Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean cover image

Conversations: Not the Fun Kind of Myths, De-Mystifying Spartan Tradition w/ Owen Rees

Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean

00:00

Is Plutarch a Biographer?

Plutarch was a priest at Delphi, the so-called belly button of the navel of the ancient world. He is obsessed with great men and does that through his famous parallel lives where he compares them. So really interesting, but it's not history. The contrast to this is I would argue our most reliable source, who is the fourth century Greek writer Xenophon. Those are our two largest and immediately come with problems. That's why we talk in academic terms about what we call 'the Spartan Mirage'

Play episode from 10:33
Transcript

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
Get the app