In our Season 2 finale, we learn about Christian women from late antiquity who sought to transform their bodies inside and out: ascetics and monastics. From fasting to renouncing sexual “appetites” to special clothing—there were lots of things that marked a monk. Dr. Rebecca Krawiec explains all of this and more.

Why did women join monasteries? What do we do with those extreme stories of saints punishing their bodies? How can letters give us a more full understanding of women monastics? Who were Tappole and her sister Tsophia?

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Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley.

Music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

Sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

Can we trust Roman statues to tell us about real people? What were the differences between gods and humans in art? How much of a say did the emperor have over how Roman women dressed and lived their lives? Dr. Caroline Vout answers these questions and many more in the penultimate episode of Season 2, as we learn how the Romans put bodies on display.

Access full transcript and episode show notes

Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley.

Music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

Sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

People groups, power, hierarchy, and othering—big themes in Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad. In this episode we learn from Dr. Jackie Murray about what race was and wasn’t in Ancient Greek literature. We see how gender and class intersected with race. We’ll learn about a Greek novel The Aethiopica, what a metic was, and what this all has to do with some recent Hollywood controversies.

Transcript and episode show notes

Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley.

Music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.

Sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.

Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.