Cost of Glory - Alex Petkas

Latest Episodes:

43 - An uncommon strategy for mastering fear Sep 07, 2022

Show notes

A principle for building exercises to control your anxiety or fear. Favorinus, a philosopher from the time of Plutarch, offers some deft observations about Socrates.

42 - Get Friendships with Powerful People Aug 24, 2022

Show notes

Plutarch offers insight on relating to people above your station

41 - Plato on how to Destroy an Aristocracy Aug 09, 2022

Show notes

Plato gives some insight in how to undermine your enemies.

40 - How to get lucky when the gods are against you Jul 20, 2022

Show notes

How to turn bad luck around. SPOILER: it's not just more effort.

Stories of Timotheus and Sulla

39 - Lysander Aftermath: or, How to Keep Fighting Jul 05, 2022

Show notes

What happened after Lysander died? What was his legacy? What can we learn from his life?

38 - Lysander 3: Kings of Sparta Jun 21, 2022

Show notes

Lysander returns from his setbacks at Sparta with a revolutionary plan. He consults the gods about the Spartan Kingship; and some of his own prophecies about Greek geopolitics come true.

In this episode: How should protegés treat mentors? How do you change a deeply conservative state? And, as always, what is the cost, for an individual, for a state, of striving for supreme glory?

Characters:
Alexander Hamilton (cameo)
Lysander
Tissaphernes, Satrap of Lydia
The Pythia
Agesilaus
Cyrus the Younger
King Pausanias
Thrasyboulus of Athens

Places:
Sparta
Oracle of Delphi
Oracle of Dodona, in Epirus
Oracle of Zeus Ammon (Amun Ra), Libya
Ephesus
Thebes
Haliartus

37 - Lysander 2: Thirty Tyrants Jun 14, 2022

Show notes

Lysander - The Spartan who took down Athens. In this episode: the dangers of success.

How (and why) Lysander installed the notorious "Thirty" at Athens, and how he came to be worshipped as a god. Could Sparta contain such a man?

Characters:

Lysander

Socrates

Theramenes
Critias

King Pausanias

King Agis

Thrasyboulus
The Thirty

The Mob

Key Virtues:

Patience

Flexibility

Obedience
Indifference to Money
Resilience

Key Places:

Athens

Sparta

Thebes
Samos
Miletus
Delphi

36 - Lysander 1: Death of Democracy Jun 07, 2022

Show notes

A Spartan; first Greek honored as a god during his lifetime; destroyer of Athenian naval supremacy.

In this episode: his rise to power, how he pulled off the greatest naval upset in Greek history, and WHY he did it.

Characters:

Lysander

Socrates

Xenophon

Alcibiades

Prince Cyrus the Younger

Agesilaus

King Agis

Kallikratidas

The Mob

Key Virtues:

Patience

Flexibility

Obedience

Key Places:

Athens

Sparta

Ephesus

Dardanelles / Hellespont

35 - Socrates on Public Shaming May 24, 2022

Show notes

A story about how Socrates reacted when he got publicly shamed.

34 - Harry Truman on Plutarch May 10, 2022

Show notes

Harry Truman was a great admirer of Plutarch's lives, and recommended them often. He discusses why.

Quotes taken from Miller's oral biography of Truman, "Plain Speaking."

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Cost of Glory – Alex Petkas

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