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, pla...
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 th...
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. HOW TO LISTEN If you're already a subscriber, you can listen to ...
Professor Ian Worthington joins us again to talk about new book about Ptolemy! HOW TO LISTEN If you're already a subscriber, you can listen to the show below or subscribe through iTunes or any podcast player. If you're not a subscriber, please register. If you want to listen to the first episode for free, get instructions here. 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 worshipthe 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.
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. < HOW TO LISTEN If you're already a subscriber, you can listen to the show below or subscribe through iTunes or any podcast player. If you're not a subscriber, please register. If you want to listen to the first episode for free, get instructions here. 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 worshipthe 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...
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. HOW TO LISTEN If you're already a subscriber, you can listen to the show below or subscribe through iTunes or any podcast player. If you're not a subscriber, please register. If you want to listen to the first episode for free, get instructions here. 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. Want to leave us a short voicemail that we might (or might not) play on the show? https://www.speakpipe.com/RayandCam Th...
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. HOW TO LISTEN If you're already a subscriber, you can listen to the show below or subscribe through iTunes or any podcast player. If you're not a subscriber, please register. If you want to listen to the first episode for free, get instructions here. 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 worshipthe 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 sa...
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 “Alexanderthe Motherfucker”. HOW TO LISTEN If you're already a subscriber, you can listen to the show below or subscribe through iTunes or any podcast player. If you're not a subscriber, please register. If you want to listen to the first episode for free, get instructions here. 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 worshipthe amazing and talented...
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. HOW TO LISTEN If you're already a subscriber, you can listen to the show below or subscribe through iTunes or any podcast player. If you're not a subscriber, please register. If you want to listen to the first episode for free, get instructions here. 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 worshipthe amazing and talented composer who offered us the use of one of his amazing tracks, “...
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!? HOW TO LISTEN If you're already a subscriber, you can listen to the show below or subscribe through iTunes or any podcast player. If you're not a subscriber, please register. If you want to listen to the first episode for free, get instructions here. I WANT YOU! If you want to order one of the brilliant coffee mugs designed by Jessica Robles, here's the pricing info (inc shipping): * U.S. – USD $15.00 * Canada – USD $19.00. * Rest of WORLD – USD $27.00. Send $ to PayPal@Alexanderthegreat.life and include you...