Against the Lore

In which we learn what games were played in the ancient world - the Romans and Greeks typically liked strategy games, while the Mesopotamians and Egyptians read omens into their race games...

In which we discover that ugliness can be lucky, disability can be divine, and Enkidu and Anne Hathaway have a surprising amount in common...

In which we find out what it meant to be bad in the ancient world - for Barney and the ancient near east, it's demons, whereas the Greek philosophers thought badness was due to a lack of self-control, and several emperors vie for the title of worst Roman!

In which we discover what the ancient Romans, Greeks, Egyptians and Babylonians thought of as Good! From Marcus Aurelius' commendable journalling habit, to Aristotle's virtue-signalling, to Gilgamesh's pursuit of eternal life, there's a grand scale of ancient goodness. But the key question we try to answer in the podcast is: where exactly does Papa John's fit on this scale? Plato may have the answer...

Get ready for a new format...triple threat episodes! Starting off with The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...

In which we're joined again by Caroline Lawrence, who is shocked by Soranus' terrible advice about breastfeeding. Meg tells us about the ancient Greek baby shower (aka the amphidromia ritual), while Barney reveals the ancient Sumerian word for midwife.

In which Caroline Lawrence returns to tell us about the textbook-perfect birth from Roman times! Barney attempts an induction via Akkadian incantations, while Meg tells us about the pollution that the ancient Greeks associated with childbirth - which have strange echoes of the covid rules...

In which we hear pregnancy advice from the ancient world! Roman doctor Soranus has some helpful practical advice for the third trimester, while the abortion debate raged among the Hippocratic doctors as much as it does in some countries today. Meanwhile, the hippo goddess of ancient Egypt and Babylonian demons join forces to protect unborn children. 

In which we find out how the peoples of the ancient world tried, and tried not, to conceive. From Pliny the Elder's spider-sourced implant to Babylonian couples therapy to an ancient Greek contraceptive cocktail, we categorically do not recommend you try these recipes at home...

In which Caroline Lawrence joins us again to discuss women's health in the ancient world! Meg talks about how Aristotle saw women as weak and spongy, basically human Brita filters, while Zenia highlights a Roman husband-and-wife doctor dream team. Caroline talks about Hippocrates' ideas of the wandering womb and the imbalance of the four humours, while Barney points out that the earliest gynaecological text comes from ancient Egypt.