The Classics Podcast

With Roel Konijnendijk, Lynette Mitchell

Roel Konijnendijk and Lynette Mitchell begin exploring the reasons for the Greek victory over the Persians in 480 to 479 BCE, the first of six episodes on Greek history in Season 1 of this A Level series.

With Roel Konijnendijk, Lynette Mitchell

Roel Konijnendijk and Lynette Mitchell conclude their exploration of why the Greeks defeated the Persians in 480 to 479 BCE, the second half of the opening episode in this Ancient History A Level season.

With Roel Konijnendijk, Lynette Mitchell

Roel and Lynette close this revision run on the Persian Wars by weighing Persian supply lines and plain Greek luck among the many factors behind the Greek victory.

This revision episode weighs Persian decision-making against Greek leadership as rival explanations for the Greek victory in the Persian Wars, part of the Ancient History A Level syllabus.

With Roel Konijnendijk

Roel works through how many people were really involved in the Persian Wars, one of the interpretation questions on the Ancient History A Level syllabus about why the Greeks won.

With Roel Konijnendijk, Lynette Mitchell

This episode revises the roles of different Greek cities in the Persian Wars, and which of them took the credit, alongside the earlier Persian invasion that came before it.

With Roel Konijnendijk, Lynette Mitchell

This revision episode is all about the sources for the first interpretation question, why the Greeks won the Persian Wars, part of the Ancient History A Level syllabus.

With Roel Konijnendijk, Lynette Mitchell

This revision episode covers Xerxes' aims and Greek unity against Persia, part of the syllabus on why the Greeks won the Persian Wars.

With Polly Low, Neville Morley

Polly Low and Neville Morley debate the manifold causes of the Peloponnesian War with James Renshaw, in the first part of this episode for the Ancient History A Level syllabus.

With Maria Fragoulaki, Paul Cartledge

Maria Fragoulaki and Paul Cartledge open this episode by examining the reasons the Athenians lost the Peloponnesian War, for the Ancient History A Level syllabus with James Renshaw.

With Maria Fragoulaki, Paul Cartledge

In the second part of this episode, Maria Fragoulaki and Paul Cartledge continue examining the reasons the Athenians lost the Peloponnesian War, for the Ancient History A Level syllabus.

With Polly Low, Neville Morley

Polly Low and Neville Morley continue debating the many causes of the Peloponnesian War in the second part of this episode, part of the Ancient History A Level syllabus.

With Paul Cartledge, Maria Fragoulaki

Paul and Maria revise the Sicilian Expedition, Alcibiades' role and Tissaphernes' Persian policy, plus the Persian revolt of Amorges in 414 BCE, as reasons for Athenian defeat.

With Polly Low, Neville Morley

This revision episode covers the period from 478 to 446 BCE and the first Peloponnesian War, as Polly Low and Neville Morley work through the causes.

With Paul Cartledge, Maria Fragoulaki

This bitesize revision covers the Archidamian War and the Peace of Nicias that followed it, as Paul Cartledge and Maria Fragoulaki examine the early phase of Athens' defeat with James.

With Polly Low, Neville Morley

Polly Low and Neville Morley revise the Thirty Years' Peace and the Samian Revolt that followed it, one of the causes examined for the Ancient History A Level Peloponnesian Wars syllabus.

With Paul Cartledge, Maria Fragoulaki

This revision episode covers the oligarchic coup in Athens and the role of Cyrus the Younger, as Paul Cartledge and Maria Fragoulaki work through the reasons for Athenian defeat with James.

With Polly Low, Neville Morley

James, Polly and Neville discuss the Megarian Decree, one of the disputed causes examined for the Ancient History A Level Peloponnesian Wars syllabus.

With Paul Cartledge, Maria Fragoulaki

Paul Cartledge and Maria Fragoulaki revise the key sources for the Peloponnesian Wars, plus Archidamus and Persia, with James for the Ancient History A Level syllabus.

With Paul Cartledge, Maria Fragoulaki

Paul Cartledge and Maria Fragoulaki revise the naval battles of Notion, Arginusae and Aegospotami with James, three of the reasons they give for Athenian defeat in the Peloponnesian Wars, before drawing conclusions.

With Polly Low, Neville Morley

This revision episode covers the causes of complaint at Corcyra and Potidaea, what Thucydides called the aitia, as James, Polly and Neville revise the roots of the Peloponnesian Wars.

With Polly Low, Neville Morley

James, Polly and Neville close this revision run by giving their own verdicts on the real causes of the Peloponnesian Wars, after working through the evidence in earlier episodes.

With Polly Low, Neville Morley

Polly Low and Neville Morley open this revision series with the sources and historiography behind the debate over the causes of the Peloponnesian Wars, a key period of Greek history.

With Judith Mossman

Judith Mossman discusses the biographer Plutarch's life and works with James Renshaw, covering the Greek Period Study, the Sparta Depth Study, the Macedon Depth Study, and a shorter section on Rome and Shakespeare.

With David Bullen

Academic, writer and director David Bullen answers listener questions on Greek drama: how to keep track of the different Electra plays, whether a play can exist without a plot, and his verdict on Peter Hall's Oresteia.

With Rosie Wyles

Rosie Wyles discusses Aristophanes as a source for ancient Greek history, with this third part focused on the Athens Depth Study of the Ancient History A Level syllabus.

With Peter Liddel

Peter Liddel discusses the importance of Attic Inscriptions to understanding this period of ancient Greek history, in conversation with James Renshaw for the Ancient History A Level syllabus.

With Rosie Wyles

In the first part of this episode on Aristophanes, Rosie Wyles and James Renshaw cover the Greek Period Study, discussing how the comedies work as a source for ancient Greek history.

With Judith Mossman

Judith Mossman revises three of Plutarch's biographies, of Aristides, Cimon and Pericles, for the Ancient History A Level syllabus, with a bonus five minutes appended to the main revision episode.

With Rosie Wyles

Rosie Wyles and James revise Aristophanes' Acharnians lines 524 to 539 and the comedy Peace, completing the Period Study sources for the Ancient History A Level syllabus.

With Rosie Wyles

Rosie Wyles and James Renshaw discuss how Aristophanes' comedies serve as a source for ancient Greek history, with this second part focused on the Sparta Depth Study.

With Rosie Wyles

Aristophanes' comedy Lysistrata anchors this revision episode, with Rosie Wyles taking James through the play for the Sparta Depth Study on the Ancient History A Level syllabus.

With Rosie Wyles

In this bitesize revision episode Rosie Wyles and James work through Aristophanes' Clouds, one of the set sources for the Athens Depth Study on the Ancient History A Level syllabus.

With Rosie Wyles

A revision run through Aristophanes for the Ancient History A Level Athens Depth Study, with Rosie Wyles covering the comedies Knights and Wasps as the final two sources in that depth study.

With Peter Liddel

Peter Liddel of the Attic Inscriptions Online project revises the Chalkis and Thoudippos decrees, two of the Attic Inscriptions set as sources on the Ancient History A Level syllabus.

With Rosie Wyles

A revision episode on Aristophanes' comedy Thesmophoriazusae, one of the Athens Depth Study sources for the Ancient History A Level syllabus, with Rosie Wyles guiding James through the text.

With Judith Mossman

For the Macedon Depth Study, Judith Mossman revises Plutarch's account of the life of Alexander and others with James, in this bitesize episode for Ancient History A Level students.

With Peter Liddel

This revision episode introduces Attic Inscriptions as a source category before Peter Liddel turns to the first stele among these source materials for Ancient History A Level students.

With Rosie Wyles

This revision episode opens with an introduction to ancient comedy and Aristophanes' work before Rosie Wyles and James turn to Archarnians lines 61 to 71 as a set source.

With Judith Mossman

Judith Mossman revises Plutarch on the life of Lycurgus and others for the Ancient History A Level Sparta Depth Study, in a bitesize episode aimed at exam preparation.

With Peter Liddel

Peter Liddel, of the Attic Inscriptions Online project, joins this bonus revision episode on Attic Inscriptions as a source for the Ancient History A Level syllabus, with extra material beyond the main run.