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Ryan Stitt

The History of Ancient Greece Podcast is a deep-dive into one of the most influential and fundamental civilization in world history. Hosted by philhellene Ryan Stitt, THOAG spans over two millennia. From the Bronze Age to the Archaic Period,  from Classical Greece to the Hellenistic kingdoms, and finally to the Roman conquest, this podcast will tell the history of a fundamental civilization by bringing to life the fascinating stories of all the ancient sources and scholarly interpretations of the archaeological evidence. And we won't just detail their military and political history, but their society, how the Greeks lived day-to-day, as well as their culture—their art, architecture, philosophy, literature, religion, science, and all the other incredible aspects of the Greek achievement , while situating the Greeks within a multicultural Mediterranean whose peoples influenced and were influenced by one another.

The History of Ancient Greece

In this episode, we leave the realm of myth and trace the development of early primate/human activity in Greece in the Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age), culminating in the domestication of plants and animals, the rise of the earliest villages, and the development of metallurgy in the Neolithic Period (New Stone Age)
 
Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2016/04/003-stone-age-greece.html

003 The Stone Age

In this episode, we discuss the archaeological evidence for the early Bronze Age on mainland Greece and the Cycladic Islands; the arrival of the Indo-Europeans in Greece (known as the proto-Greeks); and the rediscovery and excavation of three legendary Bronze Age cities (Troy, Knossos, and Mycenae) in the latter part of the 19th century AD by the infamous Heinrich Schliemann and Sir Arthur Evans that brought to light the Bronze Age peoples who would become known as the "Minoans" and "Mycenaeans"
 
Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2016/04/004-early-bronze-age-greece.html

004 Early Bronze Age

In this episode, we discuss the archaeological evidence of the Mycenaean Greeks of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1650-1250 BC), particularly from the major palace centers at Mycenae, Tiryns, and Pylos; what the Linear B tablets can tell us about their society, economy, and religion; and their extensive trade network throughout the Mediterranean
 
Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2016/04/006-mycenaean-greece.html

006 Mycenaean Greece

In this episode, we briefly discuss the Trojan War myth; the historical evidence for Mycenaean conflict in the eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia (by looking at the Egyptian and Hittite records); the archaeological evidence for layer VI and VII on the citadel of Hisarlik, i.e. ancient Troy (Wilion/Ilion); the Bronze Age collapse in both Greece and the Near East and its possible causes/explanations; the mysterious group of people known as the "Sea Peoples"; and the so-called "Dorian Invasion" of Greece
 
Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2016/04/007-late-bronze-age-collapse.html

007 Late Bronze Age Collapse

In this episode, we discuss the archaeological evidence for the early "Dark Age" during the 11th and 10th centuries BC, particularly at the site of Nichoria in Messenia and the pottery of the Sub-Mycenaean and Protogeometic periods; the emigration of mainland Greeks to the Aegean islands and the western coast of Anatolia; and the first great author of ancient Greece, the mysterious Homer, who gives us insight into early Dark Age society and culture through his two great epic poems—the Iliad and the Odyssey
 
Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2016/05/008-dark-age-and-homer.html

008 The "Dark Age" and Homer

In this episode, we discuss the archaeological evidence for the late "Dark Age" during the 9th and early 8th centuries BC, especially the Heroon at Lefkandi and the Keremeikos at Athens; Greece's cultural reawakening and reconnection with the Near East thanks to their contact with the Phoenicians; the development of the Greek alphabet and its impact on Greek cultural development; the establishment of three trading posts/colonies at El-Mina (in the Levant) and Pithekoussai and Kyme (central Italy); and the evolution of "Geometric" vase painting, especially on kraters and amphoras and their role in the funerary process
 
Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2016/05/009-greek-resurgence.html

009 Greek Resurgence

In this episode, we discuss early Greek religion as it was formalized in the writings of Homer and Hesiod; the various rituals that were performed when the Greeks worshipped their deities; the evidence for the earliest sanctuaries and hero cults in the 8th century BC that developed hand-in-hand with the city-state and their increasing wealth (as seen through votive offerings); the early developments of the idea of Panhellenism (a sense of a common Greek identity); and the foundation myths, archaeological evidence, and importance for the four predominant Panhellenic sanctuaries that gained massive popularity in the 8th and 7th centuries BC (Zeus and Hera at Olympia, Apollo and Artemis at Delos, Apollo at Delphi, and Zeus and Dione at Dodona—with the latter two having popular oracular shrines)
 
Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2016/06/010-panhellenism.html

010 Religion and Panhellenism

In this episode, we discuss the community (demos) and household (oikos) in the late Dark Age; their socio-political and geographical unification (through a process called synoikismos), which lead to the city-state (polis) and brought about the transition from the Dark Age into the Archaic Period; and later Greek philosophical thought on the polis and polis identity and what it meant to live in a polis beyond just its physical space
 
Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2016/06/011-from-oikos-to-polis.html

011 From Oikos to Polis

In this episode, we discuss the transitional governments in the early stages of the centrally unified polis (oligarchia and aristokratia), as the waning power of the basileis becomes supplanted by a small landowning group of nobles; the economic and social divisions between the nobles and commoners brought on by a spike in population in Greece; and the second great author of ancient Greece, a man named Hesiod, who speaks to us about life and society in the emerging polis from the point of view of the ordinary citizen, in his Works and Days
 
Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2016/06/012-oligarchs-and-hesiod.html

012 Oligarchs and Hesiod

In this episode, we discuss the Greek emigration northeastward into the Chalkidiki, Thrace, Hellespont, Bosporus, Black Sea, and southwards into northern Africa during the 7th and 6th centuries BC; the reigns of the Lydian and Egyptian kings of the 26th Saite Dynasty and their relations with the Greeks until around 550 BC; and the development of coinage (first in Lydia and then its widespread adoption and adaptation by the Greeks in the 6th century BC)
 
 Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2016/07/015-colonization-and-east.html
 
 
 
 Intro by Dominic Perry of the History of Egypt Podcast
 
Website: https://egyptianhistorypodcast.com
 
 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EgyptianPodcast
 
 Twitter: https://twitter.com/EgyptianPodcast

015 Colonization and the East

In this episode, we discuss the myths, iconography, and cultic worship of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, craftsmanship, and strategic warfare who served as a kind of symbol for the city of Athens and civilization in general
 
Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2017/12/064-protectress-of-athens.html

064 The Protectress of Athens

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