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The Peloponnesian War, Part 1: Plague, Attrition, and a Decade of Bloodshed
Season 5 Episode 75
When the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta finally broke out in 431 BC, it was small conflicts on the fringes of the Greek world that pulled the two states into conflict. Thousands upon tho…
Published on 1 year, 7 months ago
The Athenian Empire and the Coming of the Peloponnesian War
Season 5 Episode 74
The Peloponnesian War, the epic 30-year conflict between Athens and Sparta for control of Classical Greece, was a long time in coming. In fact, its roots went back to the Persian Wars, when Athens se…
Published on 1 year, 7 months ago
What Made Classical Greece Special? Interview with Professor Josiah Ober
Season 5 Episode 73
We're often told that Classical Greece lies at the root of our modern world in some way, but what made it a special place? Professor Josiah Ober, author of The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece, join…
Published on 1 year, 8 months ago
Warlords, War, and Society in Early Rome: Interview with Professor Jeremy Armstrong
Season 5 Episode 72
Rome and war are inseparable topics, but how far back does their connection go? What was war like in the earliest days of the city's rise to prominence? Professor Jeremy Armstrong is an expert on ear…
Published on 1 year, 8 months ago
Classical Greece
Season 5 Episode 71
We're often told that Greece's Classical period lies at the root of "Western Civilization," but what was actually special about that time and place? Why did it produce so many works of literature, ar…
Published on 1 year, 8 months ago
Carthage, Syracuse, and the Battle for Sicily
Season 5 Episode 70
By 480 BC, the same year Xerxes and the Persians descended on Greece, Sicily had become a battleground for the rising powers of the Central Mediterranean: Carthage, on one side, and the Greek colony …
Published on 1 year, 8 months ago
The Archaeology of the Indus Valley Civilization: Interview with Professor Cameron Petrie
Season 5 Episode 69
Archaeology is changing quickly, and few people are playing more of a direct role in the wave of fascinating new studies exploring the Indus Valley Civilization, South Asia, and Iran than Professor C…
Published on 1 year, 8 months ago
The Rise of Carthage
Season 5 Episode 68
Carthage is known mostly as Rome's great rival, but it was a fascinating and meaningful Mediterranean civilization in its own right. Today, we track the rise of Carthage from its foundation as a Phoe…
Published on 1 year, 9 months ago
The Mediterranean World in 500 BC
Season 5 Episode 67
After our long sojourn in Central, East, and South Asia, it's time to return to a Mediterranean on the cusp of enormous changes. Around 500 BC, Rome was shedding its kings, Carthage was about to beco…
Published on 1 year, 9 months ago
Why Do Ordinary People Do Terrible Things? Daniele Bolelli and Patrick Discuss
Season 5 Episode 66
History is littered with terrible deeds and atrocities: conquest, genocide, mass enslavement, forced displacement, crimes of all sorts. Why do people agree to participate in these actions? Daniele Bo…
Published on 1 year, 9 months ago