The Long Shadow of the Ancient Greek World

Immerse yourself in this comprehensive survey of ancient Greece from 750 to 323 B.C. - from the emergence of Greece at the end of the Dark Ages to the final disintegration of Greek autonomy through the Macedonian kings Philip II and Alexander the Great. These 48 riveting lectures delivered by Professor Ian Worthington of the University of Missouri, Columbia tell the story of ancient Greek institutions and the people who molded them during the Archaic and Classical periods.

Concentrating on the city-states of mainland Greece, with a special focus on Athens, Professor Worthington guides through some of history's most hard-fought struggles - from armed conflicts to political and social struggles.

As you explore innovative Athenian approaches to democracy, law, and empire, you discover how these approaches served as the bedrock for ideas and practices that you live with every day. You also encounter a wealth of intriguing links to many of our own contemporary institutions and attitudes about democracy, law, and empire.

By the end of Professor Worthington's final captivating lecture, you discover that there was nothing inevitable about democracy, the Western concept of justice, or any of the other traditions and institutions that now play such central roles in the politics of the modern Western world. The story of how this tentative structure transformed into the firm foundation of our contemporary world is gripping, enlightening, and immensely rewarding.

All Lectures:
1. Three Mainstays of Ancient Greece
2. The 8th-Century Renaissance
3. Politics and Tyranny in Greece
4. The Exercise of Political Power in Athens
5. Dracon of Athens and the Birth of Greek Law
6. Solon of Athens - Social and Economic Reforms
7. Solon, Democracy, and Law
8. From Anarchy to Tyranny in Athens
9. Pisistratus, Tyrant of Athens
10. Tyranny Overthrown - The Sons of Pisistratus
11. Democracy Restored - Cleisthenes of Athens
12. Cleisthenes, the Real Father of Democracy?
13. Sparta, the Odd-Man-Out State in Greece
14. Death or Glory - Spartan Military Education
15. "Come Back Carrying Your Shield or On It"
16. From Sparta to Persia
17. Marathon - End of the First Persian Invasion
18. Thermopylae and the 300 Spartans
19. Greece Triumphs - The End of the Persian Wars
20. From the Archaic to the Classical Period
21. The Delian League - Origins and First Steps
22. From Delian League to Athenian Empire
23. Ephialtes, Founder of Radical Democracy
24. Rhetoric - A New Path to Political Power
25. Democracy and Political Speech - Then and Now
26. The Causes of the Peloponnesian War
27. The War's Early Years and the Great Plague
28. Athenian Successes and a Temporary Peace
29. War Resumes - The Athenian Disaster in Sicily
30. Democracy Fails - Oligarchy in Athens
31. Final Battles - Sparta's Triumph over Athens
32. Why Athens Lost - The Impact on Greece
33. The Household in the Polis
34. Athenian Law and Society
35. Historical Development of the Legal Code
36. The Judicial Machinery of the Legal System
37. Types of Cases, Sycophants, and Pretrial
38. Going to Trial in Ancient Athens
39. Macedonia, North of Mount Olympus
40. Philip II - "Greatest of the Kings of Europe"
41. Philip II and Macedonian Imperialism
42. Greece Conquered - The End of Greek Autonomy
43. Philip's Assassination and Legacy
44. Alexander the Great - Youth, Early Kingship
45. Alexander as General
46. Alexander as King
47. Alexander as Man - and God?
48. Beyond the Classical - The Greeks and Us