S8 Ep502: Michael Vlahos as Germanicus and Gaius use the legendary Spartan-Argos Battle of the Champions to frame the twenty-first-century standoff between America and Iran, arguing that American reliance on the magical fetish of air power ignores the historical re

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 23 February 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

Michael Vlahos as Germanicus and Gaius use the legendary Spartan-Argos Battle of the Champions to frame the twenty-first-century standoff between America and Iran, arguing that American reliance on the magical fetish of air power ignores the historical reality that Persia has remained essentially unconquered for 2,500 years, with both sides poised for uncontrollable escalation without a settled definition of victory. 1
1746

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0:00.0	This is Friends of History Debating Society. I am Gaius. These are the Lundinium Chronicles,
0:11.5	my conversation with my dear friend Germanicus, over many months, many years,
0:16.7	observing from here in the first century AD in Lunditian, far from Rome, the ironies and the
0:24.6	exigencies and the mysteries of 20th and 21st century America inheritor of the Roman Empire's
0:32.6	institutions, and our memories of our education of the first century BCE,
0:39.8	that's the part where the Romans fought not one, but two civil wars.
0:45.3	There was Sulla and then there was Caesar.
0:47.8	Three, if you count in Augustus.
0:50.3	Three civil wars and our experience reflecting upon our youth and then projecting into the 21st century we began
0:59.2	however making sure the centurions are comfortable they're crowding in here we've told them we're
1:05.5	going to tell stories that make them feel good about being warriors we're going to start with one guys
1:10.5	it's Greeks that means it's your territory, Germanicus. All right, here's the setup. Gentlemen, get seated, please. We're going to start right away. We've got lots to cover. It's a miserable night out. A whopper of a storm. Nobody wants to go across the Thameson night. The snow's blowing sideways already. Good heavens.
1:29.7	So it'll be spring soon enough, but right now is not a fit night out for Centurion or Beast.
1:36.9	And the guys sit down, they wrestle a little bit with the chairs, because these are big men,
1:42.1	25 years in the service of the emperor.
1:48.7	And we come to once upon a time, Sparta.
1:50.8	Ah, the eyes brightened in the room.
1:58.2	Sparta had a dispute with Argos, another city of Great Merit, Greece.
2:06.1	And rather than go to war, as they did in those days, till the last ember burns out as each side slaughters the families and the children and the future of each other,
2:14.2	they chose to do something that we could look upon as civilized. They said, we'll put
2:20.3	300 of our best hoplights out, and you put 300 of yours out, special forces, and they'll
2:28.9	fight to the death. And the winner will be obvious on the battlefield, and that will be the end of the war.
	...

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