In this episode we will discuss the impacts and influence of ancient Greece. After discussing the geography and peoples of the Greek archipelago, we will discuss significant Greek contributions to humanity such as the art of writing history, the art of philosophy, and the art of theater.

In this special holiday episode, we examine the tale of a self-absorbed Greek Seleucid Tyrant and the one Jewish family that refused to obey his unlawful edicts. That family, the Maccabees, preserved religious freedom in their nation, and created a new royal dynasty. Without their bravery, there would be no Christmas. Their story is a great story of faith and courage for all freedom-loving families.

Christianity, starting off as a sect of Judaism, continued to build on the ideas of that faith and introduced new ideas that have since become integrated into western civilization. Namely, Christianity heavily emphasized caring for the poor and needy and creating organizations to accomplish that, and Christianity was an evangelizing universal religion that actively sought new converts. These two emphases combined with a pagan people yearning for something more, led to the meteoric rise of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire in its first 300 years.

In this episode we will learn about Aaron Burr, one of the Founding Fathers, and his bizarre attempt to create his own dynasty.

This episode discusses Cataline's conspiracy. Brief edit: Cicero was consul in 63BC. This episode comes with a worksheet for families to work on at home to review the material: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OqAnlk_O7hiPIGkLLboNGrNL_bDpB8XI/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109987401202259754934&rtpof=true&sd=true

Read Cataline's full speech here: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0019:text=Catil.:speech=1:chapter=1