RE-AIR: Blood-soaked Trees, Erysichthon Eats Himself & Bonus Boogeywomen of Ancient Greece

This episode originally aired in October 2020... It might be old, but the story feels right on point in 2025. We travel to Thessaly where their king, Erysichthon gets a horrifying punishment for his crimes against Demeter. Plus, Lamia and Empusa... monstrous and vampiric women of mythology. Submit your question for the next Q&A via email http://mythsbaby.com/questions or a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/LTAMB. Get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby http://patreon.com/mythsbaby CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. I try to provide direct warnings when there is reference to anything with overtly traumatic themes but be aware that Greek mythology regularly features assault, death, and many other potentially triggering events. Sources: Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds (A Sourcebook) by Daniel Ogden, Theoi.com, Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Allen Mandelbaum, and Apuleius's The Golden Ass, translated by Sarah Ruden. Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here:mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions http://mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions. Learn more about Liv's next group trips https://travelbugxlivalbert.my.canva.site/ to GREECE! Application deadline is November 30 (Subject to change due to demand). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Liv Albert?

  Hey nerds, really quick note from me. I want to tell you that we now have the applications open for the next set of listener group trips. This is us going back to the original, the trips that we have held in the past that have been so much fun, so successful, and pretty affordable in terms of wandering around Greece with a bunch of nerds. So check out the details and get your applications in at mythsbaby.com/grouptrip.

• 0:40Speaker 01

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work.

• 0:59Speaker 02

  That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about.

• 1:04Speaker 01

  Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at go.o.gle/workspacewithgemini.

• 1:10Speaker 02

  That's go.o.gle/workspacewithgemini.

• 1:13Speaker 03

  At Humana, our Medicare Advantage plans are easy to understand and easy on your wallet, like offering more benefits than you'd get from original Medicare alone, and including dental, vision, and hearing coverage in every plan. And the best part is, every plan has a $0 or low monthly plan premium, which makes it easier to save, too. So this Medicare planning season, plan well with Humana. Learn more at gethumana.com. Humana is a Medicare Advantage, HMO, and PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal.

• 1:51Liv Albert?

  Oh, hi, hello. This is Let's Talk About Myths, baby. And I'm Liv, here with another spooky episode for this spookiest month. But first, I'm so excited to tell you that by the time this comes out, I will have just recorded an episode with the incredible and brilliant Bethany Hughes, author of Helen of Troy and Venus and Aphrodite, amongst others. Venus and Aphrodite has just been released in North America and I mean like I said, by the time this comes out, I will have recorded it. When I'm recording it now, I haven't yet, but I'm sure we talked all about my favorite goddess and that it was incredible and I learned

• 2:33Liv Albert?

  so much. I am so looking forward to it. So stay tuned because that episode will be coming out very soon. And speaking of books, here's your periodic reminder that I have a book of mythology coming out. If you haven't done so already, please preorder my book, Greek Mythology, The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook is coming out in March and it's a fun, beautifully illustrated, casual look at the gods, goddesses, and everyone else of Greek mythology. It's for people who are new to the genre or well seasoned lovers of it like you all. Plus, it's a mythology book that calls it like it is. I use the word assault when it comes to the gods, something

• 3:14Liv Albert?

  I've personally never found in a mainstream book of just Greek mythology, and I am so pumped that I got to be that honest in this book. So head to mythsbaby.com/book for places to preorder, or just go to the website of your favorite independent bookstore and search for it. You should be able to find it wherever you get your books, anywhere in the world as far as I know. You just have to look a little harder. Also reminder, there's some pretty fun Patreon happenings over there in case you've been looking for a reason to become a patron. There's lots of bonus content to be added this month and going forward, but especially this spookiest of months. Seriously, am I getting it across how much I love October and spooky season in

• 3:54Liv Albert?

  general? And that's why I'm here with yet another murderous, monster-filled episode for you all. Today's episode is inspired by a couple of particular people on Twitter who answered my call for suggestions. First, Amy Marou, I'm hoping I'm pronouncing that name right, I'm not very good at French, of the Erotic Mythology Twitter account, thank you. And the bonus monster content for today comes by recommendation of Chrissy, whose handle is @mamabunny3, so thank you. And without any further ramblings on my part, let's get to those murderous, monstrous characters.

• 4:35Liv Albert?

  This is episode 95. Blood-soaked trees, Erysichthon eats himself, and bonus boogie women of ancient Greece. Today's spooky and gory-as-hell story comes from the region of Thessaly. This was, and is, an area northern Greece-ish. It's where Mount Olympus is, but don't let yourself think that makes people closer to the gods there. Certainly it doesn't in today's story. The story has its origins in Greek mythology. The poet Kalamakis tells it in one of his hymns, but it's also told by my beloved poet, Ovid.

• 5:16Liv Albert?

  And Ovid's version is, as is so often the way with him, far more violent and gory and well spooky. So, aside from a few bits and pieces, today's story comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses.

• 5:31Liv Albert?

  In Thessaly, there is a king named Erysichthon. Erysichthon was not a pious man. In fact, he was quite the opposite. He had a habit of avoiding the necessary sacrifices and offerings to the gods. He didn't care for it and didn't see why he should. He was, after all, a king, and who were they but some concepts up in the sky? No. Erysichthon didn't bother with the gods, didn't give them anything at all. Not only did he avoid the necessary worship, though, there was also a time when Erysichthon outwardly scorned the gods, when he did all in his power to damage the goddess Demeter.

• 6:13Liv Albert?

  Demeter had a sacred grove of trees within a forest in the region of Thessaly, one of her most beloved spots in all of Greece. There, among the many important sacred trees that the goddess was devoted to, was a particular tree, an oak in Ovid, a poplar in Kalamakis. Either way, it was old, very old, and so it was very big and very impressive. I don't know about you guys, but I come from a place where very big and very old trees are just about as sacred as they would have been to an ancient goddess like Demeter. Seriously, my island is full of old-growth rainforests where, you know, the trees have seen some things.

• 6:56Liv Albert?

  So that's all I can imagine when I think about this very old and very big oak tree that was so beloved by Demeter, so sacred to her. It had seen some things. This was a very important tree.

• 7:10Liv Albert?

  And so, when Erysichthon set out to cut down all the trees in Demeter's sacred grove, he wasn't just cutting down any old trees, and he wasn't just scorning the goddess by simply not sacrificing to her and not worshiping her. He was actively harming her, actively destroying something she loved. The oak tree most beloved by Demeter was surrounded even by offerings. The tree was decorated with garlands and votive offerings, all for the goddess of the harvest, Demeter. Beneath the tree, driaids, nymphs, would dance around, holding hands. The tree was so big

• 7:50Liv Albert?

  that it took fifteen driaids holding hands to wrap their way around it. It was a very special tree.

• 7:59Liv Albert?

  See, there were many people aside from the goddess who found this tree to be sacred and special, but Erysichthon didn't give a fuck. He wanted to cut it down. And why? We don't really have a why. For the sake of it? Because he needed some wood? When you have an ancient, sacred forest, a need for lumber is never an excuse. There are lots of other trees that are not quite so ancient, not quite so sacred. And now I'm talking a bit more to my provincial government than I am to Erysichthon. Go ahead and sign some petitions to stop logging in Vancouver Island's old growth rainforest, would you?

• 8:33Liv Albert?

  So, Erysichthon set out to cut down Demeter's sacred grove, and particularly, her deeply sacred oak tree. He wasn't about to do the work himself, either. He was that kind of king. He handed axes to his men and told them to get to work. Get rid of this incredible, beautiful, enormous, sacred old tree, would you?

• 8:54Liv Albert?

  The men, though, knew that what they were being told to do wasn't right. They shrunk back at Erysichthon's orders, none of them willing to get even close to the sacred tree with an axe. "Fine," Erysichthon yelled, seeing their refusal. He snatched one of the axes back from his men and went to the tree himself. Snarling, he announced that he would bring down this tree even if it were Demeter herself. And with that, Erysichthon swung the axe at the ancient tree, and it hit with a thud, ripping into the bark and taking a chunk out of the beautiful tree.

• 9:34Liv Albert?

  Just before the axe hit, though, the tree groaned and grumbled, the leaves shook above loudly. Erysichthon pulled the axe from the tree, thinking nothing of the noises it had made. But when the axe was removed from the tree's bark, thick, dark blood gushed from the wound as though it were spurting from a body's main artery. Blood splattered out from the tree and across the face of Erysichthon, who stood, axe in hand, looking at the tree. Absolutely horrified, petrified, terror-stricken, the men around Erysichthon looked upon the tree as the blood poured from its wounded bark.

• 10:17Liv Albert?

  One of the men, bravest of them, moved to stop Erysichthon from wounding the tree further, from further sacrilege against the goddess. He makes to grab the axe from Erysichthon's hand, but the king is quicker than this man, and before the man can grab the axe, he swings it around, away from the tree and at the man's own neck, severing his head in one swift blow. Blood spurts from the man's neck as he crumbles to the ground with another thud, the head rolling off in another direction. Blood is covering the forest floor now, blood of a tree and of the man who tried to stop the monstrous Erysichthon.

• 10:58Liv Albert?

  With another snarl, Erysichthon turned from the man he's just ruthlessly, mercilessly killed, and returns to the tree, hacking at it once more with his axe.

• 11:11Liv Albert?

  Erysichthon continues to hack at the tree's trunk. Blood continues to flow, to spurt, to spray, across Erysichthon, but he doesn't relent. He's in it now, caught in his own horrific sacrilege against the goddess. He can't stop now, can't take it back and doesn't want to. He hacks and hacks and blood oozes endlessly across the forest floor as the remaining men continue to look on in abject horror. Finally, as Erysichthon gets deep enough into the tree, a voice echoes from within it.

• 11:47Liv Albert?

  A strong, loud voice calls from within. "I am the nymph that lives within this tree, the nymph most sacred to the goddess Demeter," she calls from inside the dying tree. "I prophesy, as I die within this tree, that your punishment, Erysichthon, is at hand. That much, she says, keeps me content in my death."

• 12:14Liv Albert?

  Even this doesn't stop Erysichthon, or even cause him to pause in his hacking away at this sacred and enormous tree. Finally, he's done enough damage. Ropes pull at the tree and with a loud crack, it comes down in a rush of air and leaves. There's a loud and final thud as the beautiful tree hits the earth, crushing so many other trees in its wake.

• 13:02Liv Albert?

  This description of the downed oak tree, the blood gushing from its wounds, the horror of Erysichthon's men and his murder of them too, comes from Ovid. I've chosen it because, well, there's a lot more blood in Ovid's, much more visceral, horrifying, entertaining. The story also comes, as I mentioned, from the Greek poet Calamachus. His version is lacking in blood and gore, but it makes up for it in enormous incarnations of the goddess herself. Before the tree falls, which as I mentioned was a poplar according to Calamachus, the goddess herself visits Erysichthon in her anger. She appears before the king and his men, tall as Mount Olympus, and speaks to him,

• 13:44Liv Albert?

  telling him angrily, "Fine, let him cut down her sacred tree, let him build his palace with its wood, let him host banquet after banquet in that palace, built with her tree's death." She promises him punishment, punishment that lines up if less intricately with Ovid's version. As usual, I do prefer Ovid's, but also wanted to tell you about the mountain-sized Demeter of Calamachus's. Back to Ovid now. "The downing of the sacred oak tree and the trees it crushed, when it finally fell, destroys the grove of the Dryads, those nymphs of the goddess Demeter. There is nothing left to their sacred grove. Dressed all in black, the nymphs go to the goddess Demeter with all that has happened to their forest,

• 14:29Liv Albert?

  telling her all that Erysichthon has done and insisting on his immediate punishment." Demeter, of course, agrees, how could she not? Certainly all that Erysichthon has done and the manner in which he did it requires the most severe of punishments. Downing a sacred tree is one thing, but the horror Erysichthon brought upon that whole forest, the man he murdered who'd tried to stop the king, the trees destroyed by the falling oak, all adds up to one of the most grievous of sins against the gods. Demeter begins his punishment by sending a blight upon the fields of Erysichthon. Those that were already ripe for the harvest are ruined, destroyed. But that isn't enough.

• 15:14Liv Albert?

  Demeter plans to have Erysichthon, quote, "devoured by famine."

• 15:20Liv Albert?

  In the mythology, of course, famine is a character, a personification, a demon, the likes of cold, pallor, and terror. Demeter, though, isn't permitted to meet with famine, not as the goddess of the harvest of agriculture, so she sends a nymph, an orion, to the depths of Skivia, where the demons reside, where no food grows, and requests the nymph ask famine to travel to Erysichthon to hide herself within the man's stomach. That if she does this, and does it right, no matter how much Erysichthon eats, he will still find himself more hungry than anyone can bear. Demeter goes on, explaining that if famine holds out, preventing any of Demeter's own harvests to reach his stomach, he will truly be punished.

• 16:07Liv Albert?

  Demeter's use of famine as punishment here is one of the most dramatic things she could do to Erisichthon. Demeter is the goddess of the harvest of agriculture. Essentially, this makes her the goddess of a full stomach, a good meal. The Greeks understood how important Demeter was to their survival. She brought them food, kept them alive. Her choosing, then, to go to her opposite, the personification of hunger and famine, is a drastic and severe decision.

• 16:40Liv Albert?

  This episode is brought to you by Quince. You know the drill. Quince makes elevated, everyday essentials using premium materials like Mongolian cashmere, organic cotton, and premium stretch denim. I have been speaking into a microphone about Quince for a while now, and I have no complaints. I have a bunch of their stuff. I've got a couple cute sweaters that, I mean, it's nearing sweater season, so those will be back in the rotation anytime now. And I have this leather bag that I absolutely love. It's like this braided leather, and I use it, like, basically every day. Because that's the thing, they have really great basics.

• 17:24Liv Albert?

  Like, they have really great things that you can wear with so many other things. Just the options are endless. And as the weather gets colder, like all the sweaters in my closet, Quince has everything you need to round out your wardrobe, from warm, responsibly sourced down jackets and cozy cashmere scarves and gloves, to beautiful 14 karat gold jewelry that adds the perfect finishing touch. And of course, everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen. So you're paying for quality, not brand markup. And if we haven't learned anything in the last 10 years, isn't it just getting rid of the middlemen? You know, making things more affordable.

• 18:07Liv Albert?

  So find the fall pieces you'll reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was me. Let's talk about myths, baby. It's the best way to support the show.

• 18:32Speaker 02

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer.

• 18:40Speaker 01

  With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work.

• 18:51Speaker 02

  That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about.

• 18:56Speaker 01

  Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at go.o.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 19:02Speaker 02

  That's go.o.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 19:05Speaker 03

  Network freedom and flexibility. That's what you want in a healthcare plan. With a Humana Medicare Advantage PPO plan, you can see any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare, including specialists. No referrals, no kidding. Learn more at gethumana.com. See any doctor who accepts Medicare and is willing to build Humana. Humana PPOs may not be available in all areas. Benefits and costs share may vary. Humana is a Medicare Advantage PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal.

• 19:45Liv Albert?

  On Demeter's order, the nymph travels to the Caucasus Mountains in search of famine. There, she finds the woman, this personification of it, who looks, well, exactly as one might expect. She looks hungry, so, so hungry, skin and bones really, fragile.

• 20:05Liv Albert?

  From afar, afraid to get too close to famine, the nymph passes on Demeter's request of the demon. Quickly, the nymph starts to feel the effects of being just nearby this personification. She feels the pangs of hunger in herself, from the vicinity alone. So she passes along the message quickly, before leaving and returning to Thessaly. Famine agrees to Demeter's request, flying herself to Thessaly and into Erysichthon's palace, into his bedroom where he slept. There, she breathes herself into him, filling him with all her essence, before heading back to her cave in the Caucasus Mountains.

• 20:47Liv Albert?

  Famine takes hold of Erysichthon in that instant, just as intended, though he doesn't wake from it. But even in his dreams, he's taken over by his hunger. He dreams of feasting, of gorging himself on food. When he wakes, his desire to eat is overwhelming. Erysichthon wakes with one thought: He must fill himself with food immediately. He's starving, absolutely famished. He calls for all the food in his palace to be brought before him. His table is heaped with it, everything imaginable. From the land, from the sea, all the food at his disposal is placed before him. And he eats. He gorges, eating and eating all that he can.

• 21:31Liv Albert?

  But nothing seems to fulfill his desires. Nothing fills his belly, though he's eaten more than anyone naturally should in one sitting. It's not enough. As Ovid describes it, quote, Amid the feast, he seeks still other feasts. What could have satisfied entire cities leaves him still famished.

• 21:54Liv Albert?

  He can't stop, he must continue eating. Ovid likens it to the way the sea can perpetually receive the rivers and streams that flow into it without overflowing. How a fire can never have enough fuel. You can throw log after log onto the fire and it just continues to eat. This is how Erysichthon ate. How he continued to eat and eat and never feel as though he were full enough, never feel satiated. He still felt famished, as though he simply must have more. Erysichthon ate himself out of all the money he had, but even that didn't fill his stomach. Still, he couldn't stop.

• 22:38Liv Albert?

  Finally, all he was left with in the world was his daughter. A daughter who, according to Ovid, quote, "merited a better father."

• 22:50Liv Albert?

  And in case you were beginning to feel anything for Erysichthon in Demeter's Punishment, once he'd eaten himself out of all his riches and was left completely destitute with only his daughter to comfort him, he decided what he had to do next. Erysichthon sold his daughter for money to eat more food.

• 23:12Liv Albert?

  He sold his daughter off into enslavement. She was sold off to a horrible slaveholder and was, quite rightly, horrified by her new situation brought on by her father and the patriarchal bullshit that left women as the property of men. She wouldn't accept her fate, though, and one day she snuck away from her new life as a slave and found her way down to the beaches where she prayed to Poseidon. She prayed to Poseidon because, it seems, he'd once raped her. Yeah, so you know, they had a rapport. Greek mythology is so fucked up. Anyway, she prayed to Poseidon because of their cringe relationship, but thankfully it worked.

• 23:54Liv Albert?

  Poseidon listened to her prayers and he transformed her into a man, a fisherman, just in time. Her master had just arrived there on the beach, looking for her. He'd followed her footsteps and instead found this man fishing there. So he asked after her. "I haven't seen any girl," the fisherman replied. "I've been here all day, just fishing, looking out at the sea." The slaveholder was convinced. He believed this man because, well, he was a man. So he left the beach without his slave. And fortunately, the girl was able to transform back into her true self. But as much as this should have helped her situation, it didn't, because Erysichthon and all his hunger were still her father.

• 24:37Liv Albert?

  Now, he saw that he had a daughter who was able to transform herself. This was even more exciting. She would be worth so much more money now, he thought, because he's a fucked up asshole. So yes, he sold the poor daughter again, and again she transformed and got herself out of that one, and again, and again. She became a deer, a bird, a mare, all that she needed in order to escape the situations her father put her in, or at times, simply to help him get what he needed to feed his insatiable, unending hunger. Finally, though, even his loyal daughter couldn't save him from himself, or from Demeter's punishment.

• 25:21Liv Albert?

  Eventually, there was nothing more that Erysichthon could eat. He was out of options, save for one. Erysichthon, in his obsessive, horrifying hunger, finally, in the end, began to eat his own flesh from off his limbs. He started with his arms, gnawing at the skin and threw it into the flesh itself. He continued, "Any piece of his own body he could reach." Eventually, he'd cut off the pieces he couldn't reach. Imagine the bloody, horrifying mess as he kept going. In the end, Erysichthon ate himself to death.

• 26:07Liv Albert?

  Quite literally. He ate his own flesh to feed his hunger. Ate his own self until he couldn't eat anymore.

• 26:20Liv Albert?

  Until he'd eaten himself to death.

• 26:43Liv Albert?

  Oh, Erysichthon. But he's not the end of our spooky episode for today. I wanted to end this episode with a less self-cannibalistic bang. Erysichthon's story is so horrific for his poor daughter, who, you guessed it, isn't given a name. So let's finish today's episode with a look at some of the spookier women of mythology. I know I've mentioned some of these characters before, oh, so, so briefly in the very early days of this podcast, but they deserve a revisit.

• 27:17Liv Albert?

  Lamia was the daughter of Poseidon, and whether she was always a sea monster or was transformed into one is up for debate. In the story of her transformation, we must once again face the idea that Hera, goddess of women, punished yet another woman for the transgressions of her husband. Frankly, I'm getting tired of that version, though. It's simply not realistic. I know, Zeus was all-powerful, and so could she really have punished him? Regardless, these stories just reek of the patriarchy of the men telling the stories and writing them down. They're tainted. But still, they're what we have in the mythology. So, according to that horrible tale, Lamia was with Zeus and bore him children.

• 27:59Liv Albert?

  Hera found out and kidnapped the children, driving Lamia to madness, the poor woman. It was believed then that she took out her anger at Hera on other children, snatching them from their beds. A boogeyman character. But again, it seems a stretch, a very patriarchal stretch.

• 28:19Liv Albert?

  There are two versions of Lamia. There's that one, how she became a child-snatching boogeyman. And there's a version where she was always a sea monster, a great and horrible sea monster. In that, she eventually became the mother of one of the early Pythias of the oracle, and one of the possible origins of the monster Skilla, that famous sea monster of the Odyssey fame, and the beautiful novel Circe. Lamia's name translates, according to the beloved website Theoi, to "large shark," which, let me tell you, makes me love her so much more. I fucking love sharks. And that there's a woman attributed to being a "large shark," one of the most famous of Greek sea monsters?

• 29:04Liv Albert?

  Yes, please. Some even conflate her with the famous sea monster Kido, the mother of Medusa, the sea monster who Andromeda was saved from. The concept of Lamia, though, is tricky to pin down. Was she a shark, a child-snatching boogeyman? Both? Later, her name was also pluralized Lamiai, beautiful, ghostly women who lured men away to feast on their young flesh and blood. They were vampires. And speaking of, there's also the Empusa. Sometimes in those later myths, Lamiai are considered a type of Empusa. Empusa are mysterious. They are monsters, that's for sure, and as far as I can understand them, they're women, too. But what they appear as can vary.

• 29:48Liv Albert?

  There are the Lamiai in the later myths, those women who were the most vampiric of ancient monsters. Other Empusa could take on different forms, transforming from women into monsters, or things with lots of legs. Many of these forms, though, would quite simply gorge on the flesh of men. The queen witch herself, Hecate, may have even employed the Empusa to do her bidding at times, sending them out to frighten travelers. Hecate really enjoyed fucking with people. We may not have many stories about her, but those that we have include a lot of intentionally being scary or murderous, and I kind of love it. I know you all love Hecate, so if you're needing more about her, go back to the episode from last year.

• 30:28Liv Albert?

  It's called Spooky Halloween Special: Magic and Mayhem: The Origin of Medea and Witches of Ancient Greece.

• 30:36Liv Albert?

  But back to Hecate's loyal ladies, the ampusa. They're sometimes described as having one bronze leg and one donkey leg? Or more legs? The leg situation is up for debate. Frankly, it doesn't sound too scary, so I like to imagine them a bit more mysteriously. Just women in the darkness, there to scare the living shit out of you, maybe feast on a bit of your flesh in the process. It's said that the ampusa, along with another class of somewhat generically ghostly women monsters, the mormo, were often used by parents as threats. As in, "You better be good, or the ampusa or the mormo will visit you tonight." This type of quality parenting has been around for so long.

• 31:17Liv Albert?

  The fact that these types of monsters of Greek mythology, the ones people feared on a day-to-day basis, who they thought possible to run into on the streets in the darkness of the forests at night, were almost always women, absolutely says something about the culture, the patriarchy of ancient Greece. But frankly, I also kind of love it. So many boogie women of ancient Greece.

• 32:11Liv Albert?

  Oh, nerds, thank you all for listening to yet another spooky season episode. Ugh, they're so fun. Like I mentioned at the top, I do have this very exciting episode coming out soon where I will have sat down with the brilliant Bethany Hughes to talk all things Aphrodite. What a fucking thrill, truly. And I hope you're all as excited as I am. But of course, there are still a couple episodes left in spooky season October, so stay tuned for whatever scary episodes I can find for those. The episode with Bethany Hughes will come out in the first week of November. Thank you all so much for listening.

• 32:56Liv Albert?

  As usual, I would deeply appreciate a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. They thrill me to no end, and I read every single one of them thanks to obsessive daily emails, I get with new reviews. You're all magnificent. If you're not already, I suggest following me on Twitter and Instagram. It's @mithsbaby in both places. And now that I'm doing this for a job, I'm going to be much more active and holding some fun Instagram Lives and video series and the like. You won't want to miss it. Thank you. Best listeners ever. I am Liv, and I love this shit.

• 33:43Speaker 01

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet.

• 33:45Speaker 02

  Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer.

• 33:51Speaker 01

  With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work.

• 34:02Speaker 02

  That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about.

• 34:06Speaker 01

  Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at go.o.gle/workspacewithgemini.

• 34:13Speaker 02

  That's go.o.gle/workspacewithgemini.

• 34:16Speaker 03

  Network freedom and flexibility. That's what you want in a healthcare plan. With a Humana Medicare Advantage PPO plan, you can see any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare, including specialists. No referrals, no kidding. Learn more at gethumana.com. See any doctor who accepts Medicare and is willing to bill Humana. Humana PPOs may not be available in all areas. Benefits and costs share may vary. Humana is a Medicare Advantage PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal.

• 34:48Speaker 04

  Enemy of My Dreams by Jenny Williamson is a historical romance novel set in the time of the late Roman Empire, where Alaric, a brutal Gothic warlord, and Julia, a Roman princess, with a love of good wine, team up to take down Rome.

• 35:05Speaker 05

  The much awaited sequel, Game of Thieves, comes out December 8. In this sequel, Julia and Alaric must overcome centuries of conflict to work together, or the turbulent riptides of rebellion and the demons of their past will tear them apart.

• 35:19Speaker 04

  And now, for a limited time, when you preorder Game of Thieves through Burning Pages Bookstore, you'll get a signed book plate and a free art print of one of Jenny's favorite spicy scenes from across the series.

• 35:33Speaker 05

  Get this amazing artwork only from Burning Pages at burningpagesnc.com/game-of-thieves. Don't wait. Order your copy from Burning Pages today at burningpagesnc.com/game-of-thieves.