Athens

Greek and Roman History

From the Death of Pericles to the Peace of Nicias, Peloponnesian War, Thucydides and Plutarch

06/17/2022 Bruce Strom 0

After the death of Pericles, no popular leader arose that was able to dominate the Assembly like Pericles, which meant that it was impossible to follow a consistently stable wartime policy. Instead, Thucydides described a series of orators call demagogues. Pericles was the last Assembly orator who was also a general, he was elected to be a general for a dozen yearlong terms, in this war generals had to fight long campaigns and we unable to constantly address the Assembly, which led to the rise of the demagogue orators, who were often more interested in promoting polices that were popular with the people, and themselves, rather than promoting policies that would benefit the state. […]

Greek and Roman History

Plutarch: Lives of Aristides and Cimon, Formation of the Delian League After the Greco-Persian Wars

06/01/2022 Bruce Strom 2

Why did the Ionian Greeks reject the Spartan leadership under the Pausanius, and why did they plead for Athens to take up the liberation of the Asian Greek colonies from the Persians, leading to the founding of the Delian League? Simply put, the Delian allies were impressed by both the military acumen and integrity of the two Athenian generals Aristides the Just, and Cimon. Also, the Spartans embarrassed Cimon, who sought to reconcile Athens and Sparta, which contributed to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian Wars. […]

Greek and Roman History

Thucydides and Plutarch: Pericles and the Beginning of the Peloponnesian War Between Athens and Sparta

05/25/2022 Bruce Strom 1

This is second video and blog where we examine both history and Plutarch’s moral biographies of the key Athenian leaders before and in the first years of the war. In the first video we reflected on Pericles and his reforms leading to the Radical Democracy of Athens in the years […]

Greek and Roman History

Mighty Deeds of Theseus, First King of Athens, in Plutarch’s Lives

03/16/2022 Bruce Strom 0

Theseus and Romulus both built mighty cities, Athens and Rome, both are warriors sprung from the gods, “both stand charged with the rape of women, neither could avoid domestic misfortunes nor jealousy at home.” Youtube video for this blog: https://youtu.be/jOgNKSf9IT4 YouTube script with book links: https://www.slideshare.net/BruceStrom1/mighty-deeds-of-theseus-first-king-of-athens-in-plutarchs-lives Plutarch passes down us […]