In this episode, we continue with Book I, the first “chapter” of Thucydides’s account of the Peloponnesian War. Here, we find out the Athenian’s decision about whether to help the city-state of Corcyra against Corinth, hear the reasons given by Corinth and the Athenians as to why the Spartans and their allies should (or should not) move against the Athenians, and how the Spartans decided.   If you prefer video, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/SNcGsfc-ABY   As always, if you want to dig into the practical application of the lessons we want to draw from these books, check out https://rhetoricfortherenaissanceman.com.

In this episode, we begin actually reading Thucydides, covering the first large chunk of Book I. We cover the pre-history of Greece in broad strokes, how Greece came to be relatively wealthy and powerful, how some of it poleis came to be richer and more powerful than others, a brief overview of the Persian Wars and what happened between them and the Pelopennesian War, and then begin a detailed overview of the inciting incidents for the war that serves as the subject for this book.   If you prefer video, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/0we0L4bK-7s   As always, if you want to dig into the practical application of the lessons…