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In what may be the most unconventional coping mechanism yet, I have mentally constructed my own Mount Olympus. Do you like horoscopes? Is everyone tired of hearing you talk about how you're such a Virgo? Great news: now you can pick a Greek god to project your personality traits onto. In today's episode, we talk loneliness, building community, tell a few tall tales, and meet some new Olympians.

Your weekly coronavirus distraction is back, and more distracting than ever. You won't find a SINGLE pandemic reference here!! (Mainly because we recorded before The Great Panic.) Get lost in fantasy! Special guest Emily Rose Hart is back by popular demand to get to the bottom of her favorite myth. We talk Icarus and Daedalus, flying too close to the sun, why Aphrodite is not the lovely woman you think she is, justice for the Minotaur, a ton of beastiality, and we complain about our friends. 

A welcome respite from coronavirus scariness! Today we talk about the recent controversy re: Ty Haney, Steph Korey and Audrey Gelman, and what they have in common with Medusa. Plus, what Versace's logo has to do with Greek mythology.HUGE shout out to "mythlover1984" for leaving an AMAZING review! Thank you so much :) :) :) Links:New York Times coverage of Ty Haney here.Verge coverage of Steph Korey here.New York Times coverage of Audrey Gelman here.Centaur of Attention Social Distancing Reading List:Circe by Madeline MillerThe Song of Achilles by Madeline MillerThe Odyssey by Homer (translated by Emily Wilson)You Were Born For This (Astrology for Radical Self Acceptance) by Chani Nicholas 

Special guest Emily Rose Hart joins to discuss Medea (both the Euripides tragedy and the amazing play at BAM starring Bobby Cannavale and Rose Byrne), Jason and the Argonauts, killing your kids, why "BDE" is out (and what's in!), boys vs. men.

We discuss Netflix's hottest new show (Love is Blind, obviously) and which characters have Oedipal and Electra complexes, my cannonball into the frigid waters of the unknown, a hot take on NYC's best burger and nice looking statues.  Kiss your mom good night and have a listen.

The same night Leda is raped by swan Zeus, she lies with her husband King Tyndaraeus, and of course becomes pregnant by both men. When she gives birth, she ends up laying eggs, which is exactly how divine beastiality works. From the eggs she lays are born her children, Helen, Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux. Helen, most beautiful woman in the world, is wed to Menelaus after the Oath of Tyndaraeus, but after Aphrodite promises Prince of Troy, Paris, the most beautiful woman in the world at the Judgment of Paris, he sets sail to claim Helen for himself. The ensuing fray is the stuff of an entire epic cycle, and kicks off the long and grueling Trojan War. At the Trojan War, we meet Achilles, legendary warrior and child of Thetis and Peleus, raised by centaur Chiron on Mt Pelion.  Also, hottest man alive. Click here for important photos of Achilles. Click here for important photos of Hector. Click here to learn why we have Troy to thank for Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. 

We start with a soft foundation--  when it comes to most of the mythology we’ll explore together, we talk about the classic deities of the Greek pantheon, the twelve Olympians: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes and Hestia or Dionysus. If you’re a disciple of Roman mythology, you may know these same gods by their names as Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Ceres, Minerva, Apollo, Diana, Mars, Venus, Vulcan, Mercury, and Vesta or Bacchus. I like to stick to the Greek interpretations, so we will mostly be using Greek names here.The Olympians were the third or fourth generation of immortal beings--  before they could reign supreme, they had to defeat the Giants and the Titans, which sounds more like an epic MLB match up than historical lore, the latter of which was a ten year long war of gods lead by Zeus.  The core Olympians are siblings and the children of the Titans Cronus and Rhea (who were born of Uranus and Gaia): Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Hades and Demeter and Hestia. Then there are the principal offspring of Zeus: Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aprhodite, Hephaestus, Hermes and Dionysus. If this family tree feels incestuous and confusing, lol, just wait.We also cover Michelangelo's fresco "The Last Judgment" (he makes Charon look hot!), Persephone and Hades staying faithful against all odds, Zeus as divinely evil and perpetually horny, and how easily Hades punk'd Peirithous and Theseus into sitting down on the Chair of Forgetfulness.