Wine-Dark Sea

As the Roman Republic slid into civil war and re-emerged as an empire in the late first century BC, Marcus Agrippa was a key figure in this radical transformation. The best friend and right-hand man of Augustus, first Roman emperor, he was both a witness to and active participant in the climactic battles and sweeping reforms that birthed the Pax Romana.

A story from Roman history (63 - 12 BC), featuring: Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Gaius Octavius / Octavian / the emperor Augustus, Julius Caesar, Sextus Pompey, Mark Antony, Cleopatra

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CREDITS: 

Music by Scott Buckley

Thumbnail Images:

Bust of Agrippa (c. 25 BC)

Augustus of Prima Porta (1st century AD)

Panel from Trajan's Column featuring Roman soldiers (113 AD)

WDS Logo Image: Kylix with Apollo playing the lyre and pouring a libation (c. 470 BC, Delphi Archeological Museum)

*Stay tuned after the story for analysis and commentary!* As the Battle of Salamis looms, the Athenian leader Themistocles struggles to save Athens--and all of Greece--during a second war against Persia. How will Themistocles and the allied Greeks defend their land against the invading Persian Empire of King Xerxes? A mysterious oracle from Delphi may hold the answer: they must trust in the "Wooden Walls" at "Divine Salamis"...

A story from Greek history (Persian Wars, 480 BC), based on Herodotus' Histories, featuring: Themistocles, Xerxes, the Pythia/Oracle of Delphi, Artemisia, Eurybiades

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CREDITS

Music by Scott MacLeod, StoryBlocks, and Scott Buckley

Battle of Lade, 494 BCE (Radu Oltean, 2014; featured in Ancient Warfare VIII.2)

*Stay tuned after the story for analysis and commentary!* War rages between the Titans and the Olympian gods as the story of Zeus' rise to kingship continues. The Olympians battle to establish their reign against Cronus, the other Titans, and finally the fearsome monster Typhon, the very embodiment of primal chaos.

A story from Greek mythology, based on Hesiod's Theogony, featuring: Zeus, the Titans, Typhon, the Hecatonchires (Cottus, Briareus, Gyges), the Cyclopes, Gaia, Tartarus, Prometheus, Atlas

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CREDITS

Music by Scott Buckley

Thumbnail Image: The Gods of Olympus (Giulio Romano, 1528)

*Stay tuned after the story for analysis and commentary!* The origin of Zeus, king of the gods, is a tale of danger and deception. How did his father, the Titan Cronus, come to reign as king of the cosmos, how was Zeus born, and how did he free his brother and sister Olympians to usher in a new age?

A story from Greek mythology, based on Hesiod's Theogony, featuring: Zeus, Cronus, Rhea, Gaia, Uranus, Metis, the Titans

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CREDITS

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Thumbnail Image: Council of the Gods (Giovanni Lanfranco, 17th century)

*Stay tuned after the story for analysis and commentary!* Julius Caesar stands at the Rubicon river, as the Roman Republic teeters on the brink of civil war. Will he cross the Rubicon, march on Rome against his rival Pompey the Great and the Roman senate, and plunge the Republic into civil war?

A story from Roman history (Late Roman Republic, Civil Wars, 49 BC), featuring: Gaius Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great), Marcus Licinius Crassus

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CREDITS

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Thumbnail Image:

Caesar Crosses the Rubicon (Adolphe Yvon, 1875)

*Stay tuned after the story for analysis and commentary!* The Greek myth of the Great Flood ends with Deucalion and Pyrrha, the last mortals left alive, who struggle to survive as Zeus looks on. How was humanity created again after the deluge?

A story from Greek mythology, based on Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book 1), featuring: Deucalion, Pyrrha, Zeus, Themis

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CREDITS

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Thumbnail Image:

Deucalion and Pyrrha (Baldassare Peruzzi, 16th century)

*Stay tuned after the story for analysis and commentary!* The tale of the Great Flood from Greek mythology continues, as the gods and goddesses of Olympus decide how to end human injustice...and Zeus and Poseidon unleash the great flood that destroys the world.

A story from Greek mythology, based on Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book 1), featuring: Zeus, Poseidon

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CREDITS

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Sound effects from YouTube Audio Library

Thumbnail Image:

Bronze statue of Zeus or Poseidon from Cape Artemision, Greece, 5th century BC (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zeus_or_Poseidon_bronze_460_BC,_NAMA_X_15161_102617.jpg)

https://pixabay.com/photos/ocean-storm-waves-cloudy-weather-7461792/

*Stay tuned after the story for analysis and commentary!* The Greek myth of the Great Flood begins, as Zeus informs the other Olympian gods of his encounter on earth with the evil king Lycaon. What were Lycaon's crimes, how was he punished, and what does this portend for the fate of humanity as Zeus and the gods sit in council?

A story from Greek mythology, adapted from Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book 1), featuring: Zeus, Lycaon, the Olympian gods

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CREDITS

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Thumbnail Image:Engraved gem with scene of Zeus and Lycaon (19th century; Beazley Archive, Oxford University)

*Stay tuned after the story for analysis and commentary!* The Roman emperor Nero's murder of his own mother, the empress Agrippina the Younger, is among his most shocking crimes. A lurid tale of power, conspiracy, and violence emerges as the unstable Nero plots the death of an empress.

A story from Roman history (Early Imperial Period, Julio-Claudian dynasty, 59 AD), based on Tacitus' Annals, featuring: Agrippina the Younger (Julia Agrippina), Nero, Seneca, Burrus, Anicetus

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CREDITS

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Thumbnail Images:Relief of Nero and Agrippina from the Sebasteion in Aphrodisias, Turkey: c. 54-59 CE, Aphrodisias Museum
View from the Amalfi Coast, Italy

*Stay tuned after the story for analysis and commentary!* The Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus creates a new law code and way of life in ancient Sparta—revered thereafter as the Laws of Lycurgus—that pave the way for Sparta's rise as one of the greatest city-states in Greece.

A story from Greek history (Early Sparta, Archaic Period, c. 800 BC), based on Plutarch's Life of Lycurgus

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CREDITS

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Thumbnail Images:Statue of Lycurgus: c. 1880, Palace of Justice, Brussels View of the Eurotas valley, near Sparta in Greece