70: War is in the Air

Athens wins at Salamis, but what happens when the man most associated with that victory becomes politically untouchable? We close out our Themistocles series by following the messy aftermath of the Pe...

29 Jun 6min

Athens doesn’t just lose a battle in Sicily, it loses the foundation of its power. We start with Thucydides’ brutal assessment of the Sicilian Expedition: a fleet shattered, an army trapped, commander...

26 Jun 40min

This is a teaser of the bonus episode, "Themistocles Pt 3 found over on Patreon. Themistocles doesn’t just “win” the Battle of Salamis, he engineers the conditions that make winning possible. We pick ...

25 Mai 6min

Athens didn’t just lose in Sicily. It ran out of time, ran out of space, and finally ran out of choices. We pick up the story at the moment the expedition is already wobbling, when Nicias can see the ...

22 Mai 41min

This is a teaser of the bonus episode, "Themistocles Pt 2" found over on Patreon. A single line from Delphi forces Athens to gamble everything: “the wooden wall.” Is it an old barricade on the Acropol...

27 Apr 6min

Athens is the greatest naval power in Greece, yet in Sicily it starts to feel helpless. We pick up the story at the moment Nicias sends a careful, politically protective message home and the Athenian ...

24 Apr 38min

This is a teaser of the bonus episode, "Themistocles Pt 1" found over on Patreon. Athens doesn’t wake up one day as the master of the Aegean. It gets argued into that future, one hard political fight ...

25 Mar 5min

A general sends home a letter that sounds like a warning and Athens treats it like a challenge. Nicias lays out the ugly reality at the Siege of Syracuse: stretched supply lines, sickness in camp, fad...

24 Mar 38min