Alexandria: A Hellenistic World Podcast

I perform the Panegyricus by Isocrates (380 BCE), his great work advocating for a pan-Hellenic conquest of Persia... with Athens at the helm, of course! I also read his short Letter to Alexander (341 BCE), exhorting the prince to take his education seriously, and his Second Letter to Philip II (338 BCE), in which he begs the Macedonian king to lead the proposed invasion.

Panegyricus sections: 1–20 (Intro), 47–50 (praising Athenian philosophy), 99–138 (Athenian vs. Spartan rule), 154–189 (Why we should invade Persia, End). Both Letters are read in full. 

Dates mentioned: 5th cent.–338 BCE.

Thanks to Slothinator, a Citizen of Alexandria, and James, our first Scribe of the Great Library!!

NEW PATREON! https://www.patreon.com/cw/AlexandriaPod 

Intro and outro music: "Delphic Hymn to Apollo" as performed by Amber Allayiotis, used with permission. 

All translations are from the Loeb unless stated otherwise.

338 BCE. A Theban merchant, Ismenias, has come to the agora of Athens to sell his wares. But he's in for a spectacle: a 98-year-old man is starving himself to death right there, surrounded by a crowd of adoring citizens. That man? Isocrates: a great teacher of rhetoric and a true believer in a particular, Persian-hating brand of Pan-Hellenism. 

Dates mentioned: 436–338 BCE.

NEW PATREON! https://www.patreon.com/cw/AlexandriaPod 

Intro and outro music: "Delphic Hymn to Apollo" as performed by Amber Allayiotis, used with permission. 

A performance of two famous speeches by Demosthenes, perhaps the greatest orator of ancient Greece. The Third Philippic (341 BCE) solidified his control over Athens and set the entirety of Greece on the warpath against Philip II. The Funeral Oration (338 BCE) shows the aftermath of their catastrophic defeat. These are some GREAT speeches!

Dates mentioned: 341–338 BCE.

Thanks to Slothinator, our first Citizen of Alexandria on Patreon! 

NEW PATREON! https://www.patreon.com/cw/AlexandriaPod 

Intro and outro music: "Delphic Hymn to Apollo" as performed by Amber Allayiotis, used with permission. 

341 BCE. Two Athenian citizens, Antiphanes and Charias, have promised to vote against any war with Macedon. But Demosthenes, the greatest orator of Greece, proves persuasive. 

Dates mentioned: 384–338 BCE.

NEW PATREON! https://www.patreon.com/cw/AlexandriaPod 

Intro and outro music: "Delphic Hymn to Apollo" as performed by Amber Allayiotis, used with permission. 

Our second B-side presents the Derveni Papyrus, a 4th-century BCE philosophical treatise found in Macedon about the mysterious Orphic religion: the creation of the world, the gods, and the origins of human beings. Zeus has sex with his mom and the Titans eat Dionysus. It's wild!

I narrate the Derveni fragments in their entirety, accepting the restorations in the Loeb edition by André Laks and Glenn Most.

UPDATE 8/5: a kind listener, @CeleraViceroy on Twitter, pointed out some audio errors on the original file. I've (hopefully) fixed those errors. Thanks so much, @CeleraViceroy!

Dates mentioned: c.380-c.300 BCE. 

Intro and outro music: "Delphic Hymn to Apollo" as performed by Amber Allayiotis, used with permission.

341 BCE. A young Thracian woman, Mukasokos, has been captured and enslaved by the army of King Philip II. Now, she must learn the preferences and particularities of her new masters: the Macedonians. 

Dates mentioned: 540s–340 BCE.

Intro and outro music: "Delphic Hymn to Apollo" as performed by Amber Allayiotis, used with permission.

Our first B-side episode, presenting what Alexander may have been taught in Mieza by his philosopher tutors in their own words. Excerpts from Aristotle's Politics and Anaximenes' Rhetoric to Alexander. 

Excerpts are: 

Aristotle, Politics: Book 1, Ch.1; Book 3, Ch.4; Book 7, Ch.10.

Anaximenes, Rhetoric to Alexander: Ch.1; Ch.2 (sections 1-2 and 26-32); Ch.38 (sections 1-11).

Dates mentioned: 342-c.300 BCE.

Intro and outro music: "Delphic Hymn to Apollo" as performed by Amber Allayiotis, used with permission.

342 BCE. The philosophers Aristotle and Anaximenes educate the young Alexander and his designated friends at the Temple of the Nymphs at Mieza. The local devotee of the temple, Theupropos, is not so happy about their presence. 

Dates mentioned: 384–334 BCE.

Intro and outro music: "Delphic Hymn to Apollo" as performed by Amber Allayiotis, used with permission.

322 BCE. Unnefer, an Egyptian living in Alexandria, hears a story by the herald Eurybates: the early life of Ptolemy the Macedonian. His upbringing, his education in Pella, his service at Chaeronea... and, finally, the sack of Thebes. 

Dates covered: 367–335 BCE.

Intro and outro music: "Delphic Hymn to Apollo" as performed by Amber Allayiotis, used with permission.

331 BCE. Unnefer and Beknef, two local Egyptian fishermen, watch a weird rambling king found a new city. Plus, an introduction to this podcast. 

Dates covered: 331-322 BCE. 

Intro and outro music: "Delphic Hymn to Apollo" as performed by Amber Allayiotis, used with permission.