure knew how to make an entrance.

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05.19 Zodiac Constellations: Europa, Zeus, & his Bulls*** (Taurus)

Zodiac constellations: there are two versions, both are weird and have bulls involved.

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08.18 Hera & Zeus' Dysfunctional Relationship (The Iliad Part 9)

Hector is using his god-power to break down the walls, and Poseidon decides he needs to insert himself on behalf of the Greeks. Hera, meanwhile, realizes the key to success is an intricate seduction of her husband. Things are getting dicey for the Greeks.

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12.23 Conversations: Zeus Just Can't Keep It In His Chiton, Theologizing the Gods w/ Dr Maciej Paprocki (Part 2)

Liv speaks with Dr. Maciej Paprocki about theologizing the gods, looking for rules and order amongst the mess that is the Greek Pantheon

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God of the sea, horses, and earthquakes

Poseidon is the god of the sea, and also horses and earthquakes… Curious? Listen to the episodes below to learn all your heart desires. Poseidon is also… not a great dude, like, at all. Poseidon is one of the Olympian gods, the originals born of Rhea and Cronos, and famously was said to have built the walls of Troy. Frankly, there isn’t a tonne more too him beyond the horrifying way he married his wife, Amphitrite (yes, that’s in episodes too).

11.18 Poseidon & His Sea of Awful Behaviour

God of the sea, earthquakes, and horses, but most of all, brother of Zeus. Poseidon, earth-shaker and generally troubling guy.

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GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD

10.18 It’s Scary as Hell Down There…Hades and His Underworld.

The god and goddess of the dead, Hades and Persephone, and all there is about to know about where they live. Let's take a trip to the Underworld.

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10.22 Living Amongst the Dead, the Underworld & its Infernal Chthonic Cuties

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.

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Liv Reads Ancient Spooky: The Underworld in Homer & Virgil

More spooooky ancient sources: this time, the two most famous descents into the Underworld, a mere 800 or so years apart...This is not a standard narrative story episode, it's a reading of an ancient source, audiobook style.

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GODDESS OF MARRIAGE, QUEEN OF THE GODS

Hera is often known simply as Zeus’ angry wife - taking out her rage on every women that Zeus decides to harass. But like so many of the women - and goddesses - in Greek Myth, there’s more than meets the eyes.

07.19 Zodiac Constellations, Have you Hera-d the one About the Lion and the Crab

A crab and a lion: two of Heracles' victims. But behind every mythological monster, there's a strong woman.

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06.21 Why the Way She Is, the Goddess Hera (& the Time She Tried to Overthrow Zeus)

Hera is so much more than Zeus' vengeful wife. She has her own experiences, her own traumas, that affect how she handled her life with the king of the gods. This is why Hera is the way she is.

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08.18 Hera & Zeus’ Dysfunctional Relationship (The Iliad Part 9)

Hector is using his god-power to break down the walls, and Poseidon decides he needs to insert himself on behalf of the Greeks. Hera, meanwhile, realizes the key to success is an intricate seduction of her husband. Things are getting dicey for the Greeks.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast

 
 

GODDESS OF AGRICULTURE AND GRAIN

08.20 The Homeric Hymn to Demeter

This is a bonus reading of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. This Homeric Hymn tells the story of Hades (Aidoneus) kidnapping Persephone and her mother, Demeter's search for her daughter. It's sometimes attributed to Homer, but comes from a similar time period in any case. This translation is by Hugh Evelyn-White and is in the Public Domain.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast

 

Bringer of Death, the Dread Goddess Persephone, and her mother, Demeter

She's the Bringer of Death, the Dread Goddess Persephone (and she's Kore, the maiden goddess of the spring). Persephone and Hades have a hand in countless stories from mythology and theatre, they ruled the Underworld and required constant appeasement. Meanwhile, in the daily lie of the ancient Greeks, Persephone and Demeter were equally vital if in very different ways from those revolving around the dead

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast

 

08.17 Don't Piss Off Moms & Don’t Eat the Pomegranate: Important Life Lessons

Hades, god of the Underworld, kidnaps Persephone. Her mother Demeter endures quite the quest to find her daughter. We detail the Underworld, and why you shouldn't eat things people give you when you're there.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast, iHeartRadio

 
 

Goddess of the home, the hearth and the sacred fire

While an incredibly, unbelievably important goddess when it came to daily life in ancient Greece, Hestia was not a part of any major stories. Liv likes to think this is because she was simply too important to take part in any Olympian squabbles, let along waste her time messing with the mortals in any significant way. Hestia was vital to daily life but she was not a large part of any surviving mythology from the ancient Greek world. Her Roman equivalent, Vesta, was equally, if differently, important but the problem of a lack of sources for stories featuring her persists in Rome as well.

Conversations: It's Hestia's World, We're Just Living In It... Divine Might w/ Natalie Haynes

Liv speaks with the always wonderful Natalie Haynes about her newest non-fiction, Divine Might. But really, they talk about Hestia. Because Hestia deserves the world.

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GODDESS OF WAR AND WISDOM

05.18 Arachne & Medusa, What Did They Really Do to You, Athena?

Arachne has the nerve to out-spin the goddess Athena, and Medusa, well Medusa's crime is simply being around a god.

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03.20 Mini Myth: Behind the Goddess, Pallas Athena

The badass origins, both historical and mythological, of Pallas Athena.

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GODDESS OF LOVE AND PLEASURE

02.18 Aphrodite, Sometimes Good, Sometimes Bad, Always Naked

Aphrodite. She's married to Hephaestus but she'd rather be chained to a bed with Ares. She finds Adonis super hot, too.

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04.22 Getting Down & Dirty with Mortals, Aphrodite, Anchises & the Mysteries of Archaic Aeneas

When Aphrodite gets with mortals, crazy things happen. Aphrodite's affair with the Trojan Anchises lead to the birth of the Trojan prince Aeneas, a man who's much more interesting before the Romans ever got their hold on him...

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04.22 Liv Reads the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite

Liv reads the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, translated by HG Evelyn-White. Sing of the Cytherean goddess and her encounter with the mortal Anchises, the conception of the Trojan prince Aeneas.

This is not a standard narrative story episode, it's a reading of an ancient source, audiobook style.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast

Aphrodite’s Origins

11.20 The Cyprian Goddess, the Cytherean, Venus, Aphrodite, A Conversation with Author Bettany Hughes

Liv speaks with Bettany Hughes about all things Aphrodite, Venus, and her ancestors throughout even more ancient Mediterranean cultures. You can find Bettany Hughes's book Venus and Aphrodite at your local bookstore.

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07.23 Famous for Being Hot, Aphrodite & Adonis’… Tumultuous Relationship & Eastern Origins

Adonis is known for being beautiful enough to catch the eye of the goddess of Beauty, but it turns out there's so much more to those two, including origins in Mesopotamia and Phoenicia.

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07.23 Wandering Across the Ancient World, the Mesopotamian & Phoenician Origins of Aphrodite

Before she was Aphrodite, she was Kypris, and before she was Kypris, well, she was Astarte and Inanna/Ishtar. This is the story of Aphrodite's origins in ancient Phoenicia and Mesopotamia

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GODDESS OF THE HUNT AND WILDERNESS

11.17 Mini Myth: Artemis, the Goddess Who Takes No Man's S**t

Artemis and Actaeon: one of the most famous run-ins between a goddess and a mortal. Actaeon learns that he should not mess with Artemis, goddess of the hunt, animals, and most importantly, protectress of girls.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast, iHeartRadio

 

02. 22 Sing, Goddess, of the Wrath of the Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis, Who Loves to F*ck Sh*t Up

Skilled, strong, complex, and sometimes problematic...

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GOD OF WINE AND PLEASURE

Not to be biased, but those are pretty good things to be a god of…plus he actually maybe cared about his wife?!

The Multitudes of our fave Wine God

09.23 There’s No One Quite Like Dionysus, Wine Daddy of Greek Myth

Dionysus is as mysterious as he is wonderful, he's new and he's old, local and foreign... Plus, he seriously loved his wife Ariadne.

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06.21 The God of Many Names and Many Lovers, Dionysus & Ampelus (PRIDE!)

Dionysus contains multitudes and his love reached across the genders. Today, the story of his love of the Satyr Ampelos (plus! sexy wrestling!)

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06.21 Yes It’s Another Tragedy… Dionysus Loves Ampelus (Part 2)

The continuation of the (tragic) story of Dionysus and Ampelus, as told in Nonnus' Dionysiaca. Beloved Ampelus dies, and Eros tries to console Dionysus with another of two more tragic lovers: Calamos and Carpos.

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Orphic Tradition DioNYsus

09.22 Finally We’re Talking About Zagreus, Are You Happy? The Orphic Thrice Born Dionysus

Zagreus, Zagreus, Zagreus. What a mess of a story. 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.

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Conversations on Dionysus

07.21 Conversations: Nonbinary Dionysus, a Look At Euripides' Bacchae with Emma Pauly

Liv speaks with Classicist and dramaturg about nonbinary Dionysus in Euripides' Bacchae and the resulting implications for Pentheus (along with queerness in myth and theatre in general!)

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02.21 Dionysus Is Everyone & Everything, Queer Theory with the Queer Classicist Yentl Love

Dionysus is Queer as hell. Liv speaks with Yentl Love of the Queer Classicist all about Dionysus and queer theory. Plus, is Harry Styles today's Dionysus?! (Yes.)

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GOD OF TRADE AND TRAVEL

09.20 A Reading of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes

This is a bonus reading of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes to accompany today's episode on Hermes. This Homeric Hymn tells the story of the birth of Hermes and all the adventures he had as a newborn baby (they were plentiful). It's sometimes attributed to Homer, but comes from a similar time period in any case. This translation is by Hugh Evelyn-White and is in the Public Domain.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast

 

09.20 The Trickster God Hermes, the Original Baby Genius

Hermes is a pretty incredible newborn. He invents the lyre, steals some cattle, lies through his teeth, all within mere moments of birth! (Also, it's a tortoise). Please listen to this episode before the Homeric Hymn to Hermes.

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11.21 Io the Wanderer and Hermes, Boot-Lick of the Gods (Prometheus Bound Part 3)

Prometheus tells Io of her ongoing story of suffering, but also hey! She's going to start quite the dynasty. Finally, Hermes arrives with news from Zeus.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast

 
 

GOD OF ARCHERY, HEALING, AND PROPHECY

Apollo and the Lives He’s Ruined

04.23 Apollo, God of Traumatic Transformations… the Many Mythologies of Daphne

The most famous woman ever turned into a tree: Daphne and her horrible encounters with Apollo.

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06.19 Mini Myth: When Apollo Met Hyacinthus, A Frisbee Tragedy

Recorded to start Pride off with a bang, the tragic story of Apollo and Hyacinthus.

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Oracles and Prophecy

03.20 Mini Myth: A Prayer to Apollo, God of Music, Prophecy & … Plague

When better to do a special mini myth on plague? Plague in Greek mythology, plague in Greek theatre, the god of the plague, and even a real plague!

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11.20 Sing, Muses, of Yourselves… of Apollo, Eagles, Dragons, and the Oracle of Delphi

Sing, Muses, of the Oracle, the woman who held the fates of the Greeks in her hands. And of yourselves, the women who give us the arts and all its wonders.

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11.21 Liv Reads the Homeric Hymns to Apollo

Homeric Hymns are beautiful and detailed and so, so ancient... The two Homeric Hymns to Apollo tell the story of his birth and the founding of the Oracle at Delphi.

This is not a standard narrative story episode, it's simply a bonus reading of an epic

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11.21 Far-Shooting Phoebus Apollo, God of Everything & Nothing

Oh, far-shooting Apollo... What are you exclusively the god of, anyway? All things Apollo, the good and the very, very bad.

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04.23 Enter Apollo, to Tie Everything In a Nice Little Bow (Euripides’ Orestes Part 3)

In the final episode covering Euripides' Orestes... sh*t goes down. So much of it. Murder, mayhem, weirdly helpful gods! Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content!

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Apollo in the Early Day of the Pod

12.18 Mini Myth: Aesclepius, God of Medicine, or, Apollo Has Awful Moments, too

Aesclepius: son of Apollo, pupil of Chiron, and god of Medicine. Plus, there are some fun historical facts associated with him.

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08.17 Mini Myth: Daphne, the Nymph Who Said "Hell No, Apollo!"

Apollo and Daphne, or, the god who wouldn't take no for an answer and the woman who would rather be a tree.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast , iHeartRadio

 
 

 GOD OF WAR AND BATTLE

09.22 For the God of Bloodlust He's Kind of a Softy, Stories of Ares

It's finally time to look closely at the god of war and gore, Ares, and all the ways he was actually kind of cool.

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GOD OF FIRE AND CRAFT

06.21 Conversations: Who Really is Hephaestus? Disability in Greek Myth w/ Kyle Lewis Jordan (Part 1)

Liv speaks with Kyle Lewis Jordan about the complexities of Hephaestus, both in relation to his impairment and as a god of creation and so much else, in addition to scholarship of disability in the ancient world more broadly.

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06.21 Conversations: Sing, Muses, of Hephaestus Famed for Inventions… w/ Kyle Lewis Jordan (Part 2)

Liv speaks with Kyle Lewis Jordan about the complexities of Hephaestus, both in relation to his impairment and as a god of creation and so much else, in addition to scholarship of disability in the ancient world more broadly. In part two they focus on Hephaestus's relationship with Athena and Aphrodite, the more problematic ideas relating to him and disability today, and "modern" reception of the god

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07.21 You Know He Basically Invented Robots?! Hephaestus & His Forge

Hephaestus beyond the drama: the importance and lasting impact of the god of the forge (there are *robots*!).

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GODDESS OF SPRING, QUEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD

08.20 Bringer of Death, The Dread Goddess Persephone, and her mother, Demeter

She's the Bringer of Death, the Dread Goddess Persephone (and she's Kore, the maiden goddess of the spring). Persephone and Hades have a hand in countless stories from mythology and theatre, they ruled the Underworld and required constant appeasement. Meanwhile, in the daily lie of the ancient Greeks, Persephone and Demeter were equally vital if in very different ways from those revolving around the dead.

Listen on Spotify , Apple Podcast

 

03.21 Conversations: Kore, Persephone, Real Women and the Dread Goddess of the Underworld with Dr. Ellie Mackin Roberts

Persephone and real women of antiquity. Dr Ellie Mackin Roberts, author of Heroines of Olympus, talks about the versions of Persephone, real women's interactions with her, and understanding the idea of "abduction" in Greek mythology

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08.17 Don’t Piss Off Moms & Don’t Eat the Pomegranate: Important Life Lessons

Hades, god of the Underworld, kidnaps Persephone. Her mother Demeter endures quite the quest to find her daughter. We detail the Underworld, and why you shouldn't eat things people give you when you're there.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast