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What is the moral of "The Tortoise and The Hare"? What is the warning in "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing"? What is "The Fox and The Grapes" about? You're probably wrong about all three.

In the last instalment of the Aesop Trilogy, Alex delves into the fables themselves and finds the many ways in which they have been twisted and why.

Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its tentacles, juice it for its wisdom, refresh, clean and put it back together - all shiny and new! 

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Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

*** SUPPORT SEASON 2 OF PODYSSEY ON ⁠⁠⁠KO-FI.COM/PODYSSEY⁠⁠⁠ ***

What is the moral of "The Tortoise and The Hare"? What is the warning in "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing"? What is "The Fox and The Grapes" about? You're probably wrong about all three.

In the last instalment of the Aesop Trilogy, Alex delves into the fables themselves and finds the many ways in which they have been twisted and why.

Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its tentacles, juice it for its wisdom, refresh, clean and put it back together - all shiny and new! 

"Our Aesop-muscle has atrophied. We have forgotten how to craft and tell our stories - and in the process forgotten how to listen to the stories of others. Humanity without stories is humanity with no identity."

"How the story made us feel is what we store and recall - not the hard logic, nor the facts and figures. And while it is ludicrous to say 'people have had enough of experts', it’s perfectly fair to say that they have had enough of how their teaching style makes them feel."

*** SUPPORT SEASON 2 OF PODYSSEY ON ⁠⁠⁠⁠KO-FI.COM/PODYSSEY⁠⁠⁠⁠ ***

Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

NOTES

MUSIC

Podyssey Theme: “To Margoudi ki o Alexandris”, Marianna Sangita, 2018 (with permission)

Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra ("The Prophets”), Jascha Heifetz 1956

Dorothy Collins: “To Make A Long Story Short”, 1953

Hans Werner Henze: Moralitäten 1. Teil, conducted by the composer, 1968

Tom Lehrer: “Smut”, public domain, 1965

Sandra Church: Gypsy “Little Lamb”, 1959

Giorgos Gounaris: “To Pazari” (The Market), 1939

Jean-Philippe Rameau: “Platée”, Michel Sénéchal, 1956

Gioachino Rossini: “Duetto Buffo di Due Gatti”, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf & Victoria de los Angeles, Royal Festival Hall, 1967

Modest Mussorgsky: “The Song of The Flea”, Feodor Chaliapin, 1936

Gerónimo Giménez: La Tempranica “La Tarantula”, Victoria de los Angeles, BBC 1968

Bizet: “La Coccinelle”, Cecilia Bartoli, (fair usage for review) 1996

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Die Zauberflöte “Pa-pa-pa-gena”, Walter Berry & Emmy Loose, 1955

Emma Papikyan: “Dzidzernak” (Swallow), Armenia Radio Archives, 1993

Saint-Saens: Parysatis "Le Rossignol Et La Rose" , Mado Robin, RTF archive 1954

Manos Hadjidakis: “Magiki Poli” (Magical City), Zoe Maggou, 1954

Leoš Janáček: Cunning Little Vixen - Finale, Prague National Theatre, 1958

Jerome Kern: Show Boat “Make Believe”, Marion Marlowe & Frank Parker, 1953

ART

Frans Snyders: "The Cock and the Jewel", oil on canvas 1620 - Auckland Art Gallery

Agnes Miller Parker: “The Cock and the Jewel”, wood engraving c1931 - private collection

“The Cock and the Jewel”, Chelsea Porcelain, c1770 - Fitzwilliam Museum

“The Cock and the Jewel”, pendant in gold and pearl with rubies, Dutch 16C - private collection

“The Miller, His Son, And Their Ass”, John Tenniel illustrations, 1882 

FILM

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” 2009

“Bambi” 1942

“Spirited Away” 2001

“Howl’s Moving Castle” 2004

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Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new! 

… 

Last week we explored the complicated, and largely made-up, biography that is "The Aesop Romance". In this part I talk to experts to try and understand why it is that we need a "back story" for the creators of stories that we connect with, what is the difference between a reliable and unreliable narrator, how populism has refined the art of story-telling, and why only better stories - not better facts - can help us.

*** SUPPORT SEASON 2 OF PODYSSEY ON ⁠⁠⁠KO-FI.COM/PODYSSEY⁠⁠⁠ ***

Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

NOTES

MUSIC 

Podyssey Theme: “To Margoudi ki o Alexandris”, Marianna Sangita, 2018 (with permission)

⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-LAVj5l9Uc⁠⁠

Rimsky-Korsakov: "Scheherazade; 2nd Movement"; Societe de Concerts Du Conservatoire, Ernest Ansermet 1955

https://archive.org/details/lp_scheherazade

Bernice Parks: "You Intrigue Me" 1952

https://archive.org/details/78_you-intrigue-me_bernice-parks

Verdi: I Vespri Siciliani "In alto mare... Coraggio!", Maria Callas 1951

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibMCTUPC_6g

Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffman " O Dieu, de quelle ivresse" (reprise), Raoul Jobin 1950

https://archive.org/details/lp_the-tales-of-hoffman

Anton Karas: The Third Man "Harry Lime Theme", Hermann Stachow 1950

https://archive.org/details/78_harry-limes-melodi

Ravel: Shéhérazade "1. Asie", Suzanne Danco 1955

https://archive.org/details/lp_le-roi-david-sheherazade

Mahalia Jackson: "MyStory" 1953

https://archive.org/details/78_my-story_mahalia-jackson

Verdi: Il Trovatore "Condotta all'era", Cloe Elmo 1941

https://archive.org/details/cloe-elmo-giuseppe-verdi

Rossini: La Cenerentola "Questo e un nodo avviluppato", Glyndebourne Company 1955

https://archive.org/details/lp_la-cenerentola_gioacchino-rossini

ART

Attic red-figure Kylix, circa 5C BCE, Vatican Museum.

A sample "Karagiozis" 19C folk shadow puppet figure, for comparison.

Plaster casts of the Hellenistic statue believed to be of Aesop, avec and sans fig leaf.

Aesopus (c. 1639-40), by Diego Velazquez.

Chelsea porcelain figure of Aesop as a black man, c.1755, and candlestick depicting the fable of The Cockerel and The Jewel, c.1780, Fitzwilliam Museum.

Aesop Telling his Fables, by Johann Michael Wittmer, 1855, Royal Collection.

Illustration by Kawanabe Kyōsai for the Japanese 1770 edition of "Aesop's Fables for All".

FILM - Coming Soon

SOURCES - Coming Soon

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*** SUPPORT SEASON 2 OF PODYSSEY ON ⁠KO-FI.COM/PODYSSEY⁠ ***

Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new! 

… 

Stories have had a moral, for as long as we have told stories. This week, Aesop; A crowd-sourced literary celebrity. What is the fact and what is the fiction? And why it matters.

Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

NOTES

MUSIC 

Podyssey Theme: “To Margoudi ki o Alexandris”, Marianna Sangita, 2018 (with permission)

⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-LAVj5l9Uc⁠

César Cui: "Orientale"; Capitol Symphony Orch, Carmen Dragon 1958

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDx-kRbXoCU

Xiomara Alfaro: "Angelitos Negros" 1957

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_9XyHOHiLw

Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, Winifred Atwell 1957

https://archive.org/details/lp_winifred-atwell-plays-gershwin_winifred-atwell-ted-heath-and-his-music/disc1/01.01.+Rhapsody+In+Blue.mp3

Charlie Gore: "Absolutely Free", 1953

https://archive.org/details/78_absolutely-free_charlie-gore-charlie-gore-gore-young_gbia0484950b

Manos Hadjidakis: "The Myth", Christiana, 1960

https://archive.org/details/lp_ilios-thalassa.mp3

Richard Strauss: Dance of the Seven Veils from "Salome", Paul Paray, 1959

https://archive.org/details/lp_the-heart-of-the-opera_antal-dorati-paul-paray-detroit-symphony-o/disc1/02.01.+Dance+Of+The+Seven+Veils+From+%22Salome%22.mp3

Manouche: "Miri Louloudi", 1989 (with permission)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMtzBs5bSIE

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This week Alex gets to quiz the show's cultural historian, Dr Debbie Challis, starting with the obvious question: What the hell is a cultural historian? 

Listen to Debbie explain her complicated on-again-off-again love affair with the classical and the classic - but also Greece itself. And her battle to be heard without being labelled and filed away - something which every contributor to this podcast seems to share; a compulsion to explore not just our allotted piece of the puzzle, but how the pieces connect.

_________________

The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other.

Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new!

_____________

Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

*** SUPPORT SEASON 2 OF PODYSSEY ON KO-FI.COM/PODYSSEY ***

The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other.

Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new! 

… 

There is an elegant symmetry to Cassandra being misunderstood - still, millennia later - as a symbol for pessimism. A prophet of doom. But that wasn’t her curse at all. Her curse was to have true insight and yet be unable to get those around her to listen.

And is the reason we prioritise some voices over others not the central, existential question at a time when real knowledge struggles to make itself heard over a chorus of populism? What wooden horses have we let through our cities’ gates?

Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

NOTES

MUSIC 

Oluf Dimitri Røe: “Fajum” ON YOUTUBE 

Aldo Ciccolini: Erik Satie “Gnossiennes No.1 FROM ARCHIVE

Lulu Belle: “Never take ‘no’ for an answer” FROM ARCHIVE 

ON ft Marianna Sangita: “Et Glimt” ON YOUTUBE    

Risë Stevens: Bizet; Carmen “Card Scene” FROM ARCHIVE 

Betty Lou Allen: J.S.C. Bach; Cassandra Cantata FROM ARCHIVE

Fedora Barbieri: Verdi; Un Ballo in Maschera “Re dell’abisso” FROM ARCHIVE 

Marisa Ferrer & Charles Cambon: Berlioz; Les Troyens "Reviens a toi, vierge adorée” FROM ARCHIVE 

Anna Maria Alberghetti: “They didn’t believe me” FROM ARCHIVE 

FILM

Helen of Troy 1956 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049301/

Scream 2 1997 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120082/

The Matrix 1999 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/

The Eyes of Laura Mars 1978 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077530/

Doctor Sleep 2019 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5606664/

Nightmare Alley 2021 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7740496/

Agamemnon 1983 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UyouI7BUsI

Promising Young Woman 2020 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9620292/

Kaos 2024 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8550732/

Don't Look Up 2021 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11286314/

ART

Attic Red cup with the taking of Cassandra

Terracotta amphora with the taking of Cassandra

Evelyn de Morgan's Cassandra

Pompeii mosaic of Ajax dragging Cassandra from Palladium.

Solomon J. Solomon's Ajax & Cassandra

Ronsard's "Avant le temps tes tempes fleuriront"

Louise Bogan's "Cassandra"

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*** SUPPORT A SECOND SEASON ON KO-FI.COM/PODYSSEY ***

This week we meet the show's archaeologist, Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, and talk about her profession: What it used to be, what it is now, and what it isn't. The romantic ideas of it and how far they are from the practical reality... And why nothing can substitute being in a place, touching, smelling, hearing, and feeling the context of what is unearthed from below.

_________________

The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other.

Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new!

_____________

Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other.

Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new! 

… 

Persephone has been assigned the story of a victim, but bears none of the hallmarks. Why has this magnificent Queen been reduced to a Page 3 girl?

Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

NOTES

Will be added in a few hours

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other.

Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new! 

… 

Persephone has been assigned the story of a victim, but bears none of the hallmarks. Why has this magnificent Queen been reduced to a Page 3 girl?

Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

NOTES

MUSIC 

Podyssey Theme - “To Margoudi ki o Alexandris” Marianna Sangita - YOUTUBE.

“Kori” (Acoustic) Marianna Sangita - YOUTUBE

“Kori” (Album Version) ON - YOUTUBE

Camille Saint-Saëns “Danse Macabre”, Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra - ARCHIVE 

Claudio Monteverdi “Addio Roma” from L’Incoronazione di Poppea - ARCHIVE 

Antonio Vivaldi “Autumn” from The four Seasons - ARCHIVE 

Heitor Villa Lobos “Bachianas Brasileiras No.5”, Bidu Sayao - ARCHIVE 

Giacomo Puccini “Flower Duet” from Madama Butterfly, Renata Tebaldi/Nell Ranking - ARCHIVE 

Francesco Sacrati “E dove t’aggirli” from Proserpina, Victoria de los Angeles - YOUTUBE 

“Sobbin’ Women” from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Howard Keel - ARCHIVE

Francesco Cilea “Esser madre e un inferno” from L’Arlesiana, Ebe Stignani - ARCHIVE  

“Am I blue” Ethel Waters - YOUTUBE

Amilcare Ponchielli “Oh Madre Mia” Act I finale from La Gioconda, Maria Callas/Maria Amadini - ARCHIVE

WA Mozart “Lacrimosa” from Requiem, Eugen Jochum - ARCHIVE 

Kurt Weill “September Song”, Sarah Vaughan - ARCHIVE 

FILM

“The Goddess of Spring” (1934) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zvnAypUSJs

Children of Men (2006) 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206634/ 

Lady Bird (2017)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4925292/ 

Terms of Endearment (1983) 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086425/ 

Steel Magnolias (1989) 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098384/ 

ARTWORK 

Two examples of a Melian amphoras, with Kore figure, c. 6thC BCE here and here.  

“Hades Abducting Persephone” fresco Vergina 4C BCE 

“Statue of Isis-Persephone holding a sistrum” marble statue Gortyn 180-190 CE

“Head of Persephone” earthenware Centuripae, c.420 BCE

“Bronze statuette of a female votary with pomegranate” 4th–3rd century BCE

“Persephone and Hades” red-figure kylix Vulci, c. 440-430 BCE

“The abduction of Persephone by Hades” terracotta hydria c. 340–330 BCE

“Persephone on the Throne” terracotta tablet Locri, 470 BCE

“Enthroned Deity” (probably Persephone) Taranto, c. 480-470 BCE

Bernini Gian Lorenzo “Rape of Proserpine” 

Peter Paul Rubens “The Rape of Proserpine” 

Luca Giordano “The Abduction of Proserpina” 

Maxfield Parrish “Proserpina and the Sea Nymphs”

Hiram Powers “Proserpine”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti eighth and final version of “Proserpine”

READING

Taffy Brodesser-Akner “Let’s Go to Jerusalem for Soup Again” 

Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, Marian Villancico 

Edna St Vincent Millay “Prayer to Persephone”

Rita Dove “Canary”  

Rita Dove “The Bistro Styx”

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Naomi Smith gets the behind the scenes skinny on Podyssey from Alex Andreou. Where did the idea come from? What's coming up in Season 2? What is the most surprising fact so far?

Lots of exclusive access, previews, and exclusive announcements.

… 

The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other.

Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new! 

… 

Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices