Special Episode - Women of Myth with Ancient History Fan Girl

Content warning for this episode: violence, sexual violence, removal of children

We sit down to chat with Genn and Jenny, the fabulous cohosts of the Ancient History Fan Girl podcast. They have recently published Women of Myth: From Deer Woman and Mami Wata to Amaterasu and Athena which examines fifty women and femme presenting figures from cultures across the globe.

While Women of Myth is the centre of this conversation, there’s no way to discuss ancient ideas about women without considering how that might reflect upon the contemporary issues that women face. This also leads into consideration of the challenges faced by women throughout history.

We wrap up with a discussion of looking beyond the ancient Greco-Roman world – the value of doing that and what that can look like in podcasting.

Special Episode – Women of Myth with Ancient History Fan Girl

What makes a book?

In this interview, we explore some of the details of the book including

• The ideas that shaped the concept for Women of Myth
• The role of Sara Richard’s illustrations in expanding representation
• What it was like to co-write a book together

Listen out for discussions about

• Amba/Shikhandi – The Vengeance-Seeking Genderqueer Warrior of the Mahabharata
• Atalanta – The Ancient Greek Warrior, Athlete, and Argonaut
• Ītzpāpālōtl – The Skeletal Warrior Goddess of the Aztecs
• La Llorona – The Wailing Woman of Mexican Mythology
• Medea – Dr G draws parallels with La Llorona and Medea’s stories
• The Morrigan – The Ancient Irish Goddess of War and Battle Frenzy
• Oya – The Yoruba Warrior Goddess and Orisha of the Wind

Interested in Women of Myth?

Consider these retailers:

• Booktopia (Australia)
• Bookshop.org (US)
• Bookshop.org (UK)
• Contact your local indie bookstore
• Contact your local library

The book cover!

Sound Credits

Our music was composed by Bettina Joy de Guzman.

An illustration by Sara Richard from Women of Myth of Ītzpāpālōtl, the Aztec Skeletal warrior goddess.
She appears as a crown skull with green feathered hair surrounded by flames.

Automated Transcript

Dr Rad 0:16
Welcome to The Partial Historians.

Dr G 0:20
We explore all the details of ancient Rome.

Dr Rad 0:23
Everything from the political scandals, the levels as the battles waged, and when citizens turn against each other. I’m Dr. Rad.

Dr G 0:34
And I’m Dr. G. We consider Rome as the Romans saw it, by reading different authors from the ancient past and comparing their stories.

Dr Rad 0:43
Join us as we trace the journey of Rome from the founding of the city. Welcome to a very special edition of The Partial Historians. I am Dr. Rad.

Dr G 1:00
And I’m Dr. G.

Dr Rad 1:02
And Dr. G, we are joined today by two extra special guests. I know this is very exciting for us two extra special people are with us. And the mystery of way shall soon be revealed. I know what I mean, this is this is really a treat because we are joined by two members of the unofficial lady pod squad. And that is right we are joined by Jenny and Genn, who are the hosts of the extremely popular Ancient History Fan Girl podcast. And we are both fan girls of that podcast. Are we not Dr. G?

Dr G 1:39
We are so it’s like super, super exciting. It’s like ancient history girls unite.

Dr Rad 1:43
Exactly, exactly.

Jenny 1:45
The feeling is mutual.

Genn 1:46
Very mutual.

Dr Rad 1:50
It’s actually it’s actually really shocking that we have not had you on our show before this because it was many, many moons ago that we recorded Spartacus together. And I feel like it’s because we’re constantly in contact in terms of I constantly see what you guys are up to on Instagram and constantly listen to your show. And I kind of forget that we haven’t actually talked in real life for quite some time.

Jenny 2:11
It’s a parasocial relationship.

Dr Rad 2:15
It’s indicative of this sad social media world that we live in. It’s like, oh, I’m totally caught up with this person’s life.

Jenny 2:21
Yes, we are in meshed. I have I frequently have that as well.

Dr Rad 2:28
And we are having them on the show today. Because extra excitingly, they have just written a book.

Dr G 2:37
Oh, my God.

Dr Rad 2:39
That’s right. That’s right. They are now not only the cohosts of an excellent Ancient History podcast, but they are the coauthors of Women of Myth: From Deer Woman and Mami Wata to Ama – oh see, I’m going to screw this up. Amaterasu and Athena your guide to the amazing and diverse women from World Mythology.

Jenny 3:05
Yay. That’s our book. Thank you so much for having us on. This is so exciting.

Genn 3:13
Yeah, we’re so excited to be here.

Dr Rad 3:15
No problems at all. And we probably should give a bit of a shout out because not only are you guys co authored this, but you also have some amazing illustrations by Sarah is it? Is it Rashad or Richard Richard

Jenny 3:25
Richard

Dr Rad 3:25
Richard, by Sarah Richard, which really do make the stories I think come alive.

Jenny 3:31
Absolutely. And Liv Albert wrote our forward canvas that

Dr G 3:35
I know. Oh, yeah. For people who might still be unaware – and that must be so few people out there – Liv Albert is the host of “Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby”, which is an incredibly popular podcast from the unofficial lady pod squad.

Jenny 3:50
Indeed. I think it’s just official at this point.

Genn 3:55
I think so. I think I’m going to have badges made.

Dr Rad 3:58
I know, I’m like how have we missed the opportunity to have matching T shirts made I don’t know.

Jenny 4:05
We should all have a T shirt.

Dr Rad 4:07
Yeah, absolutely.

Genn 4:08
Okay. I’m on it.

Dr Rad 4:10
Done, there’s our project. Alright, so let’s get into it. Dr. G.

Dr G 4:14
Yes. So we’re very excited about this book. And I imagine that many people who listen to our podcasts are going to be excited about it as well. So I’m wondering, just to get us started, what’s the basic premise? I feel like the title gives a little bit of a hint. But I imagine there’s more to be said on this front.

Jenny 4:32
Do you want to hit that one, Genn?

Genn 4:35
Oh, I’m gonna let you start.

Jenny 4:37
I mean, the basic myth, it’s women and world mythology. It’s, it’s um, it’s about women and also, you know, feminine presenting characters figures from mythologies around the world. And that includes, we had 50 different slots. And, you know, it’s, it’s actually there are many Goddesses in the book, but it’s divided into three categories goddesses, heroines and monsters. So um, yeah, that’s basically And

Genn 5:05
And put those monsters in quotation marks, please.

Dr Rad 5:07
Yeah.

Jenny 5:08
Monsters, quote unquote. And we definitely go into what is coded monstrous in the book and talk about that a lot. So, um, so yeah, that’s that’s basically what the concept is.

Dr Rad 5:20
Excellent. Yeah, no, I must admit, I was really interested, by the way that you chose to set out your book. And I found it very, very fascinating. So you’ve got, as you say, those three categories of mighty goddesses, both heroines and formidable monsters using flesh rabbits, they’re jumping, they’re jumping all over my screen. Can you tell us how did you decide upon those categories when you were setting about writing this book?

Genn 5:45
So those categories were actually something that our publisher wanted. So it was it came down from, from the publishing gods.

Dr Rad 5:54
Yeah.

Genn 5:55
And that was, it might seem like that could be limiting. But actually, it was really fun. And it forced us to really look at who looked at how we were gonna break up the book and make sure that we had not just a whole bunch of goddesses, or not just a whole bunch of really great mortal heroines who did incredible stuff, or not just focus on some of my favorites and mythology, the monsters, because the monsters are just so fascinating and tell you so much about a culture. It’s, you know, it tells you what people are afraid of. It also tells you about how people, the things people valued the things they didn’t value. So, you know, there’s a whole book that could be made of each of those sections. So it was kind of nice to have the publishing Gods on higher say, you know, what, could you give us a little taste of each?

Jenny 6:48
Yeah, it was, I think it provided some good structure.

Dr Rad 6:52
Yeah, definitely. Well, I must admit, I was particularly interested in it because I am a teacher,