Everyone has their time come sooner or later- and that time has come for Aeneas. The new king of the Latins shuffles off this mortal coil, either to die and head down to Hades, or else to transform into the god Indiges. Either way, it's time for us to leave a character we've accompanied since the Iliad behind and travel on with his descendants!

Sources for this episode:

TBA

Now that we have finished the Aeneid- and indeed the epic narratives surrounding the Trojan War- we pause the narrative for a quick intermission before we finish off Aeneas. So, join us for three more stories of Greco-Roman protagonists founding nations of their own!

Sources for this episode:

TBA

Aeneas has his final stand-off with Turnus, but that seems almost tangential in comparison to a daughter of a king called Camilla who carves a path of destruction and intimidation through the Trojan lines. As we wrap up the Aeneid and indeed the cycle of epics about the Trojan War and its aftermath, join us for vengeance for Pallas, military circle time and anti-prayers.

Sources for this episode:

TBA

Pentheus is a man with a simple feeling- he does not think this Dionysus kid is all that. He really doesn't. No, it doesn't matter that he's already caused sailors to turn into dolphins and made them hallucinate all sorts of crazy stuff. He doesn't care it will see him get torn to pieces- wait, what was that last one?

Sources for this episode:

• Ovid (1968), Metamorphoses. Translated by M. M. Innes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.

Our thanks to various Pixabay artists for the special effects.

Virgil may be slowly unravelling as Augustus forces him to write propaganda into the Aeneid, but Aeneas is charging full steam ahead into his conflict against the Rutulians. Join us for duels, ancient world macchiatos and a boat-based answering machine. Oh, and a tangent exploring who exactly these Etruscans are we will be hearing so much about.

Sources for this episode:

TBA

Now in Italy, Aeneas gets a new wife called Lavinia- and rivalry for her hand starts a war against the king of the Rutilians. Join us for more prophecies and visions of Rome than you can shake a stick at, Venus magicking shields into Aeneas' tent, and just whether Aeneas is an introvert.

Catch Tsar Power wherever you get your podcasts, and thanks to Roberto and Aurora for collaborating with us!

Sources for this episode:

• Drummond, A. 2015), Evander. Oxford Classical Dictionary (online) (Accessed 19/10/2025).
• Graves, R. (1981), Greek Myths: Illustrated Edition. London: Cassell Ltd.

• Moorton, R. (1988), The Genealogy of Latinus in Vergil's Aeneid. Transactions of the American Philological Association 118: 253-259.
• Papaioannou, S. (2003), Founder, Civilizer and Leader: Vergil's Evander and His Role in the Origins of Rome. Mnemnosyne Fourth Series 56(6): 680-702.
• Rosivach, V. J. (1980), Latinus' Genealogy and the Palace of Picus (Aeneid 7, 45-9, 170-91. The Classical Quarterly 30(1): 140-152.
• Virgil (1976), The Aeneid. Translated by W. F. J. Knight. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
• Wilkinson, P., Carroll, G., Faulkner, M., Field, J. F., Haywood, J., Kerrigan, M., Philip, N., Pumphrey, N. and Tocino-Smith, J. (2018), The Mythology Book. London: Dorling Kindersley Ltd.
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Battle of Actium (online) (Accessed 18/10/2025).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Evander of Pallantium (online) (Accessed 18/10/2025 and 19/10/2025).

• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Latinus (online) (Accessed 18/10/2025).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Janus (online) (Accessed 18/10/2025).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Shield of Aeneas (online) (Accessed 18/10/2025).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Temple of Janus (online) (Accessed 18/10/2025).

Incidentally, Aphrodite's Wikipedia informs me that the story of her cheating with Ares comes from Book VIII of the Odyssey. So, the reference for the Odyssey is:

• Homer (1983), The Odyssey. Translated by E. V. Rieu. London: Penguin Books Ltd.

Aeneas holds some surprise funeral games in honour of his father, as he unexpectedly remembers that it's been one year since his father Anchises died. Not only that, but he must also venture deep into the bowels of the underworld to go and speak to that same father- and receive a prophecy about the future of his lineage and the people he will found. But does the underworld have any snack machines?

Thanks again to Roberto from the History of Saqartvelo Georgia for collaborating with us! Check out his show wherever you get your podcasts.

Sources for this episode:

• Virgil (1976), The Aeneid. Translated by W. F. J. Knight. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
• Wilkinson, P., Carroll, G., Faulkner, M., Field, J. F., Haywood, J., Kerrigan, M., Philip, N., Pumphrey, N. and Tocino-Smith, J. (2018), The Mythology Book. London: Dorling Kindersley Ltd.
• Author unknown, University of Leeds (date unknown), Inferno, Major Themes: Virglin (online) (Accessed 14/10/2025).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Christian interpretations of Virgil's Eclogue 4 (online) (Accessed 14/10/2025).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Dante Alighieri (online) (Accessed 14/10/2025).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Inferno (Dante) (online) (Accessed 14/10/2025).

Drum sound effect: Sound Effect by Adhi Mahadi from Pixabay

Aeneas takes a break from finding Italy to find love- and then destroy it all in a life-ending tragedy that will set up the Punic Wars. Join us for recollections of the cyclopes Odysseus fought, Virgil standing up for family values and just quite how romantic spelunking was in the ancient world.

NOTE: We mention the mythical founding of Carthage being centuries apart from the supposed date of the fall of Troy in the episode. Ancient authors do not really agree with each other about the date, so we get anywhere from 50 years after Troy falls to 65 years before Rome is founded as the date.

Sources for this episode:

• Odgers, M. M. (1925), Some Appearances of the Dido Story. The Classical Weekly 18(19): 145-148.
• Virgil (1976), The Aeneid. Translated by W. F. J. Knight. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
• Wilkinson, P., Carroll, G., Faulkner, M., Field, J. F., Haywood, J., Kerrigan, M., Philip, N., Pumphrey, N. and Tocino-Smith, J. (2018), The Mythology Book. London: Dorling Kindersley Ltd.
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Mount Etna (online) (Accessed 05/10/2025).