Alex Petkas on Plutarch, 45 hours

Cost of Glory

38 episodes indexed · 45 hours

Presented by Alex Petkas

Spotify

Periods · The kings, The Republic, The late Republic, The Pax Romana, The third-century crisis, Christian Rome, The fall of the west

Themes · Power struggle Battle The army Art, music and letters Intrigue Money and trade Life on the frontier Religion

Petkas taught ancient philosophy and history at university and left to make this. He works from Plutarch's Parallel Lives and retells them at full length, which is the whole point: Plutarch wrote biography as a study of character under pressure, and that survives only at length. Greek and Roman both, so 38 Roman episodes are indexed here. The multi-part Caesar sequence is the fullest treatment of him in audio outside the big narrative series.

Where to start. The Caesar sequence, or any life you already half know. Marius 1: Ambition · 68 min

I feel like…

ThinkingAny

Cogitare, how it was thought and ordered

FeelingAny

Sentire, what was lived and endured

DoingAny

Facere, what hands made and did

PeriodAny

when it happens

LengthAny

how much time you have

All 38 episodes, in order. Every title links straight to the episode.

  1. Sertorius 2: Crisis in Rome57m
  2. Marius 1: Ambition1h 08m
  3. Marius 2: Third Founder of Rome1h 14m
  4. Marius 3: The Ruin of Cities1h 30m
  5. Marius Aftermath and Takeaways16m
  6. Comparison - Pyrrhus and Marius19m
  7. Sulla 1: The Lucky1h 07m
  8. Sulla 2: Rogue Commander1h 09m
  9. Sulla III: Vengeance1h 12m
  10. Sulla: Five Takeaways. And Aftermath16m
  11. Comparison: Lysander and Sulla26m
  12. Seneca, The Madness of Hercules59m
  13. Catiline I: Rome's Deadliest Conspiracy1h 09m
  14. Catiline II: Cicero's Moment41m
  15. Catiline III: The Last Stand50m
  16. Crassus I: Richest Man in Rome1h 19m
  17. Crassus II: Puppet Master1h 14m
  18. Crassus III: Battle of Carrhae1h 26m
  19. Crassus Aftermath, Takeaways, Sources19m
  20. Spartacus — with Barry Strauss51m
  21. Pompey I: Kid Butcher1h 21m
  22. Pompey II: Empire of Venus1h 49m
  23. Pompey III: Fields of Pharsalus1h 57m
  24. Pompey: Aftermath, Comparison w/ Spartan King Agesilaus40m
  25. Gallic Wars 1: Caesar's Chance1h 17m
  26. Gallic Wars 3: Caesar At Sea1h 03m
  27. Gallic Wars 7: Vercingetorix and the Great Revolt1h 53m
  28. Cato II: Seducers of Rome1h 38m
  29. Caesar 1: Man of Destiny1h 51m
  30. Caesar 2: Law and Nature2h 07m
  31. Caesar's Civil War I: Breakdown1h 46m
  32. Caesar's Civil War II: Bloody Pharsalia1h 29m
  33. Caesar's Civil War III: Came Saw Conquered1h 30m
  34. The Psychology of Envy and the Fall of Caesar: w/ Rob Henderson1h 11m
  35. Julius Caesar and the Jews, w/ Barry Strauss1h 04m
  36. Caesar 3: Divus Julius2h 25m
  37. Is Julius Caesar in Heaven?1h
  38. The Modern Roman Legion? w/ "Monastery of the Damned" author Nicholas Tobias1h 17m