Alexander The Great & Catherine the Great

maybe they were married true love on the Whos podcast? No, be, Alexander the Great and Catherine the Great lived nearly two thousand years apart from each other. Who talk about a long distance relationship, But hey, if the love is there, you can make it work. No. Great wasn't their last name. It's a title they were given for being larger than life rulers who made history in their lifetimes. Okay, now I get it. Sorry for the mix up, thank you,

But still, Alexander the Great and Catherine the Great? How bonkers is it that they both have the same middle name, the And it's such a weird middle name. I mean, what are the odds? Hey? Eric, can you play the theme song before the Angry Vein and Elliot's forehead explodes. He go, what do you think you know about the rates room? This before the game is on? To get some energy and buckle up your brain, because it's time to play the worst podcast. Because it's time to play

Who Live from Tongaland or so called so Cow? Los Angeles Love Them? Who Was? The history quich show that gives contestants the chance to win mega prizes and podcast Glorie, I'm your announcer, be and my name is an acronym for best ever announcer. And here's your host, owner of the world's largest collection of air in jars. It's Elliott A Linn. Thank you Be. It also doubles as the largest collection of jars. And welcome everyone to the Who Was? Podcast.

This show is like Jeopardy, only with surprise guests, silly games, and a robot baby who tells us the weather it is makes me a dreen with a dirty person and of raining not how Yes, I knew I was right to leave out those buckets. I think we need to call the baby weather robot repair a guy. Anyway, our contestants were sent who Was books about two great figures from history. Now they're here to show off their knowledge

and the hope of winning fantastic prize. Today we're talking about Alexander the Grady and Pathrid the Great to historical figures who were definitely not great when it came to modesty. But before we learn about them, let's learn about our contestants. Okay. First up, we have are In. Are In, Please introduce yourself. Hi, my name is In and I have two dogs that their names Cinnamon and Fast and Cinnamon is igantic, Baston just normal. Now are you a big fan of cinnamon?

Is it one of your top spices? Yeah? Our family when it says but four pepoon the cinnamon, were like, we just pour it out until it's until we think that it's an elk, which is after a very long time. Have you ever made the mistake while cooking where it says poor in cinnamon and you've taken the dog cinnamon and put it into the food. Nope, but we do make jokes about that. Okay, good, good, nice, All right, thank you? Are in and with us today we also

have Grace. Grace, please introduce yourself. I'm I'm the oldest of four. You're the oldest of four. Oh my goodness. Uh your How old are your other siblings? Eight sticks and three? Oh my goodness. Okay, now are you closer with one of them? Like more close than with the other ones? But if who who would you team up with? If it was it was a sibling competition, who would you team up with? Probably the youngest and she's the only one who do just know how to kick? Strategy.

That's very good strategy. Have you ever thought about four kids in one family? Have you ever thought about starting a band? Think about it. It's a great number. And also you can stand on the stage next to the youngest since they won't kick you. Very important thing in a band, not to get kick. All right, Well, thank you both so much for joining us today. It's great to have you here on the show. Okay, that's who is Now let's find out who was Alexander the Great

with four fast facts. Alexander was born in three hundred fifty six BC and died in three hundred twenty three BC. Because it's BC, the numbers go down instead of up. Alexander the Great became King of Macedonia when he was only twenty years old. He went on to become one of the world's top five conquerors, taking over Egypt, Persia, and Afghanistan all before he turned thirty. Alexander solved the famous riddle of the Gordian knot, a knot that was said to be impossible to untie, and he solved it

by chopping it in half with his swords. That sounds like a lot of accomplishments before your thirty. So are in and Grace. We have to ask you, do you think being thirty years old is old? No? Not really?

My dad's fifty three. What a relief? What a relief that you both said no, Because I thought that you were going to say, yes, that's extremely old, and then I was going to have to say, but I'm more than thirty years old, and then you and I'm not old, and you would say yes, you are old, very very old, and I would be like, I don't think i'm old, and you would both be like, but you are old, very very old. Well, my dad's fifty three and he doesn't look old at all. So what's his secret? Lots

of eating, lots of cinnamon, no idea. What we're also garlic fad. So what you're telling me is there's a vampire free zone for like a mile around your house because the garlic is just so strong. Yeah, okay, yeah, Grace, what's your feeling on what's your feelings on garlic? And then I have a follow up about cinnamon. Don't like garlic less? Fine? Garlic bread? Okay, garlic bread is delicious. And what about cinnamon? Do you like that on things? Yeah? My family isn't a big fan of cinnamon, but we

like it. And my little list brother is puts it on literally everything. You know what. My little brother does the same exact thing. He puts cinnamon on everything too, and he's a grown man. He's older than thirty, which doesn't make him old, although it was rude that it did. That's right. Here's a hot tip. Put some cinnamon in your chili. All right, now, we've got to get moving on to her next. We don't have any more questions about chili, but we do have a game. In this

game is called by any other name. In this game, we will talk about a part of Alexander the Great's life, but using an odd rhyming word or phrase instead of the exact one we're looking for. And then you should tell us the real word that rhymes with the nonsense words so for example, if the answer was Tyrannosaurus rex, we would say something funny that rhymes with it, like banana forest checks, which is a flavor of check cereal I tasted in a dream. It was okay, too much forests,

not enough banana. And because this is our first game, each question is worth one point. Are in your up first. Alexander's first conquest came as a teenager when he tamed a seemingly untamable horse after realizing the horse was afraid of its own meadow shadow. That's right, the answer is shadow. Alexander smartly observed that the horse, named Bucephalis, which means ox head in grief, would go wild when it saw

its own shadow and wouldn't let anyone ride him. By calmly turning the horse towards the suns that he couldn't see his shadow behind him, Alexander was able to keep Bucephalist peaceful. Capitalist would go on to be Alexander's course for years and through many battles. But as the story of the Shadow shows, some battles are best one with thinking rather than fighting. Okay, Grace, the next rhyme is for you. Alexander was the son of King Philip of Macedonia.

But ever since he was a baby, it was rumored he was actually the son of the Greek god goose Zeus. That's right, it was the Greek god Zeus that had long been suspected that Alexander was actually the son of Zeus, king of the Greek gods, And during his conquest of Egypt, Alexander visited the Temple of Ammon and asked the Egyptian gods whose real father was. Nobody knows what he was told,

but from then on Alexander called himself the son of Zeus. Now, of course, fact check, it's not really possible, because Zeus isn't real. Uh I hope ze is. If you're real, please don't hit me with a lightning bolt. And if you do, make sure I'm not in the room. I always believed in you Zeus, not like doubting Elliott over here. Thanks for your support, be Why don't you just tell our in the next rhyme? Please all right? Are in? Alexander was as dedicated to learning as he was to

conquering the entire known world. In fact, when he founded the city of Alexandria, he built the first Chai berry library. That's right, it was the first library. When Alexander added pharaoh of Egypt to his list of jobs, he built a new capital city, Alexandria, because he loved naming things after himself. Alexandria was famous for its library, which held

a copy of every book ever written in Greek. The Library of Alexandria stood for nearly a thousand years until it was destroyed in the year six forty a d. Luckily, your local library is still around and probably full of great who was books. And this final rhyme is for grace. Alexander's loyal soldiers followed him for years, but they started getting mad when he invaded India and made them march through a bassoon. I guess no, not now, we're looking

for a bit, but somewhat close. I'm sorry. The answer was monsoon, a heavy rain that lasts for months. Alexander made his soldiers marched through NonStop rain and mud for seventy days. For seventy days, their clothes were never dry. Yes, I know what that's like, mill fun Well, I told you being stopped going to the water park in your

regular clothes. I like what, donnim In the end, Alexander's men refused to keep marching and forced Alexander to turn back home, though he did make them take the long route and keep conquering along the way. In the end, Alexander died before retrained to Macedonia. Now it's time to return to the show, because that's the end of By any other Name. Okay, that was a great round, contestants. Yeah, Alexander may be great, but so are your memory. And now let's go to our own library of Who Was?

Andrea producer Jane with the scores, Thank you, Williott. The scores are currently are in two grace one, Thank you, Jane. A very very close games, still anyone's game, and we'll get right back to it after this short break. Eric, please play us some marching through a monsoon music if you would please, John Phillips, Storms, Welcome back to the Who Was? Podcast. Today we're learning all about Alexander the Great and Katherine the Great and now back to your host,

Elliot Galen. Thank you be. Our scores are currently are in two points and grace one point. These are fierce competitors, almost as fierce as Alexander and Katherine the Great, So let's get right to it by finding out more about Catherine the Great with four fast facts. Katherine the Great live from seventeen twenty nine to seventeen nine. She ruled Russia as empress for thirty four years. Katherine the Great wasn't actually Russian, but was originally from Prussia, which is

now called Germany. She was the first Russian ruler to let Russians vote for their own representatives in the governments. And now let's get Russian to our next game. Thank you, thank you, up and bowing to the applause, I assume is coming from the audience at home. It's something we call backpack from the past from the baby. Okay, right here, I have Katherine the Great's actual backpack, which I found on a bus and which contains some of her personal objects.

B and I are going to describe those objects for our contestants and the listeners at home. Contestants, you choose the choice that best describes the object and what it meant to Katherine. And since this is our second game, each question is worth two points. Grace, you're up first. All right, let's see what our first object is. Oh hey, it's a thick woolen nightgown. Why would this d in Katherine's backpack. Is it a because as a girl she used to walk the halls of the palace at night

in her nightgown studying the Russian language? Or be because as empress she was famous for her slumber parties, where she and other crown heads of Europe would stay up all night eating snacks. A. That's right, The answer is a. As a teenager, Katherine was sent to Russia to become the wife of the future Emperor Peter the Third, but she didn't know how to speak Russian, so she would walk the freezing halls of the palace in her nightgown studying the language. In fact, she got so cold that

she came down with pneumonia. The idea that this German girl wanted to be Russian so badly that she would risk serious illness endeared Katherine to the Russian people. Now this next object is for urn, all right. It's a toy soldier. Oh, it's a cute little guy with this uniform and his mustache. Why would Katherine have this in her backpack? Was it because a Katherine blew off the steam of being a ruler by making wooden toys in her spare time. Or because be her husband, Emperor Peter

the Third wouldn't stop playing with his toy soldiers. B. That's right. The answer is be even as a grown up, Peter was obsessed with his toy soldiers and would spend all night playing through elaborate pretend battles while Katherine sat around forward. What a drip, no wonder? Katherine took his throne and put him in jail. Well. Also, he was giving military secrets to Prussia, a country Russia was at warwick Katherine was a Prussian who loved Russia and Peter

was a Russian who loved Prussia. Who. I guess opposites don't attract. Okay, this next object is for grace. WHOA, this one's a little big and slippery. Oh it's an entire raw turkey. Now I have to go wash my hands. But before I do. Why would there be a turkey in this backpack? Was it because A Catherine started celebrating Thanksgiving in Russia or b because she sent her troops

to fight a war with Turkey. A. I'm sorry. The answer is Katherine the Great wanted to fight a war with Turkeys that she could take some of its land around the Black Sea. Back before airplanes, everything that was sent from one country to another had to go by ship, and Russia's ports would freeze during the winter, so they couldn't be used. But the Black Sea was warm enough

that it could be used year round. Russia won that war and conquered in the area known as Crimea, which they eventually lost in the Crimean War of the eighteen fifties, and then Russia invaded it again in two thousand fourteen. It's very complicated. Look, the important thing is that Turkey is both a country and a delicious bird. And our last object of the game is for urn. Oh it's hot, hot enough, it's a lit candle. Why am I holding this by the flame? And why would Katherine have a

burning light in her backpack? Was it because A she loved the liberal philosophies of the Enlightenment as represented by a candle, or B she was secretly afraid of the dark Ay, that's right. The answers A. Katherine was fascinated by the new ideas of the Age of Enlightenment, which

celebrated science, human equality, and liberty. In addition to introducing regional elections to send representatives to see her, she also established a famous school for girls, encouraged Russian doctors to study the latest breakthroughs, and built the Hermitage, the second largest art museum in the world. Of course, she was still an empress who sent her armies to take over

parts of other countries, so she was only slightly enlightened. Yeah, she wasn't exactly woke, more like half awake, but drowsy. And now it's time for us to wake up from that game from the baby. Okay, nice work, everybody. Now let's walk down a cold hallway in our nightgowns to producer Jane with the schools Elliott, please get dressed. The score is currently six for RN and three for Grace.

Thanks Jane. And now it's time for my new segment, Be Like Me, where I get the lifestyle secrets of our historical stars so I can be more like them. I don't remember talking about this segment, b that's because I mentioned it when you were asleep. Eric. That Be Like Me theme song, Hello and welcome to Be Like Me. We've got a very special guest today live in the studio, Katherine the Great. Thank you for inviting me onto the shall Be. I'm thanks for they hold us ape for

getting me here. He wants b How long is this segment? We've already heard two different songs. Okay, that was the last one. Calm down. Today, Catherine the Great will be telling us all about what it's like to be great. So, Katherine, is there like a great club where everyone called great hangs out? That's ridiculous. Be there's no way that there's some yip is exactly right. I am in the great club.

It is me Alexander the Great, Frederick the Great, Cyrus the Great, Charlemagne, whose name means Charles the Great, the great one, then great Skip, and a magician, the Great Spelledini. So Wayne Bretsky and the magician are in a club with Charlemagne. They're all called the great, aren't they anyway? Nice a year we go to the great likes and read the Great gatesby and eat great truth, because it sort of sounds like the great fruit. It's a great club,

of course. Wow. Did you always know you were great? Of course? Need When I was young, my name wasn't even Caterine yet, I was just little. So they Frederica Augusta on Service, the daughter of a minor prince. I was always overseaded by my mother, Princess Johanna, Elizabeth horse Time or I can't believe these are real names. I know, right, nobody knows how to do a name anymore. Everyone was disappointed that I wasn't a boy. Nobody takes attention to me.

After my brother was born, well the jokes on him. He totally died young of scarlet fever. Catherine, that was very insensitive place. I'm all about enlightenment values. But you've got to be pretty ruthless if you're going to overthrow your husband Tyke is drowned and conquer your neighbor. So ruthlessness, Okay, that's probab of being great. I don't know. Greatness doesn't sound very nice. Greatness is different than niceness. It's about

being a big, powerful, important person. Oh not necessarily a good person. Many people were hurt under my rule and assigned with Alexander. I attacked Turkey and Poland he burned down the city of Persepolis. Brightness and goodness are not the same thing. It's some kind of down Katherine. Well, it's just that it's so much pressure to be great all the time. You can never be gentle or silly or relaxed or nice. I mean, you hurt a lot

of people. Sometimes I wish I didn't turn out to be great when she just has people to stop calling you Catherine the Great, because it's a lot easier to say than Sophie. Frederica Augusta on Hole deserves then Elliott and being this has been great. I was going to say mildly amusing, but okay, now I must go. It's possible to you both and to the hoof? Was it more? You know, being a great sounds kind of me. Maybe

I don't want to be great? Whoa if I'm called be the Great, it sounds more like I'm encouraging people to be great rather than letting them mild that I'm great. Oh, b, don't worry. You were never going to be great. Thanks Elliott, before you realize that wasn't a compliment. I want to say thank you to Catherine the Great for reminding us

that greatness. This isn't always that great, but I'll tell you what will be great our final game right after this short break, Eric, please play us some Sophie Frederic august von Holden on Hall ser Catherine the Great music, Eric, please play us some cast in the Great music please pretty good, Sally, who was Marie? You may remember me from winning multiple Nobele rises, or perhaps from my episode of the who Wars podcast where I played myself. I wanted to take a moment to read one of my

favorite reviews about the WHOS podcast. This is from Shaken Bay and it reads loved this Me and my little sister love this show more. Please. Our faith is Rieman. If you want to hear your review right on the air, make sure to subscribe, like, and review to the OAS podcast in the I Heart Radio up or wherever you give your podcasts a revoir or should let's stay abien do We're back on the WHOST podcast. When we last loved off Or had six points and Grace had three points.

Now back to your host, Elliott Dalen, Thank you be. We've had a great time on this great show about greats, and now it's a great time for our great last great game, Converge of Greatness, and this time it's literal. In this multiple choice game will explore how our two grades connect, overlap, or converge. And because we're in the third round, each question is worth three points. Ready, the first question goes to R and B take it away.

Both Catherine and Alexander were rulers deeply interested in philosophy. Katherine kept current on the latest French thinking, and it was actually the philosopher Denny Dido who first called her the Great. When Alexander was a boy, he was tutored by Which legendary Greek philosopher was it A Aristotle, B. Plato or c. Clato? Aristotle? You got it right. The answers A Aristotle say it with confidence. At the time, Aristotle was considered to be the wisest man in Greece,

and his writings are still studied today. Aristotle taught Alexander in exchange for Alexander's dad, Philip, rebuilding Aristotle's hometown, which Philip had destroyed. Kids don't get the wrong idea. Destroying someone's hometown is not an acceptable way to offer them a job. And our next question is for grace. Alexander's troops got mad because they never returned home from his campaign of conquest, But maybe it's better that they didn't

go back to Macedonia. When Katherine the Great's troops returned from the war with Turkey, what did they bring back with them? A blisters be the bubonic plague or see seven years bad luck the plague. You're exactly right. The answers be the bubonic plague, or, as it's also known, just the plague. That's how bad it is. The plague ended up killing many more of Katherine's people than the war did. People were so frightened that Katherine almost lost

control of Moscow until she imposed a strict quarantine. So remember, kids, war, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing, unless you're a plague germ, in which case war is great for you. And the next question is for urn. Russia was low on money when Catherine took over, so she showed solidarity by refusing to take a salary as empress. Similarly, when Alexander let his men on a deadly march through an

enormous desert, how did he show solidarity with them? Did he A refuse to drink water until there was enough for everyone, b throw away his shoes because some of his soldiers had lost theirs, or see eat only onions, no matter how bad it made his breath smell A. That's right, The answer is A. After days of grueling marching under the hot sun, a soldier brought Alexander a helmet full of water, the only water they could find,

meaning nobody would drink except Alexander. Rather than take a sip while his men went thirsty, Alexander poured the water on the ground in solidarity. His men cheered and kept marching. It took two months, but they eventually reached the end of the desert and through a huge party where everyone got married. All okay. Our final question is for grace. Even though people called Alexander and Catherine great, neither had long lasting legacies. After his death, Alexander's empire split into

three different kingdoms. After Katherine's death, her son Paul passed a law that said what a Russians can no longer marry Prussians be enlightenment philosophers are not allowed in Russia. Or see that no woman could ever rule Russia again. See that's right. The answer is ce Emperor Paul passed a law that said the Russian throne could only be passed on to an emperor's eldest son. This meant a

woman could never be empress again. Russia no longer has an emperor today, but Catherine is still the last woman to have ever ever been its leader. In a way, it shows how powerful she was that her son felt like he needed to pass a law to never let it happen again. And that's the end of converge of greatness. That great music means it's the end of the great game, which means it's almost the end of this great show. We'll wait for Jane the Great to tally the points.

I'd love to hear from our great contestants. What is something you were surprised to learn about Alexander the Great and Catherine the Great? Grace? What surprised you? I don't know, is an Ammian thing. I guess the real lesson here is socks. You gotta wear socks, people, you gotta wear socks. You gotta wear socks. And aren what surprised you about Alexander the Great or Catherine the Great Alexand I was

surprised when I read it. Alexander the Great there by the arrow that hit Yeah, do you remember that story? He Alexander the Great was in so much fighting. At one point he got hit with an arrow, but he lived. There was all sorts of swords flying all over the place, a very dangerous life. And also, again I gotta say, socks if you're gonna be if arrows is gonna be flying around, you want to have socks on your feet you can kind of slip and slide around and also

so you can keep warm. Always a good idea. It's never a bad idea to wear socks. Thank you both of you for that very honest answer. Now for the great moment of the show, Jane the Great please announced our great winner. Well, Grace was way behind, but you made a great effort at the end. However, are In went ahead with twelve points to Grace's nine. Are In is our winner. Nice job, you posted great and we hope you had fun. It was an exciting game. Aren

as our winner. You will have ten great seconds for shout outs. Who do you think is great? Who helped you win today? Who you want to thank? My parents who signed me and listen telling me about it, and my friends who are my friends, And of course you guys for before just you You're literally made it happen. Thank you so much. I don't think anyone has ever given us a shout out after they win. That is

that was very sweet of you. That was great. Oh and while our contestants enjoyed their cinnamon and garlic I'm going to give my own shout outs, So I'm gonna say our winner and their library of choice, who receiving

a selection of Who Was books? And I'm going to shout out in turns act to Jane Eric, to Natalie Walker for being our Catherine the Great and to be in a big thank you to both of our contestants are playing a great game today, and of course the greatest of thank you's to the greatest of all you, the listener listening to this show, Thank you for doing so. Next week join us again, we'll find out about two more amazing people from the past. Until then, this is

Elliott afraid of his own shadow, Calin saying we're history. Goodbye, et verybody got a question for any of our famous figures were? Do you want to be a contestant? Send us a voice memo at the Who Was Podcast at gmail dot com it or you might just end up on the show. Who Was Podcast is produced by Radio Point, I Heart Media and Penguin Workshop and is based on

the best selling Who h series published by Penguin. It was hosted by Elliott Caylin with co host Megan O'Neill as b This episode also starred Jane Baker as Jane, Eric Shackney as Eric, and Natalie Walker as Catherine the Great. Our executive producers are Richard Corson, Alex Boch, Elliott Kaylin, Megan O'Neil, Daniel Powell, and Houston Snyder. Our executive producer for Penguin Workshop is Francesco Sedita, and our executive producer

for iHeart Media is Lindsay Hoffman. This episode was written by Megan O'Neill, Elliott Kaylin and Devin Coleman, who was produced by Bernie Kaminsky and Taylor Kowalski. Our talent producer is Jane Baker. Our theme song and the music are

composed and performed by Eric Shackney. This episode was edited and mixed by Breematan and Kate Molden Howard, which recorded by Alison Worth and special thanks are due to Zach Timpson, Charlotte Dienda, Daniel Goodman and Michael Lewis Howard, who was podcast was recorded at the I Heart Studios in Los Angeles, California. Sound services were provided by Great City Posts Podcast Church Standard three. He was better as he has