This course addresses three wars fought in antiquity, each of which had—even two thousand years and more later—a decisive effect in shaping our communal sense of who we are, not only in Europe, but throughout the European cultural diaspora, in the Americas, in Oceania, and to some degree, at least, in Asia and Africa as well—wherever, in short, Western values hold. The three wars to be investigated here are (1) the Persian Wars, between a coalition of Greek city-states or “poleis,” most notably Athens and Sparta, and the Achaemenid Persian empire, the central and decisive portion of which took place between 490 and 479 B.C.E.; (2) the later Peloponnesian War between Athens and her allies and Sparta and hers, 431-404 B.C.E.; and finally (3) the three Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage, which stretched, on and off, for well more than a century, from 264 to 146 B.C.E.

Each of these wars helped, in profound and perhaps surprising ways, to shape, even still, our ideals, our identity, and our values. 

Course Syllabus

Lecture 1   The Persian Wars: Greece and Persia, the Opening Rounds

Lecture 2    The Persian Wars: Darius, Miltiades, and the Battle of Marathon

Lecture 3    The Persian Wars: Xerxes, Leonidas and the 300 Spartans, the Battle of Thermopylae

Lecture 4    The Persian Wars: Xerxes, Themistocles, and the Battle of Salamis

Lecture 5    The Persian Wars: Mardonius and the Final Victory of Greece: The Battles of Plataea and Mycale

Lecture 6    The Peloponnesian War: The Outbreak, Pericles, and the Plague

Lecture 7    The Peloponnesian War: Melos and Mytilene, Athens Overreaches

Lecture 8    The Peloponnesian War: Alcibiades, Nicias, and Syracuse; Sparta Sends a General

Lecture 9    The Peloponnesian War: Arginousai, Aegospotomoi, Lysander and the Bitter End

Lecture 10   The Punic Wars: Rome and Carthage, the First Punic War

Lecture 11   The Punic Wars: The Second Punic War, Hannibal Crosses the Alps, Lake Trasimene

Lecture 12   The Punic Wars: Carthage Triumphant, the Battle of Cannae, Fabius Maximus—Cunctator

Lecture 13   The Punic Wars: Rome Wins at Last, Scipio Africanus and Zama

Lecture 14   The Punic Wars: “Cartago Delinda Est,” the Third Punic War 

Course Book Included as well