Students create podcasts expounding Greek myths

Randolph students are taking the study of ancient mythology to another level with a series of podcasts that tell the varied stories of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, monsters, and epic adventures.

Amy Cohen, a classics professor and the director of the Center for Ancient Drama, assigned students in her Classical Mythology class to research lesser-known myths and record broadcasts. Dubbed the Mythcasters, the series includes a show every Wednesday evening on Randolph College’s student-run radio station, the WWRM, followed by a rebroadcast on Saturday morning.

The show’s archive can be heard at http://wwrm.org/

Samantha Strickler ’17 said she was nervous about the idea of recording a radio show,  but it turned out to be a fun way to learn about the myths.

She and Elizabeth Dean ’16 worked together to produce an episode about the myth of Admetus and Alcestis. (You can listen to their episode here.) By researching the myth and reading different versions of the story, Strickler learned about alternate endings, the way that myths handle time and story progression, and other details that she would have not learned otherwise. “We wanted to get more in depth about it,” she said. “We found out all these different things that we would not have learned if we had just read it once and then retold the story.”

Other stories explained by the Mythcasters this semester include the stories of Daedalus, Chimaera, Orion, and more.

This week, the one group of Mythcasters will explain the story of Hermione, followed by another group with the myth of the Harpies.