How Fables Defeated the Roman Empire. Seemingly Unrelated S2E8 w/Alicia Britt

How could the Three Little Pigs have stopped the most powerful military of the 1st century BCE? That's what we set out to explore on this episode of Seemingly Unrelated where we dive into the history of steel making, story telling, and how they connect the Battle of Carrhae with learning to code in Python. Our guest co-host this week is puppeteer extoridanaire Alicia Britt! We'll be asking the big questions this week like: How do you court an armorer? What is so common about the 'Common Era?' Which real time strategy game unit works best against the Roman legions? As well as, could Rumpelstiltskin spin you a website made of gold? All these questions and the secret anti-capitalist lesson of the Three Little Pigs this week on Seemingly Unrelated. Visit codestorytelling.com  for more about learning how to code through story telling #fables #history #historypodcast #steel #armor #Rome #Parthia #Aesop #fairytales -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture. Episodes drop every other week so subscribe to listen to more. Subscribe to the audio only version on: https://shows.acast.com/seemingly-unrelated Find the videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SeeminglyUnrelatedPod Want even more Seemingly Unrelated content? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month as well as the list of sources for this episode (free) on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SeeminglyUnrelatedFollow us on the socialsSubstackInstagramTikTokFacebookLinkedInBibliography:Albritton, Andrew, and James Philpot. ‘Aesop’s Fables as a Financial Planning Communication Tool’. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, SAGE Publications Inc, 20 November 2024, 23294906241299102. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294906241299102.Alex, Beatrice, Clare Llewellyn, Pawel Orzechowski, and Maria Boutchkova. ‘The Online Pivot: Lessons Learned from Teaching a Text and Data Mining Course in Lockdown, Enhancing Online Teaching with Pair Programming and Digital Badges’. 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Accessed 18 August 2025. https://www.livius.org/articles/place/parthia/.Popular Mechanics. ‘The Entire History of Steel’. 9 July 2018. https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a20722505/history-of-steel/.Setiawan, Rahmat, Ferra Dian Andanty, Titah Kinasih, Meytha Dwi Kurnia, and Dolmat Doyat. ‘Revolution in Fable Universe: Introducing Technology in Children’s Literature’. EBONY: Journal of English Language Teaching, Linguistics, and Literature 5, no. 2 (2025): 150–67. https://doi.org/10.37304/ebony.v5i2.20217.Sevillano-López, David. Mining and Minerals Trade on the Silk Road to the Ancient Literary Sources: 2 BC to 10 AD Centuries. 17 February 2013. https://www.academia.edu/2591044/Mining_and_minerals_trade_on_the_Silk_Road_to_the_ancient_literary_sources_2_BC_to_10_AD_Centuries.‘The History of the Parthians’. Digital Maps of the Ancient World, 4 June 2024. https://digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com/ancient-history/the-history-of-the-parthians/.Valente, Andrea, and Emanuela Marchetti. ‘Fables for Teachers and Pupils’. In Learning and Collaboration Technologies. Designing Learning Experiences, edited by Panayiotis Zaphiris and Andri Ioannou. Springer International Publishing, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21814-0_16.Whitfield, Susan. Silk, Slaves, and Stupas: Material Culture of the Silk Road. Univ of California Press, 2018.Woźniak, Marek. ‘INDIAN STEEL A FORGOTTEN COMMODITY OF THE GREAT TRADE ROUTES’. Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 1, no. XXIV (2015): 709–26.Image Source: https://sogdians.si.edu/orlat-plaque/