Casting Through Ancient Greece

Latest Episodes:

39: Sicily, Conflict & Tyrants Oct 08, 2021

Show notes

39: Sicily, Conflict & Tyrants
The wave of Greek colonisation taking place in the 8th and 7th centuries wouldn’t be the end of the Greeks seeking to establish new cities. More expeditions would be sent out from the Greek mainland, while the original Greek colonies of Sicily would also start establishing their own colonies. The eastern, southern and northern coasts would be the target for many of these expeditions, with the east seeing the largest concentration of Greeks.

As the colonies on Sicily began to mature and grow, political developments would follow a familiar path as to many of the mother cities. The political figure of the tyrant would emerge, not surprisingly, since most colonies would adopt a similar form of government to what had been in place from their metropolis’.

This ever-increasing growth of Greek colonies would also start to see conflict develop in and around Sicily. The Phoenicians had been present in the region for as long as the Greeks and had been engaging in trade. One of their colonies, Carthage was also now developing into a power in its own right and would take the lead in opposing the Greeks expansions.

By the end of the 6th century Carthage had secured much of its trade interests in the region with them at the head of an alliance including many of the Phoenician colonies of Africa, Sicily and Iberia. Though, the Greeks were firmly established on Sicily and in the region. Political developments would continue to evolve, as well as expansion, and with it, the inevitable conflict as the 6th century turned into the 5th century.
Todays episodes sponsor is Hello Fresh
Head to Hello Fresh here to receive $80 Discount ($50 - $20 - $10) Including Free Shipping on your First Box! with the code HFAFF80

Todays book recommendation is, Carthage's Other Wars by Dexter Hoyos

Support the show

💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece
Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:
🌐 Website
📸 Instagram
🐦 Twitter
📘 Facebook

🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

Interview: The Bronze Lie with Myke Cole Sep 24, 2021

Show notes

Todays episodes sponsor is Hello Fresh
Head to Hello Fresh here to receive $80 Discount ($50 - $20 - $10) Including Free Shipping on your First Box! with the code HFAFF80
"Shattering the Myth of Spartan Warrior Supremacy"
The Spartans are one of the most recognisable ancient Greek societies in our modern day. Though, just about no writing from the Spartans themselves survives, everything we know about them comes from outsiders looking in. This has resulted in many Myths and stereotypes to develop over the ages. In this episode, Myke Cole sits down and talks about his latest book, The Bronze Lie, Shattering the myth of Spartan Warrior supremacy, where he peals back the myth and gives the Spartans and their society a human face and story.

Myke Cole has had a colourful and varied career, with service in war and crisis response. Myke’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Daily Beast, The New Republic, and Foreign Policy. He is the author of Legion versus Phalanx: The Epic Struggle for Infantry Supremacy in the Ancient World. Myke is also a popular fantasy and science fiction novelist with several major imprints. He appeared on CBS’ hit TV show Hunted, where he joined a team of elite investigators pursuing fugitives across the southeastern United States, and later starred on Discovery Channel’s Contact alongside fellow Osprey author Dr Michael Livingston. And now Myke has written his second work on history, the Bronze Lie, Shattering the myth of Spartan warrior supremacy.

Links for Myke Cole:

Twitter – @MykeCole

Facebook – Myke Cole

Website – www.mykecole.com

Find Myke’s book here on Amazon
The Bronze Lie
Legion Versus Phalanx

Support the show

💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece
Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:
🌐 Website
📸 Instagram
🐦 Twitter
📘 Facebook

🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

38: The Greek Periphery, Sicily Sep 10, 2021

Show notes

38: The Greek Periphery, Sicily
The prehistory of Sicily, well before the Greeks arrived is still to this day shrouded in some mystery. We are left with a written tradition from a number of Greek writer but they were writing about a past some thousand years before their time. Modern attempts at understanding this period are even debated, which leaves us with our best guesses based off of what is found in modern research and what the ancients say.

The Island of Sicily west of Greek lands would come into the Greek periphery as the Mediterranean was emerging out of the Dark Ages. Trade would once again begin to flow from the west as it had done during the Bronze Age to the Mycenaeans. Though, with the collapse of the Bronze Age much of this trade would be disrupted as various civilisations went into decline or disappeared completely.

Though, as trade began increasing, more Greek cities would have been setting up their own trading connections at Sicily. Eventually, the various Greek city states would send out expeditions to found colonies on the island. This would provide relief with the over population problem that was beginning to occur in some of the larger cities, while also opening up more markets to the Greek mainland.

The Greeks were not the only people present on Sicily, with it home to three separate indigenous cultures according to the written tradition. Also present was that of the Phoenicians, a civilisation originating in the Levant and the founders of the famous city of Carthage. They were also engaging in trade and establishing their own colonies. All these different peoples would for the most past during the 8th century BC, co-exist peacefully, but as time went on and more colonies emerged, interests would start to be encroached upon.
Todays episodes sponsor is Hello Fresh
Head to Hello Fresh here to receive $80 Discount ($50 - $20 - $10) Including Free Shipping on your First Box! with the code HFAFF80

Todays book recommendation is, Sicily, A short History from the ancient Greeks to Cosa Nostra

Support the show

💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece
Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:
🌐 Website
📸 Instagram
🐦 Twitter
📘 Facebook

🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

37: Herodotus, The Father of Lies Aug 27, 2021

Show notes

Herodotus; The Father of Lies.
“Because it is simple and lacking in effort and easily runs over events, has thoroughly deceived many people” (Plutarch, on the Malice of Herodotus)

Plutarch would be but one historian to level criticisms at Herodotus from the ancient past all the way through to our times. Often, we see the common title given to Herodotus, the Father of History turned on its head to, Herodotus, the Father of Lies, due to his willingness to include strange and wonderful tales.

We will look at a number of aspects that have been used to criticise Herodotus over the ages, with us beginning with the sources he used, were they to be trusted in themselves. As we will discover there is no easy answer to this since Herodotus’ sources would be wide ranging.

Next, we will then turn to the reliability of Herodotus’ reporting of his sources and other various means of collecting information. Once again, we will explore some examples and see the challenge before him with such a diverse range of sources to make sense of subjects.

Herodotus would also be the target of click bait articles and online forums in our time. Though, we will see often these arguments misrepresent him and miss what Herodotus even tells us in his accounts. We will look at examples involving gold digging ants, Cyclopes’ stealing gold from griffins and the millions of Persians at Thermopylae.

One thing I tell people to keep in mind when reading Herodotus, Herodotus wasn’t attempting to invent history. This was a title later ascribed to him because of the novel way he was presenting information in his time. Herodotus may well be the father of history, but like a child history would grow and mature over time, becoming what it is today.
Todays episodes sponsor is Hello Fresh
Head to Hello Fresh here to receive $80 Discount ($50 - $20 - $10) Including Free Shipping on your First Box! with the code HFAFF80

Todays book recommendation is A Commentary on Herodotus: Vol 1 & Vol 2

Support the show

💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece
Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:
🌐 Website
📸 Instagram
🐦 Twitter
📘 Facebook

🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

36. Herodotus: The Father of History Aug 13, 2021

Show notes

“Herodotus of Halicarnassus here presents his research so that human events do not fade with time. May the great and wonderful deeds – some brought forth by the Hellenes, others by the barbarians – not go unsung; as well as the causes that led them to make war on each other.”

Herodotus, Proem

These are the opening lines from the oldest surviving work of history in the western world and would open so much more than just an account of the Greek and Persian wars.

In this first episode on Herodotus, we will look at who Herodotus was, as much as the known information lets us. We will also turn to looking at what his ambitious work, the Histories would cover. There is so much more than just a historical account, with geography, anthropology, ethnography, folklore and even hints of Philosophy.

His work would be broken up into nine books into the medieval period, each book denoting a scroll that the Histories was originally written on. Within these books would be many digressions that Herodotus would become well known for and where we see many of the elements that would make this so much more than a history come into play.

We also look at the potential sources Herodotus would have used, from written accounts, his enquires and his own observations. We take for granted the process of gathering sources today, but back 2500 years ago there would have been a number of hurdles for someone seeking reason for events in the past.
Todays episodes sponsor is Hello Fresh
Head to Hello Fresh here to receive $80 Discount ($50 - $20 - $10) Including Free Shipping on your First Box! with the code HFAFF80

Todays book recommendation is Landmark Herodotus

Support the show

💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece
Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:
🌐 Website
📸 Instagram
🐦 Twitter
📘 Facebook

🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

35: The Greco-Persian Wars Jul 30, 2021

Show notes

The Greco-Persian Wars:
The Greek and Persian wars would be a defining moment in the Greek world helping shape the trajectory of development in Greece and around the Aegean for time to come. Even today a detailed ancient account survives describing the events of 2500 years in what is one of the oldest works of history. Herodotus who has been labelled the father of history would be born during the wars and would travel the Greek world later in life collecting all he could, so as to understand what brought the Greeks and Persian to make war.

In this episode we will be looking back at the last 18 episodes that looked at the Greco-Persian Wars and try and tie everything together, so as to refresh ourselves on all that has taken place over the 21 years since the Ionian revolt. This will then put us in a good position to then move on with the narrative of the series.

The Greek and Persian Wars are often seen as beginning with the decision by Athens and Eretria to send ships to aide the Ionian revolt. Herodotus would say; “These ships were the beginnings of evil for both Hellenes and Barbarians”. The revolt would ultimately fail and Persian attention would now be focused on Greece.

Two main invasions would be launched that would directly attack Greece, these coming in 490 BC and 48 BC. In these two invasions we see some of the most well know battles take place such as Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis. Though some lesser known would also be fought, but just as, if not more important battles, Plataea, Mycale and Artemisium.

The Greeks would end up defeating the Persian invasions but this wouldn’t see the end of operations. The Persian threat still loomed large in their minds and measures were taken to strengthen themselves against any further invasions. This as we move forward in the series would have consequences shaping politics and relations as the years past.
Todays episodes sponsor is Hello Fresh
Head to Hello Fresh here to receive $80 Discount ($50 - $20 - $10) Including Free Shipping on your First Box! with the code HFAFF80

Todays book recommendation is Persian Fire by Tom Holland

Support the show

💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece
Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:
🌐 Website
📸 Instagram
🐦 Twitter
📘 Facebook

🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

Interview: Mark Adams Jul 16, 2021

Show notes

In this interview Episode I sit down and chat with the author Mark Adams about his book, "Meet me in Atlantis". We talk about his experiences and what he learnt about Plato's tale of the lost city of Atlantis. He also talks about the many people he met during his research for the book and where he also tells their stories.

MARK ADAMS is the author of the acclaimed history Mr. America, which The Washington Post named a Best Book of 2009, and the bestsellers Tip of the Iceberg, Meet Me in Atlantis and Turn Right at Machu Picchu, which has been named one of the fifty greatest adventure books of all time. His work has appeared in many national publications, including GQ, the New York Times, and Rolling Stone. He has appeared as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Howard Stern Show, NPR Weekend Edition and other programs. Recently, two of his articles for Men's Journal were selected by the editors for their list of the magazine's ten best stories of the 2010s. He is currently working on a new book about the Catholic monk Thomas Merton's historic 1968 pilgrimage to study Buddhism in the Himalayas.

www.markadamsbooks.com

Find Mark Adams' books on Amazon

Support the show

💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece
Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:
🌐 Website
📸 Instagram
🐦 Twitter
📘 Facebook

🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

34: Persia's Greek War with Trevor Culley Jul 02, 2021

Show notes

We have now reached the end of the Greco-Persian Wars, but with most of our sources focusing on the Greek experience and perhaps not giving us a completely accurate picture of the Persians. In this episode we are going to delve deeper into Persia’s experience in the Wars, look at their motivations and what led them to, ultimately being unsuccessful.

To do this I have invited Trevor Culley from the History of Persia Podcast to come on and share his knowledge about the Persians with us, and help us look at the Persian perspective during the Wars.

Trevor’s personal experience with both Persian history and podcasts began with a college extra credit assignment to listen to the first Hardcore History episode on the Achaemenids. He was instantly enthralled with the stories of the Kings of Kings and coming a little late to the party, started listening to podcasts. On one hand, He started heading down the road toward PhD that will let him study ancient Persia for a living. On the other, as he binged his way through both the History of Rome and early episodes of the History of Byzantium he was always excited for the episodes dealing with the Parthians and Sassanids. Trevor was surprised and disappointed to discover that there was not a similarly dedicated podcast dealing with the great empires east of Rome. This would inspire and motivate him to create the History of Persia Podcast back at the start of 2019.
History of Persia Links:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Spotify
iTunes

Support the show

💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece
Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:
🌐 Website
📸 Instagram
🐦 Twitter
📘 Facebook

🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

33: Persia in Defeat Jun 18, 2021

Show notes

The Persian Empire had launched its first invasion against Greece in 492 BC after their involvement in the Ionian revolt. The campaign that came across the Aegean Sea would fall short of capturing Athens in 490 BC at the Bay of Marathon, seeing the invaders withdraw back into the empire. Though, Greece was not forgotten, Xerxes the new king launching the second invasion in 480 BC.

The second invasion would see one of the largest forces ever assembled to march west, heading through northern lands into Greece. This invasion would see a number of land and naval battles fought over the next two years. Defeats at Salamis, Plataea and Mycale would see the second invasion stopped with the Persians failing in subjugating all of Hellas.

How did the Persian army being the size it was fail to capture Greece? Had their equipment and training been up to the same standard as the Greeks? Had they underestimated the way the Greeks fought, with their lands and armies quite different to what they encountered in the east. Or had their sheer size and reliance on various nations for their numbers brought them undone?

Although the Greeks had won a major victory with it defining a generation, how did this affect the Persian Empire? Victory verses defeat is not often a zero-sum game. The Greek theatre was on the extreme western fringe of the Empire and the integrity of the Persian Empire remained intact. But the defeat and the ongoing operations would have consequences as the decade’s past.

Support the show

💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece
Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:
🌐 Website
📸 Instagram
🐦 Twitter
📘 Facebook

🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

32: Victory in Greece Jun 04, 2021

Show notes

The Hellenic league had now been victorious in two major engagements of 479 BC, at Plataea on the Greek mainland and Mycale in Persian territory. This would effectively see the end of the Persian invasion, and the Greeks victorious. Though, this was not immediately apparent and measures would be taken in the years to come to make sure they would not return.

With the Greek victory, a responsibility to honour the gods that had assisted them needed to be attended to. One did not want to risk offending a god who had helped their city, or disaster could be just around the corner. The various polies would construct monuments and sanctuaries over the years after the victory to show their gratitude. At Delphi, a collective monument would be constructed that listed all of the Greek cities who had been the defenders of Greece.

Back on the ground in Greece after Plataea, mopping up operations continued as Pausanias camped with the army on the Boeotian plains outside of Thebes. His focus now shifted to having the city answer for their crime of Medizing. Operations would also continue off the coast of Anatolia, with the fleet now making for the Hellespont and clearing Persian garrisons on this vital trade route.

With the campaign season of 479 coming to a close the Greeks contingents would now make for the safe ports of their various city states and Islands. But this would not be the end of operations in the Aegean. This could be seen as the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. The decisions and events that would follow, would have ramifications for generations to come.

Support the show

💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece
Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:
🌐 Website
📸 Instagram
🐦 Twitter
📘 Facebook

🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Casting Through Ancient Greece

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected