Artemisia Gentileschi rose from the margins of seventeenth-century Rome to become one of the most powerful painters of the Baroque era. Her story is one of defiance, resilience, and relentless talent in a world determined to silence her.

In this episode, we explore her early struggles, the trial that tried to define her, the masterpieces that reshaped biblical storytelling, and the centuries of erasure that followed. Today, Artemisia’s voice returns with force, proving she was never meant to disappear.

CITATIONS:

• Artemisia Gentileschi, https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/artemisia-gentileschi
• (Re)reading the Masterpieces by Artemisia Gentileschi, https://www.academia.edu/115344622/_Grand_Narratives_and_Personal_Dramas_Re_reading_the_Masterpieces_by_Artemisia_Gentileschi
• Artemisia Gentileschi: Bio, Famous Works, & Legacy, https://www.thecollector.com/artemisia-gentileschi-the-me-too-painter-of-the-renaissance/
• A Fuller Picture of Artemisia Gentileschi, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/05/a-fuller-picture-of-artemisia-gentileschi
• Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, https://archive.org/stream/OrazioandArtemisiaGentileschi/OrazioandArtemisiaGentileschi_djvu.txt

Chien Shiung Wu was one of the most extraordinary experimental physicists of the twentieth century, yet the world repeatedly pushed her brilliance into the shadows.

This episode uncovers how she proved the universe breaks its own symmetry, reshaped modern physics, and was overlooked by the institutions that benefited from her genius.

Listen as we revisit the moments that history distorted, examine the forces that kept her unheard, and recognize the groundbreaking work that defines her lasting legacy.
CITATIONS:

• Experimental Test of Parity Conservation in Beta Decay, https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.105.1413
• Overlooked for the Nobel: Chien-Shiung Wu, https://physicsworld.com/a/overlooked-for-the-nobel-chien-shiung-wu/
• How Chien‑Shiung Wu changed the laws of physics, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/chien-shiung-wu-chinese-american-woman-physics-manhattan-project
• Madame Wu and Parity Nonconservation, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369185926_Madame_Wu_and_Parity_Nonconservation
• Chien-Shiung Wu Overlooked for Nobel Prize, https://www.aauw.org/resources/faces-of-aauw/chien-shiung-wu-overlooked-for-nobel-prize/

Eumachia was a priestess, patron, and visionary who carved her name into the heart of Pompeii at a time when women were expected to stay silent.

In this episode, we explore how she rose to influence, funded one of the city’s most significant public buildings, and pushed into spaces reserved for men. We follow her journey through resilience, attempted erasure, and eventual rediscovery, uncovering what her life reveals about power, memory, and the ways women have shaped history even when the world tried to forget them.
CITATIONS:

• Redundant Information? Repetitive Inscriptions in the Public Space of Pompeii, https://journals.openedition.org/etudesanciennes/2038
• Pompeii Archaeological Park site, https://pompeiisites.org/en/exhibitions-and-events/eumachia-en/
• Whose Forum? Imperial and Elite Patronage in the Forum of Pompeii, https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=classicsjournal
• Women in Pompeii, https://pompeiicommitment.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Women_in_Pompeii.pdf
• Building of Eumachia, https://www.italyguides.it/en/campania/pompeii/building-of-eumachia

Arsinoe IV, the lesser-known sister of Cleopatra, has long been treated as a shadow beside one of history’s most iconic queens; yet her life was far more complex, courageous, and threatening to the powers around her than the surviving records suggest.

In the pilot episode of They Tried to Erase Her, we uncover the truth behind a young woman who stood against Rome, challenged her sister’s alliances, and became a symbol of resistance during the Alexandrian War.

From the palace intrigues that shaped her childhood to the brutal politics that led to her death at Ephesus, Arsinoe’s story reveals what can happen when a woman refuses to disappear, even when the world insists she should.

CITATIONS:

• World History Encyclopedia – Arsinoe IV, https://www.worldhistory.org/Arsinoe_IV/
• UNRV – Julius Caesar, Cleopatra and the Alexandrian War, https://www.unrv.com/julius-caesar/cleopatra-alexandrian-war.php
• Caesar, Alexandrian War (primary text, English translation), https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Caesar/Alexandrian_War/A*.htm
• The Analytical Scientist, https://theanalyticalscientist.com/issues/2025/articles/jan/the-search-for-cleopatra-s-sister-continues
• Austrian Academy of Sciences, https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/oeai/media/press-releases/cleopatras-sister

Every era had its rebels, geniuses, and revolutionaries—but too many of them were women whose names you’ve never heard.

This is their comeback.

With each episode, Wanderous Affair's They Tried to Erase Her takes you behind the propaganda, into the archives, and through the smoke of history’s double standards to rediscover the women who changed everything.