Tag Archives: Ancient World Now

Ancient World

Ancient World Now: Alexander the Great, Part I

Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #52.

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Congratulations to Ken Perkins from Belmont for being the first to send me a shout out about our 50th episode! I’ll be signing and sending Ken a real old-fashioned (not PDF) version of my Scholastic book Read Aloud Plays: The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid. Thanks for listening, Ken!

Aaahhh, yes. I took us all the way back to the dawn of time to understand the path that led to the unforgettable people and events in Mediterranean Europe and Asia Minor. And chief of those unforgettable people, of course, is Alexander the Great. Brilliant, courageous, literary, and gosh-darned handsome, his is one of those few extraordinary life stories that never cease to instruct and amaze. He declared himself the son of a god, defeated the Persian King Darius and his empire, marched his faithful army to Egypt through Persia and into India, and married the Bactrian princess, Roxanna. When Alexander died, his empire was divided amongst his top generals. His body was to be entombed in Macedonia, but in transit the funeral bier was commandeered by Ptolemy (another superb leader) and taken to Egypt. There, Alexander’s body was lain in a royal tomb at Alexandria and became a place of pilgrimage up through the 4th century CE, when it was lost to history. Perhaps one child in our midst will succeed in locating the famed tomb and sarcophagus of Alexander the Great. Fingers crossed!

One of my favorite stories is of the junior-high aged Alexander astonishing his father and some courtiers by taking control of the wild and spirited Bucephalus. This great horse, whose name means “ox-headed,” in reference to its enormous head, conquered half the known world with his master. Covering thousands of miles and riding into battle on a regular basis, Bucephalus was truly the original “War Horse.” He reportedly died at 30 years old after suffering wounds in the Battle of Hydaspes in June of 326 BCE. Alexander was stricken with grief and honored his old friend by naming a city after him, Bucephala.

To honor this lovely book, here is a statue of Alexander and Bucephalus in Edinburgh itself. How did I miss this statue when I was there? I hope I lead you to investigate this most famous of historical personages. Enjoy the first in this series of readings from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s.

Ancient World

Ancient World Now: Timoleon, Part II

Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #51.

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Setting: Ancient Syracuse in Sicily. Sacked and desolate. Deserted of Greek colonists. Streets overrun with deer and wild boar.

Enter: Timoleon, ready to restore the Greek colonies of Sicily to their former glory, sans tyrants.

And even more amazing than his many successes was that by the end of his long life he had managed to avoid “the insatiable pursuit of glory and power which has wrecked so many great men.” Plutarch, like so many thinkers before him and since, tried to identify the qualities that make a great leader. Plato, Aristotle, Homer, and the epics Gilgamesh, Beowulf, and the Persian Shahnameh, all address the question of how to deal with the incompetent, malevolent, or unworthy leader. In today’s world, it sometimes seems to be an old-fashioned expectation: ethical, just, and informed leadership with a focus on the long-term. We are living in revolutionary times, and we can only hope that our world leaders have read and learned from history. Where are those leaders of old? It’s time they step out of the shadows and give us all something to hope for.

Find out how Timoleon stacks up in today’s podcast reading from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s. Enjoy!

Ancient World

Ancient World Now: Timoleon, Part I

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Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #50.

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Friends, Romans, countrymen! This podcast marks our 50th episode! To celebrate, I’ll send a copy of my book to the first person who writes me at: gwen@gwenminor.com! Good luck! And thanks for making me love this!

Fratricide, intrigue, privation, and assassins. Timoleon and Dionysius II face off in today’s podcast.

Sicily has such an interesting history, and the court of Dionysius II was especially so. The story of the sword of Damocles comes from this court, and Plato hung out there a lot! Dionysius II was fascinated with Plato’s idea of the philosopher-king, and so invited Plato to Sicily to try to make him the ideal ruler. Amazing! And what happened after that was even more astounding. It didn’t work so well and Plato ended up wishing he hadn’t got involved in all the drama. He gives his account of his Sicilian adventures in his Seventh Letter. But I digress! As usual, the bad guys get more attention than the good guys. As Mark Antony said in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar:”The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”

What was Plutarch trying to teach us about Timoleon, the hero responsible for the revival of Greek Sicily? Find out in today’s podcast reading from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s. Enjoy!

Ancient World

Ancient World Now: Pelopidas, Part II

Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #49.

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The Sacred Band was an elite fighting unit of 300 men from the Greek city-state of Thebes. They were famous throughout the ancient world for their invincibility on the battlefield; their success attributed to the fact that the Sacred Band of Thebes was a unit of 150 couples described by Plutarch thus:

“a band cemented by friendship grounded upon love is never to be broken, and invincible; since the lovers, ashamed to be base in sight of their beloved, and the beloved before their lovers, willingly rush into danger for the relief of one another.” ~from Plutarch’s Lives

In today’s podcast, this band is led by Pelopidas against the Spartans. The Sacred Band was undefeated until the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE, where Philip of Macedon annihilated them. After this all-important historical battle, Philip wept and paid homage to the courageous fallen. A tomb was erected, and in the 19th century, excavations discovered 254 bodies arranged in 7 rows.

Listen to today’s podcast to find out how Pelopidas led them to victory against the Spartans in 375 BCE.

A minor surgery has laid me up for a bit, and set us back a couple of weeks. Sorry about that, faithful listeners, including Amanda in Virginia, who used our podcasts to help her understand The Odyssey this past semester. One good thing about this surgery, it got me reading lots about ancient medicine, wounds, surgery, and healing. Did you know that honey was packed into the wounds of men on the battlefield to stop bloodflow and start healing? I have lots more to share with you, but first we must get through Plutarch’s Lives for Boys and Girls.

Ancient World

Ancient World Now:Pelopidas, Part I

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.

Ancient World

Ancient World Now:Themistocles, Part II

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.

Ancient World

Ancient World Now:Themistocles Part I

Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #46.

Click here for previous audio episodes.

“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!

Ancient World

Ancient World Now: Aristides, Part II

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.

Ancient Tales, Ancient World

Ancient World Now: Aristides, Part I

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.

Ancient World

Ancient World Now:Salamis & Plataea

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.