8. AESOP II - A dolphin and a seagull were hurling insults at each other

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Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new!

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Last week we explored the complicated, and largely made-up, biography that is "The Aesop Romance". In this part I talk to experts to try and understand why it is that we need a "back story" for the creators of stories that we connect with, what is the difference between a reliable and unreliable narrator, how populism has refined the art of story-telling, and why only better stories - not better facts - can help us.

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Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

NOTES

MUSIC

Podyssey Theme: “To Margoudi ki o Alexandris”, Marianna Sangita, 2018 (with permission)

⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-LAVj5l9Uc⁠⁠

Rimsky-Korsakov: "Scheherazade; 2nd Movement"; Societe de Concerts Du Conservatoire, Ernest Ansermet 1955

https://archive.org/details/lp_scheherazade

Bernice Parks: "You Intrigue Me" 1952

https://archive.org/details/78_you-intrigue-me_bernice-parks

Verdi: I Vespri Siciliani "In alto mare... Coraggio!", Maria Callas 1951

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibMCTUPC_6g

Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffman " O Dieu, de quelle ivresse" (reprise), Raoul Jobin 1950

https://archive.org/details/lp_the-tales-of-hoffman

Anton Karas: The Third Man "Harry Lime Theme", Hermann Stachow 1950

https://archive.org/details/78_harry-limes-melodi

Ravel: Shéhérazade "1. Asie", Suzanne Danco 1955

https://archive.org/details/lp_le-roi-david-sheherazade

Mahalia Jackson: "MyStory" 1953

https://archive.org/details/78_my-story_mahalia-jackson

Verdi: Il Trovatore "Condotta all'era", Cloe Elmo 1941

https://archive.org/details/cloe-elmo-giuseppe-verdi

Rossini: La Cenerentola "Questo e un nodo avviluppato", Glyndebourne Company 1955

https://archive.org/details/lp_la-cenerentola_gioacchino-rossini

ART

Attic red-figure Kylix, circa 5C BCE, Vatican Museum.

A sample "Karagiozis" 19C folk shadow puppet figure, for comparison.

Plaster casts of the Hellenistic statue believed to be of Aesop, avec and sans fig leaf.

Aesopus (c. 1639-40), by Diego Velazquez.

Chelsea porcelain figure of Aesop as a black man, c.1755, and candlestick depicting the fable of The Cockerel and The Jewel, c.1780, Fitzwilliam Museum.

Aesop Telling his Fables, by Johann Michael Wittmer, 1855, Royal Collection.

Illustration by Kawanabe Kyōsai for the Japanese 1770 edition of "Aesop's Fables for All".

FILM - Coming Soon

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