30 - Sparta

"I would never remember or mention in my work any man for his speed afoot or wrestling skill - not if he was as huge and strong as a Cyclops or could run faster than the North Wind, nor more handsome than Tithonus, or richer than Midas, nor more kingly than Pelops, or had speech more honeyed than Adrastus, not even if he possessed every glory - not unless he had the strength of a warrior in full rush."
-Tyrtaeus, 7th century Spartan Poet

Contrary to what academia has taught us, Spartan warriors frequently made blood pacts with the gods in return for silky smooth skin.
(source: Kratos, God of War)

THIS..IS..episode 30, where we discuss everyone's favorite totalitarian, xenophobic, oppressive culture - the Spartans! THIS..IS..your chance to learn all about the roots of Spartan expansionism, the brutal agoge training system, and how Spartans were all about women's rights while being despicable, horrible slavers...even by slaver standards.

THIS..IS...the last time I'll be doing that for this write-up.

MP3 Download

Music Credits

Gregorio Paniagua - Papyrus Oslo A/B - Epilogos Katastrophe

Resources
Nice chart of the Spartan government system
Plutarch's Lykurgos
Fun web game from the British Museum about surviving the agoge! Could you?
This map of the Peloponnesian League is closer to what the time period of this episode covers
Fantastic site with pictures - all about Artemis Orthia

29 - The Dark Ages of Greece

"The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself"
-Albert Camus

Honestly, the Greek Dark Ages were downright pleasant compared to Monty Python's Europe.
(source: Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

I added a few more resources at the bottom to check out. In the meantime, enjoy the quick jaunt through 400 years of unrecorded history!

MP3 Download

Music Credit

Gregorio Paniagua - Fragments instrumentaux de Contrapollinopolis

Resources
Map of Dark Ages spread
Lefkandi Excavation
Lovely map of the dialects
Neat site all about the ancient Olympics!
The Iliad (for free!)
The Odyssey (also for free!)
A collection of Geometric art I've scoured from the web :)

28 - Mycenaean Greece

"The Trojans throughout the city, huddled in a rout like fawns, were cooling their sweat and drinking and quenching their thirst, as they rested on the fair battlements; while the Achaeans drew near the wall leaning their shields against their shoulders."
Homer, The Iliad Book 22

Odysseus flips out!
(source: Age of Bronze by: Eric Shanower)

I remember when I was younger and I first found out Troy was real and it blew my little naive mind. What else was real out there? Atlantis? Lemuria? Crystal Skulls? I wanted to be an archaeologist so badly, finding treasure and lost civilizations, uncovering the secrets of humanity and having an adventure at the same time!

But no. It's nothing like that at all. In fact the first line in my archaeology textbook said, and I quote:
"You will not become Indiana Jones." Well thanks for ruining my dreams, jerkheads. Eh, it's probably for the best. I hear from my archaeology friends that its mostly digging in dirt on a hot day, and less fighting Nazis and ancient booby traps. Pfff what's the point then?

Where was I going with this? Oh right, thanks Heinrich Schliemann for finding Troy and Mycenae and not sacking the place too much (I'm looking at you Carter).

MP3 Download

Music Credit:

Gregorio Paniagua - "Hymne a Nemesis" from Musique de la Grece antique

Resources:
Fantastic image of Ancient Greece with cities and the heroes they correspond to!
Mycenaean Empire (so to speak)
So much good stuff here it's just easier for me to link right to it!
Nice page for Linear B
British Museum: Linear B Tablets
Sir Arthur Evans collection of Linear B
Fun list of Linear B words transliterated and translated!
Michael Ventris and breaking the code
Another nice account of Ventris, detailing the steps he took
The Tawagalawa Letter
Very cool movie tour of Troy VII from U of Cincinnatti

27 - Prehistory in the Aegean

"While you live, shine,
have no grief at all;
life exists only for a short while,
and time demands its toll."
-The Epitaph of Seikilos

Truthfully it took a LOT of restraint to not mention the Atlantis legend with the Thera explosion. Also that it's not real.
(source: box cover for Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - what SHOULD have been Indy 4)

Ready to start our journey with the Greeks? Good! But don't get too excited yet, there's very few Greeks in this episode! Why? Because they haven't arrived in Greece yet silly. We're traveling to the earliest days in Hellas, stopping off at Crete for a while before learning a bit about their traditional earliest days. Plus music performed by Michael Levy!

The Epitaph of Seikilos, written to honor this man's wife is the oldest complete song we know of. And just because it's over 2000 years old doesn't make it any less beautiful, because that's what it is. Beautiful. And the translated poem up top? A bit more eloquent then just shouting YOLO all the time doncha think?

MP3 Download

Music Credit
Michael Levy - Epitaph of Seikilos (Ancient Greek Music Arranged for Solo Lyre in the Just Intonation of Antiquity)

Michael is performing LIVE in England at two incredible locations!

Saturday, May, 18th 2013
Roman Baths by Torchlight - 6pm - 9pm
The Roman Baths, Abbey Church Yard Bath Somerset BA1 1LZ Uni + 44(0)1225 477785
Price: £12.75

From the website:
"For the second year, as part of the UK "Museums at Night" festival, I will once more be giving a detailed talk about my lyre music & be performing my recreations of the lost music of ancient Rome in the wonderfully evocative setting of the Roman Baths at Bath Spa


Monday, June, 17th 2013
Life & Death in Pompeii & Herculaneum - 6:15pm - 9pm
The British Museum, Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG Uni +44 020 7323 8299
Price: £12.50

From the website:
"As part of an evening event based on the exhibition "Life & Death in Pompeii & Herculaneum" I will be performing on my lyre, my evocation of the lost music of ancient Rome, in the Great Court of the British Museum between 6:15 to 9pm..."

If you can, check it out! Go and take pictures and tell me how it went!


Resources
Seikilos Epitaph rubbing with old musical notation
The Facebook page has photo albums of lots of various Minoan and Mycenaean art!
Enigma of the Phaistos Disc
The Tawagalawa Letter
Earlier human evidence on Crete? (by like, 100,000 years)

26 - Darius the Achaemenid

King Darius says: By the grace of Ahura Mazda, I am of such a sort (that) I am a friend of the right - of wrong I am not a friend. It is not my wish that the weak should have harm done him by the strong, nor is it my wish that the strong should have harm done him by the weak. The right, that is my desire. To the man who is a follower of the lie I am no friend. I am not hot-tempered. What things develop in my anger I hold firmly under control by my thinking power. I am firmly ruling over my own impulses.
- Tomb of Darius at Naqsh-e-Rustam

I miss the days when to be a great ruler you also had to have a great beard. This new beardless future is a bleak one!
(source: Darius The Great from Civilization 5)

Don't look at this episode as our last one with the Persians, look at it as a first for the show where we pause in covering one civilization to go back and catch up with another! But before that happens we've got a lot to talk about with Darius, who takes the silver medal for "Most hated Persian king by the Greeks" (gold medal goes to his son of course!)

Incidentally I'm still on the hunt for some podsafe ancient Greek or something similar to that music. I might be biting the bullet soon and paying for a magnatune subscription, which will actually pay off down the road, but it's also nice to feature other artists!

Anyway, I'll figure it all out. Not to worry!

MP3 Download

Music Credits
http://persia.org/audio.html
Artist unknown! It's the one called avayeh2.wav

Resources
Nice essay on Persian army tactics
Eastern extent of Darius' empire
An example of a gold daric
An amazing list of Darius resources, plus other Persian stuff!
Seal of Darius (that lion took an arrow to the face!)

Happy 25 Episodes!

Can you believe it's been 25 episodes since August? I've recorded almost eleven hours worth of podcast history and I have no intention of slowing down. It's been so much fun making the show and finding my voice in it. Maybe one day I'll go back and rerecord some of the earlier episodes, but I might just leave them there as a reminder of what it used to be. We still have fun, right? Just with a lot fewer sound effects...

Ok, so every now and then I check the iTunes comments just to see what people are saying about the show. If you don't like it, well I can't really help you on that! But a concern/criticism I tend to see a lot of, is that the show is fixated on the near east, and yes, if you just look at the playlist so far, this podcast has only covered that area of history. Except you've got to trust in my vision for the show! In the first episode I outlined how I plan on taking things - a linear story of mankind's history. We start at the beginning and work our way to modern times. Along the way we will get to every major chunk of human history and hopefully many detours as well. That's the goal! But consider the difference and limitations between a history book and a history podcast. With a book the author has the freedom to move around from topic to topic and still keep it all very organized. The superb author Susan Wise Bauer does this, and she's fantastic at it! For a purely audio learning experience, however, it can become very disorienting spending one episode in Persia, and the next in Mexico, and the next in Britain...all those names to remember...all those dates...oh god I'm having flashbacks to my history courses now...

My point is that this podcast is supposed to be a history podcast for those who didn't like history, or found it too confusing. That's not to say I'm skimping on the educational content here, but I believe the story is best accomplished by sticking to one subject at a time. I know some of my listeners might be frustrated with the pace or the topic we're covering but I do believe this is the best way to do it.

.......alright, if this will help a bit, and I don't want to reveal much more than this BUT here is the shortened near term plan of the show. Just to show all my doubters out there that there is a plan!

Persia ---> Greece ---> Wars ---> Greece x2 ---> Macedonia ---> India ---> Diadochi ---> and I was thinking of starting Rome at that point but I'm now leaning towards China.

And for the future!

*** Mesoamerica will be covered when the Old World makes contact (better for flow)

*** Subsaharan Africa will be touched on probably closer to the Middle Ages...likewise I'll be covering the Kingdom of Axum and Ethiopian history too!

*** I'm trying to see about including some Korean history!

I hope this helps clear up some things! Thank you to all my supporters and listeners for sharing this podcast with the world! You have all helped make this bigger than I ever expected, and I am so sincerely grateful for your help. If you ever have a question about the show or want to talk history, I can always be reached on my email address. I may not be able to get to you right away but I promise - I will respond!