Casting Through Ancient Greece

The analogy of a powder keg in historical events it often used to describe a volatile situation that is waiting to explode into something larger. The most famous example of this is the events leading up to the breakout of World War 1. A seemingly remote region in the Balkans would see an act of violence take place that would end up embroiling all the empires within Europe in the most destructive war to that time.A similar powder keg situation would develop in the ancient Greek world just before the breakout of the Peloponnesian War. This would be in a region north of Greece on the Albanian coast line far away from the interests of both Sparta and Athens. What would unfold here would be known as the affaire of Epidamnus, a colony both Corinth and Corcyra would lay claim to and enter into conflict over.Both Corinth and Corcyra would engage in battle over the developments around Epidamnus, Corinth suffering a defeat at sea. This would not deter them and they would divert more resources towards bringing a renewed offensive against Corcyra. This would see Corcyra, not a part of any alliance, now look for assistance in this growing threat.Corcyra would look towards Athens for this help and would send a delegation to try and secure this assistance. Corinth would also have an envoy in Athens having learnt of Corcyra’s intentions and both would now present their cases to the Athenians to decide upon. Athens would debate what was presented to them in two separate assemblies before arriving at the fateful decision to assist Corcyra. This decision along with the consequences and developments that would follow would see the situation become more volatile than ever.Art by https://manu67.artstation.com/ Support the show💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient GreeceFollow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:🌐 Website📸 Instagram🐦 Twitter📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

Athens had extinguished another fire in the Aegean when the island of Samos and Miletus, both Delian League members had gone to war with each other. Athens would assist Miletus seeing Samos revolt, though after a couple years Samos was back in the league. However, this had highlighted weaknesses in Athens control around its empire as other areas had also followed Samos’ example, including the important city of Byzantium.With the major threats dealt with, Athens now turned to securing the edges of its empire to see their interests were better protected. This would see three major areas focused on, the first being that of Caria. Athens would streamline this region, by cutting out of the tribute list many Carian cities that lay inland, while incorporating the rest into the region of Ionia. Other regions on the edges of the empire that Athens would focus on were around the Black Sea and Thracian lands. The key to the Black Sea and Athens bread basket in the Ukraine was the city of Byzantium. Athens would launch a campaign of goodwill and deterrence to attempt to secure influence in the city while deterring those hostile regions nearby. While in Thrace important colonies would be established to secure Athenian interest from the inland tribal groups within Thracian and Macedonian lands.This point would then see Athens at its most secure in the Aegean than it had ever been. Another thing that becomes noticeable from all Athens efforts, was the fact that we can not really talk of them being at the head of a league. They had taken measures that would see that they would now fit the definition of an empire.Support the show💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient GreeceFollow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:🌐 Website📸 Instagram🐦 Twitter📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

Links:https://www.odysseus-unbound.org/ Faceook YouTube Book: Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer's Ithaca In the series we have look at some elements within Greek history that have connections to traditional tales and mythology. Some big examples of these were when we looked at the Trojan War, Mycenae and the Minoans. Well once again we are looking at historical connections to what can be found within the ancient writings of Homer, this time with a focus on the Odyssey. This episode will be focused around the idea of locating the island of Ithaca that Homer describes within the Odyssey. For a long time, controversy has surrounded the actual location of Homers Ithaca, with many since ancient times questioning whether the Island we know today as Ithaki was actually the Ithaca of the Odyssey.In our modern time, one such man also questioned this idea. Robert Bittlestone with a Classics, Science and economics background, would return from the business world to his love of Classics to delve into the mystery around the home island of Odysseus. Robert would develop a working theory that would be eventually presented to an audience at Cambridge University. This is where Prof. James Diggle would become involved, seeing great merit in what Robert presented. Prof. Diggle would go on to contribute to Robert Bittlestone’s book, Odysseus Unbound. The search for Homer’s Ithaca. Unfortunately, Robert would pass away in 2015, however his legacy and work would continue on with the creation of the Odysseus Unbound foundation, with a number of professionals and academics making up its members, including Roberts son’s Simon and Mathew.The Odysseus unbound Foundation is an educational charity dedicated to advancing knowledge of the ancient world. Specifically, we conduct and promote scientific and historical research to discover the actual locations of historical sites that have been described in ancient literature such as Homer’s Odyssey.They are committed to publishing widely all their results so our understanding of the ancient world and the origins of our civilization today is enhanced to everyone’s benefit.The Foundation was formed in 2017. It is built upon the inspiration of the late Robert Bittlestone whose ground-breaking ideas about the location of Ithaca, the homeland of Odysseus described by Homer in the Odyssey, are showing significant promise.Prof. James Diggle, Trustee of the Odysseus Unbound foundation is Emeritus Professor of Greek and Latin at Cambridge University and a Life Fellow of Queens’ College.His publications include The Cambridge Greek Lexicon (Editor-in-Chief, Cambridge, 2021), The Oxford Classical Text of Euripides (Oxford, 1981-94), Euripidea: Collected Essays (Oxford, 1994) and Theophrastus: Characters (Cambridge, 2004).He was University Orator at Cambridge for eleven years and has published a selection of his speeches in Cambridge Orations (Cambridge, 1994). He is a Fellow of tSupport the show💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient GreeceFollow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:🌐 Website📸 Instagram🐦 Twitter📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

We continue our look at the development of Corinth in the series. Last episode we ended with the period of tyranny that had lasted two generations and ended with the assassination of the third. However, Corinth would continue to flourish, with cultural and economic advances taking place. Corinth would end up hosting one of the Pan Hellenic games, being one of the first mainland cities to mint their own coins, while large public building would begin to dot the Acropolis.The mid-6th century would also see Corinth become part of a larger collection of city states, through the establishment of the Peloponnesian league. This league was headed by Sparta and it seems Corinth sought security from other city states growing in power that were close by. We would also find that Corinth would have a level of influence within the league that others did not, coming down to them possessing one of the largest navy’s within the league.Once we reach the Greco-Persian War in Herodotus’ account we start to see Corinth portrayed in a negative light. This would be through the Corinthian commander supposedly putting up opposition to how the Athenians wanted to conduct the campaign. While also giving accounts of the Corinthian army and navy being unreliable in battle. However, as we look at, the times these histories were being written in would have an impact of how they were presented.After the Persian Wars Corinth would continue to hold influence within the Peloponnesian league. They would be one of the main players of the First Peloponnesian War while also influencing Sparta’s decision on conducting campaigns across the Aegean. As we continue forward in the series, we will continue to see Corinth involved in inter-city state diplomacy, where they would be embroiled in the spark that would ignite the Peloponnesian War.Support the show💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient GreeceFollow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:🌐 Website📸 Instagram🐦 Twitter📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

The polis of Corinth has remained in the background of events as we have travelled through the narrative of the series so far. Now though, we have reached a point, the years leading to the break out of the Peloponnesian War, where Corinth starts to feature in the ancient sources on a more regular basis. This would be through diplomatic dealings, both within the Peloponnesian league and on larger Greek matters involving Athens.For this reason, we are going to take a short break in the narrative to properly acquaint ourselves with this city state that would become more important in affaires going on within Greece. We will look back to the earliest times where human activity was taking place on the Corinthian isthmus. This will see us look at developments through the Palaeolithic and into the Bronze Age.The Bronze Age collapse would see population levels drop on the Isthmus like with other areas within Greece. However, the region in and around Corinth would recover as the Archaic age drew closer. A series of kings would govern the city before an aristocratic revolution took place which would see a powerful clan known as the Bacchiadae take control. The Bacchiadae would dominate Corinthian politics for the next 100 years. Though, their dominance would come to an end with the rise of a new political development.The figure of the tyrant would first develop on the Greek mainland at the city of Corinth. The first tyrant Cypselus, who overthrow the Bacchiadae, would install the first tyranny with the support of the people of Corinth. There would be mixed feelings of his rule, depending which social class was being asked. The tyranny would continue with his son Periander, who would be included as amongst the seven sages of Greece. However, the tyranny would come to an end in the third generation through the assassination of Periander’s nephew. Support the show💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient GreeceFollow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:🌐 Website📸 Instagram🐦 Twitter📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

Athens and Sparta had now entered into an agreement known as the 30 years’ peace, seeing the first Peloponnesian come to an end. This would see the creation of two spheres of influence within Greek lands that they would now turn their attention to. In Athens, Pericles would now also see a challenge to his influence within the Athenian political system. All accounts in the sources indicate that the rise of the conservative faction would be the toughest fight Pericles would have to endure to date.Revolts within the Athenian Empire would continue through the 440’s, though we would not get any accounts of them. Our clue to these revolts would be in the form of the Athenian tribute list that would show a fluctuation of payments. However, as the 440’s came to a close we would once again hear of a major revolt in the historical sources. This revolt would begin as a war between two members of Athens Empire.The island of Samos and Miletus on the Anatolian coast would engage in a war over disputed territory. Athens would find itself intervening in matters to bring the conflict under control, though they would take the side of Miletus. This would see Samos revolt against Athens and seek aide from their past enemies. Athens would face some setbacks during the conflict, though with more support they would eventually succeed in bringing the island back under control.This Samian war would also test the agreements that Athens had made with both Sparta and Persia. Both had been approached by the Samians, with Persia giving indirect aide, while Sparta would stand by, supposedly sidelined by allies within the Peloponnesian league. For now, the terms made between Athens and Sparta would see conflict avoided. Support the show💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient GreeceFollow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:🌐 Website📸 Instagram🐦 Twitter📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

So, it’s now mid-December and I am taking a break over the Christmas period and month of January. Though, before signing off for the holidays I wanted to leave you all with a different sort of episode to see out the year. I decided to contact my good friend Steve over at The Spartan History Podcast to see if he would be interested in coming on just to talk about Greek history. He has just entered into the Greek and Persian War period, so I thought it would provide lots for us to talk about. Plus, it gave me another reason to go back and chat about the Persian Wars, a period I always enjoy talking about. It had also been quite some time since we last did a collaboration so I thought it was about time to get on air and chat. I also felt we had reached a natural point to take a break in the series since we just wrapped up the First Peloponnesian War. But don’t worry we will be back to continue with the developments in the new year.For those of you have not come across The Spartan History podcast, I would highly recommend you check out Steve’s show. He began around the same time I started this show and we have since then kept in touch and bounced ideas off one another. You can find the Spartan History podcast on the same platforms you listen to this show on.So, for this episode, we decided not to worry about any sort of script or pre-planned direction for the chat, it just basically unfolded as if we were chatting together without any audience. We focus a great deal on the Greco-Persian Wars, jumping around the period a bit. While we also do touch on areas before and after the conflict. We did have a few connection issues through the talk with a dropout and some areas of buffering, though, I did try and smooth them out as best as I could but they are still there. Anyway, a huge thank you to everyone for listening and supporting the show, I have greatly appreciated it. Although, Im taking the rest of December and January off, I just want to let all Patreon members know that I will still be releasing the next bonus episode in the first week of January. www.spartanhistorypodcast.comSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2oYdMfzDbVzJUrddjpFF6eiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/spartan-history-podcast/id1489152895Twitter: @Spartan_HistoryFacebook: Spartan History PodcastSupport the show💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient GreeceFollow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:🌐 Website📸 Instagram🐦 Twitter📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

Athens and Sparta were now in a position to turn their attention to matters within their own spheres of influence, with the truce that existed between them. Sparta would look at eliminating the threats that they had faced on the Peloponnese, seeing Argos now at peace with Sparta, and Tegea brought back into the Peloponnesian league. While negotiations would appear to be taking place with other cities on the Corinthian isthmus.  With Sparta now in a more secure position domestically, they would no look further afield once again. This would see them become involved in the second Sacred War around Delphi, with indirect connections to Athens. With the truce still in place Athens would react to these developments once Sparta had left the region. This seeing a reversal in the outcome Sparta had won for the Delphines.However, not all was going well for Athens in Boeotia. The oligarchs who had been exiled with Athens take over were returning in great numbers. It appears they may have been emboldened by Sparta’s action. They would begin regaining control of the Boeotian cities and would end up defeating Athens in a decisive battle when the Athenians came to attempt to hold onto the region. Athens would also have to deal with other league members attempting to revolt in the wake of their loss of territory in Boeotia.By this stage the 5 years true had just expired and Sparta would immediately make moves against Athens that appear to have been planned. A Spartan army would march into Attica laying waste to the areas before Athens. However, an Athenian army would respond, seeing the Spartans advance no further. All was set for another show down on the battlefield, however talks would be held between to two sides. This would lay the foundation for what is known as the 30 years peace and would bring the First Peloponnesian War to an end.Support the show💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient GreeceFollow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:🌐 Website📸 Instagram🐦 Twitter📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

After the battle of Tanagra, Athens was able to focus on pursuing its aims throughout Boeotia, the Gulf of Corinth and the Peloponnese. This saw Athens power and influence grow even more at the expense of Sparta and its allies. However, the disaster that would take place in Egypt for Athens would see them now needing to change their policies to better deal with the crisis that was brewing in the Aegean.One of the first measures taken was to put in place a truce with Sparta, so as to reduce the threat of attack within Greece itself. This would then allow Athens to focus its now reduced resources to defending its control in the Aegean, this being the source of their power. The defeat in Egypt had seen some of the Delian league members view Athens in a weakened state. While, there was the fear Persia would once again campaign into Aegean.Athens would first focus on tightening its grip on the league. They would campaign to force the revolting cities back in as tribute paying members. While then taking measures to ensure it would prove more difficult for future rebellions to take place. These would come in the form of coercion, building relations and economic dependency.The other crisis Athens faced in the Aegean was the renewed threat of Persian actions into the Aegean. To deal with this they would arrange an expedition led by Cimon to the Persian controlled island of Cyprus. Although, the island would remain under Persian control the actions that took place would see what appear to be some sort of peace being made between Athens and Persia. Athens had now dealt with the crisis but matters on the Greek mainland had not been resolved and the truce with Sparta was soon due to expire.Support the show💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient GreeceFollow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:🌐 Website📸 Instagram🐦 Twitter📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

Sparta had defeated Athens at the battle of Tanagra in 457 BC, though both armies had taken heavy losses. Both would look to make a temporary truce so that they could regroup without the fear of being attacked while in a vulnerable position. This would see the forces of both Athens and Sparta return to their cities bringing a close to this campaign. However, this would not be the end of hostilities and campaigning for the first Peloponnesian war.Just 62 days after Tanagra, Athens would launch a fresh attack into Boeotian lands where Sparta had been active, with a possible agreement with Thebes. Sparta would remain within their home territory which would see Athens facing Theban and other Boeotian troops during this new campaign. Athens would win a major victory while also taking many cities, which would see them gain much control and influence within Boeotia.This would not be the only campaign launched. A naval campaign would also be arranged which would seem to further Athenian trade connections. There was also an element of gaining some revenge for Tanagra, where Athens would ravage a Spartan port. However, it would appear the main objective would be to establish and secure Athenian trade connections to the west through the Corinthian gulf, dominated by many Peloponnesian league members.These campaigns that would unfold and continue through the next couple of years would see Athen’s influence within the Greek mainland increases to new heights. Though, news of the disastrous Egyptian campaign would arrive, seeing Athens having to direct its attention to defending its interests within the Delian league as well as counter the threat of possible hostile Persian moves within the Aegean.Support the show💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient GreeceFollow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content:🌐 Website📸 Instagram🐦 Twitter📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!