In this episode, I talk to award-winning historian, and novelist, Dr. Adrian Goldsworthy. He is the author of numerous books on ancient history, especially the Romans, and we’ll be discussing his latest one, which came out in May, Athens and Sparta: The Rivalry that Shaped Ancient Greece.

Highlights

* Do you think readers will perceive any parallels between ancient Athenian politics and recent history?

* What are our sources like for this period? How biased are they? What’s missing?

* How Athenian were the Spartans and how Spartan were the Athenians?

* How did Athens and Sparta become rival powers? What set the stage for the Peloponnesian War?

* What can we learn about the strengths and weaknesses of democracy from the Athenians?

* What was the status of slaves and women in Athens and Sparta?

* What can we learn about how alliances work, or don’t work?

* What role did ancient “technological” advantage play in the outcome of the war?

* What would have happened if the Athenians had stuck to the military policies of Pericles?

* Was Sparta a bit of a myth? How distorted is the popular image of the Spartans today?

* If the Athenians had conquered Sicily and defeated Sparta, would they have invaded Persia? (What caused the Sicilian disaster?)

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Links

* Adrian Goldsworthy’s Amazon author profile

* Athens and Sparta on Amazon

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I talk with Prof. Massimo Pigliucci about Stoicism, Cicero, and his forthcoming book How to be a (Happy) Skeptic.

Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Thank you Vanessa Morgenstern| Stoic🌸, Ken Chapman, Kasey Pierce, Samuel Horton, Doug Bates, and many others for tuning into my live video with Massimo Pigliucci!

Thanks for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life! This post is public so feel free to share it.

In this live conversation, I’m joined by Phil Yanov to discuss what it actually means to “do” Stoic therapy. We explore how Stoic philosophy can be applied in practice to emotions, habits, values, and everyday problems — and how these ancient ideas relate to modern psychotherapy and coaching.

This episode was originally recorded as a Substack Live conversation.

Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Thank you Vanessa Morgenstern, Jeremy the therapist, Samuel Horton, JRCCreasey©️✅, Jeannine Bednar-Giyose, and many others for tuning into my live video with Phil Yanov! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Thanks for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life! This post is public so feel free to share it.