Women Who Went Before

In our Season 2 finale, we learn about Christian women from late antiquity who sought to transform their bodies inside and out: ascetics and monastics. From fasting to renouncing sexual “appetites” to special clothing—there were lots of things that marked a monk. Dr. Rebecca Krawiec explains all of this and more.

Why did women join monasteries? What do we do with those extreme stories of saints punishing their bodies? How can letters give us a more full understanding of women monastics? Who were Tappole and her sister Tsophia? 

Access full transcript and episode show notes

Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley.

Music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

Sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

Can we trust Roman statues to tell us about real people? What were the differences between gods and humans in art? How much of a say did the emperor have over how Roman women dressed and lived their lives? Dr. Caroline Vout answers these questions and many more in the penultimate episode of Season 2, as we learn how the Romans put bodies on display.

Access full transcript and episode show notes

Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley.

Music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

Sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

People groups, power, hierarchy, and othering—big themes in Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad. In this episode we learn from Dr. Jackie Murray about what race was and wasn’t in Ancient Greek literature. We see how gender and class intersected with race. We’ll learn about a Greek novel The Aethiopica, what a metic was, and what this all has to do with some recent Hollywood controversies.

Transcript and episode show notes

Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley.

Music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

Sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

CW: This episode discusses themes of sexual assault and intimate partner violence.

Dr. Rhiannon Graybill shares her research on sexual violence in the Hebrew Bible and ways of reading such messy stories for then and now. We also talk about violent tropes in modern romance literature and Rome's origin stories—and what these kinds of tales do to those who read them.

She says, “In our world sexual violence is often grounded in or justified by the Bible, and the Bible is used against survivors of sexual violence. And so reading biblical stories as fuzzy, messy, and icky helps us dismantle our experiences of sexual violence and of rape culture.”

Access transcript and episode show notes: https://www.womenwhowentbefore.com/episodes/to-have-and-to-hold. 

Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Emily Chesley and Rebekah Haigh.

The podcast's music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

This podcast is sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

We talk with Dr. Shai Secunda about the Babylonian rabbis’ science of blood, breaking taboos through sex education, and menstruation as a cure for rabies.

Today, taboos about menstruation keep thousands of girls from attending school. For Jewish sages in late antique Persia, such beliefs led to laws that required women to stay away from their husbands during their periods and to wash at prescribed times. (Whether women followed these laws is another question!) Blood could pollute, yet it could also purify. And practices around menstruation may have helped religious communities define their identity. 

Access transcript and episode show notes: www.womenwhowentbefore.com/episodes/bad-blood

Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley.

Podcast theme music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

This podcast is sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

Dr. Ada Nifosì tells us about the gymnastics of ancient Egyptian birth, why Egyptian women ate donkey balls and their cats ate penis cakes,  and why the god Seth should be avoided at all costs.

Childbirth was a scary time for women, and that desire for safety and comfort is reflected in their stories about their gods. The most important goddess, Isis, was enshrined in Egyptian mythology as giving birth in dangerous circumstances.  Women turned to amulets, charms, midwives and wise women, their families, for assurance.

Access transcript and episode show notes: www.womenwhowentbefore.com/episodes/the-pee-test

Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Emily Chesley and Rebekah Haigh.

This episode was fact-checked by Emily G. Smith-Sangster.

Podcast theme music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

This podcast is sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

Dr. Julia Watts Belser talks about ancient prenups, dancing at weddings, and what the rabbis had to say about beauty. We meet an Etruscan woman named Seianti Hanunia, an Egyptian Jewish woman Tapamet, and hear the (sometimes damaging) ideas of sages Shammai and Hillel. Paying attention to disability matters because it’s noticing a person’s full human experience.

Access transcript and episode show notes: www.womenwhowentbefore.com/episodes/blemished-brides

Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Emily Chesley and Rebekah Haigh.

Podcast theme music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

This podcast is sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

Dr. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells us about the veil in ancient Greek culture. Many women in the distant past (as today) wore veils during their life. Veiling meant many things to many people. It could be a means of patriarchal control, a sensual turn on, or a practical choice in a hot climate. 

From weddings to acts of piety and expressions of grief, veils "spoke." When she chose to reveal or not hide her hair, a Greek woman expressed something to the world.

Access transcript and episode show notes: https://www.womenwhowentbefore.com/episodes/veiled-but-not-hidden

Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Emily Chesley and Rebekah Haigh.

Podcast theme music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

This podcast is sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

Dr. Julia Kelto Lillis asks, "To whom does a woman’s virginity belong?" Join her and your hosts as we dive into the world of early Christian purity culture, what wine has to do with the V-Card, and why the gods like to make babies with virgins.

Like today, the concept of virginity was culturally significant in the ancient world. But unlike today, virginity as an act of devotion to God could propel a woman to the top of the social ladder.  This episode we explore shifting ideas about what makes someone a virgin and the importance of virginity to the early Christian movement.  

Access transcript and episode show notes: https://www.womenwhowentbefore.com/episodes/virginity-and-the-hype-about-hymens

Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Emily Chesley and Rebekah Haigh.

Podcast theme music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

This podcast is sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Rebecca Flemming and talk about ancient gynecology, wandering wombs, and what agency, if any, women had over the healing of their bodies.

How did medical writers in Greece and Rome describe a woman’s anatomy and its inner workings? And how did those beliefs influence the treatments they prescribed?

Read transcript and episode show notes: https://www.womenwhowentbefore.com/episodes/wandering-wombs

Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Emily Chesley and Rebekah Haigh.

Podcast theme music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

This podcast is sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.