Author: Charles River Editors
Narrator: Cathy Barnes
Unabridged: 2 hr 33 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Findaway Voices
Published: 04/09/2023
Genre: History - Ancient - Greece
“Apollo’s history is a confusing one,” said the renowned poet and mythologist Robert Graves. This notion is also illustrated in the above quote from the 6th century BCE Homeric Hymn to Apollo, which gives the reader a brief glimpse into the confusion surrounding Apollo’s multi-faceted nature. The quote comes from the end of an episode in which Apollo is traversing the known world, looking for a place to build a temple to himself. Once he lands upon a place of his liking, however, he realizes that he needs to populate it with priests who would ‘guard’ and care for its ceremonies. Rather than depend upon those ‘glorious tribes’ to supply his temple with sycophants, Apollo has no patience for chance, and flies down to a Cretan merchant ship, landing on it in the form of a timber-shaking dolphin. After terrifying the merchants, he tells them that their lives in the sea trade are over, and they are to be priests at his temple from then on. Cautioning the merchants to eschew piracy and ‘keep righteousness’ in their hearts, while simultaneously confronting and sequestering them captures the youthful god’s capricious character quite well.
Artemis had one of the most widespread cults in the Greek world, perhaps due to her connection to nature, which can be a ubiquitous antagonist or boon-giver. Her association with nature may also explain why she was one of the oldest deities in the Greek pantheon, although her appearance in the Mycenaean Linear B script is still contested. Etymology often gives modern readers a better idea of the earliest form of a deity, but Artemis's is confusing. She is often associated with mythic qualities (such as "maidenhood" and "purity") and even non-Greek origins. The latter is as unsurprising as the former, since Artemis had a large following throughout Greece and across Asia Minor, where her most famous temple, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, resided. It was in the Near East where Artemis represented wilder characteristics.
In this entry of Parallel Lives, Plutarch tells the true story of Lysander, the great Spartan leader. Lysander led a fleet of Spartan ships to victory against the Athenians in the battle at Aegospotami. History also credits him with forcing the Gree...
Explore the captivating history of ancient Greece! The culture and events of Greece were so influential they have a significant effect on modern-day people all over the world. The ancient Greeks gave birth to democracy, a political system...
A few days before Pericles’ birth, his mother dreamed she gave birth to a lion. Symbolically, her son grew up to be a noble, magnanimous leader who sought the best for his people. He governed primarily in the time between the Persian and Pelop...
Born into a royal household, Pyrrhus was destined for greatness. He fought in many battles throughout his life, but his campaigns against Rome established his reputation as a commander. Many of his victories were only achieved through heavy losses, ...
Join award-winning historian Christopher Bellitto on this gripping journey through centuries of Greek history. Ancient Greece was one of the most fertile civilizations in history, and its influence on Western philosophy, theology, and civilization ...
Born in Athens, Greece, acclaimed Yale-educated philosopher Samuel Loncar helps you discover how ancient Greek philosophy—or “love of wisdom”—forms powerful bridges between East and West as well as past and present...
“Forward, sons of the Greeks,Liberate the fatherland,Liberate your children, your women,The altars of the gods of your fathers,And the graves of your ancestors: Now is the fight for everything.” – The Greek battle hymn sung before ...
In today’s modern world every political regime, even the most authoritarian or repressive, describes itself as democracy or a Democratic People’s Republic. The concept of rule by the people, on behalf of the people, has come to be accept...
The Greeks glorified Theseus as the historical founder of Athens. Plutarch’s record of his life incorporates all known facts and legends about him, from his defeat of the minotaur to his actions as a political leader. As this work comes from P...