Cost of Glory - Alex Petkas

Latest Episodes:

83 - Pompey I: Kid Butcher Mar 19, 2024

Show notes

Pompey, the Great. Part 1 of 3. Pompey's rise to become one of Rome's greatest generals - before he's even old enough to hold office. How he got the nickname of "Kid Butcher" or "The Butcher Boy".

Thanks to our Sponsor, Intercollegiate Studies Institute! www.isi.org

Key Names:
Agesilaus of Sparta
Julius Caesar
Alexander the Great
Pompeius STRABO (father)
Social War
Gaius MARIUS (populist consul)
Lucius Cornelius CINNA (populist consul)
Lucius Cornelius SULLA (optimate consul & dictator)
MITHRIDATES - King of Pontus
Gnaeus Papirius CARBO (populist consul)
Antistia (first wife)
Marcus Licinius CRASSUS
Marcus Aemilus LEPIDUS (rebel consul)
Marcus Junius BRUTUS (Father of the conspirator)
Quintus Lutatius CATULUS (optimate stalwart)
Quintus Sertorius
Quintus Caecilus METELLUS PIUS (P's fellow general in Spain)
Marcus PERPERNA (populist ally of Sertorius)
Spartacus
Marcus Terentius VARRO (the scholar)
Lucius Licinius LUCULLUS (rival general)
Quintus HORTENSIUS Hortalus (optimate stalwart)
Aulus GABINIUS (P's tribune buddy)
The Pirates
"Quirites" (the Roman citizenry)

Key Places:
Rome
Picenum
Asculum
North Africa
Mutina
Spain
Lauron
Sucro River
Ostia (Rome's port)

[Jeremy Giffon on Invest like the Best Podcast, ep. 336: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Vdv5i250hF6EfzOTML9RE?si=98bacff34a7244e9]

82 - How to Tell a Flatterer From a Friend Feb 29, 2024

Show notes

Check out Ralston College's FUNDED MA program: https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma !

...Plutarch offers some advice on how to choose your friends, and how to be a good one. Examples include Alexander the Great, Cato, Carneades, Plato, Dionysius the Tyrant, and more.

(Here depicted: the monument of Philopappus in Athens, to whom Plutarch's essay is dedicated)

81 - Spartacus — with Barry Strauss Feb 13, 2024

Show notes

An interview with Barry Strauss, Spartacus expert, and author of The Spartacus War

In this episode:

-How Spartacus' Slave revolt almost failed in its early stages
-Overcoming short term thinking as a leader
-Spartacus' influence on modern leaders

80 - The Best Stoic Sentences Jan 30, 2024

Show notes

A method for reading that can transform your life.

W/ help from Dana Gioia, California Poet Laureate, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts 2003-2009.

Get his new book Sentences from Seneca, here!

Some Sources:

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius/Letter_108
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Sallust/Bellum_Jugurthinum/3*.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Sayings_of_Spartans*/main.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Sayings_of_Spartans*/Agesilaus.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Agesilaus*.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Lysander*.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Sertorius*.html

79 - Spencer Klavan: Why Achilles Plays the Lyre Jan 17, 2024

Show notes

Why does Achilles, slaughterer of men, play the lyre? A conversation with Spencer Klavan of the Young Heretics podcast.

Check out the Cost of Glory Men's Leadership Retreat: costofglory.com/retreat !

Spencer on Twitter: @spencerklavan
In this conversation, we discuss:
-Spencer & Alex's common ground training as classicists
-How one gets into these ancient books in the first place
-The theory of "Art for Art's Sake": Why it's interesting, plausible, and wrong.
-Epic heroes singing Epic Poetry
-Great books for busy dads

And much, much more...

78 - Lucullus III: Betrayal Jan 02, 2024

Show notes

The fall and political struggles of the great Lucullus, rival of Pompey and Caesar.

Cost of Glory Men's Retreat 2024 application open! - costofglory.com/retreat

Thanks to our sponsor Ancient Language Institute - Tutoring now available:

Latin: https://ancientlanguage.com/latin-tutorials/

Ancient Greek: https://ancientlanguage.com/ancient-greek-tutorials/

Cicero's Pro Archia

https://www.attalus.org/cicero/archias.html

People in this episode:
Mithridates, King of Pontus
Tigranes, King of Armenia
Clodius, the Brother in Law
Pompey
Clodia, the Bad Wife
Servilia, also a Bad Wife
Cato the Younger
Cicero
Caesar

Places in this episode:
Tigranokert
Artaxata
Nisibis
Pontus
Armenia
Rome

77 - Lucullus II: Armenia Dec 19, 2023

Show notes

Lucullus drives Mithridates out of Pontus, and war escalates

In this episode:
-The power of concentration
-Nothing is more important than sleep
-Bold Barbarian Queens
-The value of bad news
-Battle of Tigranocerta

Book Rec - Gareth Sampson, Rome's Great Eastern War

76 - Lucullus I: Starvation Dec 12, 2023

Show notes

Lucullus, Conqueror of Armenia. Highlights from Plutarch's biography of the great foe of Pompey

Thanks to our sponsor Ancient Language Institute - Tutoring now available:

Latin: https://ancientlanguage.com/latin-tutorials/

Ancient Greek: https://ancientlanguage.com/ancient-greek-tutorials/

In this episode:
-How to get noticed early on in your career
-Seducing your way to warlord status
-Taking the time to do the math

75 - How to Turn People Down (or, "On Cringe") Nov 28, 2023

Show notes

The vice of "dysopia" brings down even the strongest. Plutarch gives some advice on how to fortify ourselves against it.

Reach out to alex@ancientlifecoach.com for more info on the 2024 Cost of Glory Men's retreat in Rome!

Link to a translation of Plutarch's text : https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/De_vitioso_pudore*.html

74 - Crassus Aftermath, Takeaways, Sources Nov 17, 2023

Show notes

What happened to Crassus' captured soldiers? To his family? What can we learn from his successes and his world-historic failure?

ANNOUNCEMENT! Cost of Glory Men's Leadership Retreat in Rome - July 2024. Reach out to alex@ancientlifecoach.com if you're interested.

Buy the books:

-Penguin edition of Plutarch including Life of Crassus
-Sallust's war with Catiline
-Tom Holland's Rubicon
-Barry Strauss' book on Spartacus
-Edward Watts's Mortal Republic
-Gareth Sampson, "The Defeat of Rome" on Parthian Expedition
-Peter Stothard, The First Tycoon

See also Gruen, Last Generation of the Roman Republic; Ward, Crassus and the Late Roman Republic; Rawson, Crassorum Funera (in journal Latomus).

Pictured: Roman Soldier next to a Han noble, statue group in Liqian, China. Photo: Natalie Behring

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