Aphrodite, Hera and Athena. These are the three goddesses now fighting over an apple. And, strange as it sounds, it's this dispute that will lead to three naked goddesses standing in front of an unsuspecting mortal called Paris...

Sources for this episode:

• Brooks, F. (1896), Greek Lyric Poets. London: David Nutt.
• Euripides (1967), The Bacchae and Other Plays. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
• Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume II). London: William Heinemann.
• Hyginus (1872), Fabulae. Edited by M. Schmidt. Jenae: Hermann Dufft.
• Koniaris, G. L. (1967), On Sappho, Fr. 16 (L. P.) Hermes 95(3): 257-268.
• Raynor, D. J. and Lardinois, A. (2014), Sappho: A New Translation of the Complete Works. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Smith; W. (ed.) (1867), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. In Three Volumes (Vol. 1-3.). Boston: Little, Brown, And Company.

Content warning: Peleus is a terrible person, so expect a mild reference to some implied nastiness.

Peleus is one of those people who gets things he doesn't deserve. Despite all that terrible behaviour we outlined in episode 55, he gets to marry a goddess! However, it's at the wedding that the seeds of something dreadful will be sown...

Sources for this episode:

• Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume II). London: William Heinemann.
• Hyginus (1872), Fabulae. Edited by M. Schmidt. Jenae: Hermann Dufft.
• Ovid (1955), Metamorphoses. Translated by M. M. Innes. London: Penguin Books.
• Smith; W. (ed.) (1867), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. In Three Volumes (Vol. 1-3.). Boston: Little, Brown, And Company.
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Judgement of Paris (online) (Accessed 01/12/2024).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Thetis (online) (Accessed 01/12/2024).

In the quiet before the storm of the Trojan War and its immediate causes, we introduce two major characters today. The first is Odysseus, great-grandson of Hermes and creator of oaths that blow up in his face. The second is Achilles- descendant of Zeus and an ancient Greek example of play dress-up to run away from your problems.

Sources for this episode:

• Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume II). London: William Heinemann.
• Hyginus (1872), Fabulae. Edited by M. Schmidt. Jenae: Hermann Dufft.
• Statius (1928), Statius. Volume II: Thebiad V- XII and Achilleid. London and New York: William Heinemann, Ltd. and G. P. Putnam's Sons.

Content warning: the title should tell you everything you need to know here. The descendants of Tantalus are violent, and they don't mess about.

Tantalus is usually known for being the originator of the word tantalising. But how bad can his story really be? In this episode, Vince tells a progressively more horrified Cassie about the messed-up lives of his descendants- including Agamemnon and Menelaus...

Sources for this episode:

• Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume II). London: William Heinemann.
• Oldfather, C. H. (1993), Diodorus of Sicily: the Library of History. In Twelve Volumes. Volume III: Books IV.59- VIII. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
• Ovid (1955), Metamorphoses. Translated by M. M. Innes. London: Penguin Books.
• Smith; W. (ed.) (1867), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. In Three Volumes (Vol. 1-3.). Boston: Little, Brown, And Company.
• Tzetzes, J. (last edited 2018), Chiliades or Book of Histories. Translated by A. Untila, G. Berkowitz, K. Ramiotis and V. Dogani.
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Tantalus (son of Thyestes) (online) (Accessed 19/11/2024).

Meet the most beautiful woman in the world- who may have hatched from an egg. She's got suitors lining up to marry her which poses a problem for her stepfather Tyndareus. Maybe Odysseus will have a short term solution that will only cause problems later?

Sources for this episode:

• Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume II). London: William Heinemann.
• Graves, R. (1981), Greek Myths: Illustrated Edition. London: Cassell Ltd.
• Pausanias (1886), Pausanias Description of Greece. In Six Volumes. Volume II: Books VII to X. Translated by A. R. Shilleto. London: George Bell and Sons.
• Plutarch (1938), Plutarch's Lives. Dryden's Edition, Revised, with an Introduction, by Arthur Hugh Clough. In Three Volumes (Volume I). Everyman's Library 407. London and New York: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. and E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc.
• Procopius (2016), The Secret History. Translated by G. A. Williamson. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Leda and the Swan (online) (Accessed 17/11/2024).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Penelope (online) (Accessed 17/11/2024).

Prince Aeneas of Troy has a bit of an unusual parentage- he's the son of minor prince Anchises by Human Woman. Who is definitely human. And not Aphrodite.

Sources for this episode:

• Evelyn-White, H. G. (1943), Hesiod: The Homeric Hymns and Homerica. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
• Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume II). London: William Heinemann.
• Graves, R. (1981), Greek Myths: Illustrated Edition. London: Cassell Ltd.
• Guerber, H. A. (1929), The Myths of Greece & Rome: Their Stories Signification and Origin. London: George G. Harrap & Company Ltd.
• Ovid (1955), Metamorphoses. Translated by M. M. Innes. London: Penguin Books.
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Tithonus (online) (Accessed 16/11/2024).

The secondborn son of Priam and Hecabe was already making a big splash before he was born- and well before he swooped on a woman called Helen. There's not many of us who get a prophecy about our destructive legacy- or who get confused with a major European city...

Sources for this episode:

• Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume II). London: William Heinemann.
• Graves, R. (1981), Greek Myths: Illustrated Edition. London: Cassell Ltd.
• Ovid (1914), Heroides and Amores. Translated by G. Showerman. London and New York: William Heinemann and The Macmillan Co.
• Smith; W. (ed.) (1867), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. In Three Volumes (Vol. 1-3.). Boston: Little, Brown, And Company.
• 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 Limited.
• Author unknown, Merriam Webster (date unknown), What is a 'Firebrand?' (online) (Accessed 10/11/2024).
• Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Heroides (online) (Accessed 10/11/2024).

It's the start of Chapter II, so we're off to the Trojan War! Except... Not just yet. We need some background first. You might have heard of our subject today- she shares a name with one of the co-hosts...

Sources for this episode:

• Euripides (1981), Medea and Other Plays. Translated by P. Vellacott. London: The Penguin Classics.
• Frazer, J. G. (1921), Apollodorus: The Library (Volume II). London: William Heinemann.
• Graves, R. (1981), Greek Myths: Illustrated Edition. London: Cassell Ltd.
• Callimachus and Lycophron (1961). Translated by A. W. Meir. London and New York: William Heinemann and G. P. Putnam's Sons.
• Ovid (1955), Metamorphoses. Translated by M. M. Innes. London: Penguin Books.
• Norwich, J. J. (2003), Byzantium: The Decline and Fall. London: The Folio Society.

Any sources and future debate about Aesacus to be put here.