The Riddle of Ancient Sparta: Unwrapping an Enigma - Professor Paul Cartledge

Ancient Sparta has been handed down in a tradition radically conflicted and confused by rival political and social ideologies. A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, one might say. This Spartan tradition is still alive and lively today.
This lecture seeks to shed light rather than heat, by assessing just how odd (different, exceptional, peculiar) Sparta really might have been.
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: www.gresham.ac...
Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: gresham.ac.uk/...
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[@Grenadier311]

You don't need to be an extreme capitalist or libertarian to empirically note the deprivation of freedom and agency in Russia or be leery of global implications following the Soviet takeover.

[@jamiescott1080]

Or indeed in countries which operate uncontrolled and unrestricted capitalism.

[@pbrown0829]

@@jamiescott1080can you one that has unrestricted capitalism or had it? You can’t because that has never happened. But the more capitalism you have the better off you are. Unless you think all those people fleeing Cuba and the USSR were misinformed

[@nemojedermann2845]

​@@pbrown0829 At least they were able to flee. That privilege was not extended to the Native Americans for example!

[@PPanossss]

There are many examples in Iliad ,where the heroes fought on moving chariots , throwing spears and arrows and other ,where the chariots where used as taxis.Mainly to transport a character fast to a duel with a significant enemy

[@bigalsnow8199]

@Hoa Tattis your point?

[@jessesquer4204]

Excellent lecture and presentation. Full of detailed information and yet easy for the audience to follow. Brilliant and I fully enjoyed it.

[@Diwana71]

A great lecture and talk.

[@PetroicaRodinogaster264]

Why everyone laughed when he told the Spartan joke about “if” when they must know it. I am not a student of any of this by any means but even I knew it.

[@gpan62]

Re the chalice painting...it could be a father and son. New evidence has been found of a Spartan father coaching his son in wrestling and accompanying his son to tournaments. This was at a lecture I attended. The lecturer also pointed out that what we know is largely from sparta's rivals. He also mentioned a spartan king born with a clubbed foot. Hmmm infanticide? They must have missed that one.

[@varanid9]

Just what I always thought. I wonder when they stopped practicing infanticide? Perhaps by the end of the "Peloponnesian War"?

[@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl]

@@varanid9 you do realize that even Aristotle called for infanticide

[@varanid9]

@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl but was it still a regular practice by then?

[@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl]

@@varanid9 yes it did happen how much we are not sure

[@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl]

@@varanid9 what people did not want to know is that Aristotle was a terrible person even by standards of that time

[@HandmadeDarcy]

Who were the two who survived Thermopylae? Surely we have some idea, no? Thoroughly enjoying the Gresham channel and the rabbit-holes it sets me down! 😆🤪

[@StirlingVoid]

The riddle of Sparta 🤔 Old men with young boy's🤔 Women treated as breeding objects🤔 Children deemed as defective thrown from cliff's🤔 Yep, let's all admire them? Spartans should be a historical reminder of exactly what humanity shouldn't be .

[@fincorrigan7139]

Plus 12 slaves per male citizen to maintain their fascism. The majority of their slaves being their neighbouring Greeks.....

[@stephenlight647]

And yet they stood and slowed the tide of Persian Conquest. It takes all kinds and your application of modern standards to the last is typical of our very smart and highly moral age. We are today the best their ever was..,

[@fincorrigan7139]

@@stephenlight647 Think of it as an observation rather than any moral judgement...to my mind contemporary society lionises the Spartans to an unsubstantiated degree of excess.. It took Athens, Corinth and a further 20 or so Greek city states to defeat the Persians - Thermopylae is but a sound-bite, the real story is united we stand, divided we fall.

[@casteretpollux]

@@stephenlight647 on what basis do you assume that a Persian win would not have had a better outcome?

[@stephenlight647]

@@casteretpollux On the basis that I am Greek! 😂

[@kevinbray3529]

the real spartans were small in build with broad shoulders and slim what sets them apart is they had almost incredible powers of endurance

[@alexharris8500]

Bull

[@rajkomilosevichguera4547]

Really bad communicator. So many overtones in his speech, seems like he wants one to constantly lose thread. Almost ridiculous. Pity, looks like research & material are really worthwhile. But, ts such a slimy way of talking: outta here.

[@pickle2636]

all speech has overtones, that creates the timbre, it seems you just don't like his accent

[@rajkomilosevichguera4547]

@@pickle2636 Accent more-less really, but constant "ornamenting" around any phrase, totally distracting; seems like he thinks more about those instead of the necessary flow. Doesn't let one conclude the info just received. I have the feel he wants to remarry, so his main goal is to charm determinate type of a woman. Jokes aside, to my ear (mind?) - pretty bad communicator.

[@gullybull5568]

The Map From LEVI......... what a sham.

[@jeffbecnel139]

Perfidious Albion continually denigrates its rebellious child across the pond. Pathetic.

[@dewayneweaver5782]

Second Amendment A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a FREE STATE, the right of THE PEOPLE to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.

[@lorrainemoynehan6791]

seriously mate? these guys were fascists

[@3LGAutodetail]

Yep he sort of pick And chose what words and phrases he would use from the second ammendment.

[@bigalsnow8199]

" Come and get them"

[@aaronthompson192]

@@lorrainemoynehan6791 And yet fascists/authoritarians confiscate private arms when they come to power.

[@zodinthara7925]

India is a free state, the largest democracy.we dont need private arms nor militia.

[@RAndrewKReed]

Astounding how a highly informed historian, steeped in endless saga of human depredation on the weak, still feels the need ignorantly to disparage American's adherence to the 2nd amendment. Yes...this guy is a wimpy intellectual, (his words) and moreover a fool.

[@kilowhiskeyalpha6078]

When words and reason fail all that is left is the might of the people to redress the imbalance.

[@Rog5446]

I am a consumate youtube surfer, always on the lookout for educational improvement. Sometimes I get lucky and find something that is not just educational, but thoroughly entertaining, but sadly my searches are mostly fruitless. I'm happy to say that this was well worth sifting through the chaff to get to the wheat with the additional bonus of being highly entertaining.

[@mrdeurknopp]

Listen to the In Our Time podcast by BBC, he's a regular speaker whenever they talk about the Ancient Greeks

[@hmax1591]

Well spoken. I agree. How appropriated your comment a year ago and is still more true today during the pandemic.

[@jgunther3398]

he makes three gratuitous political digs at the u.s. in the first half hour. he's leftist first, and historian second. it's like an engineer ignoring what he knows and saying i'll just attach this thing here and that thing over there...

[@GabrielSoares-ju9yq]

@@jgunther3398 by your comment i assume you enjoyed the lecture.

[@TheHalflingLad]

@@jgunther3398 He's just throwing semi-relevant jokes into his lecture to retain the attention of his audience. Completely standard for teachers and public speakers. His jokes aren't counterfactual, either. Maybe a little mean, but so what? Doesn't devalue the research, regardless of someone's bruised feelings.

[@99IronDuke]

Churchill had taken that phrase from Lord Palmerston who used it in connection with the Schleswig Holstein, then part of Denmark.

[@2adamast]

While he took the Gulags to the empire

[@pininfarinarossa8112]

Wow! I live in Schleswig Holstein-no riddle, no mystery, no enigma so far!

[@natmanprime4295]

Fancy meeting you here! Lol

[@pininfarinarossa8112]

@@natmanprime4295 🤯 what do you mean? Do U live in Schleswig Holstein/ Germany as well?

[@natmanprime4295]

@@pininfarinarossa8112 no I was talking to Duke

[@jimmypellas5937]

Excellent presentation from someone who seems passionate about Ancient Greece and also knowledgeable on Modern Greece

[@stevendern2543]

I was told I was Laconic once. I took it as a compliment. Teacher said it wasn't a compliment. It was.

[@SuperMookles]

You're talking too much.

[@stevendern2543]

.......agreed.

[@Apple_Teck]

“If…”

[@aragorn1780]

"I went to Oxford for my doctorate... We all make mistakes!" I died 😂😂😂😂

[@michaelmcilrath9466]

Love this little bit of sardonic cynicism.

[@RublixCom]

Spare your time--No enigma is unwrapped in this lecture. Should be called 'Sparta for dummies'. The most basic facts are given, like the geographical description of Sparta, or the Greek custom of mixing wine with water, or Athena being born from Zeus' head... An hour's lecture from a professor... Jeez.

[@fotiskosmos3009]

Go back up the trees ... like your ancestors.

[@FIRSTKAPOKMAN]

Great lecturer and an excellent lecture. Much obliged.

[@stephensinclair3771]

Can't remember the name of the historian but he wrote something which I have always found very interesting in regards to the Spartans (words to this effect) "....I can't SEE these people. I can read ancient Greek and I've read all the sources. But. I can't visualise, can't imagine these people. I envisage a cross between various people's....."

[@flashcar60]

My favorite Spartan exclamation at Thermopylae is this. Upon hearing Xerxes's boast that his archers would make the sky dark with arrows, Leonidas responded: "We'll fight in the dark then."

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

Sam Samuels - “...in the shade...”.

[@flashcar60]

@@dorianphilotheates3769 Oh yeah; looks like I had a brain-freeze. Thanks

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

Sam Samuels - 🙂

[@bigalsnow8199]

Same thing guys. Lighten up.

[@AlexandrosPanagio]

Actually it was DIENIEKES

[@chrisball3778]

I've seen the shield at 51:46 in the Agora museum in Athens. Rather than one of the captives, I like to imagine its the shield of Brasidas, a Spartan general, who according to Thucydides, dropped his shield when he fell, severely wounded during the battle. He was carried back to a ship, recovered and went on to have a ridiculously storied military career during the Peloponnesian War, roving around the place liberating cities that had been conquered by the Athenians. There's no actual evidence it's his shield, but it's not completely impossible, so it's a fun daydream.

[@asatru_8888]

You’ve played too much AC odyssey

[@chrisgrech7992]

That shield belonged to Perioikoi not a spartiate therefore could not be of Brasidas.

[@amazinggrace5692]

I’m the benefit of your free educational lectures and how lucky I am. But no one benefits from watching the speaker when a slide is up, especially if the speaker is pointing to something. My eyes are no young and even on full screen I cannot read the names on a map if the screen shows half with speaker in it. I’m sure this speaker notably would. Ot care to have his image shown if his material cannot fully be appreciated because the slide image is so small. I beg all the academic institutions (and art galleries, etc) who offer these wonderful lectures to p,ease have the camera show the slide full screen, even if only when the lecturer is referring or pointing to it. Please! Thanks. 💕🐝

[@MiddleEast-o4f]

Εφιάλτης-Efialtis in Greek word have also other meaning... nightmare !

[@The30Free]

Molon labe the most gangster responses in history 🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷 long live greece ✊🏼

[@branislavtrninic4505]

Was that all over the shop or it's only me?

[@righteousred723]

8:05 rent free

[@georgenorris2657]

He hardly referred to notes. This guy really knows his stuff. Such was his delivery that I could happily have listened to him all evening!

[@georgenorris2657]

@Hoa Tattis Yes but difficult in a lecture hall.

[@joek600]

@Hoa Tattis lets not hold against Paul Cartledge the fact that he is not a milf

[@johnmclean8167]

I got through 30 minutes of this posh windbaggery and didn't learn anything I didn't know from my grade 12 history class 25 years ago. This "chap" could learn a bit from laconic speech

[@gregorysmith2379]

It may be that you are more interested in class warfare. I can't say that I blame you. You could just try to improve your accent.

[@jimmcgettigan4826]

I thoroughly enjoyed this presentation interlaced with the rare dry humor.

[@peterward5538]

What a brilliant man, excellent video. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[@BEMEiTY]

You are wrong, if you blatantly murdered an Afghani as a Soldier in the US military you would be tried and sent to jail, I assure you. However if you are a president and drone strike Afghanis, you’re apparently exempt to the law. For an intellectual there’s twice in this lecture you have not known what you were speaking about.

[@elizabethjohnson7677]

Well, I should try to say something erudite, but guess I shall reveal my true female/helot nature: "Awesome, Dude!"

[@rtk5891]

Hey Elizabeth Johnson, don't sell yourself short, please say something erudite. This is the age of the Woman after all.

[@donfox1036]

Elizabeth Johnson, better a helotbthan a hellraiser.

[@donfox1036]

Of course as the speaker mentioned, at least at one point in time, even the helots became hellraisers.

[@katherineprongos3929]

My family derives from actual helots, so tread lightly please!

[@elizabethjohnson7677]

RTK 58 just being silly.

[@cristianespinal9917]

Nice presentation. A lot of basic info I'd heard before, but the bits on the geography of the southern Peloponnese, boar hunting excusing a Spartan from the mess, and on Menelaus' palace were new to me and very interesting.

[@tommacdonald6295]

77⁷⁹>⁰

[@75dobs]

@@tommacdonald6295 Can you explain? Please.....

[@chel3SEY]

Obviously a very knowledgeable man, but too cocky and up-his-own-backside for my taste.

[@petrapetrakoliou8979]

Following a reexcavation of the mound of Vix it is now dated to the La Tène period, slightly after the Hallstatt.

[@LivingLaconian]

Enlightening presentation. I have a lot of respect for Professor Cartledge, but he doesn’t seem to understand that without the individual’s right to bear arms we wouldn’t have had the minutemen militias necessary to send the British back across the pond

[@uncatila]

I went to the little Museum in Charillon Sur Sein. I was told that it was a copy. Wow. I didn't know it was greek.

[@sudhirchopde3334]

Are you talkin about Sparta Or Imperial Russia. What did the English colonist do,that they never teach in schools and colleges!Shame Mr Churchill,!

[@madeinengland1212]

“Sensitive, wimpish, western, intellectual“. He said it. I like him but he is studying the most militaristic culture in the ancient world at least have some identification with the subject. .

[@Kobayashhi]

Boring tone. Get to the point man!

[@myparceltape1169]

Scottish roads have produced lakes of imaginary water. You prove it by listening to the engine note. Slightly off load going into it and on load again coming up but no water sound.

[@maxb4074]

Can't bear arms if convicted of a felony or certain domestic violence misdemeanors, or under court order for certain mental illnesses. Must pass a background check, have a waiting period, obtain a gun license, usually must pass a safety course, and many other restrictions exist for firearm possession in the USA. I don't like guns either, but please research the US system before commenting about it.

[@aaronwilkinson8963]

The truth is. It's probably easier to get a gun on the streets illegally than it is to obtain a gun legally.

[@ProffyChaos]

But given the loopholes in many states, the lack of enforcement and widespread availablity of weapons do not render the point made incorrect.

[@kennethlauer4735]

When a Brit who doesn't have freedom of speech comments on America's 2nd amendment 😂👌

[@WildBillCox13]

An enjoyable lecture. More on the Helots will be interesting.

[@c.a.willie434]

As a historian it might interest you to know that at the time of the writing of the US constitution, all men were considered members of the militia. The idea of a militia being a specific group was not codified in the US until 1903. Thus at the time of writing, the distinction of being an official member of a militia was irrelevant, making the right to private ownership of arms universal among all American households. US laws are not allowed to curtail rights granted by the constitution without formal amendment, thus the militia act of 1903 has no effect in the universality of the right, even if congress formally changed the definition of militia.

[@julianmarsh1378]

All men were not considered members of the militia; they were potentially part of the militia...at any rate, we no longer have state sponsored or community sponsored militias; we have a national guard. There was an effort by Congress during the administration of John Adams, to establish a law that all males between a certain age had to own a firearm...which John Adams endorsed...but though passed it was never enforced.

[@egilskallagrimsson2941]

They still are, and it might be helpful for this guy to learn what a clause is.

[@nathanroberson]

Thank you. I grew up in East Lansing Mi. Home of Michigan State University their mascot is the Spartans.

[@relefunt]

Little known fact: Dr Cartledge’s father sculpted the famous ceramic “Sparty” statue on the campus of Michigan State.

[@raphaelandrews3617]

thank you to prof Paul Cartledge for a great presentation about Spartan history..

[@gurglejug627]

Another example of a professor/well educated person talking nonsense due to lack of actual experience. Wild boars are hunted Europe wide, and traditionally in various ways, often to provide 'sport' with associated risk, but for meat hunting it is (was) mainly with traps, or with a bow. One clean shot to the heart and the animal will be down in seconds and not pose a danger, and this is done with the hunter's skill in getting close to the animal in order to get a short range (and thus more definite) shot in, usually, and sometimes with dogs to distract the animal, strategically or tactically.

[@coreyjblakey]

This the most AI sounding title I have ever seen that is 100% not AI, well done, love the channel

[@danalaniz7314]

Thank you so much. I've read a lot about the Peloponnesian War but I learned so much from this excellent presentation!

[@gatesofhades534]

Read the sources: Plutarch, Herodotus, Xenophon.

[@richardthelionheart5594]

Are you sure that isn't Trojan headgear ??? Some alleged "university" "U"SC seems convinced that is Trojan headgear.

[@rattrayc]

TIL the leonidas statue is amish. the war on mustaches goes back 2500 years

[@TheEedjit]

1.25x speed is actually better.

[@urielseuthes7484]

translating helots with slavesis very poor and.... agglosaxonic.

[@talisikid1618]

They weren’t quasi slaves. They were slaves. Sparta was a bad place.

[@Garapetsa]

I think he's full of BS. As a pontic greek, he has no idea.

[@fotiskosmos3009]

Please don't cry out loud we want to learn.... you can stay dumb or keep milking goats or if you want to be modern man go to school.

[@fotiskosmos3009]

Jealousy and envy is our pride, what you don't have...a recognized, perfectly studied professor has no idea but a goat herder has a clue hahahaha

[@sharonwilson4411]

HOFSCHROER SAGA PETER GULAG AUSTRIA GRANDMA b ❤RIP GODBLESS

[@illuminatisos]

Women in Sparta had more freedoms then the women in Anthens. This is a fact. Women were treated terribly in Anthens.

[@bilbildautaj5418]

illuminatisos It's because Spartans were illyrians.Women enjoyed freedom in illyrian tribes as well as among etruscans.Some ancient greek and roman authors considered illyrian and etruscan women as too libertine and imoral.

[@TheLacedaemonian]

@@bilbildautaj5418 And they were albanians too (facepalm)

[@bilbildautaj5418]

Lacedemon Maybe!Half of greek people is made of albanians,1/3 of vllahs and the rest of slavs,turks and a few others.What ethnicity do you belong?

[@charlesfenwick6554]

@@bilbildautaj5418 Fact, the Dorians were not Illyrian.

[@Garapetsa]

That is true.

[@michellaboureur7651]

Anecdotically interesting, doesn’t measure up to its title however. Looks like it was tailor-made for the american lecture circuit. Talking of dispersion (diaspora)… But it doesn’t detract from the speaker’s talent and competence.

[@georgekosko5124]

I mean, what he said about the ancient Greek diaspora is correct. There were however some other small mistakes which I didn't expect a professor to make

[@parsnip82]

My sentiment exactly!

[@kaarlimakela3413]

I enjoy the academic value in the Gresham presentations ... and just as great to me is the very good strong volume, enough to overcome the most annoying weakness of this decade old laptop. :)

[@ch355_]

an interesting talk. also a masterclass in digressions.

[@tribequest9]

Ugh, his speech pattern is unbearable.

[@terencemagee]

Great lecture, lively and explained well. The Spartans inspired me to write a story ´Spartan School´of many episodes some years ago for a girls´comic ´Tammy´and it was very popular. The Spartans have always fascinated us.

[@greg0879]

I wouldn’t put too much stock in what Cartledge says. In another lecture he makes the disastrous error of claiming Athens lost the battles of Pylos/Sphacteria to the Spartans. At the risk of sounding ageist, at some point these old scholars need to exit the lecture circuit while they still have the mental capacity to get the basic facts correct. It’s saddening to see scholars beclown themselves at the twilight of their careers.

[@danielleboyd3070]

Such a wonderful presentation! Thank you.

[@benquinney2]

Bismarck Richelieu Yamato

[@donfox1036]

Can’t help remembering the Merican hero Hoplite Cassidy.

[@zodinthara7925]

Aint it Hopalong Cassidy?

[@kilowhiskeyalpha6078]

The tuna appearing on the funerary urn relates to the speed with which they are renowned this characteristic representing the hunters superior ability, the bird also depicting agility.Oversized male genitalia symbolises virility, that capability to Foster and propogate an enduring genetic line.

[@eleonoraformatoneeszczepan8807]

Voice, sounds similar to ...

[@varanid9]

Learned as Professor Cartledge is, I think he needs to actually research the 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in depth before making such an erroneous statement. There is plenty of writings by the "Founding Fathers" that put it in context, which has been used by the Supreme Court to repeatedly uphold it as an INDIVIDUAL right.

[@julianmarsh1378]

The Supreme Court says a lot of things and sometimes gets things wrong. Read the 2nd Amendment--the first part--instead of just skipping down to the last, perhaps to you, more satisfactory part.

[@BloodSoilandSoul]

@@julianmarsh1378 come and take it.

[@julianmarsh1378]

@@BloodSoilandSoul You snowflakes talk so tough...at a distance. 'Come and take it'...how old are you? 12? Shooting at a man, you'd miss.

[@johnstuart7244]

Lighten up

[@BloodSoilandSoul]

@@julianmarsh1378 molon labe. I'll be waiting.

[@ktom5262]

Rambling and chaotic.

[@lewisticknor]

High velocity rifles....LOL...not sure if that is a boar either, but anyway

[@theoveskoukis466]

The word nightmare in modern Greek is "efialtis" (ΕΦΙΑΛΤΗΣ) which is the name of the man who betrayed Leonidas and his 300 men in Thermopylae. His treason was never forgotten

[@AbuHajarAlBugatti]

They were dumb anyway leaving a entire pass unguarded that scouts wouldve found anyway sooner or later

[@joek600]

@@AbuHajarAlBugatti it was guarded by the Phoceans, they were forced to retreat onto a hill when they faced the much larger persian force. But the persians ignored them and bypassed them. You had google with a gazillion sources at your fingertips, before making this comment. Now who is dumb?

[@AbuHajarAlBugatti]

@@joek600 No defense = unguarded. But yes, keep playing smartass. While you at it tell me a recent example of how the ANA "defended" kabul

[@AJZulu]

Remember his name. Remember his shame shall be remembered forever.

[@garyoak317]

@@AbuHajarAlBugatti Quiet 💩

[@peterpadazopoulos2954]

Enjoyed your lecture

[@kevinbray3529]

he is talking rubbish

[@fusion451]

How did Greek Simonides poems Rhyme in English ie "Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie."?

[@joek600]

Actually in ancient Greek it does not rhyme, but the translation is accurate, its a happy accident.

[@Hugh_Morris]

I might be chattin nonsense but this guy speaks like an English Werner Herzog

[@fotiskosmos3009]

Oreos o Professor-os

[@andrebarbosa224]

what a tortured analogy between the soviet experiment and ancient Sparta

[@Laocoon283]

It's funny cause I recently starting watching some videos on Sparta and the thing I kept thinking of was man this really reminds me of 1984

[@bigdogpete43]

The demand and the answer will always be the same.

[@mauriciopalacio6713]

I didn’t think 🤔 I would sit through the entire lecture... But I did, very interesting. Thanks.

[@williamneumyer7147]

I very much enjoyed Professor Cartledge's lecture on this always fascinating topic. And, indeed, very many of us in the United States feel that an armed citizenry as a counterweight to political tyranny has not lost its relevance.

[@Erkynar]

Great talk. Thank you!

[@TheBaronOfBromley]

nice talk

[@doriangrayapologist]

my counselor: where do you see yourself in ten years’ time? me: a wimpy, liberal intellectual

[@taylorbullard2118]

There's worse things to be....a Maga dipstick for example.

[@johnbeardshall2898]

Every time I see a English documentary I can't help but thinking of montypython

[@Laocoon283]

Life of brian still holds up

[@jhart7304]

lol

[@alexp.2897]

Would be interesting to hear a lecture on the class system in present day England. From what I read on the matter, elite universities in UK, are deliberately built in poor regions; so that the upcoming elite class feel like it as well as they react to their surroundings. And the surroundings are usually poor underclass working people who have zero chance to enter those elite schools.

[@davidedbrooke9324]

Socrates an Athenian hated democracy as it was so perfidious.

[@JohnnyBlaze5100]

Excellent Lecture, thank you very much indeed!

[@johnboro64]

Without any real knowledge, I’m fascinated by your talk, your voice makes whatever you say interesting and I thank you.

[@archonpanagiotis6158]

You can see in youtube: (the exterminator of ancient Sparta).

[@Itzbrodey]

my neck hurt watching his neck sit like that for so long

[@mesolithicman164]

In the uk 'fellow travellers' either didn't know or didn't want to know what was really going on in Soviet Russia. It's funny, people living in a free society admiring a restrictive police state. So much is taken for granted by these people, freedom of speech, in Russia an ill judged comment could get you sent to prison or executed. There was always the hope that Communists could get the British working class to revolt, but as we've seen time and again the working classes are a lot less gullible than middle class dreamers. As a result Communist strategists shifted their point of attack to Cultural Marxism which has once more captured all the middle class bastions, these naive people really are a societal nuisance.

[@mattrommel9521]

The type of Englishman who talks in a whiny voice about getting his doctorate at Oxford is absolutely my cup of tea

[@Laocoon283]

Lol i cant not hear karl pilkington when I think of whiny brits

[@lb_reflections]

Ancient Greece is utterly NOT my thing..... ....but I sat through this from start to finish. Interesting!!

[@fotiskosmos3009]

Now you know the truth, what doesn't exist in your country... If it's not your thing, why have you seen it? so it's interesting... your word shows you like it but your ego as a muslim doesn't... never mind... get well soon with the story beautiful greek dreams.