Wine-Dark Sea

The fateful romance of Aeneas and Dido begins, as the prince of ancient Troy escapes his city’s destruction and sails to Africa with Trojan survivors. There he discovers the mighty new city of Carthage, and meets its leader, the capable and beautiful queen Dido. But the gods, who decree that Aeneas must lay the foundations of the Roman Empire, have other plans…   

A story from Roman mythology (Vergil's Aeneid, Books 1 and 4 ), featuring: Aeneas, Dido, Juno, Jupiter, Venus, Ilioneus, Achates,  Sychaeus, Pygmalion 

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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 Kevin MacLeod 

Episode Thumbnail Image: Roman fresco of Dido on her throne, with attendants; personified Africa stands to the right, with Aeneas' ship in the background  

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

Zenobia is the queen of Palmyra, an ancient city in Syria on the Roman Empire's eastern frontier. When her growing Palmyrene Kingdom is drawn into war with Rome, Zenobia fights to defend her city and her throne against a determined emperor Aurelian, with the fate of her people at stake.    

A story from the Roman world (c. 260-275 AD), featuring: Zenobia, Odaenathus, Aurelian, Gallienus  

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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 

Episode Thumbnail Images: Limestone funerary portrait of Aqmet, a Palmyrene noble woman (Palmyra, late 2nd century AD) / The ruins of Palmyra in Syria 

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

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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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 Kevin MacLeod 

Episode Thumbnail Images: Bust identified as Themistocles (Roman copy of a c. 400 BC Greek original) / View of the island of Salamis  

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

The Titanomachy breaks out, and war rages between the Titans and the Olympian gods as Zeus' rise to cosmic kingship continues. Zeus fights to establish his 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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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 Kevin MacLeod 

Episode Thumbnail Image: Zeus fighting Typhon with a lightning bolt (illustration of a Greek vase painting from c. 530 BC)  

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

The birth and origins of Zeus, king of the gods, is a tale of danger and deception, as he survived in secret from the Titan Cronus, his father. How did Cronus come to reign as king of the cosmos, how was Zeus born, and how did he free his brother and sister Olympians, devoured by the mad Cronus?    

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

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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 Kevin MacLeod   

Episode Thumbnail Images: Gold coin from Asia Minor with Zeus' image, c. 350 BC / View of Mount Ida on Crete    

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

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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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 Kevin MacLeod  

Episode Thumbnail Images: Modern statue of Julius Caesar at the Rubicon River, Savignano sul Rubicone, Italy / The Rubicon River at Savignano sul Rubicone, Italy 

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

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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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 Kevin MacLeod  

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

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

The Roman emperor Nero's murder of his own mother, the empress Agrippina the Younger, is among his most shocking crimes. Who was Agrippina, and  what drove Nero to plot 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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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 Kevin MacLeod  

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

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

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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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 Kevin MacLeod   

Episode Thumbnail Images:  Roman statue of Diana/Artemis: 1st/2nd century AD copy of a Greek original, Palace of Versailles / Actaeon (#1) by Paul Manship: 1925, Smithsonian American Art Museum / Samaria Gorge, Crete   

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

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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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 Kevin MacLeod 

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

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