Bret Devereux is a military historian at North Carolina State University and author of the recent viral article "Spartans Were Losers: The US Military's Admiration of a Proto-Fascist City-State is Based on Bad History." He joins us to explain why he thinks that the traditional image of Sparta as an egalitarian society of warrior badasses is a lie. You can find his blog, where he writes extensively on Sparta, here: https://acoup.blog/2019/08/16/collections-this-isnt-sparta-part-i-spartan-school/

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This episode is available in video format on the Lantern Jack YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/VngbinpNGIE

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Support Ancient Greece Declassified on Patreon: patreon.com/greecepodcast

Or make a one-time donation: paypal.me/greecepodcast

As our world becomes increasingly hi-tech, more and more people have been turning to ancient wisdom traditions in search of meaning. There are two schools of ancient philosophy in particular that have seen a meteoric revival in recent years: Platonism and Stoicism. Cognitive scientist John Vervaeke joins us to explore why this is happening. 

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Join the upcoming AGD Tour in Greece: greecepodcast.com/tour

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Support Ancient Greece Declassified on Patreon: patreon.com/greecepodcast

Or make a one-time donation: paypal.me/greecepodcast

AGD is going back to Greece this fall (Oct. 11-19) for another epic adventure! This time we'll be exploring areas that in ancient times lay in the shadow of – or in direct conflict with – the Athenian hegemony. 

Check out our video from the first tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g-w7u6aQz0

To reserve your spot, email us at [email protected]

For the itinerary visit https://greecepodcast.com/tour

This time we're taking a little break from Greece to explore the broader history of democracy. Was democracy really a Greek invention? Historian David Stasavage, author of The Decline and Rise of Democracy, thinks it was not. And in today's episode he explains why.

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Or make a one-time donation: paypal.me/greecepodcast

Polybius' theory of anacyclosis is the most sophisticated theory of political (r)evolution to have emerged from ancient Greek and Roman political thought.

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To watch the highlight real from the last AGD tour in Greece, click here.

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To read the passage in Polybius where he discusses anacyclosis click here.

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If you'd like to read more about the theory of anacyclosis, I've written a few blogs on the subject:

Anacyclosis, Act 1: From Monarchy to Tyranny

Anacyclosis, Act 2: The Rise of Republics

Anacyclosis, Act 3: The Rise and Fall of Democracy

AGD is going back to Greece this winter (Jan. 3-11) for an epic tour of Greece's northern regions, focusing on mountains and oracles. For more information or to reserve your spot, email us at [email protected]

Plato argued that the inevitable next step in political evolution after democracy is tyranny. Many political thinkers throughout history agreed with him. Were they right?

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Support Ancient Greece Declassified on Patreon: patreon.com/greecepodcast

Or make a one-time donation: paypal.me/greecepodcast

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A full transcript of this episode with references can be found on our website at greecepodcast.com

Was Marcus Aurelius really the enlightened ruler that history books and modern movies portray him as? And is his brand of Stoic philosophy applicable to the modern world?

With us to discuss these and other questions is Donald Robertson, a psychotherapist and the author of How to Think Like and Emperor and Verissimus.

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Or make a one-time donation: paypal.me/greecepodcast

An update on the AGD Tour happening in Greece from August 16-24

For an outline of the itinerary click here. 

Thirty three scholars, philosophers, and archaeologists answer the question: If you could time travel to the ancient world, who would you want to meet?

Scholars featured + the timestamps when they appear:

2:10  Edith Hall

3:36  Eric Cline

4:30  Andromache Karanika

5:45  Josiah Ober

6:48  Rush Rehm

7:30  Ian Morris

8:02  Rebecca Newberger Goldstein

9:20  Patrick Hunt

9:46  Raffaella Cribiore

11:04  Mark Adams

12:20  Peter Adamson

13:47  Richard Martin

15:08  M. M. McCabe

16:37  Zina Giannopoulou

18:45  Greg Nagy

19:43  Caroline Winterer

20:04  Melissa Lane

22:28  Alicia Stallings

22:57  Rhiannon Evans

24:04  Barbara Graziosi

24:54  Walter Scheidel

25:12  Matt Simonton

26:30  Emily Greenwood

27:57  Olga Levaniouk

30:00  Steele Brand

32:55  Rachel Barney

33:36  Angie Hobbs

35:31  Adrian Goldsworthy

36:30  Mary Bachvarova

37:42  Jonathan Lear

39:40  Mary Townsend

40:31  Gabriel Richardson Lear

42:14  Ben Morison

Philosophers today often dismiss Plato's Theory of Forms as an outdated and failed attempt by a pre-modern thinker to explain knowledge. However, cognitive scientist John Vervaeke offers a radically different take on Plato's theory and how it ties in with recent debates about the nature of intelligence.

John Vervaeke is a professor at the University of Toronto and the creator of the popular YouTube series Awakening from the Meaning Crisis.