How does a great commander handle being undermined by his government back home?  How should we treat opponents we defeat?  And how do we negotiate the best deal when our backs are against the wall and our counterparts know it?

In this episode: Sulla goes to Greece, to war against Rome’s arch rival Mithridates of Pontus.  Can he hold out against a vastly superior enemy army?  And can he weather the escalating crisis in Rome?

--People--

Sulla, The Hero

Plutarch, The Narrator

Marius, The Scoundrel

Sulpicius, The Henchman

Cinna, The Politician

Mithridates, The King 

Aristion, the Tyrant

Archelaus, The Foe

Flaccus, The Replacement

Fimbria, The Backstabber

Apellicon, The Book Collector

Andronicus, The Editor

--Places--

Rome

Athens

Piraeus

Epidaurus

Olympia

Delphi

Boeotia

Mt Parnassus

Chaeronea

Thebes

Livadeia

Orchomenus

Lake Kopais

Asia (Minor)

The Dardanelles

Dardanus

Euboea

Halae

--Divinities--

Ma

Bellona

Minerva

Venus

Aphrodite

Apollo

Asclepius

Trophonius

How do we get Fortune on our side?  What are the qualities necessary for daring unthinkable, unspeakable acts? When is it justifiable to massacre your enemies?   Sulla: A man of contradictions.  Enjoyer of dramas and hedonistic pleasures; most successful general of his generation, and one of the greatest of all time.  Patriot and champion of the ancient constitution; the Roman responsible for more Roman deaths than perhaps any other man in history.  

Was Sulla one who broke the Republic?

In this episode learn the arts of:

-Wisdom

-charm

-gift giving

-deception

People:

Gaius Marius

Jugurtha

King Bocchus

The Cimbri and Teutones

Quintus Lutatius Catulus

The Metelli

Aemilius Scaurus

Mithridates of Pontus

The Parthians

Quintus Pompeius Rufus

Manius Aquillius (cameo)

Publius Sulpicius Rufus

Places:

Rome

Numidia

Gaul

Cilicia

Cappadocia

Armenia

Euphrates River

Persia

Parthia

Nola

A principle for building exercises to control your anxiety or fear.  Favorinus, a philosopher from the time of Plutarch, offers some deft observations about Socrates.

Plutarch offers insight on relating to people above your station

Plato gives some insight in how to undermine your enemies.

How to turn bad luck around.  SPOILER: it's not just more effort.

Stories of Timotheus and Sulla

What happened after Lysander died?  What was his legacy?  What can we learn from his life?  

Lysander returns from his setbacks at Sparta with a revolutionary plan.  He consults the gods about the Spartan Kingship; and some of his own prophecies about Greek geopolitics come true.

In this episode: How should protegés treat mentors?  How do you change a deeply conservative state?  And, as always, what is the cost, for an individual, for a state, of striving for supreme glory?

Characters:
Alexander Hamilton (cameo)
Lysander
Tissaphernes, Satrap of Lydia
The Pythia
Agesilaus
Cyrus the Younger
King Pausanias
Thrasyboulus of Athens

Places:
Sparta
Oracle of Delphi
Oracle of Dodona, in Epirus
Oracle of Zeus Ammon (Amun Ra), Libya
Ephesus
Thebes
Haliartus

Lysander - The Spartan who took down Athens.  In this episode: the dangers of success.

How (and why) Lysander installed the notorious "Thirty" at Athens, and how he came to be worshipped as a god.  Could Sparta contain such a man?

Characters:

Lysander

Socrates

Theramenes
Critias

King Pausanias

King Agis

Thrasyboulus
The Thirty

The Mob

Key Virtues:

Patience

Flexibility

Obedience
Indifference to Money
Resilience

Key Places:

Athens

Sparta

Thebes
Samos
Miletus
Delphi

A Spartan; first Greek honored as a god during his lifetime; destroyer of Athenian naval supremacy.

In this episode: his rise to power, how he pulled off the greatest naval upset in Greek history, and WHY he did it.

Characters:

Lysander

Socrates

Xenophon

Alcibiades

Prince Cyrus the Younger

Agesilaus

King Agis

Kallikratidas

The Mob

Key Virtues:

Patience

Flexibility

Obedience

Key Places:

Athens

Sparta

Ephesus

Dardanelles / Hellespont