Myth Dynamite

We left you last week with an introduction to the far-too-good-for-him-smash-the-patriarchy-don’t-take-no-bullshit-stay-out-of-my-larder Queen of Ithaca, fighter of Suitors, keeper of households, and skilled AF weaver, wife of Odysseus.

Fending off the greedy, luring Suitors who are quite literally eating her out of house and home, she devises trick after scheme to hold onto the life she has built in Odysseus’ absence. You may have heard of the shroud (especially if you listened to Part One of this episode... and if you didn’t... good luck to ya). But there’s more. 

So, she survives. OH, she survives. Seriously, she’s so good EVEN ODYSSEUS is impressed at one point.

In this episode, we bring you one of the smartest, savviest, and most beloved (by us here at MD) mythological women – PENELOPE OF SPARTA! Yes, she’s also of Sparta, and if you’ve listened to our Helen episode from Season Two, you’ll know how much we live for this fact!

There’s honestly so much to say about her that we had to give her two episodes to do her justice! In this first episode, we'll be giving you context, etymology, how a short-legged dolt (please direct any complaints to Margaret Atwood) made a devil of a deal for Penelope’s hand in marriage, and how she manipulates ancient ideas of womanhood to her own end. That’s queen behaviour that is, literally. 

Then we’ll be leaving you on tenterhooks. You lovely people will have to wait for the next episode to find out the rest of Penelope’s story. In the immortal words of Harry Styles – “That’s called edging!”. You’re welcome!

WE ARE BACK BITCHES.

Ostensibly, this episode is about the Greek term nostos – a heroic return home – in celebration of our return to our metaphorical podcast home at MD (it’s cheesy but we’re sticking with it). In reality, you’ll be privy to Sarah and Abi catching up about their lives post-hiatus (don’t worry – we have in fact spoken in the interim...). 

When we do finally get around to talking about nostoi (the plural of nostos, for you grammar nerds), it starts obscure before we get to the typical mythological ‘returns’ ... because we like to keep you on your toes. You’ll hear about Philoctetes’ smelly foot, Oedipus’ awkward family relations, Diomedes’ perfect nostos (of course Diomedes smashed it), and the Aeneid, the OG of ‘Home is where the heart is’. 

But wait – there’s more? Part 2 of our Trojan ramble brings you a deep dive into THE ILIAD ITSELF *cue fanfare/war cry*. In the second of our Trojan War episodes, we take you on a very summary ride through the first of Homer’s great epics (it’s bumpy, there are shortcuts, peaks and troughs, roundabouts... are we taking this metaphor too far?). This book has got it ALL. Emotion, gore, grief, bravery, a night raid, A LOT of hero-posturing, and some very niche vocab about a wagon (sexy). And hey, guess what ... the Iliad isn’t actually about war. Mic drop. 

Bear with us. There’s a lot in here. Come back, take notes, revise and repeat (plus we get more listens that way) – you’ll get to grips with it. 

Our takeaway from the episode? The film Troy (2004) is great but don’t believe it. 

This time we’re bringing you a BIGGIE. The OG of myth, the big mumma of epic, probably one of the most famous stories from the Classical World: THE. TROJAN. WAR. And yeah – it’s another double (and this was us being concise... ish).  If you’re hoping for a ‘A-Z of Troy’, then keep hoping. We’re not even sure that’s possible to be honest. But this episode should at least bring you the key players and events of the narrative. 

Part 1 plunges you into the characters – heroes, kings, queens, prophetesses – some better known than others (Glaucus, we’re looking at you). We’re talking Agamemnon, we’re talking Achilles, we’re talking Helen ... and of course any excuse to wax lyrical about Hector a little more. Here’s where we background the war for you – literarily and mythologically. “What...?!”, we hear you cry “The Iliad wasn’t the only book about the Trojan War?!” That’s right people. We’ve got a WHOLE CYCLE (and the Iliad only covers a tiny part of the chronology). And the myths! THE MYTHS, dear listeners! What bit of fruit set off the chain reaction that would lead to the death of Patroklus (single tear)? Was it really all about Helen? What’s this Oath of Tyndareus all about anyway – obligatory MD eye roll about Odysseus. 

APHRODITE

Put down anything sharp, move breakables out of harm’s way, and prepare yourself...

WE’RE BACK....AGAIN *party hats and poppers galore*

We’ve returned with Season Three of Myth Dynamite (you’re welcome), and we’re starting with a biggie! We bring you the goddess of love herself – it’s APHRODITE *cue Meryl Streep’s exclamation at the end of Mamma Mia*.

In this, yes, double episode, we’ll be putting her back into her context and the long-standing Eastern tradition she came from. We’ll talk about how she even came to Greece and what she was really all about. Here, we’ll be focusing on Greek Aphrodite and saving Roman Venus for a later date. They’re just too juicy! Oh, and expect plenty of innuendo – some we’d like to apologise for in advance. 

APHRODITE PART TWO: yes everyone, we’re bringing Season Three back with a double episode bang (pun intended)

In Part Two, we revisit our little teaser snippet on MythsBaby, and take you on a deep dive of one of the most famous and quoted statues ever, even though she’s lost to the depths of history herself – the Aphrodite of Knidos! We take you through the statue and her legacy. Mainly, though, we talk about how she was modelled on a woman. A REAL WOMAN. With dates and everything. Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you Phryne. YOU’RE WELCOME. The fun facts we drop here are some of our favourite, and they’ll soon be some of yours too.

The androgyny of Aphrodite and the fluidity of sexuality that she represents are our favourite things about the goddess, and they’re both aspects of her that are now almost forgotten or, more accurately, specifically been pushed aside in favour of heteronormative sexuality. We leave you with the way in which the classical Greek world eventually managed to reconcile these two aspects of Aphrodite within their rapidly cementing structured misogynistic society, paving the way for the hyper-sexualisation of Aphrodite and her co-option as a symbol for heterosexual love.

*shakes fist at thousands of years of repressed patriarchy of (supposedly) yesteryear* 

Yes it’s ANOTHER special episode (beginning to play fast and loose with the word ‘special’ now...). But this time we couldn’t help it because we’ve recorded an episode on the ancient Olympics and we could hardly wait another 4 years now, could we? Coinciding perfectly with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (or is it 2021? We’re really not sure anymore), it’s as synchronised as Tom Daley and Matty Lee. So, whilst you become a sofa-expert in taekwondo, artistic swimming and table tennis (seriously, the table tennis is INTENSE), why not plug your earpods into this episode and become a sofa-expert in ancient history too?

In this episode we try and unpick the rather confusing mythological origins for the Olympics (no – it’s not as simple as everyone makes it out to be ... there are TWO Herakles’s and A LOT of family relations) and bring you our fave fun facts about the ancient event. Mule cart driving anyone? 

We’re just gonna put it out there straight away – this episode is about porn. 

More specifically, it is about PornHub’s recent project called ‘Classic Nudes’ which caused a bit of a stir amongst museums (who we’re pretty sure were mostly annoyed about their image rights). In an attempt to prove that whilst ‘porn may not be considered art ... some art can definitely be considered porn’, PornHub have taken some of the biggest museums of the Western art historical tradition and, well, highlighted all the sexy bits. But seriously guys, this is PROFESH – with maps, bios, audio guides, the LOT. 

We tried to contain our thoughts in a tweet, but it wasn’t enough, so this cheeky little special episode was born. 

On the 27 May 2021, the British Museum opened their newest exhibition on the absolute OG of scandalous, dastardly Roman Emperors: Nero. He also happens to be Sarah’s personal passion project, so Abi just joined her to get all the juicy tidbits and nod along. We thought we’d try something a bit different and podcast ‘live’ in the exhibition ... but it was not the smooth ‘tour-like’ experience we imagined. So in this special episode, we reflect on the highlights and our expectations, with some pro editing magic bringing in snippets from the original recording throughout. 

Let us know what you think of the format. If you enjoy, then I suppose we’ll force ourselves to enjoy more exhibitions together in the future...Oh no! What a shame!

‘Nero: the man behind the myth’ is open until 24 October 2021.