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Casting Through Ancient Greece

History Podcasts

A podcast about the history of ancient Greece for people new to and familiar with Ancient Greek history.The Casting Through Ancient Greece podcast will focus on telling the story of Ancient Greece starting from the pre history through Archaic Greece, Classical Greece and up to the Hellenistic period. Featured throughout the podcast series will be Major events such as the Greek and Persian wars, The Peloponnesian war and Alexander the Greats war against Persia. www.castingthroughancientgreece.com for more resources and creditsSupport the series at www.patreon.com/castingthroughancientgreecefacebook: casting through ancient greeceTwitter: @casting_greece

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Location:

Australia

Description:

A podcast about the history of ancient Greece for people new to and familiar with Ancient Greek history.The Casting Through Ancient Greece podcast will focus on telling the story of Ancient Greece starting from the pre history through Archaic Greece, Classical Greece and up to the Hellenistic period. Featured throughout the podcast series will be Major events such as the Greek and Persian wars, The Peloponnesian war and Alexander the Greats war against Persia. www.castingthroughancientgreece.com for more resources and creditsSupport the series at www.patreon.com/castingthroughancientgreecefacebook: casting through ancient greeceTwitter: @casting_greece

Language:

English

Episodes

Interview: Odysseus Unbound with Prof. James Diggle

3/24/2023
Links: https://www.odysseus-unbound.org/ Faceook YouTube Book: Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer's Ithaca In the series we have look at some elements within Greek history that have connections to traditional tales and mythology. Some big examples of these were when we looked at the Trojan War, Mycenae and the Minoans. Well once again we are looking at historical connections to what can be found within the ancient writings of Homer, this time with a focus on the Odyssey. This...

Duration:01:01:03

66: Corinth, Emergence on the Greek Stage

3/9/2023
We continue our look at the development of Corinth in the series. Last episode we ended with the period of tyranny that had lasted two generations and ended with the assassination of the third. However, Corinth would continue to flourish, with cultural and economic advances taking place. Corinth would end up hosting one of the Pan Hellenic games, being one of the first mainland cities to mint their own coins, while large public building would begin to dot the Acropolis. The mid-6th century...

Duration:00:38:02

Teaser: Ostracism (Patreon)

3/1/2023
This is a teaser of the bonus episode, Ostracism found over on Patreon. We now continue our look at the systems and institutions that would develop in early Athens and Sparta. For this episode we will now turn the the political mechanism of Ostracism that would develop in Athens after the period of tyranny that had existed there in the last half of the 6th century BC. We will look at what Ostracism was and what its purpose was. We will look at why it would develop, by understanding the...

Duration:00:06:48

65: Corinth's Early History

2/23/2023
The polis of Corinth has remained in the background of events as we have travelled through the narrative of the series so far. Now though, we have reached a point, the years leading to the break out of the Peloponnesian War, where Corinth starts to feature in the ancient sources on a more regular basis. This would be through diplomatic dealings, both within the Peloponnesian league and on larger Greek matters involving Athens. For this reason, we are going to take a short break in the...

Duration:00:36:47

64: The Samian War

2/9/2023
Athens and Sparta had now entered into an agreement known as the 30 years’ peace, seeing the first Peloponnesian come to an end. This would see the creation of two spheres of influence within Greek lands that they would now turn their attention to. In Athens, Pericles would now also see a challenge to his influence within the Athenian political system. All accounts in the sources indicate that the rise of the conservative faction would be the toughest fight Pericles would have to endure to...

Duration:00:40:04

Teaser: The Tribes of Athens (Patreon)

2/2/2023
This is a teaser of the bonus episode, The Tribes of Athens found over on Patreon. Having spent the last couple of bonus episodes with Sparta, we now turn to Athens to look at the development of their institutions. We will first look at a major step forward in the development of democracy with the reforms of Cleisthenes. In this episode we will refresh ourselves with Athens of the late Archaic period and then Cleisthenes' background. We will then touch on some of the political mechanisms...

Duration:00:07:38

Teaser: The Helots (Patreon)

1/5/2023
This is a teaser of the bonus episode, The Helots, found over on Patreon. Hello everyone and a happy new year, we are now back with our first bonus episode of 2023. For this bonus episode we have stuck with Sparta for the time being. A major reason for this was due to a question I received on Patreon that asked about the wider Greek world and their view on Sparta's practice of keeping Greeks as slaves. So, for this episode I decided to take a look at the Spartan slave class known as the...

Duration:00:07:13

Collaboration with Spartan History Podcast

12/15/2022
So, it’s now mid-December and I am taking a break over the Christmas period and month of January. Though, before signing off for the holidays I wanted to leave you all with a different sort of episode to see out the year. I decided to contact my good friend Steve over at The Spartan History Podcast to see if he would be interested in coming on just to talk about Greek history. He has just entered into the Greek and Persian War period, so I thought it would provide lots for us to talk about....

Duration:01:41:43

Teaser: The Agoge (Patreon)

12/3/2022
This is a teaser of the bonus episode, Solon, found over on Patreon. Sparta's path to development as a polis would be different to a lot of other Greek city states. Because of this path they would develop institutions that would seem unique in an otherwise Greek world. One of these developments was that of the Agoge, Sparta's system of education to produce loyal and disciplined citizens. It is this system that we turn to today and try and get better understanding of. We will look at what...

Duration:00:07:00

63: Wars End

12/1/2022
Athens and Sparta were now in a position to turn their attention to matters within their own spheres of influence, with the truce that existed between them. Sparta would look at eliminating the threats that they had faced on the Peloponnese, seeing Argos now at peace with Sparta, and Tegea brought back into the Peloponnesian league. While negotiations would appear to be taking place with other cities on the Corinthian isthmus. With Sparta now in a more secure position domestically, they...

Duration:00:36:23

62: Crisis in the Aegean

11/17/2022
After the battle of Tanagra, Athens was able to focus on pursuing its aims throughout Boeotia, the Gulf of Corinth and the Peloponnese. This saw Athens power and influence grow even more at the expense of Sparta and its allies. However, the disaster that would take place in Egypt for Athens would see them now needing to change their policies to better deal with the crisis that was brewing in the Aegean. One of the first measures taken was to put in place a truce with Sparta, so as to reduce...

Duration:00:39:03

61: After Tanagra

10/27/2022
Sparta had defeated Athens at the battle of Tanagra in 457 BC, though both armies had taken heavy losses. Both would look to make a temporary truce so that they could regroup without the fear of being attacked while in a vulnerable position. This would see the forces of both Athens and Sparta return to their cities bringing a close to this campaign. However, this would not be the end of hostilities and campaigning for the first Peloponnesian war. Just 62 days after Tanagra, Athens would...

Duration:00:38:02

60: Disaster on the Nile

10/13/2022
Athens was engaging in developing new alliances on the Greek mainland in response to the hostility with Sparta. This would also see a number of campaigns launched by the Athenians to establish their security, these being fought by Sparta’s allies. However, as these events on the mainland were unfolding, a plea for help from a rebel king in Egypt would arrive requesting Athenian assistance in fighting the Persians. In 465 BC Xerxes would be assassinated bringing his 21-year rule to an end....

Duration:00:38:10

59: From Allies to Enemies

9/30/2022
With the insult received at the hands of the Spartans during the helot revolt, the Athenians began setting a course to deal with the new geopolitical realities. They would first sever their connection to Sparta by dissolving their membership in the Hellenic league. This would then be followed by securing alliances with enemies of Sparta and cities that would secure Athen’s position from any attack coming from the Peloponnese. Athens would also enact building projects that would assist in...

Duration:00:39:27

58: Shifting Sands in Athens

9/16/2022
Events during the 460’s would see the political sands in Athens begin to shift, with opposition to Cimon’s influence increasing in the sources. This would first come through charges of corruption at the conclusion of the Thasos campaign. While a more successful attempt would take place with Sparta’s rejection of Athenian assistance during the helot revolt, assistance Cimon had supported sending. This would see the emergence on the pages of Athenian history, two new influential political...

Duration:00:40:58

57: Troubles on the Peloponnese

9/2/2022
In 464 BC, Poseidon the earth shaker would rock the Peloponnese, seeing Sparta take the full force of the earthquake. A number of the ancient sources would record the terrible event and the scale of destruction and suffering experienced by the Spartans. Modern day studies would show that the what Sparta experienced was likely on the same scale as the earth quake that struck Haiti in 2021 of our time. The impact to Sparta was great enough that their Helot class would view their masters as...

Duration:00:35:48

56: Thasos, Path to Conflict

8/19/2022
After the Delian Leagues victory over the Persian forces at the Eurymedon River, campaigning would continue with it appearing other areas closer to the Greek mainland being the focus. Though, the Island of Thasos, an original Delian league member would now also revolt from the league, seeing Athens and the leagues attention being refocused to deal with this developing threat. We are told that the revolt would come about due to economic reasons, with Athenian influence now also extending...

Duration:00:37:10

55: Policies Evolve

8/5/2022
With the victory over the Persian invasions in 479 BC, the Greeks had continued operations in the Aegean against Persian controlled areas. Though, objectives and priorities of many of the city states had shifted with this common threat ejected from Greek lands. This would see yet another league formed, that of the Delian league, who would continue campaigning throughout the Aegean. While these campaigns continued on for the next 10 years, political developments within the Greek mainland...

Duration:00:45:43

Interview: The Athenian Experience of War with Dr Owen Rees

7/21/2022
Dr Owen Rees is Associate Lecturer in Ancient History at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he specialises in the transition of soldiers from civilian life to the battlefield and back again. His books on the topic of ancient Greek warfare include Great Battles of the Classical Greek World (Pen & Sword, 2016); Great Naval Battles of the Ancient Greek World (Pen & Sword, 2018); and Military Departures, Homecomings, and Death in Classical Athens: Hoplite Transitions (Bloomsbury Academic,...

Duration:01:47:11

Interview: Eternal Myths with Bernie Taylor

7/8/2022
Bernie Taylor is an independent naturalist, thought leader and author whose research explores the mythological connections and biological knowledge among prehistoric, indigenous and ancient peoples. His works in these areas include Biological Time (2004) and Before Orion: Finding the Face of the Hero (2017). Before Orion is premised on Joseph’s Campbell’s hero's journey monomyth that is at the core of stories worldwide among indigenous peoples, the ancients, and our modern society. Before...

Duration:01:57:14

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