Sing Muses, sing to me a story of Olympus and the deathless gods who govern earth, sea and sky…
Since November 2022, our producer, Andrew Hulse, has contributed oral storytelling scripts to the HistoryHit original podcast The Ancients and their miniseries on the Greek gods (as well as a few other classical myths).
Each podcast in the miniseries begins with a performance of oral storytelling – a myth related to the god in question – followed by an interview with a subject specialist.
The Ancients, hosted by historian Tristan Hughes, is dedicated to discussing our distant past. Historians and archaeologists join Tristan to discuss specific themes from antiquity, from Neolithic Britain to the Fall of Rome. You can find the full podcast – and its amazing breadth of content – here.
Check out each of the storytelling scripts below as well as a link to the full episode.
The Achilles episode was awarded Silver and Listener’s Choice at the 2023 Signal Awards in the category of Individual Episodes: History.
Zeus: King of the Gods
The myth of Zeus’s parentage, beginning with Uranus and Gaia.
13 November 2022
Hera: Queen of the Gods
The myth of Kleobis and Biton, the sons of Hera’s chief priestess.
11 December 2022
Hephaestus: God of Fire
The myth of Hephaestus’s birth and his marriage to Aphrodite.
8 January 2023
Aphrodite: Goddess of Love
The myth of the judgement of Paris.
5 February 2023
Ares: God of War
The myth of Ares’s daughter Alcippe and the first homicide.
12 March 2023
Athena: Goddess of Wisdom
The myth of Athena’s contest with Poseidon to claim patronage of Athens.
9 April 2023
King Midas
The myth of King Midas’s golden touch.
4 May 2023
Achilles
The myth of Achilles and Patroclus.
25 June 2023
Poseidon: God of the Sea
The myth of Odysseus and the cyclops Polyphemus, son of Poseidon.
27 July 2023
Medusa
The myth of Medusa and her gaze of stone.
7 September 2023
Hades: King of the Underworld
The myth of Orpheus’s attempt to retrieve his deceased wife, Eurydice, from Hades’s halls.
15 October 2023
Persephone: Queen of the Underworld
The myth of how Persephone became queen of the underworld.
11 November 2023
Origins of Sparta: Return of the Heracleidae
The myth of Heracles’s sons, the Heracleidae, who were fated to claim Sparta and all the Peloponnese.
2 December 2023
Demeter: Goddess of the Harvest
The myth of Demeter’s wrath against King Erysichthon.
7 December 2023
Hermes: Messenger of the Gods
The myth of Hermes’s stealing Io from under the gaze of Argus the giant.
28 January 2024
Origins of Carthage: Dido
The myth of Dido’s flight from Phoenicia and her founding of Carthage.
22 February 2024
Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt
The myth of Artemis’s revenge upon the House of Atreus.
16 March 2024
Apollo: God of the Sun
The myth of Niobe and Apollo’s retribution.
21 April 2024
Dionysus: God of Wine
The myth of Pentheus and his blasphemy against Dionysus.
19 May 2024
Heracles
The myth of Heracles’s first labour: killing the Nemean lion.
22 June 2024