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You may recognize Dr. Emily Rath from our series on Project 2025. Today, we’ve invited her on to discuss her most recent project—North is the Night, a historical fantasy story with a strong, sapphic romantic thread.

Join us as Emily introduces us to a world of terrifying metal death goddesses, mystical talking ravens, queer witches and warriors, and a Christianity that seeks to devour everything it touches. 

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Ah, Christmas—it's a time of cheer, of gift-giving and generosity; and a time to eat yer babies.

This year, we’re focusing on two different cannibalistic monsters from Christmas folklore: Père Fouettard and Hans Trapp. Because it turns out that child cannibalism really is the reason for the season—and perhaps Santa Claus is the biggest cannibal of all.

What is Santa hiding under those jolly cheeks and that big white beard? Strap in, pour yourself your favorite holiday beverage, and get ready for a wild ride into the dark side of Christmas.

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In our last two episodes we discussed what worship looked like at the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. How the goddess was worshipped, who worshipped her, and what they believed.

Now, we’re going talk about what the temple looked like, who built it, who burned it to the ground, who rebuilt it, and what people did at the temple (besides worship). It’s time to dig into the ground and build back up this temple, stone by stone, with the stories of the people who walked its hallowed halls.

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What do you know about Yule? Maybe a lot. The holiday is widely celebrated in Scandinavian countries, and it's an important part of Wiccan and Pagan tradition. But for many of us, the version that's come down through history is strongly associated with Christmas--and heavily sanitized.

When we scratched the surface, however, we found that the origins of Yule were older and darker and weirder than we ever imagined.

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This year, we decided that the holiday season wouldn’t be complete without a mythological foray into one of the most famous characters of the season: The Krampus.

And some of you might be saying: wait a minute, Krampus isn’t ancient; he’s modern. Also, everyone knows about Krampus, the festive demon of Christmas. Why are you covering this well-trodden topic?

Wait until you hear the wild things we uncovered about him and his history, and then make your judgements about how old and well-trodden this topic is.

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Last week, we discussed the history of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus—and just who served here, and why. This week, we delve into the mythology of the temple and the goddess worshipped there.

The Artemis at Ephesus was a far more ancient goddess than her Classical Greek counterpart. She has roots in the ancient Near East, and is cousin to ancient deities such as Kybele and the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet.

What happened to this goddess—and the people who worshipped her—as the world changed? Join us as we explore how the wild, untameable Artemis at Ephesus fared in the face of Roman occupation, Christian suppression, and natural disasters.

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This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task.

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What did it take to be a gladiator? Who ended up in the arena, and why? And how did the gladiatorial games—one of the bloodiest sporting events known in the ancient world—come to be?

From the ancient roots of Etruscan funeral games to the height of Roman spectacle, we examine the history of gladiatorial combat—and explore what life was like for gladiators in the time of Spartacus.

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This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task.

This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping.

This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts.

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This week, we welcome internationally bestselling author and noted enemies-to-lovers enthusiast Thea Guanzon to the podcast.

Thea’s debut novel, the Hurricane Wars, is an enemies-to-lovers romantasy with complex layers of worldbuilding and intrigue, rich with mythic resonance, airships, elemental magic, world-rending storms and eclipses, and passionate romance. Join us as we discuss the inspiration for her in-world mythology, our mutual love for hot-mess heroines, and what makes guys named Alaric so sexy.

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This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task.

This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping.

This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts.

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to [email protected].

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This week, we’re covering the final Wonder on our list of Seven Wonders: and this may be the one that broke us. It’s a Wonder located at the nexus of seawater and freshwater on the brackish headwaters of an epic river; a biodiversity hotspot. It was in this primal land that legend of a divine huntress grew.

This is not the Artemis of the Classical Greeks. This is the Artemis of Ephesus: a ferocious huntress, yes. But also a wild and fecund goddess of childbirth; a protectress of women and children, so fertile and fierce that she would tolerate no masculinity: men had to undergo castration before they could serve in her temple. And we’ve barely begun to scratch the surface of what it meant to serve.

Join us as we get to know the mysterious and primal Artemis of Ephesus.

Sponsors and Advertising

This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task.

This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping.

This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts.

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to [email protected].

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Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon!

When you think of Artemis, what springs to mind?

 Perhaps it’s a fierce huntress with a bow and arrow, a sort of female Peter Pan—wild and untamed, haunting forests drenched in moonlight—a goddess who’s taken a stern vow of chastity, and refuses all company save that of her nymphs.

That’s one version of Artemis—the Classical version. But there’s an older, wilder version that pulls back the curtain on a more ancient way of life in Greece. Join us as we explore who Artemis was, how she was worshipped, and how she evolved into a goddess who fit into the Classical Athenian idea of what an ‘eternal maiden’ should look like.

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This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task.

This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping.

This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts.

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to [email protected].

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Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon!

Think the Amazons of Greek myth were mythical? Think again. The Greeks based their Amazons on the real-life warrior women next door.

Centuries ago, ancient writers claimed that Scythian women of the Eurasian Steppe fought in battle alongside their men. Now, with modern bioarchaeology, the bones of real female warriors have emerged from their grave mounds and begun to speak to us. This is their story.

Sponsors and Advertising

This episode was brought to you by Taskrabbit. Go to Taskrabbit.com and use promo code FANGIRL at checkout for 15% off your first task.

This episode was brought to you by Field of Greens. Go to FieldofGreens.com and use promo code FANGIRL for 15% off your first order and FREE rush shipping.

This episode was brought to you by Factor. Go to Factormeals.com/Fangirl50 and use code Fangirl50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month as long as your subscription lasts.

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to [email protected].

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices