Hi, thanks for tuning in to ancient Greece, Declassified.

This podcast will explore the exciting and often mysterious world of the ancient Greeks, the world that they

knew and investigated and most importantly wrote about.

This world, which we find described in the ancient Greek books, ranges over a surprisingly

large part of the globe, stretching from Spain all the way to India.

This world also spans an immense amount of time.

For over a thousand years, Greek was kind of like what English is today, an international

language of commerce and trade, entertainment, and science, used by many people who are not

native speakers to communicate across cultures.

As a result, the biggest libraries in the world for a long time were entirely in Greek,

and people from across Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia were writing down their ideas in this international language.

Not all of this writing has survived, but it's a miracle how much has,

considering how little has survived in other ancient languages.

The surviving Greek material is like this time capsule that cuts across human history,

chronicling many of the decisive moments that shaped the course of civilization.

These Greek texts were largely responsible for sparking the Renaissance and the scientific revolution of the 16th century,

and they contain philosophical and scientific ideas that continue to influence us to this day.

So this podcast is actually not just about Greece, it's about a huge chunk of human history

that the Greek texts give us access to. But with so much to potentially explore, where to even

begin? Well, first of all, don't expect a chronological narrative history with a

beginning and an end and a whole lot of stuff in between. This podcast is about exploring issues

that we care about today, aspects of the ancient world that still rouse our curiosity,

...