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On August 24, 410 AD, Alaric and the Visigoths sacked the city of Rome. Before he sacked it, he starved it. Before that, he went toe to toe with the Roman Empire for fifteen years—uniting disparate tribes, holding a people together, and achieving more against Rome than any barbarian leader before him.

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It's the end of Season 12--and what a year it's been! We had some big things happen in 2024 and we hope that 2025 will be even bigger and more exciting.

Join us as we discuss what it was like covering the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, our upcoming books and novel projects, and our plans for the podcast going forward. Thank you so much for taking this journey with us!

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Janus is the two-faced god of the Roman pantheon. He was the god of beginnings and endings, of dual natures, of passageways and passage through time. He’s the god of thresholds and doorways and gates, and the god of change, both concrete and abstract. He’s constantly in motion; he’s the god who’s always just passing through.

Janus may not be very well-known. But in his time, he was considered one of the most important gods—perhaps more important than Jupiter himself. Today, we’re going to tell you all about him.

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How would Alaric of the Visigoths celebrate the midwinter holiday (Christmas? Solstice? Yule?). The idea was kicked around a lot between the two of us until it seemed imperative that we actually write this episode. And thus, an episode was born.

In this episode, Alaric is about six years old. He doesn’t exactly understand that his life is hanging by a knife’s edge – caught between the invading Huns and the colonizing Romans. This is the story of a little boy just trying to do the right thing and not get his belly slit open by the Perchta, as one does around this time of year.

So sit back, pour yourself a festive holiday beverage, and enjoy this very fictional, occasionally true episode. 

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This year, we’ve found one of the most metal and wild Yuletide goddesses yet – Frau Holle.

Human sacrifices, spindles in yer vag, plague, starvation, caves of offerings and bones, the Grimms brothers, golden showers, child cannibalism, ZOMBIES – are any of these putting you in the Yuletide spirit? They should. Because we’re about to share with you the story of a very Frau Holle Christmas.

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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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