Casting Through Ancient Greece

Mark Selleck
  • 5.0 (13)
  • History
  • Updated Fortnightly

A podcast about the history of ancient Greece for people new to and familiar with Ancient Greek history.The Casting Through Ancient Greece podcast will focus on telling the story of Ancient Greece starting from the pre history through Archaic Greece, Classical Greece and up to the Hellenistic period. Featured throughout the podcast series will be Major events such as the Greek and Persian wars, The Peloponnesian war and Alexander the Greats war against Persia. www.castingthroughancientgreece.com for more resources and creditsSupport the series at www.patreon.com/castingthroughancientgreecefacebook: casting through ancient greeceTwitter: @casting_greece

  1. 3 days ago ·  Bonus

    Teaser: A League By Choice? (Patreon)

    This is a teaser of the bonus episode, "A League by Choice?" found over on Patreon. A voluntary alliance can feel like freedom right up until the day you try to leave. After the Greek victory over Persia in 479 BC, more than a hundred islands and coastal city-states align themselves with Athens in what becomes the Delian League. We walk through why that choice makes sense at the time and why it isn’t as simple as “Athens forced an empire on unwilling allies.”  We start with the road not taken: Sparta. Even with its wartime prestige, Sparta’s priorities stay anchored in the Peloponnese, its naval capacity is limited, and the helot system makes long overseas commitments dangerous. Add the reputational blow of Pausanias in Byzantium, and the eastern Aegean has every reason to look elsewhere for steady leadership. Athens, newly empowered by a fleet funded through the Laurean silver mines and proven in the Persian Wars, can actually patrol the Aegean Sea, protect trade routes, deter Persian interference, and speak to a shared Ionian identity many communities recognize.  Then we track how the league’s mechanics reshape its politics. Contributions shift from ships and crews to tribute, and what looks like a convenient budget choice slowly centralizes force, money, and decision-making in Athenian hands. The revolts of Naxos and Thasos show the turning point: joining may be voluntary, but withdrawal becomes a trigger for siege, disarmament, and lost autonomy. Even so, many allies stay because the benefits remain real and rebellion is costly and uncertain.  If you care about ancient Greece history, the Delian League, and how security pacts evolve into empires, you’ll find plenty to argue with here. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review with your answer: when does an alliance stop being a choice? Support the show 💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content: 🌐 Website 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter 📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

  2. 4 days ago

    106: Persian Successions

    A king is murdered, a throne becomes a prize, and the world’s biggest empire has to prove it can still hold together. We pull away from the Peloponnesian War just long enough to track the Persian succession shocks that set the stage for Persia’s return to Greek politics, starting with the assassination of Xerxes and the hard-won rise of Artaxerxes I. Along the way, we sort Babylonian cuneiform evidence from Greek accounts packed with intrigue, and we ask what those contradictions tell us about propaganda, perspective, and how ancient history gets written. From there, we follow the early tests of Artaxerxes’ rule, especially the Egyptian revolt led by Inaros and the disastrous Athenian intervention in the Nile Delta. It’s a sharp reminder that the Achaemenid Empire is not just a backdrop to Greek history: it has its own internal pressures, powerful nobles, and regional flashpoints that can either drain imperial attention or force rapid adaptation. The story then turns to the chaotic handover after Artaxerxes’ death and the violent climb of Darius II. Once stability returns, Persia pivots west with a smarter approach than invasion: leverage. We dig into how Persian objectives in Asia Minor shape support for Sparta, why Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus pursue different strategies, and how later decisions, including the rise of Cyrus the Younger, help set up the flow of Persian silver that changes the naval war against Athens. If you enjoyed this deep dive into Persian successions, satrap politics, and the Persian Empire’s role in the Peloponnesian War, subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review so more listeners can find the series. Support the show 💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content: 🌐 Website 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter 📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

  3. 29 June ·  Bonus

    Teaser: Themistocles Pt 4

    Athens wins at Salamis, but what happens when the man most associated with that victory becomes politically untouchable? We close out our Themistocles series by following the messy aftermath of the Persian Wars, where glory fades fast and the real fight becomes reputation, alliances, and survival inside Athenian democracy. We walk through Themistocles’ return to power and his vision for rebuilding Athens with the future in mind, especially the push for fortifications and the long shadow of Spartan rivalry. The centerpiece is the diplomatic gamble that defines his style: stalling and misleading Sparta just long enough for Athens to complete its walls, turning a disputed plan into an irreversible fact. From there we track the next phase of Athenian maritime strategy, including the Piraeus as the key harbor and the drive to keep the trireme fleet growing, the foundation of Athenian naval power in the Aegean. Then the floor drops out. Political enemies capitalize on stories of arrogance, rule-bending, and alleged Persian connections tied to the Pausanias affair. We follow the ostracism, the escape across Greece, and the moment Themistocles chooses the unthinkable path: seeking refuge in the Persian Empire. At Artaxerxes’ court he remakes himself again, earns favor, and governs Magnesia, before the story ends with competing accounts of his death and a lingering legacy that reaches back to Athens and forward through his descendants. If you enjoyed this deep dive into Themistocles, Athenian politics, and Greek history after the Persian Wars, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review. What part of his rise and fall feels most familiar today? Support the show 💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content: 🌐 Website 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter 📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

  4. 26 June

    105: Aftermath of Sicily

    Athens doesn’t just lose a battle in Sicily, it loses the foundation of its power. We start with Thucydides’ brutal assessment of the Sicilian Expedition: a fleet shattered, an army trapped, commanders executed, and survivors driven into captivity. Then we follow the story where it gets even more unsettling, back home in Athens, as rumors arrive that sound too impossible to believe. A city that has lived on naval dominance for generations suddenly has to imagine life without triremes, without trained rowers, and without the veteran hoplites who defend Attica. From there, we walk through what the disaster actually costs: warships effectively vanishing, thousands of citizens dead, the treasury strained by two massive expeditions, and an empire now held together by confidence more than capability. As panic spreads and fears of revolt rise, Athens responds with emergency governance and hard choices. We talk through the leadership crisis, the creation of the proboloi, the push to rebuild the fleet, and the financial reforms that include a 5% tax on maritime trade, all designed to keep the city alive long enough to fight the next round. Finally, we widen the lens to the geopolitical chain reaction: Sparta senses opportunity, allies look for exits, and Persia reenters Greek affairs as the one power with the money to change the naval balance. We trace the competing agendas of satraps like Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus, the role of Alcibiades, the pivot toward Chios, and how earthquakes, debate, and delay produce a risky three-pronged strategy aimed at Chios, Lesbos, and the Hellespont. If you’re following the Peloponnesian War for the big turning points, this is one of them. Subscribe for what comes next, share the episode with a fellow history fan, and leave a review with your take on Athens’ best move after Sicily. Support the show 💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content: 🌐 Website 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter 📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

  5. 25 May ·  Bonus

    Teaser: Themistocles Pt 3 (Patreon)

    This is a teaser of the bonus episode, "Themistocles Pt 3 found over on Patreon. Themistocles doesn’t just “win” the Battle of Salamis, he engineers the conditions that make winning possible. We pick up the story with Athens’ high-stakes decision to pour wealth and politics into sea power, expanding to a fleet of triremes that will soon face Xerxes’ massive second Persian invasion. Along the way, we talk through how Themistocles steers Athenian thinking, including his influence on how the Oracle of Delphi is understood, and why the Hellenic League’s unity is always more fragile than the legend suggests. From Artemisium to Salamis, the episode tracks the ugly mechanics of coalition warfare: commanders who want to withdraw, rival cities protecting their own interests, and a strategy debate that becomes personal. We walk through Themistocles’ most important arguments for fighting in narrow waters, his confrontation with the Corinthian commander Adimantus, and the pressure he puts on Eurybiades by reminding everyone that the Athenian fleet is the keystone of Greek defense. Then comes the turning point: when persuasion won’t hold the alliance together, Themistocles acts in secret. We unpack the Sicinnus message, how it tempts Xerxes into blocking the straits, and how Aristides’ return confirms the trap has closed. The result is a decisive naval victory at Salamis, followed by messy post-battle politics, Themistocles’ brief celebrity, and hints of the backlash that soon pushes him into the background until his next dramatic chapter. If you enjoy deep dives on ancient history, Greek strategy, the Persian Wars, and the leadership choices behind famous battles, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find the series. Support the show 💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content: 🌐 Website 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter 📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

  6. 22 May

    104: The Disaster Of Sicily

    Athens didn’t just lose in Sicily. It ran out of time, ran out of space, and finally ran out of choices. We pick up the story at the moment the expedition is already wobbling, when Nicias can see the danger but can’t bring himself to force the clean decision that might save the army. From there, every delay becomes a gift to Syracuse and every half-measure turns into another locked door on the way out. We walk through the campaign’s brutal turning points: Syracuse learning fast under pressure, the arrival of Gylippus and the sudden jump in enemy competence, and Demosthenes’ desperate night attack on Epipolae that almost works until confusion shatters it. Then the escape window slams shut. An eclipse stops the withdrawal, the Great Harbour becomes a cage, and Athenian naval supremacy is stripped down into a close-quarters brawl that ends with a broken fleet and an army stranded on hostile ground. From the march toward Catana to the collapse at the Asinaris River, we follow Thucydides’ stark account of morale, discipline, deception, and fear. We also step back and ask the bigger ancient history questions: is the Sicilian Expedition best explained by Nicias’ hesitation, Alcibiades’ recall and defection, volatile Athenian democracy, imperial overreach, logistics and geography, enemy adaptation, or sheer contingency like disease and timing? If you care about the Peloponnesian War, military leadership, and how great powers stumble into catastrophe, this is the episode that connects the battlefield to the system behind it.  If this helped you see Sicily more clearly, subscribe, share the show with a friend who loves ancient Greece, and leave a review so more listeners can find it. Support the show 💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content: 🌐 Website 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter 📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

  7. 27 Apr ·  Bonus

    Teaser: Themistocles Pt 2 (Patreon)

    This is a teaser of the bonus episode, "Themistocles Pt 2" found over on Patreon. A single line from Delphi forces Athens to gamble everything: “the wooden wall.” Is it an old barricade on the Acropolis, or is it the fleet Themistocles fought to build? We pick up our Themistocles series at the moment his naval policy becomes more than politics, it becomes survival, as the second Persian invasion looms and Athens races to turn shipbuilding into a workable war plan.  We follow the chain of decisions that pull the Greek world into a fragile coalition. The Congresses of Corinth create the Hellenic League, but unity comes with ego, mistrust, and a command structure that leaves Athens supplying ships while Sparta calls the shots. A rushed northern move into Thessaly collapses, pushing the allies back toward the paired defense at Thermopylae and the naval stand at Artemisium. When the Greek fleet wavers, Themistocles keeps it in place through a mix of argument and silver, and we break down what three days of fighting reveal about tactics, morale, and the brutal arithmetic of attrition.  Then the story turns darker and sharper: retreat, scorched resources, psychological warfare against Persian-aligned Ionians and Carians, and finally the desperate regroup at Salamis as Athens burns. Themistocles must stop the fleet from running south and convince allies that Salamis is where Greece can still win. If you care about ancient history, Greek naval warfare, the Persian Wars, and how leadership works when everything is breaking, this chapter is for you. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review with the moment you think Themistocles changes the course of the war. Support the show 💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content: 🌐 Website 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter 📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive! Support the show 💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content: 🌐 Website 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter 📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

  8. 24 Apr

    103: Defeat of the Athenian Navy

    Athens is the greatest naval power in Greece, yet in Sicily it starts to feel helpless. We pick up the story at the moment Nicias sends a careful, politically protective message home and the Athenian Assembly hears what it wants to hear: send more ships, send more men, and force victory. That decision to double down shapes everything that follows, because it gives Syracuse and Gylippus time to do what Athens assumes no one can do, learn fast enough to beat the Athenian navy. We walk through how the Syracusans adapt their triremes and tactics for the cramped waters of the Great Harbor, where classic Athenian maneuver warfare matters less than brute collisions, grappling, and discipline under pressure. Demosthenes arrives with major reinforcements and tries to end the campaign with an immediate strike, including a daring night assault on Epipolae. Thucydides’ account of the darkness, the noise, and the sudden collapse into confusion makes the disaster feel personal, not abstract, and it pushes the generals into a brutal debate: withdraw now while the sea is still open, or stay and gamble on uncertain intelligence and political cover. Then fate, religion, and timing collide when a lunar eclipse delays a secret departure, exposing Athenian intentions and letting Syracuse close the trap. From there the narrative accelerates into the decisive naval battles, the death of Eurymedon, a blockade at the harbor mouth, and a final desperate attempt to break free with improvised “Iron Hands” designed for close-quarters combat. The end result is not just a tactical loss but a morale collapse so complete that crews refuse to man the ships again. If you want the Sicilian Expedition explained with clear stakes, leadership lessons, and vivid ancient naval warfare details, press play. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend who loves history, and leave a review so more listeners can find the series. Support the show 💬 Stay Connected with Casting Through Ancient Greece Follow us for updates, discussions, and more ancient Greek content: 🌐 Website 📸 Instagram 🐦 Twitter 📘 Facebook 🎙️ Love the show? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow history enthusiasts. Your support helps keep the stories of ancient Greece alive!

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About

A podcast about the history of ancient Greece for people new to and familiar with Ancient Greek history.The Casting Through Ancient Greece podcast will focus on telling the story of Ancient Greece starting from the pre history through Archaic Greece, Classical Greece and up to the Hellenistic period. Featured throughout the podcast series will be Major events such as the Greek and Persian wars, The Peloponnesian war and Alexander the Greats war against Persia. www.castingthroughancientgreece.com for more resources and creditsSupport the series at www.patreon.com/castingthroughancientgreecefacebook: casting through ancient greeceTwitter: @casting_greece

Information

  • Creator
    Mark Selleck
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    140
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Casting Through Ancient Greece
  • Show Website
    Casting Through Ancient Greece

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