Casting Through Ancient Greece

The eve of the Greek and Persian wars would see a point in Macedonian history where the transition of power from one king to another would take place. This would see Amyntas after his rule since the mid 6th century pass power to his son Alexander the first at the opening of the 5th. This would take place on the backdrop of Persian advances into Thrace before Macedon would then begin engaging diplomatically.

It becomes difficult to tell at what point Macedon would offer earth and water to the Persian empire, with colourful stories entering into the historical record. Though, by the time of the first invasion it seems Macedon had submitted in some form. The marriage of Alexanders sister to a Persian governor, also a relative of Xerxes would seem to indicate this.

Alexander and his Macedonians would appear in Herodotus’ narrative a number of times as Xerxes invasion unfolded. They would be shown to provide assistance as the Persians marched through their lands, while also providing advice to the Greeks as they prepared to defend their lands, before and during battles. 

Alexanders position during the invasions was a difficult one. He was a benefactor and friend of the Athenians, though he had also submitted to the Persians and expected to assist their campaign against the Greeks. This would see Alexander to play a delicate balancing game as the war unfolded, being careful to maintain his relationship with the Greeks, though also ensuring not to anger Xerxes and his obligations, or risk the ruin of his lands.

This episodes book recommendation: Herodotus, The Histories (Translated by Tom Holland)

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This is a teaser of the bonus episode, The Lelantine War found over on Patreon.

The Lelantine War is an obscure conflict to us today, thanks to the very limited sources focusing on this war. Though, what dose seem to come through in the various fragments, making reference to the conflict, is the grand scale this war would be waged on. The Lelantine War would be waged right at the beginning of the Archaic period in Greek lands, between Greek cities. Our sources placing its importance comparable to other great conflicts such as; the Trojan War, the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War. Though, unlike those conflicts, we are left to hypothesize to a greater degree thanks to the very limited information available.

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New bonus episodes and series updates come out in the first week of every month, 

Many tribes existed throughout the Balkan region in the Neolithic to the Bronze Age where we would see defined cultures develop with the onset of the Iron Age. We hear origin stories and hints at the early Macedonians in Myth through Homer and Hesiod. We even get through Herodotus, the hint of a tribe called the Makednoi during the Bronze Age in the mountains north of Greece.

The culture of the Macedonians that emerge in the Archaic Age and into the Classical Age, would seem to be the result of many migrations that had been filtering south into Greek lands as well as other locations. These migrations would be seen to have peoples with Indo-European roots consistently moving through much of the Balkans through many generations, help spread a common root language and ideas.

It wouldn’t be until Herodotus that we start to hear about the origins of the Macedonian dynasty, the Argead, develop. Although this was some 250 years after the foundation of the kingdom of Macedon, it appears to be the official account coming from the Macedonia court. This traditional telling would see the Argeads being descendants of Heracles and coming from the city of Argos down on the Peloponnese.

The kingdom established, rule in Macedon appears to be somewhat stable with dates of the various kings being very respectable lengths. During these generations the territory of the Macedonians would expand out of the Pierian Mountains, north of Mount Olympus. By the opening of the Greek and Persian Wars and under the 7th King Alexander I, they would control lands along the coast of the Pierian Mountains, the coastal plains around the Thermaic Gulf and north across the Haliacmon River. 

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This is a teaser of the bonus episode, Mycenaean Aftermath found over on Patreon.

Having looked at some of the explanations for the Mycenaeans collapse at the end of the Bronze Age, we now turn to questions around what happened to them and where did they go. We look at what was taking place in Greek lands in the wake of the collapse, while also turning to areas across the Mediterranean.

If you would like to hear more and support the series click on the Patreon link at the bottom of the page or you can head to my website to discover other ways to support the series, Here

New bonus episodes and series updates come out in the first week of every month, 

Greek and Roman writers would highlight the Thracians as some of the best mercenaries fielded in foreign armies from the mid-5th century and beyond. They would excel at hit and run tactics, harassing heavier troops and being able to defend difficult ground. This reputation would appear to be born out of their tradition of Homeric style warfare practiced in their own lands. Though we get no detailed accounts of how they fought against one another in their home territories. 

Our knowledge of the Thracians in war during the 6th and early 5th centuries comes to us thanks to account revolving around the Greek and Persian wars found in the Histories written by Herodotus. This would see their history during this period told through the context of various Persian campaigns through their lands, therefore lacking the details of how they fought, though we can get an idea from their reputation as warriors in later histories.

Thracian lands would become a crossroads for Persian campaigns during the close of the 6th and opening of the 5th centuries BC. Initially Persia would attempt to expand north into Scythian lands, where a path through Thracian lands would need to be secured. Though the hold in Thrace during this period would only stay intact as long as a sizable occupying force was present. After the Scythian campaign continued attempts would be made to secure the regions close to the Persian Empires frontiers with mixed results.

The most successful period of Persian control would come during the lead up to and during the Greek and Persian Wars. A sizable Persian force would secure lands in Thrace and Macedonian paving a way forward to Greece. The Persians held enough control in Thracian coastal regions to construct their monumental engineering feats to prepare for Xerxes invasion. Though, with the ultimate Persian defeat in Greece, Thrace would once again become very inhospitable to Persians within their lands.   

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North East of Greece would be a land seen as wild and untamed stretching from the modern-day nation of Hungary to the Ukraine, and then to the Black Sea and Aegean. The Greeks would view the people that inhabited these lands as barbarians, much the same way they did to other cultures that differed from theirs. Though these people that they would call the Thracians, seemed that much more uncivilised compared to the other barbarians they had encountered.

Although the Greeks would call them Thracian, a united people they were not. these people would be a lose collection of tribes with a shared common culture. Herodotus would say of the Thracians; “If they could all be united under one ruler and think the same way, they would, in my opinion, be the most invincible and strongest of all nations. But that is impossible; it will never happen, since their weakness I that they are incapable of uniting and agreeing.”

The Thracians would be a result of earlier Neolithic cultures that had formed in the Balkans thousands of years earlier. The Thracian identity that would come to describe their shared culture would be a result of these indigenous Balkan cultures interacting with the numerous Indo-European migrations that would take place as the Bronze Age developed.

Thrace would enter into the Greeks memory as far back as the Trojan War through Homers epic poem the Iliad. Though it wouldn’t be until the 7th and 6th centuries where Thrace would truly enter the Greek periphery. Greek colonies would begin to dot the Thracian coast lines, where trade of goods and ideas would take place in both times of peace and times of tension. 

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Support the show

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As the 6th century BC on Sicily was coming to a close expansion would continue to take place. Tyrannies were now becoming the common governing system in a lot of the Sicilian Greek cities, appearing to follow the lead of their Metropolises back in Greece. This time though expansion would see Greeks focus on exerting their influence over other Greek cities.

This period would also see the rise of one of the most powerful Tyrants to yet emerge on Sicily, his name would be Gelon. His rise would be born out of a series of Tyrannies, to where his service to them would see him almost seamlessly take power thanks to the influence and reputation he had built up over the years.

Gelon would end up controlling almost the entire east cost of Sicily with campaigns that he would engage in during the early 5th century. His biggest prize would be that of Syracuse the largest and wealthiest city on the island. Though, Gelon’s campaigns would not go unnoticed with Carthage now preparing to launch an invasion of Sicily, sparking what is known as the first Sicilian War.

Carthage would land a force of unprecedented size on the north of the island indicating the threat their influence was under. They would march to the city Himera and establish camps outside the city. Gelon would be alerted to the Carthaginian army and would march his own army to defend the city. With both forces camped across from one another it wouldn’t be long until the Battle of Himera would erupt.

This episodes book recommendation is The Tyrants of Syracuse Vol 1, by Ian Champion

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This is a teaser of the bonus episode, The Mycenaeans Trojan War found over on Patreon.

We now zoom in a little bit closer on the Mycenaeans now that we have arrived at the Bronze Age collapse. Here we will look at what evidence seems to be showing of possible reasons that would lead to the collapse of the Mycenaeans. This would see their civilisation fade into the past while taking place in the context of the wider Bronze Age world collapse.

If you would like to hear more and support the series click on the Patreon link at the bottom of the page or you can head to my website to discover other ways to support the series, Here

New bonus episodes and series updates come out in the first week of every month, 

**Give Away details**

To coincide with this episode release I will be running a giveaway where I will be offering up 2 copies of Eric Cline’s Book, 1177 BC the Year Civilisation Collapsed, where winners will be drawn on the 1st of November 2021. 1 copy I will be offering as a general giveaway, where all you need to do to go into the draw is to promote Casting Through Ancient Greece in some way on Twitter or Facebook, this could be retweeting or sharing the episode with a comment or posting about the show in general in some other way, get creative. Just make sure to tag casting through ancient Greece into the post so I don’t miss it. For the second copy I will be giving this away to one of my Patreon members, all you need to do to be eligible for this draw is to be a member of Casting Through Ancient Greece on Patreon before names are drawn on the 1st of November. So good luck everyone and the winners will be contacted and posted up on social media once drawn.

Bronze Age Collapse with Prof. Eric Cline:

The Bronze Age Collapse would see a number of Great civilisations disappear from the Aegean and Near east. For thousands of years the events around this period have remained somewhat mysterious. We would hear echoes of this period in the myths and poems told by the Greeks, as well as accounts in biblical texts.

With the onset of archaeological discoveries in the 19th century of our time some of the mystery began to be lifted, seeing these tales having some historical context to them. As the discipline of Archaeology developed more evidence of the late Bronze Age has come to light, helping historians paint more credible theories.

In this episode I talk to Prof. Eric Cline about the discipline of archaeology and his book 1177 BC where he talks about the late Bronze Age world and the Collapse it would suffer. He details the various evidence that has shown itself in the historical record to help us understand what was happing during this world changing period of time.  

Eric H. Cline is Professor of Classics, History, and Anthropology, the former Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and the current Director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at George Washington University, in Washington DC. A National Geographic Explorer, NEH Public Scholar, Getty Scholar, and Fulbright Scholar with degrees from Dartmouth, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania, he is an active field archaeologist with more than 30 seasons of excavation and survey experience in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, Greece, Crete, and the United States, including ten seasons at Megiddo (1994-2014), where he served as co-director before retiring from the project in 2014, and another ten seasons at Tel Kabri, where he currently serves as Co-Director. He is the author or editor of 20 books and nearly 100 articles; translations of his books have appeared in nineteen different languages.

Links:

Twitter @digkabri

Author Page on Amazon

Books:

1177 BC: The Year Civilisation Collapsed

Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology

Support the show

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