HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: The official website for BBC History Magazine
date: 2025-02-12T13:11:47.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: The Spartans: Everything You Wanted to Know
items: The history of Athens: exploring the birthplace of democracy and philosophy
items: History’s greatest cities: Athens
items: Troy: everything you wanted to know
items: The ancient Greek alphabet: when was it invented, how many letters are there and how do you pronounce them?
items: Bucephalus: why is Alexander the Great's horse famous?
items: How to build a democracy (Athenian-style)
items: Ancient Greece: everything you wanted to know
items: Alternate history: what if Alexander the Great had lived longer?

The Spartans: Everything You Wanted to Know
type: item
date: 2024-08-18T15:14:59.000Z
creator: Professor Paul Cartledge
subject: Ancient Greece
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: Paul Cartledge answers listener questions on the the ancient Greek city-state famed for its martial prowess
encoded: How remarkable was the Spartans' stalwart resistance against the Persians at Thermopylae? Was their military training as tough as historians would have us believe? And just how austere were they? The people of the ancient Greek city-state have left an indelible mark on history, and for today's Everything You Wanted to Know episode, Spencer Mizen sat down with the ancient historian Paul Cartledge to answer your questions on their culture, politics and military endeavours. View Green Video on the source website

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The history of Athens: exploring the birthplace of democracy and philosophy
type: item
date: 2023-08-10T08:51:31.000Z
creator: Paul Bloomfield
subject: General History
subject: Period
subject: History's greatest cities podcast series
description: The city that’s now the capital of modern Greece has been an influential hub of civilisation and culture for more than two and a half millennia. Paul Cartledge guides us on a concise journey through its turbulent and triumphant past
encoded: Legend tells of a line of seven kings who if real would have ruled Athens from around 1500 BC to 1200 BC, the first of whom was Cecrops I. During his reign, the Olympian gods Athena and Poseidon vied to become the new city’s deity; having gifted its people the olive tree, Athena prevailed – and the city was named after her. So runs one foundational myth. Ancient Athens: what do we know? Evidence has been found of habitation as far back as about 9000 BC. And in the late Neolithic, around 4000 BC, people were living in caves on the north side of the Acropolis. The National Archaeological Museum displays wonderful examples of painted pottery from this period, as well as artefacts from the next era of Athens’ history. Around the time of the legendary Cecrops I – the late Bronze Age, from around 1500 BC – the region of Attica around Athens, and indeed much of mainland Greece and Crete, was inhabited by a civilisation now known as Mycenaean. These were the people (mainly from the Peloponnese, but also Thessaly and Boeotia and Crete as well as Athens) who, according to Homer in his Iliad, attacked Troy under the great King Agamemnon. Archaeological evidence shows that Athens was one of the great centres of late Bronze Age Mycenaean Greek civilisation and settlement. Such evidence includes the huge stones used to build walls on the Acropolis – limestone chunks so big that later Greeks thought they could only have been hefted by the one-eyed giants called Cyclopes. Also in this period, from about 1300 BC, Athenians began to be buried in the first cemetery, known as the Kerameikos or “potters’ quarter”, because it was sited where craftsman potters worked. Athens’ ‘dark age’ Around 1200 BC, major settlements across Greece suffered severe attacks and conflagrations – and it was in some of those fierce fires that clay tablets bearing the earliest-known Greek writing were inadvertently baked hard and preserved. These administrative tablets are inscribed with a syllabic script kno…

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History’s greatest cities: Athens
type: item
date: 2023-04-15T07:48:13.000Z
creator: Professor Paul Cartledge
subject: Ancient Greece
subject: General History
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: History's greatest cities podcast series
description: In this series exploring the sights and stories of Europe’s most historic cities, Paul Cartledge delves back through thousands of years to unearth the glories and trials of the Greek capital
encoded: In episode eight of this new series exploring the sights and stories of Europe’s most beautiful, intriguing and historic cities, travel journalist Paul Bloomfield is joined by historian and author Professor Paul Cartledge for a trip to Athens. Delving back through thousands of years of often tumultuous history they visit monuments dating back to before the days of the world's original democracy, as well as reminders of the later Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman eras. Along the way, Paul introduces some of the fascinating personalities that shaped Athens and the world around it, and offers some top advice for history-loving explorers. Explore the series so far – Listen to all episodes of History's Greatest Cities

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Troy: everything you wanted to know
type: item
date: 2022-08-28T10:28:14.000Z
creator: Professor Paul Cartledge
subject: Ancient Greece
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Everything you wanted to know about history (podcast series)
description: From Achilles and Agamemnon to the Trojan horse, Paul Cartledge answers listener questions on the ancient city that supposedly fought an epic war with the Greeks
encoded: The story of the Trojan War – featuring the daring Achilles, beautiful Helen and one very deceptive horse – is a classic of western literature. But did this famous war ever really happen? And was Troy even a real place? On today’s ‘Everything you wanted to know’ episode, Professor Paul Cartledge answers listener questions on these ancient mysteries. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, he discusses the discovery of archaeological remains believed to be Troy, and why Homer’s Iliad may not be the most reliable historical source.

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The ancient Greek alphabet: when was it invented, how many letters are there and how do you pronounce them?
type: item
date: 2021-12-02T13:54:33.000Z
creator: Professor Paul Cartledge
subject: Ancient Greece
subject: Period
subject: Trends-News
description: From college fraternities and the fields of maths and science through to the Bible, ancient Greek letters appear to be everywhere. Professor Paul Cartledge, A G Leventis Professor of Greek Culture emeritus at the University of Cambridge, gives us a primer on the history of the ancient Greek alphabet – and why it really should be alphabets…
encoded: Ancient Greek letters appear to be everywhere. Most of us have probably heard of the Nile delta, even if we don’t automatically associate that geographical designation with the shape of the fourth letter of the ancient Greek (and modern Greek, as it happens) alphabet. Any film set in an American college is almost certain to feature ‘frat boys’ and ‘sorority sisters’ (though some fraternities now welcome girls), aka ‘Greeks’, whose fraternities and sororities are named after letters of the ancient Greek alphabet. Read more | Three thousand years ago, the ancient Greeks turned an even older civilisation into a monster These ancient Greek letters appear in other fields too, including mathematics (most famously perhaps, pi) and astronomy (where Greek letters are used to designate the brightest stars in a constellation). Sadly, we’re probably all nowadays familiar with the use of Greek letters to denote variants of the coronavirus, the latest of which is the still rather mysterious strand named omicron. Did the ancient Greeks invent the alphabet? The ancient Greeks didn’t invent the alphabet, though they may be credited with inventing an alphabet – a new form of alphabetic writing, one that added signs for vowels to signs for consonants. Thereby their alphabet is the world’s first fully phonetic alphabetic script, which emerged sometime around 800 BC. Or rather, their alphabets, plural: for there were several, local or regional versions of the ancient Greek alphabet, with differing numbers of letters ranging from 24 to 28. Usually, the ancient Greeks were less than keen to credit non-Greeks – ‘barbarians’ as they sometimes derogatorily called them – with anything positive. But in this exceptional case they acknowledged the immediate source of their borrowing: for they called their alphabets ‘Phoenician letters’ after the ancient people that then occupied what is today Lebanon, and parts of Syria and Israel. Read more | Who’s who in ancient Greece? Meet 14 influential anc…

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Bucephalus: why is Alexander the Great's horse famous?
type: item
date: 2021-03-10T16:04:20.000Z
subject: Ancient Greece
subject: Period
description: Alexander the Great was famous for many things – including his bond with his horse Bucephalus. Professor Paul Cartledge explains exactly how the Macedonian empire builder came to cherish his steed
encoded: Bucephalus (c355-326 BC) is among the most famous horses in history, and it was said that this he could not be tamed. The young Alexander the Great, of course, tamed him – and went on to ride his beloved equine companion for many years and into many battles. Bucephalus finally died after the battle of the Hydaspes in what is now Pakistan. Here, Paul Cartledege, AG Leventis Professor of Greek Culture Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, explains the bond between Alexander and his steed... One day Philoneicus of Thessaly brought Philip a horse named Bucephalas, offering him for sale. They went down to the plain to look at him and found him to be apparently unmanageable. He allowed no one to mount him, refused to obey the commands of Philip’s grooms, and reared up against anyone who approached him. Philip was angry at being offered an unbroken and vicious animal and told Philoneicus to take him away. The young Alexander the Great exclaimed “What a horse they are losing! And just because they lack the knowledge or courage to handle him”. Philip at first kept silent, but, impressed by the distress of Alexander’s repeated exclamations, he asked him: “Do you think you know more than your elders? Do you criticise them because you believe you can manage horses better?” “Yes”, replied Alexander. “At least I can manage this one better”. “And if you cannot”, said his father, “what price are you prepared to pay for your insolence?” “The price of the horse”, replied the boy. How did Alexander the Great die? Also, where is Alexander the Great buried, and has his tomb actually been found? Professor Paul Cartledge gives his view… Amid general laughter father and son settled the terms of the bet, and Alexander ran over to Bucephalas, grasped his reins and turned him towards the sun. For he had noticed that the horse was panicked by the sight of his own shadow ... When he saw that the horse was over his fears and eager for a gallop, Alexander urged him forward, controlling him wit…

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How to build a democracy (Athenian-style)
type: item
date: 2020-08-12T02:30:00.000Z
creator: Professor Paul Cartledge
subject: Ancient Greece
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: Two-and-a-half millennia ago, the citizens of Athens pioneered a form of government that inspired many of today’s political systems. Paul Cartledge offers eight tips for those wishing to emulate one of history’s purest forms of people-power
encoded: Select your site The mighty Acropolis provided the firmest of foundations for Athenian people-power “Democracy,” as Winston Churchill famously observed, “is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried.” And if any city can lay claim to being the cradle of this ‘least imperfect’ method of ordering society, then it is surely Athens. The Greek capital is, after all, where a form of democracy worthy of the name was first invented, where it was taken furthest, and where it lasted longest in the ancient world. And that democracy was very much the product of Athens’ location. Two-and-a-half millennia ago, Athens was the largest town in a region known as Attica, a pocket of south-east Greece that was roughly the size of modern-day Luxembourg. Attica was blessed with two extraordinary natural resources: silver-bearing lead deposits (a “treasure of the earth”, as the playwright Aeschylus called them) and good harbours. How democratic was ancient Greek democracy, really? But towering over all those – literally as well as metaphorically – was the sacred Acropolis or ‘High-City’, bang dead centre in the main town of Athens. If you’re going to build a democracy, build it on and around such a mighty rock. The needs of defence as well as sanctity and religious worship were well served at this 150-metre-high citadel. Alongside, and within eyeshot, was the Pnyx Hill. This was where the democratic Assembly met, in the open air, in almost all weathers (rain and snow did stop play), and where statesmen such as Pericles and Demosthenes addressed the masses. But the Pnyx was not the Athenians’ original place of civic assembly: that was the Agora at the foot of the Acropolis, a place of private commerce and public politics. Here was where the offices of all the city’s main officials were located, but also where you could buy perfume – or a slave. And, finally, into the slopes of the Acropolis was built the Theatre of Dionysus, a political as well as a…

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Ancient Greece: everything you wanted to know
type: item
date: 2020-08-02T11:15:44.000Z
creator: Professor Paul Cartledge
subject: Ancient Greece
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Everything you wanted to know about history (podcast series)
description: Paul Cartledge responds to listener queries and popular search enquiries about one of the most renowned and influential ancient civilisations.
encoded: In the latest of our series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, ancient historian Paul Cartledge responds to listener queries and popular search enquiries about one of the most renowned and influential ancient civilisations. The discussion is split over two episodes and you can listen to both below Listen to more episodes in our ‘Everything you wanted to know’ podcast series Where is Alexander the Great buried? And other questions about his death… Part 1 Part 2

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Alternate history: what if Alexander the Great had lived longer?
type: item
date: 2020-04-24T15:48:25.000Z
creator: Professor Paul Cartledge
subject: Ancient Greece
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: Alexander the Great created one of the most expansive empires the world has ever seen – only for it to crumble in the aftermath of his early death at the age of 32. But if he had lived, would he have carried on conquering? Jonny Wilkes talks to Prof Paul Cartledge about whether an older Alexander the Great could have formed an even bigger empire or grown even more impressive reputation
encoded: Each month BBC History Revealed asks a historical expert for their take on what might have happened if a key moment in the past had turned out differently. This time, Jonny Wilkes asks Paul Cartledge what if… Alexander the Great had not died so young? Few rulers throughout history, if any, can compare to Alexander the Great in terms of his military mind, warrior leadership and campaign of conquest. The King of Macedon built an empire that stretched from Greece and Egypt to the Indian subcontinent, and forever changed the ancient world by ushering in a new Hellenistic epoch of Greek culture and influence. And all by the time of his death at the age of just 32, which causes one to wonder what Alexander could have done if he had kept going or lived longer. Alexander reached as far as the Punjab (modern-day Pakistan and northwestern India) less than a decade after launching a brutally successful invasion of the Persian Empire in 334 BC. There, his army, which had not once tasted defeat, faced its sternest test against the well-armed men and war elephants of King Porus of the Indian kingdom of Paurava. They won the Battle of the Hydaspes at a cost – including a personal one for Alexander as he lost his beloved horse, Bucephalas – but he chose to march on. Read more: Where is Alexander the Great's tomb? “Alexander had the impression that he was within striking distance of ‘Ocean’, the great river imagined as encircling the ‘oikoumene’, or inhabited cosmos,” says Paul Cartledge, Emeritus A G Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge. “His teacher as a boy, Aristotle, had failed to tell him about China as he didn’t know himself.” Had Alexander pushed on eastwards, he would have come up against the Chinese in their ‘Warring States Period’ and so quickly met the powerful Qin State, which a century later would unify all China. Yet it was unlikely that he would have reached China anyway, says Cartledge. After years of campaigning in unknown lands far fr…

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