During these weird (dare I say unprecedented?) times, I have been actively avoiding reading the news in the morning. It’s just always so depressing, and while I like to stay informed…. I don’t like to start my day with that kind of gloominess.
This morning, however, I gave into the temptation of a catchy headline from the NYT, “Facing Adulthood With an Economic Disaster’s Lasting Scars”. Ok maybe not so catchy, but it was relevant to me as a young person so I was tempted into reading it. If you are a young person currently job seeking: DO NOT READ THIS ARTICLE. It is depressing as hell.
Anyways, to rid myself of the uncomfortable feeling of impending doom, I turned on one of my podcasts while I was brushing my teeth. After about 15 minutes of learning about Dionysus, I was feeling a little better. To make a long segue short, I have been obsessed with ancient history podcasts during quarantine, and I’m not mad about it.
Why ancient history? Well… It was an evolving obsession. It started because usually I listen to news podcasts, Pod Save America, NPR, etc… But I just couldn’t handle that much newsiness, so I started searching around for other things to listen to.
Spotify happened to recommend me a podcast called WhatsHerName which explores the stories of badass women throughout history who don’t get the recognition they deserve. WhatsHerName in turn shouted out The Exploress, which led me to add Kate to my listening queue. Kate is awesome, she talks through different eras of history through the eyes of women. What it would be like to live there, the role of women in society, birthing practices, clothing… Her research is very cool.
The Exploress
Eventually I made it to Ancient History Fangirls which is, in my opinion, the Holy Grail of ancient history podcasts. I recently trekked with them through the entire Julio-Claudian Dynasty… took forever, but so worth it! They deliver not only such good research, but they also really humanize the characters involved. They hypothesize, they have running jokes, sometimes Julius Caesar’s ghost makes an appearance, sometimes they’re tipsy (those last two seem to be correlated).
Before I spend this whole article going on and on about them… Just go look them up. It’s like hanging out and drinking with your smart nerdy friends, amazing. Also the last podcast I want to shout out is the Queens Podcast which I just started listening to. The hosts, Katy and Nathan, talk about Queens and other powerful women throughout history and drink cocktails… Yep. Amazing.
Getting thrown back into learning about ancient history, especially the greco-romans, chinese, and egyptian empires, has actually been kind of nostalgic. I spent so much time learning about Sparticus, Caligula, Empress Wu, and King Tut in school, and getting to revisit those stories through an adult lense has been so rewarding. (I mean ~adult~ in a lot of ways, just fyi). I’ve circled back around to a lot of childhood interests during quarantine, so adding in these familiar eras of history has been oddly comforting.
It is also interesting, especially learning about the greco-romans, to see all the parallels to present day. I know I said I was trying to escape the news, but you never can all the way. And it’s still way less anxiety producing to think about narcissistic leaders in the context of Nero (the first Nero, not that Nero) than in the context of the White House.
Finally, and then I promise I’m done, shout out to all of these awesome podcasters for making history fun to learn about. So engaging! And honestly, I am absorbing so much more of these stories now that I am thinking about these people as people. I am even (humble brag) re-reading The Aeneid, and really enjoying it! I’m actually looking for all the places that you can see people’s personalities come through… Through the eyes of Virgil at least.
I know not everyone has the same amount of spare time that I have right now… But I’m just saying, if you’re looking for something to listen to, or something to learn about, I cannot recommend these podcasts highly enough. They’re all badass women (+ Nathan) who are just out here doing the Lord’s work and making learning fun. What’s not to love about that?
If you have podcasts, books, or documentaries that have been getting you through this craziness, leave a comment, or send me a message! Also if anyone wants to book group The Aeneid with me… Hit. Me. Up.