Odysseus. The man we accused of being a failure all throughout the Iliad and the Posthomerica. But will we like him any better during his own spin-off show? Join us for an extra long episode hosted by Vince's sister the Jingle-Jangler- who has studied the Odyssey and can help us condense it. Will Vince get increasingly frustrated at the inconsistency of Greek omens? Will Cassie have to employ increasing levels of sarcasm against Odysseus' flaws? Will the hosts become enraged at Odysseus, misogyny in the Greek world and Greek mythology in general? Find out with us!

NOTE: This episode is a bit of a longer one, so it has been split into three sections with musical interludes at 35:39 and 01:13:50 for those who need a break.

Sources for this episode:

TBA

This weekend was meant to be the release date for episode 80 on the Odyssey, but that has had to be pushed back because one of the hosts currently isn't in the country! The perils of international travel and its unexpected delays... In the meantime, this is a bit of a refresher on what our schedule is going to look like (as it's changed a fair bit over the last few months) and when you can expect episode 80 to air.

Agamemnon comes home to find consequences waiting for him in Argos. This sets off a chain reaction resulting in a cycle of violence swirling around Orestes, son of Agamemnon. We get scenes of Furies chasing him from Argos to Athens where his fate will get decided by a trial- with Apollo's only contribution being an attack on all women...

Sources for this episode:

TBA

Now that the Iliad and the Posthomerica are both behind us, it is time for a recap of the craziness that has been the Trojan War! Join us for two mini quizzes, another opportunity to dunk on Achilles and a reminder that all that terrible nonsense the House of Tantalus got up to existed.

Autocrat sat down with Dean Kinzer, the President of Kinzer Coins, to discuss what coins from the Roman and ancient worlds can tell us about what it was like to live in those worlds. Join us for tales of devaluation in the third century, the lack of silver mines in the Byzantine period, and just whether Antoninus Pius was into bobbleheads.

Dominic Perry from the History of Egypt podcast joins us on the show to discuss the mythology of Egypt, its early history, and the state of Egyptian history at around about the time the fall of Troy is set in the 1180s BCE. Expect tales of conspiracies against Ramesses III, Sea Peoples, strife, and a look ahead at later Egyptian history and the last hieroglyphic inscriptions...

Thanks so much to Dominic for appearing on the show! Find his podcast here:

• YouTube: @AncientEgyptHist
• Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com
• Instagram: @egyptpodcast
• TikTok: @ancientegypthis

Sources and further reading for this episode:

• Blakemore, E., National Geographic (2024), Who killed Ramesses III? How science solved an Ancient Egyptian murder mystery (online) (Accessed 13/07/2025).
• Hawass, Z., Gad, Y. Z., Ismail, S., Khairat, R., Fathalla, D., Hasan, N., Ahmed, A., Elleithy, H., Ball, M., Gaballah, F., Wasef, S., Fateen, M., Amer, H., Gostner, P., Selim, A., Zink, A. and Pusch, C. M. (2010), Ancestry and Pathology in King Tutankhamun's Family. JAMA 303(7): 638-647.
• Hawass, Z., Ismail, S., Selim, A., Saleem, S. N., Fathalla, D., Wasef, S., Gad, A. Z., Saad, R., Fares, S., Amer, H., Gostner, P., Gad, Y. Z., Pusch, C. M. and Zink, A. R. (2012), Revisiting the harem conspiracy and death of Ramesses III: anthropological, forensic, radiological, and genetic study. BMJ 345: e8268.
• Salah El Dien, M. M., Assem, R. and Joseph, A. (2023), The Harem Conspiracies of Ancient Egypt.
• Wong, J. Y. (2025), The afterlife of Hatshepsut’s statuary. Antiquity 99(405), 746-761.

It's all a done deal once that horse gets through the gates. Let's watch Troy crumble- and a heinous crime get committed which ultimately sees the Greek fleet scattered and broken as they set off for home. Oh, and some minor Trojan prince gets away from the burning city, but I'm sure that won't be relevant.

Sources for this episode:

• Dionysus of Halicarnassus (1960), The Roman Antiquities (Vol. I). Translated by E. Cary. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.
• Fitton, L. and Villing, A., The British Museum (2019), The search for the lost city of Troy (online) (Accessed c.24/06/2025).
• Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume II). London: William Heinemann.
• Homer’s Odyssey
• Maher, M. (2011), Fall of Troy VII: New Archaeological Interpretations and Considerations. Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology 11(1): 8.
• Robertson, J. (1788), The Parian Chronicle, or the Chronicle of the Arundelian Marbles; with a Dissertation Concerning its Authenticity. London: J. Walter, Charing Cross.
• Quintus Smyrnaeus (1934), The Fall of Troy. Translated by A. S. Way. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.
• Ussher, J. (1658), The Annals of the World. Printed by E. Tyler in Fleet Street.
• Author unknown (date unknown), Nuremberg Chronicle: being the Liber Chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann translated in English. Morse Library, Beloit College.
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Eratosthenes (Accessed 24/06/2025).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Hermione (mythology) (Accessed 30/05/2025).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Molossians (Accessed 30/05/2025).

Sound effects sampled and used under Pixabay licence:

• https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/fire-sound-334130/
• https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/crowdpanic-6442/
• https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/sword-against-sword-6341/

It's finally time! As the Trojans are chased into the city, some bright spark (obviously it's Odysseus) suggests that we build a farmyard animal out of wood and push it in front of the Trojan gates! Let's shove some warriors in it and pretend to leave, then the Trojans will surely drag it into the city. But don't worry, there's no way they're foolish enough to actually go for it... Surely?

Sources for this episode:

• Brown, S. P., West, S. A., Diggle, S. P. and Griffin, A. S. (2009), Social evolution in micro-organisms and a Trojan horse approach to medical intervention strategies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 364: 3157-3168.
• Desmedt, Y. (2025), Trojan Horses, Computer Viruses, and Worms. Chapter in: Encyclopedia of Cryptography, Security and Privacy (p. 2649-2651).
• Quintus Smyrnaeus (1934), The Fall of Troy. Translated by A. S. Way. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.

• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Testudo formation (online) (Accessed 24/06/2025).

Credit for the lightning noise: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/heavy-thunder-sound-effect-no-copyright-338980/ (free for use under the Pixabay Content Licence, https://pixabay.com/service/license-summary/).