Alexander

From Big Philly Mac to the Big D

CJR — Sun, 12 Feb 2023 22:46:14 +0000

Thanks for the review, Sam! Better late than never.

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Renaissance Episode 1 – Constantine The Great

CJR — Fri, 09 Mar 2018 06:25:18 +0000

Our new series, The Renaissance Times, launched on Dec 24, 2017. Here’s the first episode! Go check out the rest of the series at therenaissancetimes.com.

At its peak, the Library of Alexandria was estimated to contain somewhere in the order of 500,000 books on philosophy, science, medicine, history, tragedy, comedy, rhetoric and politics.

Across the Roman empire, private and public libraries contained copies of these books. They were read, studied and appreciated. Of course, literacy was a luxury that not all citizens of the empire received. It was contained mostly to the upper classes. But those upper classes had a high estimation of the value of learning and education. They also accepted the worship of many gods in many different ways and they accepted debate and discourse as an important part of being civilized.

But as the Western Roman Empire decayed, partly as a result of corruption, partly by division, partly by Christian influence, and partly by a combination of famine, plague and invasion by illiterate Germanic tribes, most of these books were forgotten and lost. Today we have partial copies of perhaps a one or two percent of them – and many of those are pure luck, as they were written over by Christian scribes and modern scientific techniques has managed to resurrected the ink from two millennia ago.

With the rise of Christianity, it became unfashionable and unprofitable even for the upper classes to read anything other than the books supported by the Christian church – the Christian bible, scriptures, analysis of the bible and scriptures and the miscellaneous writings of Christian scholars. Sure – there were some monks and scholars in some parts of the world, notably Ireland and the Eastern Roman Empire. who still appreciated the ancient works and they kept copies of some of them. And as the Eastern Roman Empire became the Islamic Caliphate, they too valued these ancient texts. But the majority of Christian monks – the only people left who copied books after the rise of the Christian empire – didn’t care to spend time or effort copying pagan texts. When each book needed to be hand-copied, a laborious process that might take a year to copy a single book – why would monastic superiors choose for their monks to spend that year copying a pagan book when they could be copying a Christian one?

Gradually, people lost interest in the writings of the ancients, with a few exceptions. And with that loss of interest, the vast majority of the books themselves were lost to Western Europe.

Some through tragedy, some through deliberate and wanton destruction of anything that didn’t fit neatly into the Christian worldview. But mostly just through neglect.

Ancient texts were typically written on papyrus, made from the pith or centre tissue of the papyrus plant, which is delicate. As a rule of the thumb, we can assume that a scroll had to be copied every century. If parchment was used, replacement could take place less frequently. However, preparing a skin and making parchment was extremely expensive. Most texts were, therefore, written on papyrus and subject to decay and disappearance. If there were many copies of the same text, the chances of survival were greater, but professional writers were expensive and texts usually circulated in small numbers. A surprisingly great number of ancient texts has survived in only one copy, which shows how vulnerable the process of transmission was. Even they couldn’t withstand the ravages of time, especially when they were discarded and forgotten about in the musty depths of cold, damp monasteries, victims of bookworms and mould.

Many survived for centuries in Eastern Europe and the new Islamic empire, but these too were lost eventually, destroyed by the wars between rulers or by invasions by people like Genghis Khan.

Following the abdication of the 16 year old Romulus Augustus in 476, and the subsequent fall of the Western Roman Empire, the empire had no single ruler and new ones emerged from the local aristocracy, military leaders, the church and a new class of wealthy bankers. The unity of the old empire dissolved and they were the victims of invasions by illiterate Germanic tribes who had little interest in the teachings of the ancients. This was accompanied by a long period of economic difficulties caused in part by conflicts between the new rulers.

Without the larger economy and administrative infrastructure of the Empire to sustain them, trade systems, large public works and educational systems all collapsed, contracted into local versions or died out in western Europe. And waves of invasions by various Germanic peoples, Avars, Moors, Magyars and Vikings made mere survival a higher priority than things like preserving books or maintaining road systems.

And so the western Roman empire entered what the 17th century historian Cardinal Caesar Baronius called, in Latin, saeculum obscurum – “the dark ages”.

Before him, in 1343, one of the individuals who himself played a major role in ending the dark ages, Petrarch, wrote that history had two periods: the classic period of Greeks and Romans, followed by a time of darkness in which he saw himself living. He wrote: “My fate is to live among varied and confusing storms. But for you perhaps, if as I hope and wish you will live long after me, there will follow a better age. This sleep of forgetfulness will not last for ever. When the darkness has been dispersed, our descendants can come again in the former pure radiance.”

The dark ages are more often referred to by historians these days as the Western European Early Middle Ages and roughly span the 6th to 14th centuries.

Starting in Florence in the 14th century, a new era began to emerge in the west. People like Petrarch, who re-discovered our old friend Cicero’s lost letters, and the new humanists – who valued the study of classical antiquity – ushered in a rebirth, or as it was later called in French a “renaissance” – which is a term that only came into use in the 19th century – a rebirth of the arts, the sciences, philosophy, theatre, and what it means to be human. Their interests were not only about how to get to heaven but how to live today. They agreed with the ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras, who said that “Man is the measure of all things.” Men like Poggio Bracciolini scoured the libraries of Europe in search of works by such Latin authors as Cicero, Lucretius, Livy and Seneca. Copies of surviving books – a mere fraction of what had once existed – were eventually retrieved from Eastern Europe and the Muslim empire and brought back to the west by men in search of knowledge.

In the 15th century, the Renaissance spread rapidly from its birthplace in Florence to the rest of Italy and soon to the rest of Europe.

The renaissance period saw the rise, not only of a renewed interest in the past, but of a new generation of artists and thinkers who shaped the new world, like Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Cervantes and Machiavelli, Copernicus, Galileo, and Francis Bacon, Luther, Calvin and Christopher Columbus. Gutenberg invented the printing press, which meant books were, for the first time, readily available to the lower classes. Huge battles were fought between popes, kings and wealthy merchants, some of whom became popes and kings. We have the Medici, the Borges, the Visconti and the Sforza.

It was a time when the unknown painter became “the artist”. When the unknown builder became “the architect”.

Of course, This new era of free thinking wasn’t appreciated by everyone, as it challenged the orthodoxy – leading to the Inquisition and the Reformation, which in turn lead to centuries of religious wars between Catholics and Protestants.

Who these people were – what they believed – what they accomplished – and how it affects the modern world – these are the stories we are going to tell in our new series – The Renaissance Times.

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Subscribing To Renaissance

CJR — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 11:16:39 +0000

The Dark Ages are ending!

As you may have realized, we published our very last Alexander episode last week!
Now some of you might be wondering what to do now?

Well, I had hoped I’d be able to just transfer your Alexander subscriptions over to the new series, but, alas, the entrails from our last sacrifice portended bad omens in that regard.

So instead, you have a few options. Please read carefully.

1. If you’re a new monthly subscriber to Alexander, or you haven’t finished the series yet, just keep your subscription running and you’ll be fine. Nothing changes. If you also want to subscribe to the new Renaissance series and get in on the ground floor this time, just click here and register!

2. If you are on one of our monthly subscriptions, and you’ve finished with the Alexander series, you can cancel your subscription by clicking here and then click here and register for the new series.

3. If you are one of our annual subscribers on Alexander, and you want to get a credit on the new series, just email Cam and he’ll sort it out for you with a pro rata credit. Or if you want to donate your remaining credit and just sign up again fresh, of course you can do that to, click here and register for the new series.

Hopefully that’s all pretty simple but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to drop me a line.

One thing to note: we won’t have the first Renaissance episode out until late December, but to test the subscription, I’ve thrown up an advertisement for our 2018 tour of Europe! Slots are nearly full, so don’t miss out!

Amor,
Cameron & Ray

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#122 – The Last Show

CJR — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 09:19:42 +0000

Well, here we are. Three years, 122 episodes, some of which were a LOT longer than an hour, so probably around 130-140 hours of story. We started with 14 episodes covering the rise of Philip II of Macedon, aka Big Daddy Phil: his military innovations, his marriages, his cunning, the Battle of Chaeronea, and his assassination in 336 BCE. We then carried on with 44 episodes about his eldest son, Alexander III: shutting down rebellions across Greece, his journey of conquest across Asia Minor, Egypt, Syria, Persia and India, his tragic early death. And we ended with 64 episodes covering the Wars of the Successors, how they divided Alexander's empire amongst themselves and then spent 40 years trying to unify it again, all of them ultimately failing, one by one. And now we are at the end, as the second and third generation of Macedonian kings, none of whom had even been born when Alexander died, settled for having a kingdom.

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#121 – Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves

CJR — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 05:39:31 +0000

The sixth and final battle of the Successors was fought at Corupedium, west of Sardis, in Feb 281.

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#120 – And Then There Were Two

CJR — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 09:10:58 +0000

It's 282 BCE. The only two guys left from the original bunch of successors are Lysimachus, who is now about 78, and Seleucus, who is 76. Friends and colleagues for 60 years, they now prepare go to battle to see who will be the last man standing. In this episode we review Lysimachus' last 40 years, since he took over the backwards area of Thrace in 323 after Alexander died.

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#119 – Demetrius’s Downfall

CJR — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 06:52:14 +0000

The scale of Demetrius Poliocortes's buildup threatened all of the other kings. So they formed a coalition against him. It was the Fifth War Of The Successors.

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#118 – I Won’t Back Down

CJR — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 06:50:56 +0000

Demetrius Poliocortes prepares a massive invasion of Asia. He could have just stayed in Macedon and stabilised his relatively recent kingship, but he won't back down.

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#117 – King Of Macedon

CJR — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 06:11:38 +0000

The Big D is finally the King of Macedon. But how long can he hold on to the throne?
Lysimachus is taken prisoner by a barbarian king.
And hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

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#116 – See See Athens

CJR — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 11:20:33 +0000

The Big D returns to Athens. Cassy's teenage sons fight each other, kill their mum, and then both get betrayed and killed themselves. Selly's son falls in love with his step-mother – and Selly gives her to him.

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#115 – Hellenistic Philosophy

CJR — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 05:29:43 +0000

Big things were happening in Athens circa 300 BCE in the world of philosophy, with the beginnings of the schools of Epicurus and Zeno – aka the Epicureans and the Stoics.

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#114 – A Bolt To The Mouth

CJR — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 08:24:26 +0000

Cassander dies, and his son inherits the kingdom of Macedon. Then HE dies, so Cassander's teenage sons jointly inherit the kingdom. Meanwhile Athens is in a famine and a civil war, and then to make matters worse, it is assaulted by Demetrius who had recently taken a catapult bolt to the mouth.

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#113 – Don’t Give Up

CJR — Fri, 08 Sep 2017 07:51:35 +0000

Demetrius had fled Ipsus with several thousand men, mainly the cavalry he had been commanding. He holed up in Ephesus where he had a garrison. His last strength was command of the sea. And what do you do when all you have is a fleet? Piracy.

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#112 – After Ipsus

CJR — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 08:51:58 +0000

After Ipsus, the surviving coalition kings divided up the Antigonid kingdom between themselves. But Demetrius isn't out of the picture yet.

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#111 – Ian Worthington

CJR — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 06:01:13 +0000

Professor Ian Worthington joins us again to talk about new book about Ptolemy!

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#110 – The Battle of Ipsus

CJR — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 06:49:18 +0000

Old Gonad himself, now 80 years old, broke his retirement and moved north into Asia Minor. So the big battle happened at Ipsus in Phrygia in Turkey. Each side had roughly 80,000 men. Ipsus was one of the largest battles of the Hellenistic period. There were four kings and two future kings, Pyrrhus of Epirus and Antiochus, son of Seleucus, on the field. Only one side would survive.

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#109 – The Lead Up To Ipsus

CJR — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 07:59:30 +0000

Demetrius is in Athens, pissing people off, left right and center. But hey, he thinks he's a god, so whaddya going to do? Then, when he's about to invade Macedon, Cassander sues for peace, which Demetrius and Antigonus reject. Which, as it turns out, was a huge mistake because it leads directly to the Battle of Ipsus.

And Polyperchon dies from old age, “a jackal among lions”.

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#108 – The Colossus Of Rhodes

CJR — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 11:10:43 +0000

To show how grateful they were to Ptolemy, the Rhodians created a new cult to worship him as a saviour god. Demetrius got a new title out of the campaign too – Poliorcetes “the Besieger”.
To celebrate their victory, the Rhodians also built one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – the Colossus of Rhodes.

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#107 – Antigonus Attacks Egypt

CJR — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 05:23:16 +0000

Antigonus and Demetrius attack Ptolemy in Egypt with 80,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry and 83 elephants marching by land from Syria, while 150 warships with another 40,000 men followed them by sea. When that doesn't go well, Demetrius decides to lay siege to the island of Rhodes.

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#106 – Age Of Empires

CJR — Fri, 16 Jun 2017 14:06:27 +0000

Enough is never enough. If you sit still, your competition may sneak up on you and take you out. Any resource you don’t own, is one your competitor owns. Be that resource soldiers, labourers, mines, timber, shipyards, or cash. I’ve been playing AGE OF EMPIRES again recently and I understand the math.

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#105 – King Big Bang

CJR — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 13:43:07 +0000

Around 305 BCE, 18 years after Alexander’s death, there is suddenly a “big bang” of new kings, lead by Antigonus. Can you guess why they all happened around 305?

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The Music: We want to get down on our knees and worship the amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “Hero”, as our theme music: Jofre Horta. He’s already a big deal in the composing world but he’s going to be even bigger – and you can say you heard him first on our little show! Listen to his whole album on Spotify or iTunes.

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#104 – The War For Cyprus

CJR — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 08:17:24 +0000

Gonad called Demi back from Athens because he wanted to help him take Cyprus from Tolly whose possession of Cyprus was a major obstacle to Gonad’s control of the sea.

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The Music: We want to get down on our knees and worship the amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “Hero”, as our theme music: Jofre Horta. He’s already a big deal in the composing world but he’s going to be even bigger – and you can say you heard him first on our little show! Listen to his whole album on Spotify or iTunes.

The post #104 – The War For Cyprus appeared first on Alexander.

#103 – Building The Library

CJR — Fri, 19 May 2017 14:55:30 +0000

Our episode today is all about Demetrius of Phalerum, chosen by Ptolemy to help him build his masterpiece – the Great Library and Museum of Alexandria.

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#102 – Antigonus Takes Athens

CJR — Thu, 11 May 2017 10:50:31 +0000

Antigonus sends Demetrius to attack Athens, evicting Cassander's tyrant who controlled the city for the previous decade, Demetrius of Phalerum, who has a much bigger project waiting for him.

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#101 – The End Of The Argead Dynasty

CJR — Fri, 05 May 2017 08:36:49 +0000

And then, in 310 or 309, Cassy had Alexander IV and his mother Roxane poisoned and the 400 year old royal bloodline of Philip and Alexander is no more. But there is another son of Alexander – Heracles, his bastard son to Barsine, the Persian woman he lost his virginity to.

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#100 – Peace of the Dynasts

CJR — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 12:39:24 +0000

OUR 100th EPISODE! Antigonus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Cassander agree to a truce, which frees Antigonus up to kick Selly out of Babylon. Or so he thinks.

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#99 – Selly Makes A Stand

CJR — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 23:44:02 +0000

In 311, while Antigonus was distracted with Ptolemy in Syria, Seleucus borrowed 1000 men from Ptolemy and marched back to his old satrapy, Babylon with the insane idea that he could take it back. Don't stop believin'.

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#98 – Battle of Gaza

CJR — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 23:25:34 +0000

So Asia Minor once again is completely under Antigonus’ control. He can now focus on Greece and he puts his invasion plan into effect. But Lysimachus isn't going to make it easy. Meanwhile Demetrius and Ptolemy go toe-to-toe at the Battle of Gaza.

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#97 – Cratesipolis

CJR — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 06:48:54 +0000

Cassander needs to act quickly to stablise his territories in Greece. So in the summer of 315, while Antigonus is still busy laying siege to Tyre, he re-invades the Peloponnese with the help of 50 of Ptolemy’s ships. Then he sends his most trusted general Prepelaus south to do a deal with Alexander, flipping him away from Antigonus. He was named “General of the Peloponnese” – which is also the title his father holds. Which makes seating arrangements at Christmas dinner a real bitch. But the household staff don't need to worry long, because Alexander doesn't survive long. In his stead, there rises another kickass Macedonian woman – his wife, known to history only as Cratesipolis.

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#96 – The Lost Testament of Alexander with David Grant

CJR — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 13:35:29 +0000

David Grant has just published a truly unique and fascinating book called “In Search of the Lost Testament of Alexander”.

We recently had him on to talk us through his theory.

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#95 – “Decree of the Macedonians”

CJR — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 04:41:49 +0000

Antigonus pulls a trick out of Polyperchon's hat and declares all of the Greek cities will be free and independent – IF they overthrow Cassander.

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#94 – Face To Face

CJR — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 08:25:22 +0000

The first person to feel Antigonus' wrath is Seleucus who ends up fleeing to Egypt. Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Cassander send Antigonus a delegation insisting his restore Selly to his satrapy and stop being a one-eyed dick. He ignores them and they all go to the mattresses. Again.

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#93 – Sandy & Shanky

CJR — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 13:42:55 +0000

Chandragupta Maurya takes over India, fulfilling Alexander's dream.
Pooch gets his comeuppance.
And AntiG isn't prepared to deal. He wants it all.

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#92 – The End Of Eumenes

CJR — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 09:27:47 +0000

Eumenes – the Greek secretary, rescued from anonymity by Philip, who studied tactics at the feet of both Philip and Alexander, who proved himself an excellent general, and remained loyal to the Argead line, but who was always shadowed by the fact he was a mere Greek – is finally betrayed by his own men.

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#91 – Battle of Gabene

CJR — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 06:41:57 +0000

Where Eumenes and Antigonus go toe-to-toe at the Battle of Gabene in modern Iran for round two of Macedonian Idol 317.

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#90 – Paraetacene

CJR — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 07:13:47 +0000

Where Eumenes and Antigonus go toe-to-toe at Paraetacene in modern Iran for round one of Macedonian Idol 317.

Here's a pic of the Naqsh-e Rustam tombs I mention on the show.

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#89 – U & The Pooch

CJR — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 05:56:09 +0000

Eumenes joins up with the eastern satraps, Peucestas and the Silver Shields, which forces Antigonus to join forces with Seleucus and Peithon. And then they go at each other.

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#88 – Eumenes v Antigonus

CJR — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 05:28:04 +0000

Cassander is now de facto regent. But Polyperchon is still alive. * So is Antigonus – his ally for the moment – and Eumenes, who is trapped by Antigonus beyond the Taurus mountains. And Lysimachus and Seleucus and Ptolemy. So it isn’t over yet. Not by a long shot.

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#87 – Cassander v Olympias

CJR — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 09:54:24 +0000

Olympias is the mistress of Macedon! But not for long. Cassander finally heads back home and confronts her. Is this how it ends for the mother of Alexander?

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86

CJR — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 10:40:56 +0000

When the Athenians learn that Poly won’t be coming to save them, they surrendered to Cassander. Late in 317, Poly was in Epirus with Alexander IV. He was arranging for Olympias to return to Macedon, which she had finally agreed to do. She ends up leading an army – against Adea Eurydice.

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#85 – The Fall Of Phocion

CJR — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 04:05:15 +0000

Phocion and what’s left of his party are shipped to Athens by the White Clit where they are put on trial. Then Poly and Cassy fight over Athens.

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#84 – Phocion’s Tight Pickle

CJR — Fri, 25 Nov 2016 01:17:19 +0000

It’s now looking very likely that Greece is going to become a theater of war between Cassander and Poly. Poly’s letter has pulled the rug out from underneath the most honourable man in Athens – Phocion. He’s 84 and as we’ve seen in earlier episodes, he only accepted the job of oligarch to try to use his long friendship with Antipater to try to damage control the impact on Athens. Which side to choose? PolyP or Cassy? He's in a tight pickle.

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#83 – The Illusion of Freedom

CJR — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 06:07:44 +0000

We spend more time talking about the regular propaganda that various successors and kings would come out with over the years regarding Greek freedom and get into a discussion about the illusions we still have today about freedom – ours and other peoples'.

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#82 – The Freedom Of The Greeks

CJR — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 08:00:22 +0000

It's now Polyperchon against Antigonus, Cassander and Eumenes. Polyperchon tries to get Olympias to come back to Macedon. He also offers Eumenes the position of Royal General of Asia – Antigonus’ title. Cassander manages to take Piraeus, the port of Athens. Which prompts Polyperchon to do something incredible – offer the Greeks their freedom once again.

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#81 – Polyperchon

CJR — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 04:55:37 +0000

By the time Antipater got back to Macedon, he was 80 years old, with only a few months to live. When he died, in the late summer of 319, it threw everything once more into chaos. On his deathbed, he passed his title “to Polyperchon”. And thus started the Second War of the Diadochi.

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#80 – Horse Whipping

CJR — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 03:24:59 +0000

Eumenes is now all alone. His enemies are trying to bribe his commanders to desert him, so he gives them permission to plunder Antigonus' satrapy and keep the proceeds.
Meanwhile Cassander tries to create tension between Antipater and Antigonus.
Antipater meets Antigonus, they make peace, and Antipater eventually heads home to Macedonia, taking the kings and giving most of his troops to Antigonus to fight Eumenes.
But these guys are old, old friends.
Eumenes lets go of most of his men and retreats into a very small mountain fort, Nora.
Where he whips his horses.

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#79 – The Greek

CJR — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 04:22:40 +0000

We talk about lost sources of the events after Alexander, the garbage dumps of Oxyrhynchus, the Villa of the Papyri, Vatican palimpsests and multi-spectral imaging.

Eumenes, the Greek private secretary who became the most successful general of the first War of the Diadochi, is trying to unite the Perdiccan forces and do a deal with Cleopatra.

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#78 – Triple Paradise

CJR — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 07:26:29 +0000

In the late summer of 320, the anti-Perdiccan camp held a conference at a place called Triparadeisus in Syria or Lebanon. Triparadeisus means ‘triple paradise'. Which is also a nasty sex act, but don't get us started on that. And a sixteen year old girl nearly turned the tables on all of them in a single day.

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#77 – JAMES ROMM

CJR — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 06:14:49 +0000

James Romm is an author, reviewer, and the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics at Bard College in Annandale, NY.

After getting his B.A. in Classics from Yale, he went on to earn a Ph.D. from Princeton in 1988. He has taught Greek language, literature and history at Bard College since 1990.

He is also the author of GHOST ON THE THRONE, one of the best books on the Wars of the Successors.

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#76 – Perdiccas V Ptolemy

CJR — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 03:24:33 +0000

Perdiccas launches his invasion of Egypt to punish Ptolemy for the theft of Alexander's corpse.

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#75 – The Battle With No Name

CJR — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 10:40:55 +0000

So the first battle between the successors occurred late in May 320 in Cappadocia. It kicked off 40 years of bloodshed between Macedonians. It has no name.

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#74 – The Quest For The Tomb

CJR — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 21:56:02 +0000

Our guest today is Andrew Chugg, who has dedicated much of his life to Sherlocking the final location of Alexander's corpse and tomb. He's written several books and been on documentaries. Check out his website.

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73 – I’m an Individual

CJR — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 06:15:01 +0000

Social historians agree that the Hellenistic period is when art, literature and philosophy started to examine the individual far more than before.- It’s hard to us to imagine, but in Classical greece, people didn’t think of themselves as individuals as we do today. They were the city-state. This change in attitude paved the way for the ultimate form of individualism – Christianity, the religion of individual salvation.

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72 – A Taste of Honey

CJR — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 05:06:37 +0000

It had taken nearly TWO YEARS to prepare the casket and the catafalque for Alexander's corpse. It's one of the wonders of the world. And now it makes it's way to Macedon, drawn by 64 mules. But it doesn't get very far.

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71 – Best of Both Worlds

CJR — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 12:09:47 +0000

Perdiccas has to choose between two wives. And he has to tangle with one of history’s toughest teenage girls. Meanwhile Antigonus decides where his loyalties lie.

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70 – Now That Is a Real Man

CJR — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 23:00:47 +0000

Perdiccas' grip on his empire continues to slip. Antigonus “One Eye” decides to ignore his command to invade Cappadocia, so Perdiccas has to invade it himself. He tortures and impales the king and all his relatives – and then moves on to lay siege to another town where the entire population commits mass suicide instead of being taken alive. Ptolemy also throws down the gauntlet by invading Cyrenaica without permission and issuing his own coins depicting the profile of Alexander himself.

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69 – The End of Athens

CJR — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 02:11:23 +0000

The Athenians expect their city to be razed, as Alexander had razed Thebes when it rebelled in 335. Hyperides was now discredited, along with his fellow advocate of revolt, Demosthenes. Both are hunted down by that most fearsome of predators – an out-of-work actor.

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68 – WIpeout

CJR — Sun, 31 Jul 2016 04:20:37 +0000

In order for Craterus to cross the Hellespont with his ten thousand troops to assist Antipater against the Greek rebellion, he needs Cleitus the White to wipe out Athens' navy.
Once that's accomplished, Craterus and Antipater wipe out Athens' army.
And Athens, for centuries a major regional power, is effectively wiped out in terms of being a player in the future of Greek affairs.

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#67 – The Greek Rebellion Pt 2

CJR — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 02:00:31 +0000

We start off with ten minutes of Cameron's “three illusions” philosophy to try to make Ray feel better about getting close to 50.

Then we launch into more of the Greek rebellion. Antipater and Olympias are using their best assets – i.e. their daughters – to try to sway everyone from Perdiccas to Leonnatus over to their side. Meanwhile, back in Athens, an old enemy of the Macedonians returns for a brief last bit of fame and glory.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #66 – The Greek Rebellion Pt 1

CJR — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 05:44:07 +0000

News of Alexander's demise takes a few weeks to get back to Athens. When it does, all hell breaks loose.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #65 – Hellenism

CJR — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 07:26:00 +0000

On today's episode we talk about Alexander's greatest legacy – the spread of Hellenism and the empires that were built on top of it.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #64 – The Bactrian Revolt

CJR — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 10:27:27 +0000

23,000 Greek soldiers in Bactria and Sogdiana (modern Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) learn about Alexander's demise and think “fuck this shithole” and head back home to Greece. Perdiccas sends his trusted commander and new satrap Peithon to

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Life Of Alexander The Great #63 – Walk Like An Egyptian

CJR — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 08:26:37 +0000

Perdiccas divides up Alexander's empire into satrapies run by the king's former Companions and cancels the king's “Last Plans”. Meanwhile – what's that funky smell? And some royal ladies get the chop.

Here's a map of what it all looked like at the end of the episode.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #62 – Don’t Stop Believing

CJR — Fri, 27 May 2016 10:30:18 +0000

Meleager always knew he was destined for greater things. So when he sees his chance, he takes it.

Here's a map of what it all looked like at the end of the episode.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #61 – The Day After

CJR — Fri, 20 May 2016 07:23:41 +0000

The day after Alexander died, his inner circle of “bodyguards” (eg his leading commanders) had a conference to decide who would take the king's place. Would it be Roxanne's unborn child? What about Heracles, his son to Barsine? Or perhaps Perdiccas, his second-in-command? But there is another, waiting in the wings, and he is the favourite of the army.

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WHAT SHOULD WE DO NEXT?

CJR — Wed, 18 May 2016 21:44:57 +0000

What should we do after we finish the Wars of the Successors? Vote now! Feel free to choose multiple selections and even add your own suggestions.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #60 – The War of the Successors

CJR — Fri, 13 May 2016 02:49:16 +0000

Well the King is dead. Who will take his place?

As it turns out, this question results in a 40 year war between Alexander's top men. The War of the Successors lasted longer than Philip and Alexander's combined reigns.

And we're going to tell the whole story. Today we talk about the contenders for the throne.

Five of them went to war.

Two became kings.

Only one founded a lasting dynasty of his own.

And eventually produced a woman who helped determine the fate of the Roman Republic, nearly 300 years later.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #59 – Patrick Garvey

CJR — Fri, 06 May 2016 06:00:41 +0000

Today we have a GUEST – Patrick Garvey from achillesgene.com. Patrick works in marketing and has a degree in political science from Centre College in Kentucky. He's written quite a lot recently about Alexander, Hephaestion and Achilles, so we invited him on to share his views on the big questions…

Were Alexander the Great and Hephaestion lovers?
How much did Alexander really think he was the new Achilles?

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Life Of Alexander The Great #58 – Exit Alexander

CJR — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 04:58:47 +0000

In May 323, a week before his intended invasion of Arabia, Alexander throws a party to celebrate the announcement by the oracle of Zeus Ammon at Siwah that Hephaestion is to receive a heroic cult. He is then invited to an after party attended by twenty of his inner circle. He drinks a massive cup of wine – and collapses in pain. Eight days later, the king of the world is DEAD.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #57 – MC Hammurabi

CJR — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 06:45:45 +0000

In 323, Alexander heads back to Babylon where he is met by a group of Chaldean philosophers who warn him not to enter the city. He ignores them – and then bad shit starts to happen.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #56 – War & Death

CJR — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 09:45:40 +0000

Most of this episode is us discussing what the ancient Greeks might have felt about war, violence and death. There's also a bit on Lycurgus, the mythical founder of Sparta's constitution, and the My Lai massacre.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #55 – Hephaestion And The Chicken

CJR — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 08:25:29 +0000

Hephaestion parties hard, comes down with a fever, starts to recover and then decides to celebrate with a gallon of wine and a whole chicken. It doesn't end well.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #54 – Alexandra Morris

CJR — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 06:50:43 +0000

Our guest today is Alexandra Morris. She has an undergraduate degree in archaeology, art history, and anthropology at SUNY Potsdam and an MA in Egyptology at the University of Pennsylvania. We recently read an article about her theory that Alexander might have suffered from a condition known as CTE – Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy – a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma. We think it's a fascinating idea and changes the way we should think about Alexander's later behaviour – and perhaps the behaviour of other “great men” of history, too.

If you'd like to support Alexandra's plan to present a paper on their theory in Athens, Greece this coming June (2016, 14th Annual International Conference On History & Archaeology: Ancient to Modern), throw a few bucks in her GoFundMe account. We did!

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Life Of Alexander The Great #53 – The Opis Mutiny

CJR — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 04:26:06 +0000

STILL IN 324 BCE… Alexander reaches Opis (located about 50 miles (80 km) north of modern Baghdad) where he adds 30,000 Eastern troops to his army – and AGAIN his Macedonian and Greek troops mutiny… for the very last time.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #52 – The Marriage At Susa

CJR — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 03:58:15 +0000

IN 324 BCE, Alexander volunteered 91 of his senior men – and himself – to marry Persian princesses at a huge mass wedding ceremony in Susa. Was it his way of trying to unite humanity? Or just pragmatism? Listen and make up your own mind.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #51 – The Exiles Decree

CJR — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 09:48:02 +0000

Nearchus shows up unexpectedly and Alexander barely recognises him.

Alexander makes plans to invade Arabia.

Then he heads back to Persepolis for the first time in six years and has to crucify the satrap.

To celebrate, they have a drinking party where a bunch of people die from alcoholic poisoning.

And to deal with the problem of thousands of Greek exiles wandering throughout his empire, he orders them all to return home to Greece.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #50 – Ian Worthington

CJR — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 05:32:17 +0000

Our very special guest today is Ian Worthington, Curators' Professor, Adjunct Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Missouri and author of one of our favourite books, BY THE SPEAR – Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #49 – MAN OR GOD

CJR — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 07:00:39 +0000

First there come the punishments. Alexander finds out some of his satraps and generals didn't think he was coming back from India, so their heads got a little big and he has to show them who is boss. Then we talk about whether or not he really thinks he is a god or if that's just psychological warfare.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #48 – The Gedrosian Desert

CJR — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 08:10:36 +0000

What a fucking mess. Alexander has the great idea of taking 50,000 people into the most hellish desert on the planet. Why? We discuss several theories. What happens? A DISASTER. But there are whales (not in the desert). Oh and we announce our brand new series, starting next month!

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Life Of Alexander The Great #47 – The Brahmans and The Desert

CJR — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 10:16:40 +0000

Alexander really admires the Indian Brahmans – but he has a bunch of them killed anyway for creating rebellions. As it turns out, that was a really bad idea. And then he decides to take a bunch of his guys on a pleasure march through a hellish desert – which, again, turns out to be a really bad idea.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #46 – The Siege Of Malli

CJR — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 05:58:24 +0000

In this episode, Alexander has to deal with a revolt of some Indian tribes, including the Malli. While laying siege to their citadel, Alexander gets a 3-foot arrow through his chest.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #45 – The Mutiny At Hyphasis River

CJR — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 01:57:25 +0000

Well all good things must come to an end, and that includes wiping out barbarian armies. After eight years of endless campaigning in deserts and monsoons, fighting elephants and barbarian hordes, suffering from starvation and frostbite, poison arrows, drunken fights, and giant snakes, Alexander's men finally have enough and tell him it's time to go home.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #44 – THE BATTLE OF THE HYDASPES RIVER Part 2

CJR — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 13:34:55 +0000

LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS AGAIN…. and this time a little worse for wear. Forgive us for our complete lack of energy on this show. We were both nearly dead.

On this episode, Alexander comes face to face with Porus main army – and defeats him in magnificent style.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #43 – THE BATTLE OF THE HYDASPES RIVER Part 1

CJR — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 17:11:33 +0000

LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS!

Porus is an Indian prince with a massive army, sitting and waiting on the shore of the Hydaspes River, with 120 battle elephants. To get to him, Alexander needs to cross this wide, freezing cold, fast flowing river, with the enemy waiting for him on the other bank. How does he do this? His tactics at Hydaspes made it Napoleon's favourite of all Alexander's battles.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #42 – The Rock Of Aornus

CJR — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 04:56:51 +0000

Alexander marches into India. He engages with several Indian tribes, including the Nyassans, who claimed to be the descendants of the people who traveled to Greece with Dionysus, and the Assaceni, who tried the old “we're hiding in a fort and you can't get us” trick. This provides him with a chance to do something even his famous ancestor Heracles failed to accomplish – to take The Rock of Aornus.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #41 – Conspiracy Of The Pages

CJR — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 23:55:53 +0000

It was common practice for Macedonian nobles to send their eldest teenage sons to serve as royal pages to the king. They get a close-up experience of kingly life and the king gets hostages to keep his nobles loyal. Unfortunately, one of Alexander's pages gets himself in trouble and it leads to yet another assassination plot against the king.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #40 – Bow Down Before The King!

CJR — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 07:53:57 +0000

Alexander tries to get not only his Persian subjects, but also his Macedonians and Greeks, to bow down before him – proskynesis, as it was called, or genuflection.

But did he do it just because he was deranged? Or were there good, practical reasons for it?

Callisthenes, the official court historian, took issue with it – and, in doing so, signed his own death warrant.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #39 – ROOOOOXXXXXAAAAANNNNE

CJR — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 04:19:41 +0000

Alexander proves that his soldiers can actually fly when he takes the Sogdian Rock.

Then he performs another incredible feat of engineering to terrify Sisimithres who lived in a rock fortress called the Rock of Chorienes and was literally a motherfucker.

Then he finally gets married – not to Barsine, the woman he's been sleeping with for several years and who is preggers with his baby – but to Roxane, the most beautiful Asian woman in world.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #38 – Cleitus The Black

CJR — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 12:06:38 +0000

First, let us apologise for the noise outside of Cameron's window!

This episode is mostly about one of the worst events in Alexander's story – his drunken murder of his senior commander, Cleitus The Black, aka the man who saved his life, aka The Black Clit.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #37 – The Revolt of Bactria

CJR — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 09:42:10 +0000

Well Alexander finally catches up with Bessus and removes parts of his face that he won't be needing any longer. But just when everything seems to be going well, Bactria and Sogdiana (modern-day Afghanistan and Tajikistan) revolt and that marks the beginning of a long and bloody guerilla war unlike anything Alexander, or the world, has seen before.

Use this map for reference.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #36 – Hunting Bessus

CJR — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 06:21:22 +0000

In this episode, Alexander marches his army through the Hindu Kush – an 800-kilometre-long (500 mi) mountain range that stretches between central Afghanistan and northern Pakistan – to sneak up on Bessus.

Along the way we manage to talk about a guy getting beheaded, cannabis, Greco-Buddhism, Prometheus, Monkey Magic, eating raw horsemeat, drunken wisdom – a dick in a box.

Use this map for reference.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #35 – The Philotas Affair

CJR — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 04:01:26 +0000

In this episode, Alexander has to deal with THE PHILOTAS AFFAIR. Philotas, the son of Philip's old general, Parmenion, and currently commander of Alexander's Companion Cavalry, is accused of conspiracy to assassinate his king. This story has everything – sex with young boys, conspiracy, assassins, suicide, torture, stoning, betrayal, lies… and The Jacksons.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #34 – The Orient Express

CJR — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 05:01:17 +0000

In this shortish episode, we talk about Alexander's increasing “orientalism” – the potential reasons for it and the ways it caused him trouble.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #33 – The Death of Darius

CJR — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 10:34:03 +0000

Darius gives a long speech to his inner circle about how much he values their loyalty – and as a show of thanks, they clap him in chains, run him through with a spear and leave him to die on the side of the road.

Okay – so Alexander has conquered the “left nut” of Persia and the Great King is dead – this means his men can go home now, right? RIGHT??!

Not so fast….

Check out this great map of the Persian Satrapies that Ray found:

And here's a Google map of the locations in this episode:

And here's a link to the Spotify playlist!

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Life Of Alexander The Great #32- Persepolis

CJR — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 23:17:19 +0000

Alexander enters Persepolis – and then has it destroyed. The greatest city in the world (probably) at the time and he not only allows it to be torn to shreds, he allows the inhabitants to be massacred, raped and finally he personally sets fire to the Royal Palace.

Meanwhile, back in Greece, the Spartan king Agis III is trying his luck with a revolution against Macedonian rule and he tries to get our old friend Demosthenes to support him.

Check out this great map of the Persian Satrapies that Ray found:

And here's a Google map of the locations in this episode:

And here's a link to the Spotify playlist!

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Life Of Alexander The Great #31 – The Persian Gates

CJR — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 03:40:31 +0000

Believe it or not, Alexander nearly blows it in this episode! He falls for a trap and gets a bunch of his men killed. But, as usual, he manages to pull another victory out of his hairy white Macedonian ass.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #30 – Babylon

CJR — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 05:58:49 +0000

In Episode #30, Alexander marches on Babylon, one of the Wonders of the Ancient World, while Darius runs for the mountains and tries to convince his troops to continue fighting a guerrilla war.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #29 – The Battle Of Gaugamela, Part II

CJR — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 23:00:48 +0000

In this episode we finish the story of how young King Alexander III of Macedon, in a strange and hot land, out-numbered 5-to-1, wiped the floor with King Darius of Persia with a tactic which almost beggars belief.

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#28 – The Battle Of Gaugamela, Part I

CJR — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 05:06:55 +0000

In this episode Alexander III of Macedon marches all the way from Alexandria in Egypt to Gaugamela (near Mosul in modern day Iraq) where Darius of Persia is waiting for him with the biggest army the world had ever seen. And elephants.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #27 – The Founding Of Alexandria

CJR — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 12:22:24 +0000

Alexander visits the Oracle of Siwah to ask your usual questions: “Who is my father” and “Am I fated to rule the world” – you know, that ol' thing.

On his way he sees a patch of land and thinks to himself “Hey how about I found the greatest city in the world here and then name it after myself?” – which he then proceeds to do.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #26 – The Siege of Gaza

CJR — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 02:27:50 +0000

Alexander heads towards Egypt, stopping first at Gaza where the satrap Batis refuses to submit, forcing the Macedonians to spend several months laying siege. Even an arrow in the shoulder doesn't stop Alexander – but he takes horrible revenge against Batis, before heading to Egypt where is declared both SON OF GOD and GOD ON EARTH!

Here's a map:

Alexander the Great's journey to Gaza and Egypt

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Life Of Alexander The Great #25 – The Siege Of Tyre

CJR — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 21:00:31 +0000

This is a CRAZY story!

The people from an island fortress off the coast of Syria / Lebanon refuse to let Alexander sacrifice to their god Melqart aka Heracles – so he lays siege to it. Six months later, tens of thousands of Tyrians are dead and / or sold into slavery. During the siege, Alexander is forced to invent brand new forms of siege warfare and the Tyrians invent the ship bomb.

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Life Of Alexander The Great #24 – The Lamentation Of Their Women

CJR — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 21:00:56 +0000

The aftermath of the Battle of Issus. Alexander deals with Darius' wife, mother and children, forging a lifelong relationship with Sysigambis (the mother). Letters are exchanged between Darius and Alexander which don't go well. And Alexander reacquaints himself with someone from his childhood, the first woman he sleeps with – Barsine, former wife of Memnon of Rhodes.

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#23 – The Battle Of Issus

CJR — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 10:41:33 +0000

It's late 333 BCE. Alexander faces Darius on the battlefield for the first time! He's outnumbered – 3 to 1 or even 11 to 1, depending on which source you believe. What does he do? He stands firm and fights, because he is Alexander. If you've ever wondered why he deserves the epithet “The Great”, this is where you find out. In fact, we don't think that does him justice. From now on, he will be know as “Alexander the Motherfucker”.

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#22 – A Brush With Death!

CJR — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 12:07:19 +0000

It's all happening in this episode!

Memnon is using the Persian fleet to undo a lot of Alexander's “liberations”.
BUT he dies mysteriously, putting the Persian battle plans into turnaround.
So Darius calls all of his troops to Babylon, which turns out to be a mistake.
Meanwhile Alexander is making a clear distinction between his Greek empire and his Asian empire.
He goes for a swim at Tarsus which nearly costs him his life.
To make matters worse he's told that his doctor is on the take and is going to murder him!
But Alexander plays it – LIKE A BOSS!
We talk about Jezebel, the god Ba'al and their run in with Yahweh and the Jews.
And go into detail about the Persian army!

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#21 – Cutting the Gordian Knot

CJR — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 05:48:00 +0000

It's Winter 333 and Alexander is a man on a mission (from Zeus). He's storming towns, has to arrest one of his own commanders, parts the sea, and cuts the Gordian Knot! All in a days work!

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#20 – Miletus & Halicarnassus

CJR — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 22:00:08 +0000

Alexander marches south and “liberates” city after city. He dedicates his first temple. He ignores omens from the gods. He creates a new Oracle of Apollo. He makes his first big mistake. He gets adopted by Ada of Caria. He meets a boy who befriended a dolphin. And he lays waste to the great city of Halicarnassus.

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#19 – GOLD

CJR — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 03:04:27 +0000

After his first big battle against the Persians at Granicus River, Big Al starts marching south to find more gold. It's all about the gold. We also talk about what people did before soap, King Croesus, a story about two painters and three lines, a horse with good taste in art, and Big Al's method for calming the population.

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#18 – Battle of the Granicus River

CJR — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 05:36:47 +0000

In this exciting episode, we see Alexander engage the Persians for the first time! We also talk about Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, and talk a little about the achievements and history of the Persian empire. Then we get stuck into the Battle of the Granicus River, where young Alexander proves himself, yet again, to be a master of strategy and to be just plain crazy.

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#17 – Alexander Goes To Persia

CJR — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 04:38:15 +0000

In #17, we see Alexander take his army to Persia!
We also go into detail about his sex life (or lack thereof), how to make armour out of linen, Alexander's relationship to Achilles and a bit of a quick refresher on the Trojan War.

This episode is available to our Hetairoi and Diadochi members on 2015-06-11 and will be available to our Pezhetairoi members on 2015-06-18.

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#16 – Only The Balls

CJR — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 03:28:00 +0000

On this episode we're talking about Alexander's preparations to invade Persia, the influence of Xenophon’s Anabasis, the rise of Darius III as king of Persia, and the history of eunuchs and circumcision.

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#15 – The Destruction of Thebes (fixed)

CJR — Fri, 22 May 2015 05:31:10 +0000

KING Alexander III hits the ground running, traversing the length and breadth of Greece to show everyone who is boss. It culminates in the brutal and merciless destruction of Thebes, one of the great powers of Greece.

Here's a map to help you get your head around his travels.

Here's the link to support Don Standing's efforts to build a school in Africa. We have made a donation and you should too.

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#14 – The Death Of A King

CJR — Fri, 08 May 2015 05:35:24 +0000

After six long months and 14 episodes we finally end Chapter One of our series with Philip II's assassination. It's one of the craziest stories you'll ever hear. We know who did it but we'll never really know why or who put him up to it – if anyone. It involves a homosexual dalliance and gang rape. In this episode we also have babies burned alive, a forced suicide, a crucifixion, a warning about chopping of dicks and a really awful country song. WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR!?

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#13 – The Common Peace

CJR — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 03:34:50 +0000

Okay we're back!

On today's episode we're going to discuss Alexander's early life in a lot more detail and then get on to talking about the aftermath of Philip's victory at Chaeronea and the creation of “The Common Peace” aka “The League of Corinth”.

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#12- The Battle Of Chaeronea

CJR — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 03:17:11 +0000

In 338 BCE a battle took place to decide the fate, not only of Greece, but of Western civilisation (although no-one at the time could possibly understand the implications). It was the Battle of Chaeronea, fought between Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander, then only 18 years old, against a coalition of Greek city-states lead by Athens and Thebes.

The battle itself involved around 60,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry fairly evenly divided between the two sides – but what wasn't evenly divided was the level of experience and discipline and that was demonstrated very clearly.

After a clear victory for Macedonia, the era of the independent Greek polis vanished FOREVER. Democracy was replaced by a united Greek kingdom under the hegemony of Philip… and, within a few years, his son Alexander would assume the reins.

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#11 – An Act Of War

CJR — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 05:30:43 +0000

Another 140 minutes of smart, funny and silly entertainment for y'all!

And GOOD NEWS – young Alexander makes his entrance on the world stage!

Also in this episode:

Philip finally decides to take over Thrace once and for all
He also decides to take control of Byzantium
His “truce” with Artaxerxes III Ochus of Persia runs out of steam
Demosthenes continues to drive Athens towards full out war against Philip – and he finally gets what he wants!
Philip captures Athens' grain fleet, destroys 180 of their ships, sells their grain
We see the introduction, for the first time in history, of the power of the torsion siege engine, which will become a part of warfare for the next 1800 years!
Philip destroys Scythia, and takes 20,000 slaves, only to lose them to the Triballi!
We go into detail about the god of parties, Dionysus!
And finally it all ends with an all out declaration of war between Macedonia and Athens!

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#10 – Athens vs Apollo

CJR — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 08:00:17 +0000

In this glorious episode, we are STILL talking about Philip but! BUT! Good news y'all – Alexander makes his first (albeit small) appearance. He's 14! The good news is that he's going to become a bigger part of the story very soon.

So other news in this episode:

Philip is still trying to keep the peace with Athens and Thebes, although they are both pretty angry with him
Athens refuses to send a delegation to the Pythian Games, so Philip threatens them with another Sacred War
Demosthenes gives more speeches telling everyone how clever he is
We talk about Arcadia, Pan, nymphomaniacs and feats of engineering
Philip hires Aristotle to be Alexander's tutor
And he gets some sucky letters from Speusippus and Isocrates
Aeschines calls Demosthenes a pussy
Philip nearly gets killed, breaks a collarbone and/or a leg
He installs Olympias' brother (and therefore Alexander's uncle) on the throne of Epirus
Philocrates goes into exile
Antiphon tries to burn down the Athenian navy
And, finally – Philip decides to invade Thrace

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#09 – Peter Adamson on Aristotle

CJR — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 02:26:48 +0000

If you’re not already one of the many fans of Peter Adamson’s “History Of Philosophy Without Any Gaps” podcast, you will be by the end of this episode. Peter does to philosophy what we do to history – he provides a blow-by-blow account of the ideas, lives and historical context of the major philosophers as well as the lesser-known figures of the tradition.

Peter is a Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and was previously at King’s College London.

We invited him onto the show to discuss philosophy in the days of Philip and Alexander, with a special focus on Aristotle.

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The Music: We want to get down on our knees and worship the amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “Hero”, as our theme music: Jofre Horta. He’s already a big deal in the composing world but he’s going to be even bigger – and you can say you heard him first on our little show! Listen to his whole album on Spotify or iTunes.

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#08 – The Peace of Philocrates

CJR — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 13:01:33 +0000

On this TWO AND A HALF HOUR episode, we go insane.

I mean it – this is literally the most insane episode you’ve ever heard. WHY DO WE DO IT TO OURSELVES???

So – what happens in this episode?

We cover the years 352 – 346 BCE
Philip attacks Thrace because Athens had done a deal with the king and he didn’t want Athens controlling the coastline.
He threatens Olynthus with a story for trying to broker a deal with Athens.
He invades Epirus.
He’s only 30.
The Olynthians offer refuge to his stepbrothers. He demands their surrender. They refuse. He invades the Chalcidice in 349.
He doesn’t attack Olynthus directly – he attacked the other members of the league and isolates Olynthus.
He razes Aristotle’s birthplace (which he later rebuilds to get Aristotle to mentor Alexander).
Athens sends Chares to support them but by the time he gets there, Philip has moved to Thessaly. Chares goes home.
In March 348, Philip returns to Chalcidice. Athens sends Charidemus.
Finally Philip lays siege to Olynthus. Athens sends Chares again. It takes them 40 days to be able to sail due to bad weather. By the time Chares gets there, it’s too late. Philip razes Olynthus to the ground.
Philip then seeks peace with Athens. Why? Probably so they won’t unite with Thebes against him.
Philocrates proposes sending an embassy to Philip. This is just before he destroys Olynthus. When that happens, Eubulus convinces them to send embassies to all of the Greek states call for a war against Philip.
In 347, the Phocians invade Boeotia, forcing Thebes to ask Philip for support.
He sends a small force with Parmenion.
The Phocians enlist Athens and Sparta to surrender the three towns that control Thermopylae.
In 346, Athens sent a new peace embassy to Philip. They want Phocis and Thrace included in the deal as their allies. Philip refuses. He offers to protect the Phocians and return Athenian prisoners.
Then he heads to Thrace.
Athens votes to accept the peace terms. They go back to Pella but Philip isn’t there – he’s besieging Thrace. They wait for him in Pella.
He finally comes back, sees them last. They sign the deal.
Then they hear the Phocians had given Thermopylae over to Philip.
He’s defeated Thrace AND done a deal with Phocis.
Philip controls the Amphictyonic Council. They punish Phocis and kick Sparta out of the league.
In 13 years, Philip has become the most powerful man in Greece.
And Cam goes on little rants about the goddess Athena and Hades.

YEAH. And we play some songs, read some reviews and thank our lovely ARMY.

What more could you ask for your $5?

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The Music: We want to get down on our knees and worship the amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “Hero”, as our theme music: Jofre Horta. He’s already a big deal in the composing world but he’s going to be even bigger – and you can say you heard him first on our little show! Listen to his whole album on Spotify or iTunes.

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#07 – The Battle of Crocus Field

CJR — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 15:00:34 +0000

On this TWO HOUR episode, we go into much more detail about the Third Sacred War, the state of Phocis, the god Apollo and pederasty (trust us, it’s relevant) – and then we talk in detail about The War Of Apollo and how Philip got his revenge on Onomarchus and cemented his role in Greek affairs.

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The Music: We want to get down on our knees and worship the amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “Hero”, as our theme music: Jofre Horta. He’s already a big deal in the composing world but he’s going to be even bigger – and you can say you heard him first on our little show!

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#06 – The One Eyed King

CJR — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 08:57:56 +0000

On this TWO HOUR episode, you’ll hear how Philip II of Macedon invented lying, invented siege warfare (more or less), lost an eye and held down a Phayllus, but was then beaten for the first and only time in his life. We also talk in detail about the Oracle of Delphi and the Third Sacred War.

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The Music: We want to get down on our knees and worship the amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “Hero”, as our theme music: Jofre Horta. He’s already a big deal in the composing world but he’s going to be even bigger – and you can say you heard him first on our little show!

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#05 – Em. Prof. Bob Milns, UQ

CJR — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 09:51:11 +0000

Our first VIP episode! And apologies in advance for the sucky sound quality. We were calling Bob on his home telephone and I think it looked like this:

Today’s guest is Emeritus Professor Bob Milns, of the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Queensland.

Bob was the Chair of Classics and Ancient History at UQ from 1970 until his retirement in 2003. He even has a museum named after him – The RD Milns Antiquities Museum – which is now valued as over two million dollars! Bob was Head of Department for twenty-three years and Dean of Arts for two. In 1997, Bob became a Member of the Order of Australia for services to education especially in the field of classics and ancient history. He was made Emeritus Professor in 2004.

He is a graduate of Leeds University and Cambridge, in both of which he gained first-class honours.

Major Publications:
Alexander the Great, Robert Hale, London, 1968.
The Spectre of Philip (with J.R. Ellis), Sydney University Press, 1970.
The Use of Documentary Evidence in the Study of Roman Imperial History (with B.W. Jones), Sydney University Press, 1984.
Suetonius: the Flavian Emperors (with B. Jones), Bristol Classical Press, 2002.
Numerous journal articles in learned journals and book-chapters.

I WANT YOU!

Send $ to PayPal@Alexanderthegreat.life and include your shipping address and Ray will get one out to you asap!

If you haven’t already, join our Facebook page and you’ll be in the running to win prizes in our regular “Share The Love” and other competitions.

If you’d like to write a funny or insightful review on iTunes, this is the link.

The Music: We want to get down on our knees and worship the amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “Hero”, as our theme music: Jofre Horta. He’s already a big deal in the composing world but he’s going to be even bigger – and you can say you heard him first on our little show!

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#04 – King Philip Goes To War

CJR — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 08:58:16 +0000

King Philip bought some time with his peace treaties and marriages and used that time to re-engineer the Macedonian army and cavalry. In this (shortish due to Xmas) episode, Philip turns on his enemies who threaten Macedon and shows them that there’s a new king in town!

And here are some maps so you can play along!

I WANT YOU Coffee Mugs

Send $ to PayPal@Alexanderthegreat.life and include your shipping address and Ray will get one out to you asap!

If you haven’t already, join our Facebook page and you’ll be in the running to win prizes in our regular “Share The Love” and other competitions.

If you’d like to write a funny or insightful review on iTunes, this is the link.

The Music: We want to get down on our knees and worship the amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “Hero”, as our theme music: Jofre Horta. He’s already a big deal in the composing world but he’s going to be even bigger – and you can say you heard him first on our little show!

The post #04 – King Philip Goes To War appeared first on Alexander.

#03 – The Rise Of Philip

CJR — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 01:18:09 +0000

Philip becomes king around age 23-24, and is immediately forced to deal with several invading armies and pretenders to the throne. As the Macedonian army was mostly just massacred by the Illyrians, what does he do? How big is Ray’s “spear”? Listen to Ep#3 to find out!

And here are some maps so you can play along!

I WANT YOU Coffee Mugs

Send $ to PayPal@Alexanderthegreat.life and include your shipping address and Ray will get one out to you asap!

If you haven’t already, join our Facebook page and you’ll be in the running to win prizes in our regular “Share The Love” and other competitions.

If you’d like to write a funny or insightful review on iTunes, this is the link.

The Music: We want to get down on our knees and worship the amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “Hero”, as our theme music: Jofre Horta. He’s already a big deal in the composing world but he’s going to be even bigger – and you can say you heard him first on our little show!

The post #03 – The Rise Of Philip appeared first on Alexander.

#02 – The Rise Of Greece

CJR — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 23:36:56 +0000

In today’s episode, we give a quick tour of Greek history, starting in 1900 BCE and racing all the way up until the rise of Philip II of Macedon, Alexander’s father in the 4th century BCE. We also read out our first iTunes reviews and give away some prizes!

We start by talking about the history of Greece – when it was settled, where the name of the country comes from, the concept of the polis or city-state, the Greek “dark ages”, the Greco-Persian wars, the Peloponnesian War, the rise of Athens, of Sparta, of Thebes – and then finally the rise of Macedon as a regional superpower and how Philip became king.

I WANT YOU Coffee Mugs

Send $ to PayPal@Alexanderthegreat.life and include your shipping address and Ray will get one out to you asap!

If you haven’t already, join our Facebook page and you’ll be in the running to win prizes in our regular “Share The Love” and other competitions.

If you’d like to write a funny or insightful review on iTunes, this is the link.

The Music: We want to get down on our knees and worship the amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “Hero”, as our theme music: Jofre Horta. He’s already a big deal in the composing world but he’s going to be even bigger – and you can say you heard him first on our little show!

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#01 – The Saga Begins.

CJR — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 08:29:32 +0000

The saga begins!

We kick off the new series talking about why Alexander The Great is worth discussing – cavalry commander at 16, king at 20, conqueror of Persia at 26, conquered two-thirds of the known world by the time of his death at 32, bore the shield of Achilles, never lost a battle, the Gordian Knot – and he had AWESOME HAIR. We also discuss his motivations – was he just a despotic conqueror or did he have a vision, inspired by Aristotle, to unite the world and stop the incessant warfare?

Then we talk about the sources for Alexander’s life – what do we know and how do we know it? What evidence is there for the stories about his life? We discuss the primary, secondary, tertiary, and oriental sources.

If you want to listen to the rest of the series – weekly episodes for the next couple of years – you’ll need to become a member of Alexander’s Army.

If you are already a subscriber and you are struggling to add the show to your podcast player, please refer to these instructions.

If you still can’t work it out, please send us a support message and we’ll get back to you ASAP.

Join our Facebook page and you’ll be in the running to win prizes in our regular competitions.

The Music: We want to get down on our knees and worship the amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “Hero”, as our theme music: Jofre Horta. He’s already a big deal in the composing world but he’s going to be even bigger – and you can say you heard him first on our little show!

The post #01 – The Saga Begins. appeared first on Alexander.

#00 – Introducing The New Series

CJR — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 18:26:29 +0000

Hey folks! We’re very excited to announce our brand new kick-ass history series – THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

It’s going to be our wildest and best series yet! This is the guy that both Napoleon and Caesar admired and studied, so it only makes sense for us to tell his story next in our EMPIRE BUILDER series.

You can listen to some free episodes and then, if you like it, you can register on our website – alexanderthegreat.life – to listen to the full series.

We hope you’ll join us for the journey!

Please also checkout the website of the amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “Hero”, as our theme music: Jofre Horta. He’s already a big deal in the composing world but he’s going to be even bigger – and you can say you heard him first on our little show!

The post #00 – Introducing The New Series appeared first on Alexander.

Coming December 2014

CJR — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 12:15:06 +0000

OH. MY. GLOB.

Hi there from Cam & Ray, the guys who put the STORY into history podcasting. We are coming out with a brand new series!

You may know us from our hugely popular LIFE OF CAESAR podcast, or the NAPOLEON BONAPARTE podcast or the WWII History podcast.

Now we are concluding our EMPIRE BUILDER series with the first empire builder, the man who both Caesar and Napoleon studied and admired – Alexander III of Macedon.

We’re going to do something different with this series. In the past, we’ve made our main episodes freely available and then put together some premium episodes for subscribers or asked for donations.

However we think we’ve proven ourselves. Over the last ten years, we’ve produced a thousand hours of free podcasts. Many of them have been, and continue to be, rated amongst the top podcast series in the world. We’ve made our bones.

So this new series is going to be subscriber-only.

If you are a fan of our previous work, then you are going to LOVE this series. When it comes to empire builders, Alexander was the original and the best. Caesar and Napoleon studied him. So if you want to go on this journey with us, be prepared to shell out a little over a buck an episode. We think that’s reasonable. If you don’t think that’s reasonable, then that’s okay, we’re not going to try to convince you. If you don’t know our work, check out some of the free series listed above and then decide if you want to pay for this one.

We are hoping we can find 1000 True Fans who will want to support this series (and support us). Out of the hundreds of thousands of people who have enjoyed our work in the past, we’re hoping there are 1000 who have the desire and the means to throw a fiver at us every month to keep it up. If this model works, we’ll do another series. The more you support us, the more content we can produce for you. It’s a win-win.

Go here for all the details on how to register and listen.

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