Wine-Dark Sea

*Stay tuned after the story for analysis and commentary!* Actaeon, a young hunter, unexpectedly meets the goddess Artemis in the forests of Boeotia near the ancient city of Thebes. What will happen to Actaeon when Artemis unleashes her power, and the hunter becomes the prey?

A story from Greek mythology, based on Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book 3), featuring: Actaeon, Artemis

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CREDITS

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Thumbnail Images:

Roman statue of Diana/Artemis (1st/2nd century CE copy of a Greek original)Actaeon (#1) by Paul Manship (1925, Smithsonian American Art Museum)Samaria Gorge, Crete

*Stay tuned after the story for analysis and commentary!* Phaethon, a young demigod and son of Helios, the Greek god of the Sun, meets his divine father at the ends of the earth. Recklessly eager to prove himself, he takes a terrifying ride across the heavens in his father's chariot. As the earth faces total destruction by an out-of-control sun, Phaethon's fate offers a timeless lesson in knowing your limits.

A story from Greek mythology, based on Ovid's Metamorphoses (Books 1-2), featuring: Phaethon, the Sun, Clymene, Epaphus, Gaia, Zeus

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Music by Kevin MacLeod

Thumbnail Image:The Fall of Phaethon (Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1608)

*Stay tuned after the story for analysis and commentary!* The hero Odysseus meets Circe, a powerful sorceress, on her mysterious island in this story from Homer’s epic Odyssey. Will Odysseus outwit Circe, rescue his crewmates from the sorceress, and survive to complete his journey home to Ithaca?

A story from Greek mythology, based on Homer's Odyssey (Book 10), featuring: Odysseus, Circe, Hermes, Eurylochus

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CREDITS

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Thumbnail Images:Minoan fresco from Knossos, Crete ("Ladies in Blue"): c. 1500 BCE, Heraklion Archaeological Museum

Many legends were spun around the life of the Persian king Cyrus the Great, including how he met his end. The Greek historian Herodotus reports a tale that he deemed "most trustworthy," of the great king's last war in the distant steppes of central Asia--how he clashed with a fearsome tribe of mounted warriors called the Massagetae, led by a queen who defied the power of the new Persian Empire.

FREE COMMENTARY PODCASTS now available for every story on the channel! Learn more about the ancient historical and cultural context behind each Wine-Dark Sea tale. Find the full archive of videos and MP3s at: ⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/winedarksea/shop⁠⁠

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Music from www.storyblocks.com (Vlada Balas, Humans Win, Volodymyr Piddubnyk) and DanoSongs

Thumbnail Images:

Cyrus the Great (Mohawk Games: https://mohawkgames.com/oldworld/)

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

When the god Apollo wins the mortal king Admetus permission to evade death through the sacrifice of another, Admetus' beloved wife Alcestis willingly dies in his place. Death is cheated, and Admetus is devastated. But as Alcestis' funeral begins, fate takes a surprising turn when a famed hero arrives in town...

A story from Greek mythology, based on the tragedy Alcestis by Euripides (staged in 438 BC), featuring: Admetus, Alcestis, Heracles, Apollo, Thanatos (Death)

Original story contributed by Konstantinos Christidis

FREE COMMENTARY PODCASTS now available for every story on the channel! Learn more about the ancient historical and cultural context behind each Wine-Dark Sea tale. Find the full archive of videos and MP3s at: ⁠https://ko-fi.com/winedarksea/shop⁠

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Thumbnail Image: Hercules and Alcestis (Eugène Delacroix, 1962)

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

Archimedes' life and achievements gained mythic stature in ancient times, and his reputation for genius endures today. Past the equations and feats of engineering was a man committed to finding answers--whether in contemplating the physics of water, or resisting the power of Rome.

A story from ancient history, based on Vitruvius (De Architectura, Book 9), Polybius (Histories, Book 8), and Plutarch (Life of Marcellus), featuring: Archimedes, Hiero II, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Hieronymus

Original story contributed by Alba Wolf

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FREE COMMENTARY PODCASTS now available for every story on the channel! Learn more about the ancient historical and cultural context behind each Wine-Dark Sea tale. Find the full archive of videos and MP3s at: ⁠https://ko-fi.com/winedarksea/shop⁠

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CREDITS: Music by Scott Buckley

Thumbnail Images: Fresco from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence showing Archimedes' "heat-ray" weapon atop the walls of Syracuse (Giulio Parigi, 1600)

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

Hippolytus is the young prince of Athens, son of the king and famed hero Theseus, and stepson of Phaedra, the queen. When Aphrodite, goddess of love, makes the innocent Phaedra a weapon of her divine wrath against Hippolytus, a tragic tale of lust, deceit, and death ensues as the royal family of Athens is torn apart.

A story from Greek mythology, based on the tragedy Hippolytus by Euripides (staged in 428 BC), featuring: Hippolytus, Phaedra, Theseus, Aphrodite, Artemis, Phaedra's Nurse

Original story contributed by Konstantinos Christidis

FREE COMMENTARY PODCASTS now available for every story on the channel! Learn more about the ancient historical and cultural context behind each Wine-Dark Sea tale. Find the full archive of videos and MP3s at: https://ko-fi.com/winedarksea/shop

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Thumbnail Images: Phaedra and Hippolytus (Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, c. 1802)

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

The Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage saw one of the most daring strategies of ancient times: the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca leading an army fully equipped with horses, elephants, and pack animals across the dangerous peaks of the Alps, to attack the Roman Republic from its northern Italian borders. Hannibal remembers this legendary mountain march, and describes it in his own words.

A story from Carthaginian and Roman history (218 BC), based on Livy's Histories (Book 21) featuring: Hannibal Barca

Original story contributed by Wesley Coulson

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FREE COMMENTARY PODCASTS now available for every story on the channel! Learn more about the ancient historical and cultural context behind each Wine-Dark Sea tale. Find the full archive of videos and MP3s at: ⁠https://ko-fi.com/winedarksea/shop⁠

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CREDITS: Music from Storyblocks and Scott Buckley

Episode Thumbnail Image: Hannibal's army crosses the Alps (20th century)

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

Despite its fame in ancient myth and history, the city of Troy was long lost to the ages, as the real site immortalized in Homer's Iliad faded from the landscape of western Anatolia. But in a series of astonishing excavations in the late 19th century, the mythical world of Greek epic came back to life at the hands of Heinrich Schliemann, a businessman-turned-archaeologist with a lifelong passion for the tales of the Trojan War.

More information on the sites excavated by Schliemann can be found here--

Original story contributed by marceloburlon

FREE COMMENTARY PODCASTS now available for every story on the channel! Learn more about the ancient historical and cultural context behind each Wine-Dark Sea tale. Find the full archive of videos and MP3s at: ⁠https://ko-fi.com/winedarksea/shop⁠

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Thumbnail Images: historical photos of the Lion Gate in Mycenae, Schliemann, and "Priam's Treasure"

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

Sailing beyond the Mediterranean Sea, a man named Lucian and his comrades are suddenly transported to the moon, where they find themselves in the middle of a great war between the Sun and the Moon. Recorded with eyewitness accuracy in his novel “A True Story,” Lucian recalls the fantastical sights of this epic star war—and leaves to the world one of the earliest works of science fiction.

A story from Greek literature (2nd century AD), based on Lucian of Samosata's "A True Story," featuring: Lucian; Endymion, King of the Moon; Phaethon, King of the Sun

FREE COMMENTARY PODCASTS now available for every story on the channel! Learn more about the ancient historical and cultural context behind each Wine-Dark Sea tale. Find the full archive of videos and MP3s at: ⁠https://ko-fi.com/winedarksea/shop⁠

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