Women Who Went Before

Women Who Went Before is on a gynocentric quest into the ancient world. Join hosts Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley as they interview the world’s top scholars and unearth the lives of women from the past. It’s a history podcast and detective journey in one, sifting through texts and tropes to find the women who lived beneath.

Women Who Went Before is a history podcast hosted by Rebekah Haigh & Emily Chesley, with 22 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Rebekah Haigh & Emily Chesley hosts Women Who Went Before, a history show with 22 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #10

  Wearing (Down) the Body: Asceticism in Late Antique Monasticism

  Aug 13, 20251h 2mS2

  <p>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.</p><p>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? </p><p>Access full transcript and episode show notes</p><p>Wo...

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  Episode #9

  Idols for Idling Eyes: The Female Form in Roman Art

  Jul 30, 202555 minS2

  <p>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.</p><p>Access full transcript and episode show notes</p><p>Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley.<br/><br/>Music is composed and produced by Moses...

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  Episode #8

  From Athens to Ethiopia: Race and Gender in Ancient Greek Literature

  Jul 16, 202559 minS2

  <p>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.</p><p>Transcript and episode show notes</p><p>Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley.<br/><br/>Music is composed and produced by Moses...

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  Episode #7

  To Have and To Hold: Sexual Violence and the Bible

  Mar 27, 202558 minS2

  <p>CW: This episode discusses themes of sexual assault and intimate partner violence.</p><p>Dr. Rhiannon Graybill shares her research on sexual violence in the Hebrew Bible and ways of reading such messy stories for then and now. We also talk about violent tropes in modern romance literature and Rome's origin stories—and what these kinds of tales do to those who read them.</p><p>She says, “In our world sexual violence is often grounded in or justified by the Bible, and the Bible is used against survivors of sexual violence. And so reading biblical stories as fuzzy, mess...

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  Episode #6

  Bad Blood: The Period Talk in Rabbinic Judaism and Zoroastrianism

  Mar 5, 202557 minS2

  <p>We talk with Dr. Shai Secunda about the Babylonian rabbis’ science of blood, breaking taboos through sex education, and menstruation as a cure for rabies.</p><p>Today, taboos about menstruation keep thousands of girls from attending school. For Jewish sages in late antique Persia, such beliefs led to laws that required women to stay away from their husbands during their periods and to wash at prescribed times. (Whether women followed these laws is another question!) Blood could pollute, yet it could also purify. And practices around menstruation may have helped religious communities define their identity. </p><p>Access tra...

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