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

[@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.

[@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…”

[@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

[@Skeletors_Closet]

When you’re passionate about a subject, you just talk about what you love. It’s awesome listening to someone that really loves what they do.

[@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.

[@aragorn1780]

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

[@michaelmcilrath9466]

Love this little bit of sardonic cynicism.

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@peterward5538]

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

[@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....."

[@raphaelandrews3617]

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

[@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.

[@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.....

[@danielleboyd3070]

Such a wonderful presentation! Thank you.

[@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!

[@whtalt92]

@@pbrown0829 I think you could safely make the argument that the former WP countries like Bulgaria, Romania and to a lesser extent Hungary certainly went completely the other way in the early 1990s once they rejected the old Communist rulers (see Cornel Ban, Ruling Ideas, 2016) Now, whether that abrupt swing into the neoliberalism trend at that time led to acceptable circumstances for the larger part of the population is another discussion.

[@FIRSTKAPOKMAN]

Great lecturer and an excellent lecture. Much obliged.

[@JohnnyBlaze5100]

Excellent Lecture, thank you very much indeed!

[@coreyjblakey]

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

[@johnboro64]

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

[@branislavtrninic4505]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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?

[@johnmesser522]

The Gift of Communication... great presentation..

[@The30Free]

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

[@jimmcgettigan4826]

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

[@christopherbowen2547]

Academic roundabout ultimately adding not much to our understanding of Sparta. ‘Then we’ll fight in the dark’ is the best quote he didn’t mention.

[@zodinthara7925]

Wasnt it '.. in the shade'?

[@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl]

That is a myth

[@Laocoon283]

It's literally ancient history why would you be expecting some kind of new take on it? Lol

[@AlexandrosPanagio]

In the shade - DIENIKES

[@peterpadazopoulos2954]

Enjoyed your lecture

[@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.

[@JimiHendrix998]

Great lecture. Thank you.

[@segurosincero4057]

Splendid talk. Nicely done.

[@WildBillCox13]

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

[@mauriciopalacio6713]

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

[@ch355_]

an interesting talk. also a masterclass in digressions.

[@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

[@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.

[@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. :)

[@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.

[@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. 💕🐝

[@petrapetrakoliou8979]

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

[@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.

[@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 💩

[@righteousred723]

8:05 rent free

[@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.

[@ioannisfugazi6952]

This was an absolute joy. Very gifted speaker and I look forward to reading some of his work. Thank you for this upload☺

[@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.

[@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.

[@Erkynar]

Great talk. Thank you!

[@TheOrigamiPeople]

Thank you.

[@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

[@kangaxx4396]

Who is that Rasha he keeps talking about?

[@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.

[@klausbrinck2137]

4:19 There is a big mistake: Sparta was more democratic for hundreds of years compared to Athens, and while Athenians took the power away from the elites, every single Spartan WAS the elite, and the rest were the non-Spartans. It was a more static, controlled and slower progressing form of democracy, as a result of responsibility against the rest of society, negating the principle of progress at all cost, like the Athenians did. Athenians, on the other side, became so successfull in such a short time, that they couldn´t trust their eyes and turned megalomaniac, and as a result, turned imperialistic (as the USA did, even without a worthy culture backing their megalomania, but instead just an economical success based on slavery) ! It´s the same principle as to why the effectiveness of new drugs is strictly controlled by the state before getting the permission to be launched in the market. Well guess, Spartans thought that a messed-up political system can be as toxic for society as not-tested-drugs, and they were right! They were keen to experimenting and bringing progress, but not at all cost.

[@charlesfenwick6554]

The Spartiates were a small elite compared to the rest of the population whom they dominated.

[@bigalsnow8199]

Sparta had 2 kings. Democracy is anti kings.

[@klausbrinck2137]

@@bigalsnow8199 Well Sparta had it´s own kind of democracy, and having 2 kings isn´t a monarchy anymore, also, if you aren´t the single king, you aren´t a king at all, one can say... But I bet you are an expert in politics, so, i give up...

[@bigalsnow8199]

@@klausbrinck2137 I'm no expert. I only know that every book that I ever read on the subject of Sparta ( and I have read many) referred referred to Sparta as a oligarchy.

[@klausbrinck2137]

@@bigalsnow8199 But they still had a popular vote. The 2 "kings" votes had simply much more weight. The kings could be exiled. If u are an oligarch, and share the power with just few, none can exile you, still, it was possible and done in Sparta. The spartan democracy was a dead-end, and would never reach the levels of the athenian democracy, it´s true. But it was far less an aligarchy than in the US today, for example, where the oligarchs have actual, real power, which couldn´t be possible in a real democracy, neither was possible in Sparta (even if Sparta wasn´t a democracy, or, at least, all efforts wouldn´t lead to democracy after all, in opposition to the athenian case). The Spartans were choosing 2 wise men for their politics and molitary, and family-bounds, contacts, freindships, corruption and so on, were taking care, that not always the really wisest persons were chosen. But after they were chosen, they couldn´t get discarded as easy as in a real democracy, even if it was still easier than to silence the influence of an US-oligarch today. I Greece, there were all levels of democracy present, simultaneously. From kingdoms with almost no democracy at all (Makedonia), to Athens, with pure democracy. Sparta was surely in between. Alex the Great´s father was a normal king, like the ones in Europe later. Alex was it too, and except of it, he was the king of all the known world, and not o small greek province. Still, when (in India) his non-Makedonian soldiers said, that they are tired of conquering, and want to leave and get back home, he had to let them go, because he knew, that he cannot push around soldiers descending from ex-democratic city-states (that they were before his father has conquered them, and has abolished democracy). Alex was the single most powerfull human ever, still he had to respect those, who knew what democracy means, and the posibilities for mutiny that that brings along with it.

[@jtveg]

Thanks for sharing. 😉👌🏼

[@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.

[@themysteryofbluebirdboulevard]

The soviet intro is kinda off. Calling anti communists "extreme capitalists" belies his sympathies and potentially undermines the presentation. Someone with that kind of black and white thinking may be more opinionated than factual.

[@rogerlynch5279]

0:50 That is right It is also why the reasons for the Peleponaian War had been so much anayst by Historians to find ways to defuse the threat of an Antomic Bomb attack in the Cold War.

[@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.

[@bigdogpete43]

The demand and the answer will always be the same.

[@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.

[@MiddleEast-o4f]

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

[@neomagneto84]

Brilliant

[@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

[@stephenlight647]

Excellent and entertaining lecture. Doesn’t really solve the riddle of Sparta, but the Professor probably did not write the thumbnail!

[@Itzbrodey]

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

[@constantindumitrescu593]

A little correction just to clarify those mirages. They are not unreal but quite vary basic facts of optics. The stick in the water appears to be bent at a certain point and that point is on the surface of the water in the glass. That happens because of the refraction of the light beams through which we see the portion imersed in water. Those light beams have to cross a few boundaries of materials with different densities: water, glass and air as oppose to the light beams coming from the unimersed portion of the stick which travel to our eyes only through air. The second mirage is a phenomenon of interference. A light beam can be seen as a line of photons vibrating in random directions in a plane normal to the light beam. At certain angles of incidence, the reflected beams contain only some of the photons, the rest being absorbed by the reflection suface because they vibrated in directions not parallel to the reflection surface. So, there are no mirages here, just optics.

[@rattrayc]

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

[@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!

[@donfox1036]

Can’t help remembering the Merican hero Hoplite Cassidy.

[@zodinthara7925]

Aint it Hopalong Cassidy?

[@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! 😆🤪

[@TheBaronOfBromley]

nice talk

[@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.

[@johnbeardshall2898]

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

[@Laocoon283]

Life of brian still holds up

[@sophrapsune]

Winston Churchill was not hesitant to ally with the Soviets in World War II out of mere prejudice. Prior to Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, the Soviets and Nazis were bedfellows. The Soviets cooperated and celebrated the invasion of Poland. They invaded Finland, Lithuania and Estonia. They stood by and watched France, Belgium and Holland fall to the Nazis while Britain fought for its life. They do not lift a finger, yet when they themselves were invaded they begged for that front to be reopened. So Churchill’s position on the Soviets was based on sound geo-strategic concerns, their duplicity and militant expansionism, not just his own political views. It is a bit ingenuous to not mention the geo-strategic issues.

[@davidgurarie6712]

Prior to 39 Chamberlain and Hitler were bedfellows, scheming to destroy communism

[@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.

[@richardthelionheart5594]

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

[@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.

[@deckiedeckie]

What college is that?......any of the students there can find Sparta on a map?

[@mma4179]

A movie needs to be made about all this.

[@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.

[@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.

[@chrisbricky7331]

Great presentation, thank you for sharing this. Chris

[@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.

[@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. .

[@davidedbrooke9324]

Socrates an Athenian hated democracy as it was so perfidious.

[@joshua3171]

11:20 looks like an Image of Orion the beard on the older man pharaonic

[@joshua3171]

the imanage of the hunter in this case the bow being the rear of the animal??

[@TheEedjit]

1.25x speed is actually better.

[@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.

[@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.

[@morrigambist]

An armed man is a citizen, an unarmed man is a subject.

[@igorjaniga4666]

Periokoi were armed and weren't citizens like the Spartiates. Even helots fought as skirmishers.

[@benquinney2]

Bismarck Richelieu Yamato

[@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.

[@Hugh_Morris]

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

[@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.

[@wernerretief4569]

Most entertaining.

[@RamismTamoid]

Sparta made a decision over time but executed in one day enslaving a part of their own race, HELOTS, by the warrior class; it was a deliberate decision by council; if you have the strength, prowess, members, organization you can enforce by dispersion of the helots the domination of the the Spartan ELite Warrior class.

[@pininfarinarossa8112]

Very funny!❤

[@fotiskosmos3009]

did you look in the mirror?