Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #48. 
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So glad to be back!
Athens, Sparta, Thebes…Famous rivals, all. Today we hear of the Spartan hegemony over Thebes and what a small band of rebels decided to do about it. Again, I read from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, this book was published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900’s.
Click here for direct link to audio Episode #47. 
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The Greeks had the “home-court advantage” at Salamis. Knowing that winds kicked up at a certain time of day, Themistocles postponed assault until the Persians were knocked about a bit! Hear today of the crafty tactics of the Athenian general, and of the fate of Persian king Xerxes’s brother. We all know the Greeks were victorious at Salamis, but how many know the man who led them to that victory was ostracized by his fellow Athenians because he’d gotten “too big for his britches?” Pick up Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans to find out how he ended up hanging out with Xerxes in Persia, settled quietly in Magnesia, and committed suicide rather than take up arms against his countrymen when Xerxes called upon him so to do! Who were these people! What drama!
Enjoy the final installment on Themistocles, from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys and Girls by W.H.Weston from the early 1900’s.
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #46. 
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“The Persians are coming! The Persians are coming!” Can’t you just hear the Athenians running through the streets in panic? The men of the city sent their wives, children, and parents to Troezen for safety and hustled down to the ships ready to sail to the island of Salamis. Athens was abandoned. Plutarch writes of the sad sight of the old and infirm left behind, and of the pet dogs running after their masters down to the shore. One dog jumped into the water and paddled next to the galley all the way to Salamis, where he struggled ashore, fell down exhausted, and died.
Abandoning the city of Athens was the course of action planned by their leader, Themistocles, one of the “base-born lads”, whose intelligence and ambition made up for the fact that he was not a full-blooded Athenian! Only in a democratic Athens was his rise possible. Popular with the “common” people, Themistocles was known to greet everyone in the city by name. Gaining their confidence, he convinced Athens to prepare to defend themselves, and with shrewd foresight, set about making Athens a great naval power.
Enjoy today’s podcast!
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #45. 
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Lucky for us Plutarch was born around 45 AD/CE! The assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March was just over the metaphoric-historic horizon. Presumably, Plutarch would have been able to talk to people with whom that event involved family and friends. And when he speaks about Aristides at Plataea, centuries before, it sounds as if he knows him personally. One of the most valuable things about Plutarch is that he chooses to focus his attention on the character, rather than on the achievements, of the individual. And because of his interest in the details of the everyday lives of his subjects, we get a very real presentation of the difficulties in bringing people together for a difficult task. Indeed, he sets out to show the burning rivalry between Athens and Sparta that would eventually destroy the hope of Greece in the Peloponnesian War.
Plutarch’s Parallel Lives examines the characters of great historical leadership, and much of our historical knowledge is based on his many writings. Plutarch’s selections highlighting the qualities of extraordinary leaders have shaped untold millions over the years. Standard reading in military academies for thousands of years!
Join us today on the battlefield of Plataea. Will the Spartans and Athenians stop bickering and join together to defeat the Persian Mardonius? And what’s up with the Thebans going behind everybody’s back with the enemy? Today we finish with Aristides in Weston’s retelling of Plutarch’s Lives. Will the Greeks unite and vanquish the invader? Check out today’s audio podcast (a lengthy 30 minutes!) to find out.
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #44.
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As you know, one of my favorite things is to peruse the stacks of any used bookstore. Over many years I have acquired an amazing library, which allows me to take a book down from a shelf and answer any of my many questions in a matter of minutes. In fact, my library is now so large and specialized that I am considering dividing sections into historical periods to help with my research!
Today I read from a little treasure I found somewhere I can’t even recall, Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls. Retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, this book was published in London & Edinburgh. Like many old books prior to when society began to think of them as a commodity, it is without an ISBN (international standard book number) or publication date. It is safe to say this book is from the early 1900’s, when books for children were beginning to have real interest for writers and illustrators. One can easily think back to N.C. Wyeth, Howard Pyle, Walter Crane, and Kate Greenaway. This book has the same feel as a Howard Pyle adventure book. Beautifully bound, with high quality heavy paper, and words impressed into the surface by the printing press so that you can practically read them like braille. A lovely find! And to top it off, it is well-written and in the general tone of Plutarch, as they hadn’t yet started “dumbing down” the classics.
Having brought us through the Persian Wars, I thought it might be nice to take some time to learn about some of the main characters. Aristides is up to bat & later we’ll give equal time to his rival, Themistocles. Sit back and enjoy this first part of Plutarch’s life of Aristides! See if you can tell which scene is illustrated here.
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #43. 
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For the very best, there is no need to search further than a well-worn copy of Herodotus’ The Histories. As a boy in Halicarnassus, Herodotus grew up listening to tales told by men who had fought at Salamis against the Greeks—and under the command of Queen Artemisia I. This warrior queen of Caria acted as a satrap of Persian king Xerxes and her advice on matters were held in high regard. She strongly advised against engaging the Greeks in naval warfare. 
Herodotus details her arguments in Book Eight, but Xerxes had his own reasons for continuing a naval advance. Artemisia led ships in the battle at Salamis and sunk a Greek ship when she ordered it rammed. 10,000 drachmae was promised to anyone who captured her alive. She escaped after the battle and continued her close relation to the Persian king by taking his children to Ephesus under her protection.
Lucky for us, Xerxes decided to follow his own mind and the Persian fleet was destroyed. Never again would the Greeks take a defensive stand against the Great King on their own home turf. The ideals of democracy and the arts that are its bounty were given a new lease on life in the victory at Salamis.
How fair of Herodotus to tell us about her: “It seems to me a most strange and interesting thing that she—a woman—should have taken part in the campaign against Greece. On the death of her husband the sovereign power had passed into her hands, and she sailed with the fleet in spite of the fact that she had a grown-up son and that there was consequently no necessity for her to do so. Her own spirit of adventure and manly courage were her only incentives…She sailed in command of the men of Halicarnassus, Cos, Nisyra, and Calydna, and furnished five ships of war. They were the most famous in the fleet, after the contingent from Sidon, and not one of the confederate commanders gave Xerxes sounder advice than she did.”
And how shocking that she isn’t even mentioned in the 1904 high school history text that I read from in today’s podcast! Amazing how stories of strong female leaders tend to be omitted from the history books.
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #42. 
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Thank the gods Themistocles had the nerve to convince the Athenians to use the profits from the silver mines of Laurium to build a fleet of warships! And thank the gods Leonidas & his 300 took a stand at that narrow mountain pass. Check out today’s podcast to find out what all the fuss was about. 
www.thegreekwarriors.com…Last month I came across an exciting website that I just have to share with you. Let these guys be a lesson to all of us who strive to live lives full of passion and fun. George & Dave are brothers who share a love of ancient history and turned their passion into a reality when they started The Greek Warriors reenactment society. I asked permission to include their photos on my website & got a few emails back in response. Check out their amazing work. I told George I didn’t understand why people would NOT want to dress up in Greek armor, and he agreed, adding this about his work:
“What you see on my website has taken years to accomplish. I make a lot of what you see. We buy the helmets, greaves, metal chest armor, and spear heads and butt caps. But I make most of the shields, do a lot of the leather work, and make just about all of the helmet crests. They are made of real horse hair, and the whole process is quite tedious. But it’s all worth it. I have taken my love of the ancient Greek warrior, and brought him to life again. Glad you like it. 
Thanks again Gwen, and please carry on.
Sincerely,
George – Commander of The Greek Warriors
www.TheGreekWarriors.com
And if you’d like to set yourself up with your own horsehair-crested helmet, here’s a direct link to The Greek Warriors arms & armor page! And be sure to tell them George & Dave sent you! Enjoy!
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #41.
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The sad death of Sammy Wanjiru, the Kenyan Olympic marathon champion and gold medalist casts its shadow over today’s podcast. May he rest in peace…
I remember I first heard the story of Marathon when I was in high school. It thrilled me to the core to know that the Greek underdogs had beaten back the Persian aggressors. But more thrilling to me was the story of Pheidippides, the messenger, who ran so faithfully to bring news of the victory to the people of Athens that he collapsed and died of exhaustion on the spot!
Later, I read different versions of the story. In reality, he ran 140 miles in one day from Athens to Sparta to beg assistance. The Spartans, being a cantankerous bunch, kept the Athenians waiting and arrived a day late & a dollar short! They missed the battle and never forgave themselves!
The victory at Marathon was a pivotal moment in history, galvanizing resolve in the fledgling democracies, and filling Greek spirits with the kind of triumph that makes nothing seem impossible. This spirit flourished and brought to fruition in later years the finest aspects of Western Civilization to which we lay claim. After Marathon, Persian King Darius began preparations for a second attack, but trouble in Egypt postponed his plans. He died 4 years after the Battle at Marathon, and it was another 6 years before his son Xerxes would carry out his father’s plans by returning for another try. This ten year respite gave the Greeks time to regroup. And thanks to a brilliant general by the name of Themistocles, those years were spent preparing for the next Persian invasion. But that, my friends, is another story…. Enjoy!
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #39. 
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By chance, I happened to find myself in a crowd of Hellenes as I made my way through San Francisco’s Civic Center on the afternoon of April 10th. The annual Hellenic Cultural Parade was winding down and I got some colorful shots. Special thanks to the dancers and their families for letting me take the photos. 
Our story of Greek history continues with the Age of Tyrants. The tyrants were one of a number of factors that allowed the idea of democracy to grow and develop. Today, I read from an old high school textbook from 1904! That’s one of the beauties of studying the ancient world, it’s ancient history! Enjoy! 
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #38.
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Migration and movements of peoples has been a constant ever since Australopithecus set up camp in a more advantageous spot one day four million years ago. This photo by Christian Sinibaldi, posted on the Guardian U.K. website, shows the boat graveyard on the Italian island of Lampedusa, where North African migrants abandon their vessels on their flight to more advantageous spots in Europe. In my constant quest to see the ancient world in our everyday modern lives, I encourage you to consider the current explosive uprisings throughout North Africa & the Middle East as an overlay onto your understanding of the events that precipitated the Greek Dark Ages.
Award ceremony and podcast and taxes, oh my! An overwhelming number of factors contributed to my missing our last podcast. Hope you can forgive me! To make up for it, in today’s podcast I am trotting out a new theory on the destruction of Mycenaean civilization. Michael Shanks and Gary Devore, archaeology professors at Stanford University, discussed their own theory in last week’s Archaeology of Greece class.
For many years now I have been on the children’s book committee for the Northern California Book Awards. Each year for the past 30 years, committees have gathered together from October to April to review the year’s published books from Northern California’s authors. There are dozens and dozens of books to read for each category: fiction, general non-fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, children’s literature, and translation for poetry & fiction. In the spring I do NCBA work and in the fall I do work for Litquake, the annual literary festival in San Francisco. I am honored to be a part of these organizations and my volunteer work is one of the many ways I contribute my creative energy to the Bay Area writer’s community. As I was writing this, we had a little earthquake! Felt like a truck hit the building. It disturbed the cats (including Achilles, my tuxedo warrior) and we all fled to different parts of the house! And today is the anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake! Yet another ancient world connection: ancient earthquakes. Think Crete, Delphi, Sicily, and Alexandria, to name a few.