Episode II.18 – The Athenian Empire
The Greek Counterattack begins. Athens and her allies form the Delian League. The power struggles of Xanthippus, Pausanias, Themistocles, Cimon and Pericles.
Episode II.17 – The Persian War IV: The Battle of Plataea
The final episode of the Persian War. The Athenians and the Spartans defeat the Persian invaders. Victory in Europe! Watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/elgdVJht7As?si=rYin3NLUWloBn2Rx
Episode II.16 – The Persian War III: The Battle of Salamis
The Greek fleet makes a last stand at sea against the Persian armada. The rise of Themistocles and Aristides. Xerxes flees Greece and leaves a garrison under Mardonius in Europe. Watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/j6f8JFcVvMY?si=ukbeFZB7yWLQ_3fC
Episode II.15 – The Persian War II: Thermopylae
Xerxes comes to power in Persia. A huge army invades Greece. Themistocles rallies the Athenians. The Greek allies stand at Thermopylae. Leonidas and the 300 fall in battle. Watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/mdSfsTPBVaI?si=Xfd9CcwM7INrERLL
Episode II.14 – The Persian War I – The Battle of Marathon
The Persian War as told in the Histories of Herodotus. Darius the Great invades Greece. Miltiades commands the Athenians and Plataeans on the plain of Marathon.
Episode II.13 – Magna Graecia
The many lands of the ancient Greeks. Mystery religions, Greek sexuality and the hoplite warrior.
Episode II.12 – Athens
From Theseus to Solon and Pisistratus, the complex, chaotic history of Athens unfolds. Prelude to the Persian War.
Episode II.11 – Sparta
Plutarch tells the story of Lycurgus and the Spartans. Laconia and Lacedaemon. Leonidas, Gorgo and the helots.
Episode II.10 – Introduction to the Second Unit: Classical Greece
The rise of the Greek-city state or Polis. The city of Thebes and the tragedy of Oedipus. Previews of Greek military, political and philosophical
Episode II.09 – The Greek Dark Ages.
Life in Greece after the Bronze Age Collapse. Homer and Hesiod. The mystery religions.
Episode II.08 – The Odyssey
Odysseus struggles to return to Ithaca after victory at Troy only to find his own home under siege.
Episode II.07 – The Iliad
Homer’s great epic poem about the rage of Achilles during the Trojan War.
Episode II.06 – The Trojan War
Gods and men meet at a wedding. War breaks out and disaster follows as the political order of the Aegean Sea fragments in the Bronze Age Collapse.
Episode II.05 – Greek Mythology, Part Two
Gods, demi-gods and heroes.
Episode II.04 – Greek Mythology: From Creation to the Olympian Gods
Greek Mythology. Beginning with the creation of the world out of Chaos and down to the rebellion of the Olympian gods against the Titans.
Episode II.03 – Mycenae
The first truly Greek society arises on the Peloponnesian peninsula and spreads throughout the Aegean Sea.
Episode II.02 – Introduction to the First Unit: Ancient Greece
Episode II.01 – Introduction to Series Two: The Greek Sun
