Ancient History Fangirl

What happened to people in ancient Rome who were freed from slavery? Turns out there were still invisible threads--economic pressures, imbalances of status, and debts owed to wealthy patrons--that kept many of them in bondage.On the streets of Pompeii, freedom came at a steep price--especially for women. Today, we talk to Elodie Harper--bestselling author of the Wolf Den and the House with the Golden Door--about enslaved people, freedwomen, and glamorous sex workers whose lives were far more precarious than they seemed.Get ad-free episodes here: https://www.patreon.com/ancienthistoryfangirl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As most of you probably already know, abortion rights in the US are under attack. Somebody leaked a Supreme Court initial majority draft that was a full throated, loud and proud revocation of pregnant-capable people’s right to choose who gets to use our bodies.Abortion is a totally normal procedure that people have been doing for millennia--probably for as long as people could get pregnant, they've been trying to end their pregnancies. We have several episodes that discuss abortion, and in the next few weeks, we’ll be re-releasing those on our main feed twice a week. The series will conclude with a brand-new episode with a Caribbean feminist scholar, discussing the history of abortion in ancient Greece and Rome as well as the Bible.So tune in to our main feed to hear the re-released episodes. We'll return to our regularly scheduled series on gender rebels on June 2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we're taking a break from the story of Achilles to discuss the Illiad from an angle that's not as often covered: the story of the women of the House of Atreus, the family of Agamemnon.In this episode, bestselling author Jennifer Saint introduces us to Clytemnestra and Elektra--Agamemnon's wife and daughter--as well as the priestess and prophetess Cassandra, and the murderous curse that casts a shadow over their fates.Get ad-free episodes here: https://www.patreon.com/ancienthistoryfangirl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we explore what happened to gender in the pressure-cooker of ancient war. To do that, we skip ahead ten years to a different beach: the war-blasted, corpse-strewn sands below the walls of Troy.As the Trojan War dragged on, the most respect went to those who were able to slaughter and pillage and plunder: gender for men devolved into “Smash and Grab” masculinity. Meanwhile, gender for women became “Gender as Property”—in the most explicit terms.It's in this toxic wasteland that Achilles’ feud with Agamemnon rose to a fever pitch—over a woman called Briseis.Get ad-free episodes here: https://www.patreon.com/ancienthistoryfangirl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our last episode we looked at Achilles’ early life and his relationships with the women who crossed his path. In this episode, we follow him to the beach at Aulis—where all the Greek kings and heroes, anyone who was anyone, had gathered at the start of the Trojan War.Achilles left Pyrrha behind, but his time as a dancing girl followed him to that beach. This is where the wind stalled. This is where Achilles first clashed with that titan of fragile masculinity, Agamemnon. And this is where a girl named Iphigenia met her fate.Get ad-free episodes here: https://www.patreon.com/ancienthistoryfangirl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Achilles is so often portrayed as the most masculine of heroes, but those portrayals generally leave out that he spent a few years of his life passing as a girl. Today, we’re going to explore that time in Achilles’ life, and what it tells us about his gender.We’ll also delve into his relationships with the women in his early life: his mom, Thetis, and a girl named Deidameia. Get ad-free episodes here: https://www.patreon.com/ancienthistoryfangirl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first part of our Gender Rebels series, we talked about queer history—queer women, Intersex people, transgender people, and eunuchs. Now, we’re going to begin another series that takes that lens to Greek mythology.  There are plenty of queer myths that break the binary as the ancient Greeks saw it—and heroes and gods who were gender rebels. Sometimes those gender rebels aren’t who you’d expect—and who they’re usually portrayed to be. That’s what this episode is all about.Join us as we explore the mythology of a genderqueer Achilles and the man who loved him.Get ad-free episodes here: https://www.patreon.com/ancienthistoryfangirl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, we told you about the Sacred Band’s first important military victories—victories that depended on the intense trust and love the Sacred Band members had for each other. Victories that showed that the Spartans weren’t so tough after all.But as Spartan control in Greece receded, opportunistic warlords and upstart city-states rose up to take advantage of a power vacuum. One of their most dangerous new opponents was a man named Philip of Macedon—and his 18-year-old son, Alexander.Get ad-free episodes here: https://www.patreon.com/ancienthistoryfangirl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our last episode, we told you the story of how the Spartans took over the city of Thebes and how an intrepid and very queer group of Theban rebels, led by a firebrand named Pelopidas, took it back while dressed as women.The Thebans had their city back. Now they had to figure out how to hold it against the Spartans, because the Spartans would strike back. Their solution was to form an elite 300-man fighting force to counter the dreaded Spartan hippeis—held together by the bonds of love. Get ad-free episodes here: https://www.patreon.com/ancienthistoryfangirl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The time was the 300s BC. The place was Thebes. And in this place, in this time, there was an elite military force—the best of the best special ops shock troops—made up of 150 male lovers.Their love for each other was the key to their strength. It made them better fighters. More effective. It made them strong enough to break the iron-fisted control of oppressive regimes. This is their incredible story.Get ad-free episodes here: https://www.patreon.com/ancienthistoryfangirl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices