The battle of Salamis was the defining naval conflict of the ancient Greek world. Occurring in the wake of the Greek defeat at Thermopylae, the allied Hellenic fleet lined up in the narrow strait between mainland Attica and the nearby island of Salamis. Opposing them was the might of Persia's seabound forces. Although whittled down somewhat via storms, attrition and conflict, the Mede still outnumbered their opponents by a ratio of around 4 to 1. Joining me to discuss the conflict is Cornell Uni...
Oct 17, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 39
Thermopylae. The title is synonymous with a bygone age of glory, bravery and defiance. It is an event entirely pivotal to the Spartan story and indeed, of this podcast as well. The events at the hot gates were one of the few natural places a chronological history of the Spartans would assuredly cover. It would be fair to say I dragged it out for as long as possible, well we are here now. I'm joined by Professor Paul Cartledge who is without a doubt the greatest living expert on Sparta, there cou...
Feb 17, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 38
In the third installment of my Greco-Persian war series we take a look at the Interbellum. The years between Marathon and Thermopylae. A pivotal decade for both Greek and Persian alike. Alliances were an incredibly shaky proposition in ancient Greece but they would need something rock solid if they were to resist the coming enemy. We look at the Athenian naval build up during the period, the result of the visionary called Themistocles. Fortunately for the allies, Sparta had at her command the Pe...
Jan 28, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Second up for my Greco-Persian war series is the Battle of Marathon, fought in 490 BCE. The first time in living and recorded memory that a foreign invader attempted such a thing in Greece. Joining me to discuss the events is author and historian, Dr Owen Rees. Owen specialises in warfare in the ancient world and has a penchant for dissecting the psychological effects it had on the ancient psyche. I bring that specialisation to bear in concerning the aftermath of the battle, moreover Owen walks ...
Sep 25, 2022•2 hr•Season 1Ep. 36
EPISODE 35 A TALE OF TWO TYRANTS The Greco-Persian wars were a series of truly tectonic engagements fought during the first half of the 5th century BCE. On one side was a lose coalition of free Greek cities versus the autocratic behemoth that was the Persian empire. A real David and Goliath style conflict, with this episode I'll be kicking off a series on the conflicts to describe the period in as much detail as possible. First up I take a look at the genesis behind the wars themselves, that is ...
Aug 21, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 35
EPISODE 34 THE HISTORY OF PERSIA WITH TREVOR CULLEY The Persian empire constituted the greatest threat to Greek independence the individual city-states had yet faced. Indeed, it was a threat of such dire concern that its degree wasn't equalled until the Roman conquest of Greece in the 2nd century BCE. As we are now embarking upon a series of episodes to tell the story of the Greco-Persian wars, it is only fitting that we take the time to introduce this eastern antagonist into our narrative. The ...
May 15, 2022•1 hr 48 min•Season 1Ep. 34
EPISODE 33 CLEOMENEAN SPARTA Cleomenes the first sat upon the Agiad throne of Sparta from around 520 to 490 BCE. Although his downfall just preceded the advent of the Greco-Persian wars, his reign was nonetheless pivotal to ultimate Greek victory in those conflicts. Despite the various levels of government in Sparta designed to curtail individual regel authority, Cleomenes practically dictated Spartan policy for the entirety of his rule. Through sheer dynamism, ruthlessness and often varying deg...
Apr 17, 2022•59 min•Season 1Ep. 33
EPISODE 32 EMBASSIES AND ENEMIES By the middle of the 6th century, Sparta was, through her alliances, the most powerful military force Hellas had yet seen. There was just one thorn in their side, one pressing issue that hadn't been sufficiently resolved, Argos. This time around I'll take an expansive look at the Argive history and break down the enmity between the two cities. Predictably, and it should come as no surprise, it will take war to settle the disputes. Such power and prestige as they ...
Mar 13, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 32
EPISODE 31 A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN Likely by around 550 BCE, Sparta had the most powerful military in ancient Greece. They used that to their favour and created a coalition of Peloponnesian cities all bound to Sparta through unequal treaties of relative, mutual alliance. Called the, Lakedaimonians and their allies by ancient authors we know this union as the, Peloponnesian League. In the episode I get right into the nuts and bolts of how the early league formed and introduce a little of the backgr...
Feb 13, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 31
EPISODE 30 A SUMMARY OF LYCURGAN SPARTA WITH PROFESSOR PAUL CARTLEDGE Over the past half a century no one has done more to forward the field of ancient Spartan research than Professor Paul Cartledge. His gravitas and authority on the topic are second to none and his eloquence in describing these ancient warriors is more akin to poetry than prose. His presence on the Spartan History Podcast is most fitting, in that without his extensive body of work, the show would in all likelihood not exist. Th...
Nov 28, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 30
EPISODE 29 CASTES OF SPARTA This time around I take a look at the various castes and sub-castes within Spartan society. What we see in popular culture is but the tip of the iceberg, those mighty red cloaked warriors bestriding battlefields like giants from myth. Banned from any art other than that of war, the Spartiate ruler class was supported in their endeavours by a silent multitude of people, divided into several different classes and all denied the full rights of equal political enfranchise...
Oct 31, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 29
EPISODE 28 THE BRONZE LIE WITH MYKE COLE I had the honour, pride and privilege of sitting down with author Myke Cole for this instalment of the Spartan History Podcast. His recently released book, the Bronze Lie: Shattering the myth of Spartan warrior supremacy, tackles the often ill conceived appropriation of the Lacedaemonian story in it's most mythical and fantastical form. Often being used to promote ultra nationalist movements, fallacies surrounding the Spartan legend can be particularly pe...
Sep 12, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 28
EPISODE 27 HEAVY METAL SPARTANS WITH DR JEREMY SWIST We're shifting gears a little with this episode as I'm joined by Dr Jeremy Swist, lecturer and classicist at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. Dr Swist is an expert in the field of classical reception within the genre of Heavy Metal Music. This style exhibits a very particular type of Laconophilia or, affection for Sparta. In our discussion we go back to the beginnings of Laconophilia and trace its transcendence through time to the current...
Aug 15, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 27
EPISODE 26: THE SPARTAN REGIME WITH PROFESSOR PAUL RAHE Author, classicist and historian Professor Paul Rahe was kind enough to sit down with your host for this instalment of Spartan History Podcast. Paul has authored several books on the Lacedaemonians and his work, the Spartan Regime, is incredibly poignant to our current narrative. Focusing on the archaic formation of the Spartan institutions and character, it has been a great help to me as I've tried to reconstruct the various elements of wh...
Jul 04, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 26
EPISODE 25: SPARTIATES Welcome back folks to the Spartan History Podcast. Stepping back into the solo format to once again put another facet of pre-classical Sparta under the microscope. This time it is the ruling class, the Homoioi or Spartiates as they referred to themselves. This section of society, dedicated entirely to the pursuit of warfare, were propped up by the helot class who managed their vast land holdings. There was a complex system of land tenure within Sparta which was designed to...
Jun 13, 2021•45 min•Season 1Ep. 25
EPISODE 24: PART 2 OF A COLABRORATION WITH CASTING THROUGH ANCIENT GREECE PODCAST. For something a little different this month's release is part 2 of a collaboration podcast I was fortunate enough to record with Mark from Casting Through Ancient Greece. For those who haven't listened to part 1, you can find it at the following link, or at any of the various hosting services out there. https://castingthroughancientgreece.com/collaboration-episode-part1-featuring-spartan-history-podcast/ Mark's sh...
May 09, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 24
EPISODE 23 : HOPLITES AND THE SPARTAN WAR MACHINE This time around folks it is my great honour to have Professor Paul Bardunias as my guest on the show. Paul is a co-author of the book 'Hoplites at War: A comprehensive analysis of heavy infantry combat in the Greek world - 750 to 100 BCE. Fittingly we discuss just that, developing the concept of Hoplite warfare in Greece from its advent in the mid-8th century through to the eve of the Persian wars. Paul takes us through his 3 fundamentals of war...
Apr 11, 2021•1 hr 37 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Hello again dear listeners, this month we're back with episode 22, Raising Spartans. The treatment of Spartan children by their society has often been sensationalised by modern depiction, but these conceptions started in the ancient world where the Sparta of peoples imaginations, the mirage, was the predominant view point. This episode takes an in depth look at how children of both sexes were raised in Sparta's state sponsored and compulsory education system. From the cradle these children were ...
Mar 14, 2021•59 min•Season 1Ep. 22
EPISODE 21 GOVERNING SPARTANS Welcome back folks and to the first of what will be a series of episodes designed to explain the different facets of the Spartan world in the lead up to the Greco-Persian wars. This time its the governmental structures of Sparta that we'll be focusing on to see the various bodies responsible for Spartan law-making in action. It's popularly believed that Sparta was an oligarchic state, and to be fair by the time Xenophon and Aristotle penned their constitutions of th...
Feb 14, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 21
EPISODE 20 THE SPARTAN YOKE Happy new year folks, welcome back to the Spartan History Podcast, the only podcast called the Spartan History Podcast. We're turning 20 with the release of this episode and I couldn't be more pleased to be back behind the microphone. I hope you all had a safe holiday season. This time we're taking the Spartan story into the 7th century as the city consolidates her hold on the recently acquired Messenian territories. First though, we look at the post war settlement wi...
Jan 10, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 20
EPISODE 19 THE EXPANSION OF SPARTA The time has come to let Sparta out of the box, so to speak. Trapped as I've kept it since this series began, my aim was to explain the myths and early traditions of this city before moving on to it's inexorable dominance of ancient Greek battlefields. This episode sees the beginnings of that supremacy as in the space of a mere century it's horizon's expand from a loose collection of 4 villages on the right bank of the Eurotas, to a real Peloponnesian powerhous...
Nov 29, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 19
EPISODE 18 JASON AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE, PART 4. Welcome back to the Spartan History Podcast, the agenda for this episode will be the conclusion to my retelling of Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica. With the challenge set for them by King Aeetes successfully completed, the Argonauts are celebrating their efforts. However, in the king's palace, Aeetes is plotting their collective doom, unwilling to part with the fleece. Medea, who in no small part aided the Argonauts knows it's only a matter of ti...
Nov 15, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 18
EPISODE 17, APOLLO'S FAITHFUL. Welcome back to Spartan History Podcast, we're back on the Spartan narrative this time and taking a look at the early religious practices of the city's inhabitants. Although often understated, the Spartans were an incredibly pious people, even by the standards of piety set by the ancient Greek world of the day. Herodotus recorded in his histories that they placed more faith in the words of the gods than they did in those of men. I'll be stepping through all of the ...
Nov 01, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 17
EPISODE 16, JASON AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE PART 3. Welcome back to the Spartan History Podcast, this time around we'll be working through part 3 of my retelling of the Golden Fleece myth. Apollonius begins book 3 of the Argonautica by, in true epic fashion, invoking the muses and their eternal wisdom. I begin this episode by taking a look at the tradition of the muses and their significance to epic oral poetry. Following that we pick up the narrative with Jason and his Argonauts lingering on the ri...
Oct 18, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 16
EPISODE 15, LYCURGUS, THE WOLF WORKER. Welcome back to the Spartan History Podcast, this time we return to the Spartan narrative and sink our teeth into the most mercurial being of their legend, Lycurgus. A liminal figure, striding over the threshold of the dark and archaic ages, the Spartans of the classical period were unsure of his status, divine or otherwise. An early Delphic oracle was even recorded expressing similar doubts as to his position between the world of man and Olympus. Regardles...
Oct 04, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 15
EPISODE 14, JASON AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE PART 2. Welcome back to the Spartan History Podcast. This time around it's back to the story of Jason and his quest for the fleece. I begin with a digression into the evolution of the story itself and take a look at possible eastern influences along with a quick look through it's references by pre-Apollonian authors. Picking up the mythical thread where it was previously left, book 2 of Apollonius's Argonautica covers the Argo's voyage from the southern en...
Sep 20, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Welcome back to Spartan History Podcast. This is the first episode not based in the bronze/mythic age and takes a look at the Dark age era of Spartan history. It's an intrinsic period to the city that would one day dominate Greece as it was the time that saw it's foundation. Although anachronistically mentioned by Homer in his works, archaeology has as yet not detected any Mycenaean palace in the region of Sparta. Certainly nothing fit for Menelaus and Helen. All evidence points to the Spartan's...
Sep 06, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 13
EPISODE 12, JASON AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE PART 1. Welcome back to Spartan History Podcast, it's an honour to be able to present, as promised, the 1st of what will be a 4 part retelling of the Jason and the Golden Fleece myth. The masterpiece that is Apollonius of Rhodes' work, the Argonautica, starts with the eponymous heroes departure to Colchis to retrieve the fleece. Covering the journey to, the completing of and the returning from 'the quest'. It makes many assumptions of the contemporary a...
Aug 16, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Welcome back to Spartan History Podcast, this will be part 2 of my series on the Bronze age collapse, and the final episode set in the Heroic/Bronze period. After having established all of the major players in the eastern Mediterranean region in the previous episode, it's time to discover the fate of Homer's Achaean, aka the Mycenaean's. I expound upon the various ills besetting their society and set the seen for what I believe to be a mass migration event at the close of the age. Hopefully, bu...
Aug 02, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Welcome back to Spartan History Podcast, in this months episode we'll start a two part investigation into the Bronze age collapse of eastern Mediterranean civilisation. So in this, the first part, the scene for collapse will be set. Focusing on the empires and city-states that were within the Mycenaean sphere of influence to understand the various factors at play during this period of turmoil. The mysterious sea people are central to my narrative and as I work through the source material I'l...
Jul 05, 2020•53 min•Season 1Ep. 10
