Many Greek heroes are responsible for founding a city or being the ancestral head of some powerful dynasty of later heroes. This episode (32) focuses on Cadmus, who arrives in Greece while searching for his missing sister. He goes on to found the city of Thebes after killing a serpent dragon and marries Harmonia, an immortal daughter of the gods Ares and Aphrodite. I also discuss how their children went through a series of tragedies, most of which were due to offending the gods.

Welcome to Season 3 of the Myth Madness Podcast! 
Most people are familiar with the names of the more important Greek heroes – ones like Achilles, Oedipus, Hercules, and Theseus. But the Greeks had myths telling the adventures of many different heroes, all living in an Age of Heroes. This episode is an introduction to the Age of Heroes as a whole. The following episodes will each focus on the individual heroes. In this episode (31) , I also cover how the ancient Greeks explored their own past with their myths and how the legendary Age of Heroes can be treated as a fantasy version of Mycenaean Greece.

This is the final episode in the latest series on Hittite myths. Careful listeners of the past seven episodes were perhaps reminded of things I talked about in the previous Greek myth episodes. In this episode (30), I go back and discuss a few of those similarities between the different Mediterranean mythologies. 

This episode (29) covers yet another attempt by Kumarbi to remove Teshub from power. Kumarbi orchestrates the birth of a son named Ullikummi, a monster made of stone who continually grows larger. This myth is considered the last instalment of the Kumarbi Cycle. 

This episode (28) continues with myths from the Kumarbi Cycle. While the storm god Teshub is now king in heaven, Kumarbi is still around, and instigates fighting between Teshub and several rivals. Some of these include LAMMA, an arrogant god; Kiase, the sea god and close ally of Kumarbi; and Hedammu, a monstrous sea serpent.

This episode (27) kicks off a three-part retelling of a wacky series of myths called the Kumarbi Cycle. These myths, while important to the Hittites, were originally Hurrian. The stories revolve around two groups of gods fighting for power over the universe. The first part tells how Kumarbi took the throne and fathered a younger generation of gods. 

Like with the storm gods, the Hittites worshipped multiple solar deities too. This episode (26) covers them, two sun goddesses and one sun god. I also explore the Hittite’s ideas on the underworld. The different traditions for solar deities and underworld likely come from the different population layers of the Hittite world. 

The Hittites worshipped multiple storm gods, all with power over weather and living atop mountains, and several of them are arranged in a family relationship. This episode (25) explores this family of storm gods. But, the Hittites also had a main storm god, called Tarhunna, who was considered a protector of the entire kingdom. His most important myths featured his conflicts with Illuyanka, a monstrous serpent creature. For fun, I also talk about a myth from Ireland. 

This episode (24) covers how the Hittites imagined their gods, and how they worshipped them. The Hittites took special care in keeping their gods’ attention, and if they failed, disaster struck! The Hittites had myths about the disappearance of certain gods. The best preserved tells how the god Telipinu left in a rage and how the other gods tried to find him. 

This episode (23)  begins an eight-part series on Hittite mythology. The Hittite civilization existed throughout the 2nd millennium BC and was a great power in the ancient Middle East. The Hittites worshipped A LOT of gods. In this episode, I introduce the Hittite civilization, briefly describe its origins and constituent groups, and discuss how they got so many gods.