I am a bit of a language nerd. When you fall in love with the language of a place, it is almost inevitable that you fall in love with its stories. Kind of like when you fall in love with a person, you end up with all of their history, too. So, when I learned ancient Greek, I hopped right on board with Greek mythology.
But it isn’t always easy to discover a fresh telling of ancient stories. Much of Greek mythology is similar to Roman mythology, since Rome “borrowed” all their good ideas from the Greeks. So Rome’s version is about as fresh as it gets. However, all of Rome managed to keep their livers, despite their thieving of something precious. Unlike poor Prometheus who stole fire from the gods, and was doomed to have his liver eaten every day by an eagle for the rest of his life.
The podcast Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby delivers a newfangled way of relating to old tales. Its website claims that Myths, Baby is “…a Greek and Roman mythology podcast, wherein a mythology geek tells stories of different myths in an honest, liberal, feminist, millennial kind of way.” Let me tell you, she delivers on that promise.
Liv Albert researches and hosts each myth podcast. She is blunt, on point, and funny when she discusses each story. And I don’t say that lightly. It’s easy to say something is funny, it’s another thing to literally guffaw out loud at a joke. Which I did, numerous times. She hasn’t been doing this too long, only since summer 2017, but she is killing it.
Each episode varies in length, so whether you are rushing between classes, or driving the long way home, there’s a myth for that. Which is great since all the names of individuals during this time period sound similar. Combine that fact with all of the other knowledge I’m expected to know for class, and it means I don’t have to stop halfway through one, try and pick it up later, only to be confused about which horndog god slept with whose wife. The episodes aren’t uploaded on any sort of regular basis, so be sure to check in periodically to see if a new podcast has been added to the list.
Be mindful that there is some swearing peppered throughout each episode. So if you still live at home and have conservative parents with hawk-like ears, just beware. But, really, if you are studying mythology at all, you are aware that there are more obscene occurrences in the tales that far outweigh a little bit of swearing. Seriously, how many kids does Zeus have?
Since she’s new to the podcast world, Liv’s cadence is still a little sing-songy. She sounds slightly like an actor performing lines they haven’t memorized. At times, it detracts from the authenticity and passion she has about the topic. Despite that, she delivers a fantastic narrative that never ceases to entertain.
Overall, I enjoyed Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby. Anyone who enjoys learning about mythology needs to give this girl a listen. I am thankful that Greek and Roman mythology has found a prominent and refreshing voice in Albert. She is an individual that I would happily geek out with over ouzo, discussing the intricacies of Greek myths, both its heroes and villains.
