Casting Through Ancient Greece

The eve of the Greek and Persian wars would see a point in Macedonian history where the transition of power from one king to another would take place. This would see Amyntas after his rule since the mid 6th century pass power to his son Alexander the first at the opening of the 5th. This would take place on the backdrop of Persian advances into Thrace before Macedon would then begin engaging diplomatically.It becomes difficult to tell at what point Macedon would offer earth and water to the Persian empire, with colourful stories entering into the historical record. Though, by the time of the first invasion it seems Macedon had submitted in some form. The marriage of Alexanders sister to a Persian governor, also a relative of Xerxes would seem to indicate this.Alexander and his Macedonians would appear in Herodotus’ narrative a number of times as Xerxes invasion unfolded. They would be shown to provide assistance as the Persians marched through their lands, while also providing advice to the Greeks as they prepared to defend their lands, before and during battles. Alexanders position during the invasions was a difficult one. He was a benefactor and friend of the Athenians, though he had also submitted to the Persians and expected to assist their campaign against the Greeks. This would see Alexander to play a delicate balancing game as the war unfolded, being careful to maintain his relationship with the Greeks, though also ensuring not to anger Xerxes and his obligations, or risk the ruin of his lands.This episodes book recommendation: Herodotus, The Histories (Translated by Tom Holland)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!

Many tribes existed throughout the Balkan region in the Neolithic to the Bronze Age where we would see defined cultures develop with the onset of the Iron Age. We hear origin stories and hints at the early Macedonians in Myth through Homer and Hesiod. We even get through Herodotus, the hint of a tribe called the Makednoi during the Bronze Age in the mountains north of Greece.The culture of the Macedonians that emerge in the Archaic Age and into the Classical Age, would seem to be the result of many migrations that had been filtering south into Greek lands as well as other locations. These migrations would be seen to have peoples with Indo-European roots consistently moving through much of the Balkans through many generations, help spread a common root language and ideas.It wouldn’t be until Herodotus that we start to hear about the origins of the Macedonian dynasty, the Argead, develop. Although this was some 250 years after the foundation of the kingdom of Macedon, it appears to be the official account coming from the Macedonia court. This traditional telling would see the Argeads being descendants of Heracles and coming from the city of Argos down on the Peloponnese.The kingdom established, rule in Macedon appears to be somewhat stable with dates of the various kings being very respectable lengths. During these generations the territory of the Macedonians would expand out of the Pierian Mountains, north of Mount Olympus. By the opening of the Greek and Persian Wars and under the 7th King Alexander I, they would control lands along the coast of the Pierian Mountains, the coastal plains around the Thermaic Gulf and north across the Haliacmon River. 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!

Greek and Roman writers would highlight the Thracians as some of the best mercenaries fielded in foreign armies from the mid-5th century and beyond. They would excel at hit and run tactics, harassing heavier troops and being able to defend difficult ground. This reputation would appear to be born out of their tradition of Homeric style warfare practiced in their own lands. Though we get no detailed accounts of how they fought against one another in their home territories. Our knowledge of the Thracians in war during the 6th and early 5th centuries comes to us thanks to account revolving around the Greek and Persian wars found in the Histories written by Herodotus. This would see their history during this period told through the context of various Persian campaigns through their lands, therefore lacking the details of how they fought, though we can get an idea from their reputation as warriors in later histories.Thracian lands would become a crossroads for Persian campaigns during the close of the 6th and opening of the 5th centuries BC. Initially Persia would attempt to expand north into Scythian lands, where a path through Thracian lands would need to be secured. Though the hold in Thrace during this period would only stay intact as long as a sizable occupying force was present. After the Scythian campaign continued attempts would be made to secure the regions close to the Persian Empires frontiers with mixed results.The most successful period of Persian control would come during the lead up to and during the Greek and Persian Wars. A sizable Persian force would secure lands in Thrace and Macedonian paving a way forward to Greece. The Persians held enough control in Thracian coastal regions to construct their monumental engineering feats to prepare for Xerxes invasion. Though, with the ultimate Persian defeat in Greece, Thrace would once again become very inhospitable to Persians within their lands.   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!

North East of Greece would be a land seen as wild and untamed stretching from the modern-day nation of Hungary to the Ukraine, and then to the Black Sea and Aegean. The Greeks would view the people that inhabited these lands as barbarians, much the same way they did to other cultures that differed from theirs. Though these people that they would call the Thracians, seemed that much more uncivilised compared to the other barbarians they had encountered.Although the Greeks would call them Thracian, a united people they were not. these people would be a lose collection of tribes with a shared common culture. Herodotus would say of the Thracians; “If they could all be united under one ruler and think the same way, they would, in my opinion, be the most invincible and strongest of all nations. But that is impossible; it will never happen, since their weakness I that they are incapable of uniting and agreeing.”The Thracians would be a result of earlier Neolithic cultures that had formed in the Balkans thousands of years earlier. The Thracian identity that would come to describe their shared culture would be a result of these indigenous Balkan cultures interacting with the numerous Indo-European migrations that would take place as the Bronze Age developed.Thrace would enter into the Greeks memory as far back as the Trojan War through Homers epic poem the Iliad. Though it wouldn’t be until the 7th and 6th centuries where Thrace would truly enter the Greek periphery. Greek colonies would begin to dot the Thracian coast lines, where trade of goods and ideas would take place in both times of peace and times of tension. 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!

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!

As the 6th century BC on Sicily was coming to a close expansion would continue to take place. Tyrannies were now becoming the common governing system in a lot of the Sicilian Greek cities, appearing to follow the lead of their Metropolises back in Greece. This time though expansion would see Greeks focus on exerting their influence over other Greek cities.This period would also see the rise of one of the most powerful Tyrants to yet emerge on Sicily, his name would be Gelon. His rise would be born out of a series of Tyrannies, to where his service to them would see him almost seamlessly take power thanks to the influence and reputation he had built up over the years.Gelon would end up controlling almost the entire east cost of Sicily with campaigns that he would engage in during the early 5th century. His biggest prize would be that of Syracuse the largest and wealthiest city on the island. Though, Gelon’s campaigns would not go unnoticed with Carthage now preparing to launch an invasion of Sicily, sparking what is known as the first Sicilian War.Carthage would land a force of unprecedented size on the north of the island indicating the threat their influence was under. They would march to the city Himera and establish camps outside the city. Gelon would be alerted to the Carthaginian army and would march his own army to defend the city. With both forces camped across from one another it wouldn’t be long until the Battle of Himera would erupt. This episodes book recommendation is The Tyrants of Syracuse Vol 1, by Ian ChampionSupport 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!

**Give Away details**To coincide with this episode release I will be running a giveaway where I will be offering up 2 copies of Eric Cline’s Book, 1177 BC the Year Civilisation Collapsed, where winners will be drawn on the 1st of November 2021. 1 copy I will be offering as a general giveaway, where all you need to do to go into the draw is to promote Casting Through Ancient Greece in some way on Twitter or Facebook, this could be retweeting or sharing the episode with a comment or posting about the show in general in some other way, get creative. Just make sure to tag casting through ancient Greece into the post so I don’t miss it. For the second copy I will be giving this away to one of my Patreon members, all you need to do to be eligible for this draw is to be a member of Casting Through Ancient Greece on Patreon before names are drawn on the 1st of November. So good luck everyone and the winners will be contacted and posted up on social media once drawn.Bronze Age Collapse with Prof. Eric Cline:The Bronze Age Collapse would see a number of Great civilisations disappear from the Aegean and Near east. For thousands of years the events around this period have remained somewhat mysterious. We would hear echoes of this period in the myths and poems told by the Greeks, as well as accounts in biblical texts.With the onset of archaeological discoveries in the 19th century of our time some of the mystery began to be lifted, seeing these tales having some historical context to them. As the discipline of Archaeology developed more evidence of the late Bronze Age has come to light, helping historians paint more credible theories.In this episode I talk to Prof. Eric Cline about the discipline of archaeology and his book 1177 BC where he talks about the late Bronze Age world and the Collapse it would suffer. He details the various evidence that has shown itself in the historical record to help us understand what was happing during this world changing period of time.  Eric H. Cline is Professor of Classics, History, and Anthropology, the former Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and the current Director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at George Washington University, in Washington DC. A National Geographic Explorer, NEH Public Scholar, Getty Scholar, and Fulbright Scholar with degrees from Dartmouth, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania, he is an active field archaeologist with more than 30 seasons of excavation and survey experience in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, Greece, Crete, and the United States, including ten seasons at Megiddo (1994-2014), where he served as co-director before retiring from the project in 2014, and another ten seasons at Tel Kabri, where he currently serves as Co-Director. He is the author or editor of 20 books and nearly 100 articles; translations of his books have appeared in nineteen different languages.Links:Twitter @digkabriSupport 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!

39: Sicily, Conflict & TyrantsThe wave of Greek colonisation taking place in the 8th and 7th centuries wouldn’t be the end of the Greeks seeking to establish new cities. More expeditions would be sent out from the Greek mainland, while the original Greek colonies of Sicily would also start establishing their own colonies. The eastern, southern and northern coasts would be the target for many of these expeditions, with the east seeing the largest concentration of Greeks.As the colonies on Sicily began to mature and grow, political developments would follow a familiar path as to many of the mother cities. The political figure of the tyrant would emerge, not surprisingly, since most colonies would adopt a similar form of government to what had been in place from their metropolis’.This ever-increasing growth of Greek colonies would also start to see conflict develop in and around Sicily. The Phoenicians had been present in the region for as long as the Greeks and had been engaging in trade. One of their colonies, Carthage was also now developing into a power in its own right and would take the lead in opposing the Greeks expansions.By the end of the 6th century Carthage had secured much of its trade interests in the region with them at the head of an alliance including many of the Phoenician colonies of Africa, Sicily and Iberia. Though, the Greeks were firmly established on Sicily and in the region. Political developments would continue to evolve, as well as expansion, and with it, the inevitable conflict as the 6th century turned into the 5th century.  Todays episodes sponsor is Hello FreshHead to Hello Fresh here to receive $80 Discount ($50 - $20 - $10) Including Free Shipping on your First Box! with the code HFAFF80Todays book recommendation is, Carthage's Other Wars by Dexter Hoyos   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!

Todays episodes sponsor is Hello FreshHead to Hello Fresh here to receive $80 Discount ($50 - $20 - $10) Including Free Shipping on your First Box! with the code HFAFF80"Shattering the Myth of Spartan Warrior Supremacy"The Spartans are one of the most recognisable ancient Greek societies in our modern day. Though, just about no writing from the Spartans themselves survives, everything we know about them comes from outsiders looking in. This has resulted in many Myths and stereotypes to develop over the ages. In this episode, Myke Cole sits down and talks about his latest book, The Bronze Lie, Shattering the myth of Spartan Warrior supremacy, where he peals back the myth and gives the Spartans and their society a human face and story.Myke Cole has had a colourful and varied career, with service in war and crisis response. Myke’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Daily Beast, The New Republic, and Foreign Policy. He is the author of Legion versus Phalanx: The Epic Struggle for Infantry Supremacy in the Ancient World. Myke is also a popular fantasy and science fiction novelist with several major imprints. He appeared on CBS’ hit TV show Hunted, where he joined a team of elite investigators pursuing fugitives across the southeastern United States, and later starred on Discovery Channel’s Contact alongside fellow Osprey author Dr Michael Livingston. And now Myke has written his second work on history, the Bronze Lie, Shattering the myth of Spartan warrior supremacy.Links for Myke Cole:Twitter – @MykeColeFacebook – Myke ColeWebsite – www.mykecole.comFind Myke’s book here on AmazonThe Bronze LieLegion Versus PhalanxSupport 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!

38: The Greek Periphery, SicilyThe prehistory of Sicily, well before the Greeks arrived is still to this day shrouded in some mystery. We are left with a written tradition from a number of Greek writer but they were writing about a past some thousand years before their time. Modern attempts at understanding this period are even debated, which leaves us with our best guesses based off of what is found in modern research and what the ancients say.The Island of Sicily west of Greek lands would come into the Greek periphery as the Mediterranean was emerging out of the Dark Ages. Trade would once again begin to flow from the west as it had done during the Bronze Age to the Mycenaeans. Though, with the collapse of the Bronze Age much of this trade would be disrupted as various civilisations went into decline or disappeared completely.Though, as trade began increasing, more Greek cities would have been setting up their own trading connections at Sicily. Eventually, the various Greek city states would send out expeditions to found colonies on the island. This would provide relief with the over population problem that was beginning to occur in some of the larger cities, while also opening up more markets to the Greek mainland.The Greeks were not the only people present on Sicily, with it home to three separate indigenous cultures according to the written tradition. Also present was that of the Phoenicians, a civilisation originating in the Levant and the founders of the famous city of Carthage. They were also engaging in trade and establishing their own colonies. All these different peoples would for the most past during the 8th century BC, co-exist peacefully, but as time went on and more colonies emerged, interests would start to be encroached upon. Todays episodes sponsor is Hello FreshHead to Hello Fresh here to receive $80 Discount ($50 - $20 - $10) Including Free Shipping on your First Box! with the code HFAFF80Todays book recommendation is, Sicily, A short History from the ancient Greeks to Cosa NostraSupport 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!