In 336 BCE, a young man from northern Greece took over a nearly bankrupt kingdom. Within 13 years he had established dominance over the rest of Greece, claimed the crowns of Egypt and Persian, and built the second-largest empire in the world to that time. He also burned whole cities to the ground, left thousands of bodies crucifed along a beach in Lebanon, and may well have been responsible for the death of nearly 1% of the global population.

He was Aristotle's pupil, Alexander the Great.

In this episode, we look at Alexander's biography and how his epic smash-and-grab campaign may just have led to the preservation of Greek literature as we know it today—including the works of Aristotle.

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For our 50th episode, we return to Ancient Greece and to philosophy with The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle (384-322 BCE). Intended as a guide to the good life for ancient Athenian elites, the Ethics has some advice to offer us today about how to pursue a worthwhile existence. This episode also goes into Aristotle's background and the shocking fact that most of the works we still have of his are lecture notes. That's right: for 2,500 years, people have pondered what are essentially Aristotle's PowerPoint slide decks.

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In this second part of our investigation into the Tao Te Ching, we cover some of the many, many, many shapes its teachings have been bent into over the last 2,500 years—from the inspiration for an alchemy-and-sex cult that accidentally invented gunpowder to the basis for the most popular science fiction film franchise in history. Join us as we discuss Chinese demon hunters, bad management advice, and—yes—Star Wars.

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Ever seen or doodled a yin-yang symbol? Does the proverb "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" ring a bell? You've brushed up against the Tao Te Ching, one of the most influential works of Ancient Chinese literature that's also the foundational text of Taoism (pronounced "daoism"), China's major native religion. Traditionally ascribed to a scholar called Lao-Tzu, the Tao Te Ching was likely a collection of related poems and proverbs by many authors, collected into an anthology around 350 BCE. In this episode, we walk through some of the main concepts, including the Tao as a cosmic force, the principle of wu wei, or non-action, and how you can see the tensions of China's Warring States Period (c. 475–221 BCE) shining through in the text.

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Our second episode on The Book of Job looks at three reactions to the work.

• William Blake's illustrations for The Book of Job (1780—1823), which were produced in several media for various patrons
• Franz Kafka's The Trial (1925), which has a similar air of oppression and unattainable justice
• Carl Jung's Answer to Job (1952), in which the famed psychologist puts God on the couch

If you want to see Blake's illustrations for Job, they're available (along with lots of other wonderful things) at the William Blake Archive. Click here to visit.

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Why do good people suffer? That's one of the key questions animating The Book of Job, one of the Hebrew Bible's three books of wisdom literature. In this episode, we walk through the story of a man who is plunged into despair and loss thanks to a bet between God and ("the") Satan. Journey through the story and some of the interpretations of the work—including one by Benjamin Franklin—and hear which phrases from Job would make good genre fiction titles.

Content Note: This episode makes one reference to male body parts while quoting scripture.

Also note: there were some sound quality issues on our end this week. Apologies for that!

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In our second episode on the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic from c. 300 BCE, we dive into what is perhaps the most famous section of it: the 700 verses that make up the Bhagavad Gita. We discuss the main points of this foundational Hindu scripture, which recounts a discussion between the warrior Arjuna and his charioteer, Krishna on the eve of an apocalyptic battle. We also discuss debates around its authorship and explore the profound influence it had on Mahatma Gandhi, who didn't read it until he was a young law student in London, when some friends he made at a vegetarian restaurant recommended it to him.

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Eight times longer than the Iliad and the Odyssey combined, the Mahabharata has a little of everything: philosophy, spirituality, myths, romances, geography, a heroic polycule, and one transgender warrior who knows how to follow up on a grudge. First written down around 300 BCE (but, like its brother epic, the Ramayana, much older than that), the Mahabharata is at its core a story about two sets of warring cousins. Hitch up your chariot and gallop with us through this summary of the main action.

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In our second episode on the Ramayana, which began to be written down in Sanskrit c. 350 BCE, we dive deeper into the theme of dharma. We explore some of the many different meanings of this term and trace the development of the three oldest dharmic faiths: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. We also compare how Buddhist and Jain retellings of the Ramayana differ from the one revered by today's Hindus. Finally, we fangirl out over Hanuman a little more.

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It's time for some good old-fashioned epic action with our first episode on the Ramayana, one of the great Sanskrit-language epics from India. Composed as a written work from about 350 BCE onward (but probably much earlier as an oral poem), the Ramayana tells of the trials and tribulations of Rama, Prince of Kosala and avatar of the god Vishnu. It has everything from romance and battle to deep spiritual wisdom and a divine monkey hero who overthinks a lot.

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