The Greeks and the Philosopher Kings

This episode provides a brief sketch of the history of the Greeks. We start with a short discussion on the Minoans and the Mycenaean invasion. We talk about the emergence of a common culture within Homer's epic of the Iliad and Odyssey while noting that "Greek" was a single, unified people, but rather autonomous and warring city-states that shared some common characteristics. We compare and contrast Spartan and Athenian society and trace the rise of democracy. We then explore the Greco-Persian wars, linking with our last episode on the Achaemenid Empire. We discuss the consequences of the Persian invasion and the conditions for the rise of the pan-Hellenic empire of Alexander the Great. We discuss the philosophical underpinnings of the empire from Socrates and Plato to Aristotle and dissect Hellenism as a culture produced from the dialogical process of Greeks encountering local cultures. We conclude with a brief exploration of Greco-Buddhist culture and the break up of the Hellenic Empire.