Interview: On the Wars of the Diadochi w/ John McTavish

The Hellenistic Age Podcast

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4.7 • 558 Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2020

⏱️ 38 minutes

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Summary

In this episode we are joined by historian and Cornell PhD student John McTavish to discuss the Wars of the Diadochi, where the Successors of Alexander the Great fought over a period of 40 years to carve apart his empire and found their own kingdoms, giving birth to the Hellenistic World as we know it. We discuss the problems of early Hellenistic sources and chronology, diagnose the causes of the empire's rapid disintegration, and look at the major players and indigenous peoples responses to the power vacuum left by Alexander's death. Title Theme: Seikilos Epitapth with the Lyre of Apollo, played by Lina Palera (https://soundcloud.com/user-994392473) Show Links Website/Episode Notes: (https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2020/05/31/interview-on-the-wars-of-the-diadochi-w-john-mctavish/) John McTavish: Academia.edu (https://cornell.academia.edu/JohnMcTavish) Cornell.edu (https://history.cornell.edu/john-mctavish) Twitter (https://twitter.com/johnmctav) Social Media: Twitter (https://twitter.com/HellenisticPod) Facebook (www.facebook.com/hellenisticagepodcast/) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/hellenistic_age_podcast/) Discord (https://discord.gg/VJcyUcN) Show Merchandise: Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/HellenisticAgePod) Donations: Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/hellenisticagepodcast) Amazon Book Wish List (https://tinyurl.com/vfw6ask)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi there, you're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast.
0:12.5	In-Review episode, on the Wars of the Diodohoi with John McTavish.
0:25.9	Hello everyone.
0:31.8	Today we have joining us John McTavish, a historian and Ph.D. student at Cornell University.
0:37.1	John is a specialist in the late classical and early Hellenistic periods, focusing on the wars of the
0:37.6	Diodohoi, the chronological challenges of the period, and the developments of Hellenistic kingship,
0:43.1	imperialism, and the associated military campaigns. He also has an upcoming paper for publication
0:48.5	in the Phoenix Classics Journal, entitled A New Chronology for Seleucus Nicator's Wars,
0:54.0	from 311 to 308 BC.
0:56.5	As always, glad to have you here on the show.
0:59.0	Thanks very much for having me.
1:00.1	I'm thrilled to be here.
1:01.1	So, John, could you tell us a bit about yourself?
1:03.9	I'm sure we don't need much of a reason to understand why you find the early Hellenistic period
1:07.8	so interesting, but what led you to focusing on it during your
1:10.9	education? So it was always a dream of mine to study ancient history at university since I was a kid,
1:17.3	but my intention was actually to focus on Egyptology from quite early on, thanks to a particularly
1:24.0	influential teacher of mine way back in high school.
1:33.8	Unfortunately, Egyptology and the study of the ancient Near East, it doesn't get a lot of attention at Australian universities. In fact, very few cater to it at all. And the institution where I ended up
1:39.2	beginning my academic journey, the University of Queensland, which is, for the record, a
1:44.0	wonderful place to study and work.
1:46.6	It had completely cut Egyptology only a couple of years prior to my arrival.
	...

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