Ancient History Fangirl

Latest Episodes:

Virgil the Virgin and the Creation of the Authoritarian State Oct 01, 2026

Show notes

⁠⁠⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! ⁠

Among the poets of early Augustan Rome, Virgil had a niche: nostalgia. He wrote poems about the Roman countryside, farmers, and a mourned, simpler past that may have never existed. And when Augustus came to power, he recognized Virgil’s skill as one he could exploit.

Augustus commanded Virgil to write the Aeneid—an epic poem tying him (Augustus) to an ancient past going all the way back to the Illiad, and elevating his family as descended from Venus and divinely appointed to rule. Virgil’s act of resistance was endlessly writing this poem, never finishing it, and ordering it burned when he died (though Augustus had other ideas).

What happens to an artist’s art when it is used in a way that transcends its creation? And how does an ancient poem connect to the Trump Administration’s war with the Smithsonian?

It turns out one of fascism’s most potent weapons is nostalgia. Join us as we dig into it.

Sponsors and Advertising

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com.

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

Can Christian Nationalists Be Normal in a Democracy? (With Brad Onishi) Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

Enemy of My Dreams is just $2.99 on Kindle!

⁠⁠⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon!

Short answer: no.

Long answer: no, and they didn't function that well in pluralistic Roman society, either.

Many of the qualities of high-control Christianity--spiritual warfare, fascistic tendencies, the desire to bring on the end times through war in the Middle East, Christian persecution complex, refusal to follow societal norms, demons--were there at the beginning, date to very specific times in the Church's early history, and threatened Roman society in a way surprisingly similar to how they're threatening ours now.

Join us as we attempt to chart the connection between the religious nonsense we're all being tortured with today and its deepest roots in history--with Brad Onishi, scholar of religion, author and co-host of the podcast Straight White American Jesus.

Sponsors and Advertising

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com.

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

AHFG Book Club: Lady Pirates and Why-Choose Werewolves (with Eva Leigh) Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

⁠Enemy of My Dreams is just $2.99 on Kindle!⁠

⁠⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon!

We are thrilled to welcome USA Today bestselling author Eva Leigh to the podcast. Eva has had two recent releases that piqued our interest: The Sea Witch (about a lady pirate who’s also a witch, paired with a hunky navigator) and a wild novella about a woman whose world is rocked by multiple werewolf highwaymen.

Join us as we discuss magic and mythology, the fun and challenge of writing why-choose, and the necessity of centering female pleasure.

Sponsors and Advertising

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com.

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

The Builder Emperor: How Augustus Made a City of Marble Sep 03, 2026

Show notes

⁠⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon!

One of the most famous quotes from Augustus’ reign was “I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.” And Augustus did that—he had a real thing for construction. Augustus would leave his mark on Rome, and the city would never be able to forget him.

Turns out this is…how do we put this…fascism-coded. Other authoritarians have also loved to build things—including, very noticeably, Donald Trump. Why is that? Why do dictators feel a need to build things and slap their names on buildings (even when they didn’t build them)?

In this episode, we’re going to unpack that—comparing the record of Augustus and Donald Trump when it comes to building, defacing (under the guise of "renovation"), slapping their names on buildings and putting their claims on the narratives those buildings tell. Sponsors and Advertising

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com.

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

Why are Techbro Oligarchs so Obsessed with Augustus? Aug 20, 2026

Show notes

⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! ⁠

Have you noticed that our tech overlords cannot be normal about the Roman Empire?

Elon Musk has approximately 14 known children, which he refers to as his “Legion.” Mark Zuckerberg famously took the Emperor Augustus on his honeymoon. And in some of the darker corners of the Internet (and real life), wildly rich techbros openly fantasize about a “Red Caesar” who will come to rule us all.

Why is that? Where does this obsession with ancient Rome come from, specifically among our techbro overlords? In this episode, we’re going to attempt to unpack that.

Sponsors and Advertising

This episode is sponsored by Taskrabbit. Get $15 off your first task at Taskrabbit.com or the Taskrabbit app using promo code FANGIRL.

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com.

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

A Democracy Built on Slavery (With Emma Southon) Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon!

Slavery touched every part of life in ancient Rome. Depending on the time period and location, as many as one in ten or one in three people was enslaved.

How does it warp a democracy when so many of its people are not free? Today we talk to author, historian and podcaster Dr. Emma Southon, host of the History is Sexy podcast and author of Not Built in a Day: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, to explore this question.

Sponsors and Advertising

This episode is sponsored by Taskrabbit. Get $15 off your first task at Taskrabbit.com or the Taskrabbit app using promo code FANGIRL.

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com.

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

The Secret Lives of Julio-Claudian Wives (Part 3) Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! ⁠⁠

In our last episode, Livia and Octavia were at each other’s throats over which one of their sons would be chosen as Augustus’ heir. The unfortunate thing is that the heirs kept dying.

Meanwhile, the daughter and granddaughter of Augustus—Julia the Elder and Agrippina the Elder—were the first generations of the new autocracy. They never knew democracy—and from the beginning, they complied with Augustus’ vision for women: get married young, to whoever he told you to, and have many, many children.

These girls complied, and paid a terrible price for the kingdom their foremothers built—a price we’re still paying today.

Sponsors and Advertising

This episode is sponsored by Taskrabbit. Get $15 off your first task at Taskrabbit.com or the Taskrabbit app using promo code FANGIRL.

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com.

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

The Secret Lives of Julio-Claudian Wives (Part 2) Jul 09, 2026

Show notes

⁠⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! ⁠

In our last episode, Octavian had just defeated Cleopatra and Mark Antony. His sister Octavia had refused to renounce her wayward husband (Mark Antony), behaving with an intensity of loyalty that Octavian did not hesitate to use in his propaganda war against his enemy.

Meanwhile, Livia and Octavian had both divorced their spouses, shortly after children were born, to marry each other. Both were equally cutthroat--and Livia refused to ever be on the wrong side of politics again.

Now, as Octavian returns triumphant, these two women work beside him to tear Roman democracy down and start again—with themselves at the apex of power.

Sponsors and Advertising

This episode is sponsored by Taskrabbit. Get $15 off your first task at Taskrabbit.com or the Taskrabbit app using promo code FANGIRL.

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com.

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

RE-RELEASE: Fulvia: Original Gangster of Ancient Rome Jul 02, 2026

Show notes

⁠⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! ⁠

The romance between Mark Antony and Cleopatra has beguiled us for centuries. What most people don’t realize is that when Mark Antony met Cleopatra, he was already married—to someone just as epic. Her name was Fulvia.

Cleopatra had glamour and divinity and lots of money. But Fulvia had the gangs. She was a populist firebrand, military leader, and for a while, the undisputed power in Rome: both in the Senate and in the streets.

Sponsors and Advertising

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com.

This episode is sponsored by Taskrabbit. Get $15 off your first task at Taskrabbit.com or the Taskrabbit app using promo code FANGIRL.

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

The Secret Lives of Julio-Claudian Wives (Part 1) Jun 25, 2026

Show notes

⁠⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon!

The First Ladies of Rome—the women of Augustus’ family—played a role in building his empire. Octavia, Livia, Julia, Agrippina—these were the women who helped kill a democracy.

In this episode, we will explore how they were complicit in their own oppression—how they were manipulated, how they were used, and how they used their power and influence: for status, for safety, and sometimes for survival.

Sponsors and Advertising

This episode is sponsored by Taskrabbit. Get $15 off your first task at Taskrabbit.com or the Taskrabbit app using promo code FANGIRL.

This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com.

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

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected