Podcast
Ancient History Fangirl
Hosted by Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy · EN
An ancient history podcast run by two Millennial women. Misbehaving emperors, poison assassins, mythological mayhem; it’s like if Hardcore History met up with My Favorite Murder in the ancient world, with a heavy helping of booze and laughter.
31episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
AHFG Book Club: If Villain Bad, Why Villain Hot? (With Elizabeth May)
1w ago01:10:47Tap to summarizeHelp keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! We are thrilled to welcome #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Elizabeth May to the podcast. Elizabeth May is the author of The Wolf and the Crown of Blood, a bestselling new release about deranged homicidal gods and the equally deranged princesses who drag them around like stuffie toys. Join us for a fun and laughter-filled conversation with an author whose playground is somewhere at the intersection of sex and violence, which is just where we like it. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →How to Destroy a Democracy (Welcome to the Augustan Age)
2w ago01:16:54Tap to summarizeHelp keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! When Augustus rolled into town after defeating Marc Antony and Cleopatra, he was greeted as a hero—because the Senate ordered its people to stand outside the gates and cheer. The reality was, there was fear on both sides. Augustus was afraid to grab power too quickly—or he’d find himself meeting Caesar’s fate. The Senators feared bloody proscriptions, like the ones Augustus (Octavian) unleashed with the Second Triumvirate just a few years ago. Standing outside those walls, anything could have happened. Octavian could have been murdered. He could have given Rome back its democracy, just like it was. Just like before. And for a while, it looked like he was going to do that. He kept promising he would. But that’s not how it went down. Today we’ll explore how you kill a democracy—with a thousand tiny cuts, or one single stab to the heart. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Was Rome Always Like This? (With Mike Duncan)
Apr 2301:26:08Tap to summarizeHelp keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! When we look at the demise of Roman democracy, we think of the time of Augustus—and maybe Caesar before him. But in reality, the seeds of the republic’s destruction were planted at the time of its birth. It’s probably not too far out on a limb to say that Caesar couldn’t have grabbed so much power if there hadn’t been a Sulla, or a Marius, or the Gracchi brothers, or innumerable revolutionaries and power players of centuries before. That is the subject of The Storm Before the Storm, the New York Times bestselling book by author and podcaster Mike Duncan. This week, Mike takes us back to the beginning—to show us the faultlines built into the very foundation of democracy. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →AHFG Book Club: Cleopatra: The Last Pharaoh (With Saara El-Arifi)
Apr 1600:46:03Tap to summarizeHelp keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! Join us as we return to Cleopatra’s Alexandria—the glamor, the political intrigue, the history—and take a second in-depth look at Egypt's last Pharaoh. Our guide for this episode is none other than Saara El-Arifi, bestselling author of The Ending Fire and Faebound trilogies and the exciting new release, Cleopatra: A Novel. In this episode we’ll discuss Cleopatra’s life and loves, the challenges of breathing new life into a very examined historical figure, and exactly what we do and don’t know about the real Cleopatra. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Rome Has No Kings
Apr 900:21:21Tap to summarizeHelp keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! When Octavian (Augustus) returned home victorious from his final battle against Marc Antony and Cleopatra, he was met by an ecstatic crowd. The Senate had ordered all classes and priesthoods, including the Vestal Virgins, to joyously greet him at the entrance to the city. This was the man who would be responsible for demolishing their democracy and ushering in an imperial military state that would last another 500 years (roughly). What was it like to stand in the shadow of the walls that day? What questions were burning in the people’s hearts? What did they think that they did not dare say? Was the mood celebratory? Raucous? Rebellious? Join us as we travel back in time to the gates of Rome, to watch Octavian return. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →RE-RELEASE: Actium, Baby! (With Barry Strauss)
Apr 201:05:04Tap to summarizeHelp keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! In this episode, we return to the beach at Actium with author, historian, and academic Barry Strauss as our tour guide. His new book, The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium, discusses the infamous sea battle Marc Antony and Cleopatra fought against Octavian and Agrippa for love, for supremacy, for their very survival. Join us as we deconstruct this battle, paint a vivid picture of ancient war at sea, and tackle the one question everyone’s asking: why did Cleopatra flee the battlefield? Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →ALL IN ONE PLACE: Marc Antony x Cleopatra: Lovers in a Dangerous Time (Parts 4 & 5)
Mar 2602:12:56Tap to summarizeHelp keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! This file contains the last two episodes in our series on Marc Antony and Cleopatra: Lovers in a Dangerous Time, all in one place. This series has everything: love, war, violence, betrayal, Marc Antony barfing everywhere, and Cleopatra being extremely glamorous at all times. Please enjoy while you wait for us to return from hiatus on April 9. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →RE-RELEASE: Fulvia: Original Gangster of Ancient Rome
Mar 1901:38:19Tap to summarizeHelp keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! The romance between Mark Antony and Cleopatra has beguiled us for centuries. What most people don’t realize is that when Mark Antony met Cleopatra, he was already married—to someone just as epic. Her name was Fulvia. Cleopatra had glamour and divinity and lots of money. But Fulvia had the gangs. She was a populist firebrand, military leader, and for a while, the undisputed power in Rome: both in the Senate and in the streets. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →ALL IN ONE PLACE: Julius Caesar Parts 1 & 2
Mar 1202:08:08Tap to summarizeHelp keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! We're on hiatus until April 9. Until then, enjoy this long, binge-able episode on Julius Caesar's early life. Most accounts of Caesar's life start later on--such as during his time in Gaul or crossing the Rubicon. But his early life was just as fascinating; maybe even more so. This is the Caesar who stood up to Sulla and refused to divorce his wife. The Caesar who made an early career of prosecuting corrupt governors to cement his cred as a populist--even as it made him powerful enemies. The Caesar who, when kidnapped by pirates, demanded they raise his ransom and spent his time in captivity hanging out on the beach and reading them bad poetry. It's a fun, lighthearted introduction to Caesar's life before it takes its dark turn. We hope you enjoy. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →RE-RELEASE: Spartacus vs. Toussaint L'Ouverture (With Mike Duncan)
Mar 501:13:21Tap to summarizeHelp keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! More than 1,800 years after Spartacus fought for his freedom, another rebel leader spearheaded the most successful slave revolt in history: the Haitian Revolution. That leader was a man named Toussaint L’Ouverture. This week, we invited Mike Duncan of The History of Rome and Revolutions to help us compare these two revolutionaries and discuss what advice Toussaint L'Ouverture might have had for Spartacus. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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