Spartan History Podcast

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 o...

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...

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 resu...

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....

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...

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 wa...

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 Spa...

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. Predictabl...

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 g...

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...

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...

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 us...

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 d...

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 a...

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 th...

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. ...

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 th...

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...

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 Spar...

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 consol...

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...

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, unw...

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...

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...

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 r...