Find me a single person who is not immune to a good mystery! The thrill of the unknown, the tension and suspense, the allure of a good noggin joggin’ challenge.... We all love the sense of discovery...

But what about mysteries that can not be solved? Do they satisfy us the same way?

When it comes to the mysterious death of the famed conqueror of the ancient world, Alexander the Great, the speculation is simply too fantastic to not get drawn into the ancient world of deception, disease, corruption and intrigue. Was it a rare syndrome? A devious murder? Or a common infection?

Read on to contemplate the many potential causes of Alexander’s death... and let me know which one you think is the likely culprit.

Members can enjoy the full article below... but not only that! Each and every month Members get access to our Classical Wisdom Ebook Archives. This month’s feature focuses on our mysterious man of the hour, Alexander the Great.

In fact, you’ll be able to read many of the original texts (as well as helpful commentary) referenced in today’s article... so you can become your own historical sleuth and maybe solve the mystery after all...

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Also, a special thanks to our dear reader who requested this topic! We are here to bring ancient wisdom to modern minds… so if there is a specific subject you wish us to address in these humble pages, please let us know.

All the best,
Anya Leonard

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom

The Mysterious Death of Alexander The Great

by Lydia Serrant, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom

Known for his great achievements throughout life, the death of Alexander the Great is just as famous as the man himself.

Considered as one of the greatest military generals the world had ever seen, Alexander the Great established a vast empire that reached from Egypt to India and the Middle East during his short 13-year rule as King of Macedonia.

But how did he die? Alexander’s demise has been the subject of debate for 2,000 years, with many probable causes having been put forward by professional and novice historians alike.

The Death of Alexander the Great

Alexander The Great died in Babylon 323 BC at the age of 32. By official accounts, Alexander most likely died of typhoid or malaria. Historical accounts report that Alexander experienced chills, fatigue, fever, and other typical symptoms of infectious disease in the days leading up to his death.

However, other theories about his death continue to circulate – most notably death from liver disease, poisoning, and new emerging theories that Alexander died from a natural illness.

We Shall Meet In Babylon

Perhaps the reason why such speculation surrounds Alexander’s death and why many are not satisfied with infectious disease theory is because of the prophecy of Calanus.

Calanus was a Hindu Naga Sadhu who travelled with Alexanders’ entourage from Punjab after Alexanders’ return from (partly) conquering the region in 323 BC – just a few months before the Great Kings’ death. Calanus was 73 years old when he set off with Alexander and the trip severely weakened the Yogi.

Preferring to die by his own hands than be disabled by the journey, Calanus asked Alexander to build him a pyre, on which he would burn himself alive in sacrifice. Alexander reluctantly ordered Ptolemy to build a funerary pyre in the town of Sasa, where they were stationed at the time.

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When we think of the foundations of civilization, our minds often turn to Greece and Rome... after all, this is the time period to which these humble pages are dedicated!

And yet, we also realise that long before Homer sang of Achilles or Plato questioned the nature of reality, another civilization had already shaped the world in ways we still feel today.

In this month’s Podcast with Professors, I speak with Assyriologist Selena Wisnom, Lecturer at the University of Leicester and author of The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World to explore the remarkable history of ancient Mesopotamia...

We discuss the legendary Library of Ashurbanipal, how Mesopotamian scholars preserved thousands of years of knowledge, the enduring lessons of the Epic of Gilgamesh, ancient astronomers, magical texts, and one of history’s greatest ironies: how the destruction of a library helped preserve its knowledge for millennia.

Indeed, it was astonishing to realise that so many things, from the way we tell time to the algorithms that increasingly shape our world, can trace part of their story back to the lands between the Tigris and Euphrates.

Honestly, I was shocked! It was certainly wonderful to learn more about this often times neglected, yet essential, part of history.

Classical Wisdom Members: You have exclusive access to the full video and complete transcript of this conversation below.

If you are not yet a member, now is the perfect time to join and unlock not only this podcast, but our growing library of in-depth articles, interviews, courses, and exclusive content dedicated to bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds.

ALSO: Some of the fantastic resources mentioned in the conversation are:

Selena’s book, The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World, can be purchased here.

Selena’s Website: www.selenawisnom.com

Including a guide to learning cuneiform: https://www.selenawisnom.com/learning-cuneiform

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

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Those who know me know that I am not a fan of winter.

I have sufficiently done my “time” in colder climes after many years in Scotland and Norway, and so it is around this time of year that we usually embark on our annual journey to the Northern Hemisphere. I had happily avoided the frigid discomfort for quite some time... that is, until my Southern Hemisphere-born-and-raised family threatened mutiny.

Apparently they wanted a change. And coats.

And so, here we are, enduring the grey, dreary days one finds at the end of the world at this time of year.

Fortunately, I was granted a brief reprieve from the cold in honor of my birthday. And so it was that last week our little family of three found ourselves in the tropical climate of Asunción, Paraguay.

For those unfamiliar with this landlocked republic in the heart of South America, Paraguay is a fascinating place, one caught between two worlds.

It is in the midst of an economic boom, stimulated in part by its wealthier neighbors, who flock to its malls lured by low tariffs and duty-free shopping. Its relatively open borders welcome digital nomads and passport collectors seeking low taxes and economic refuge. The vast western plains teem with cattle and Mennonite-managed farms, fueling growing trade and renewed prosperity.

As a result, the visitor to this historic city can enjoy elegant boutiques, gourmet restaurants tucked into lush courtyards, and fashionable hotels where Paraguayans and foreigners alike gather for business meetings and evening cocktails.

You can even spot luxury cars gliding through the streets.

And yet, more often than not, those same cars are driving along dirt roads, beneath poorly lit street lamps, and past abandoned lots. Indeed, just as Paraguay’s political borders bear witness to wars both disastrous and triumphant, its historic downtown still carries the scars of poverty and decades of dictatorship.

But what is truly remarkable is that between Paraguay’s tragic yesterday and its hopeful tomorrow, its ancient past remains ever present.

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Paraguay is one of the few countries in the world where an ancient indigenous language remains a major language of everyday life across much of society. It is not confined to museums, classrooms, or ceremonial occasions. It is embedded in modern life. You hear it in conversations on the street, among shopkeepers and waiters, in homes and markets.

It is the echo of an ancient world that never disappeared...it is the language Guaraní.

In fact, recent statistics indicate that more than 70 percent of Paraguay’s population speaks Guaraní, often alongside Spanish. For many Paraguayans, it remains not merely a symbol of heritage but a living language, spoken much as it has been for generations.

And this is truly remarkable... because so many ancient cultures and languages disappeared whether under imperial expansion, demographic collapse, or gradual linguistic evolution.

And yet, after more than two thousand years, Guaraní did not.

Turning for a moment to the ancient world that we explore in these humble pages, the record is mixed. Indeed, most ancient languages have died out, meaning there are no longer native speakers nor living communities that use them in daily life. The list is long and tragic: Sumerian, Akkadian, Etruscan, Gaulish, Gothic, Hittite, and Ancient Egyptian, among many others.

The language of the pharaohs, for instance, gradually evolved into Coptic before eventually disappearing from everyday speech as Arabic spread through Egypt after the seventh century CE. While it survived within the liturgy of the Coptic Orthodox Church, its written forms remained a mystery for centuries until the decipherment of the Rosetta Stone by Jean-François Champollion in 1822.

Latin followed a different path.

Far from disappearing overnight, it remained the language of administration, scholarship, diplomacy, and the Church long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Medieval scholars wrote in Latin, scientists published in Latin, universities taught in Latin...

But while the language survived among elites, ordinary people increasingly spoke local vernaculars that gradually evolved into the Romance languages we know today: Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Romanian.

In this sense, Latin never truly vanished... but it did transform, leaving descendants across the continent while preserving a parallel existence in scholarship and religion.

Greek offers yet another story.

Unlike Latin, Greek maintained an unbroken chain of native speakers from antiquity to the present day.... But continuity should not be confused with permanence, as the language evolved considerably over the centuries. The Greek spoken in Athens today is incredibly different from that of Pericles, Plato, or Sophocles. The vocabulary shifted while grammar simplified and pronunciation changed. Modern Greeks can still trace a direct linguistic lineage to the ancient world, but it is a lineage shaped by centuries of adaptation and transformation.

[As a quick side note I would also like to acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of people such as , whose commitment to the preservation and teaching of Classical Greek is both admirable and inspiring!]

Hebrew presents perhaps the most fascinating case of all.

While it retained immense prestige and cultural importance, it largely ceased to be an everyday spoken language for many Jewish communities after antiquity. Instead, Jewish populations spoke Aramaic, Arabic, Yiddish, Ladino, and other local languages. Yet Hebrew remained alive in prayer, scholarship, and literature.

Then, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it underwent one of the most remarkable linguistic revivals in human history, becoming once again a living vernacular and eventually the dominant spoken language of modern Israel.

Hebrew survived because people never stopped valuing it.... But, back here in Paraguay, Guaraní survived because people never stopped speaking it.

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Which makes us wonder, what preserves a language? Because when one begins compare the histories of these languages, simple explanations quickly begin to unravel.

After all, some languages disappeared despite being backed by powerful states and empires. Others survived centuries of conquest and political marginalization. Some persisted through religious tradition, others through daily use, and still others transformed so dramatically that they became something new altogether.

The more examples one encounters, the harder it becomes to identify a single rule.

What is particularly striking is that history often assumes powerful civilizations endure while weaker ones disappear. Yet the fate of ancient languages does not always seem to follow that pattern. The languages of Babylon, Assyria, and the Etruscans vanished despite the might of their states. Guaraní survived despite conquest and colonization.

Which raises a fascinating question:

Why do some cultures survive while others do not?

What allows a language, a tradition, or an identity to endure across centuries...or even millennia...while others fade into history?

Is it political power? Geography? Religion? Education? Community? Chance?

Or something else entirely?

And what lessons might their stories hold for the cultures and languages of our own age?

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts, dear reader, on this question... Add your two cents in the comments below.

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom

P.S. This month’s Podcast with Professors is with Selena Wisnom, an Assyriologist and Lecturer in Ancient Middle Eastern History at the University of Leicester, and author of The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World.

We discuss the rich (& surprising!) history we have received from Mesopotamia, the incredible ways in which texts have been preserved and the continued relevance of the Epic of Gilgamesh…

If you aren’t a member already, make sure to subscribe to access this Podcast, coming out on Wednesday:

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In fact, Classical Wisdom is enjoyed and appreciated by ancient history lovers around the world… Currently we are read across all 50 states and in 202 countries, including Paraguay!

Join our growing community and be part of our mission to preserve Classical Wisdom, including ancient philosophy, history, mythology, literature and language. Make sure to subscribe here:

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We had a very special event this week!

It was Oxford Vs Cambridge, as we hosted the professors Armand D’Angour and Paul Cartledge to discuss one of the most crucially important figures in ancient history: Athens’ famed statesman, Pericles.

We looked at his role in the famous ‘Golden Age’ of ancient Greece, including his leadership during the Peloponnesian War, his surprising influence on the origins of ancient theater, and how his unfairly maligned wife Aspasia helped shape the history of philosophy…

Members can check out the recording HERE!

Not a Member? Join today to unlock ALL our resources, including exclusive recordings like this one, as well as in-depth articles, e-books, and more.

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Now, it’s time once again for the Weekly Wisdom Quiz!

As always, all questions are based on resources published this week here at Classical Wisdom. A full roundup is available after the quiz, along with the answers.

Are you ready? Let’s go!

1. According to Thucydides’ account of Pericles’ Funeral Oration, Athens was described as the:
A. Shield of Greece
B. Education of Hellas
C. Mother of Democracy
D. Jewel of Ionia

2. Which philosopher proposed that all things are modifications of a single basic substance: air?
A. Heraclitus
B. Anaxagoras
C. Empedocles
D. Diogenes of Apollonia

3. Which island revolted against Athens in 440 BC, leading to a harsh response?
A. Delos
B. Chios
C. Lesbos
D. Samos

4. According to Armand D’Angour, Pericles’ wife Aspasia may have exercised influence over which famous philosopher?
A. Socrates
B. Plato
C. Aristotle
D. Xenophon

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5. How long was the period of exile imposed by ostracism?
A. Life
B. Five years
C. Ten years
D. Twenty years

6. Which pre-Socratic philosopher argued that mind is fundamental in causing change?
A. Parmenides
B. Hermotimus
C. Thales
D. Xenophanes

7. Aristotle criticized ostracism because it was often used for:
A. Religious purposes
B. Military reform
C. Economic planning
D. Factious political rivalries

8. What did Pericles’ critics accuse him of doing through his building programme?
A. Promoting Spartan interests
B. Winning popular support through lavish spending
C. Neglecting religion
D. Weakening the navy

Answers

1. B. Education of Hellas (Pericles: The Myth of a Golden Age)

2. D. Diogenes of Apollonia (Are Philosophy and Science the Same Thing?)

3. D. Samos (Pericles: The Myth of a Golden Age)

4. A. Socrates (Pericles: The Myth of a Golden Age)

5. C. Ten years (Bring Back Ostracism?)

6. B. Hermotimus (Are Philosophy and Science the Same Thing?)

7. D. Factious political rivalries (Bring Back Ostracism?)

8. B. Winning popular support through lavish spending (Pericles: The Myth of a Golden Age)

The Wisdom Scale: Statesman, Thinker, or Exile? 🏛️

0- 2 Correct: The Curious Citizen 👥
You’ve attended the Assembly, listened to a speech or two, and picked up a few ideas about Athens and philosophy.

3 - 4 Correct: The Young Strategos ⚔️
Like a newly elected general, you show promise, though you still have much to learn before leading the polis.

5 - 6 Correct: The Companion of Pericles 📜
You move comfortably between politics, rhetoric, and philosophy, with a keen understanding of Classical Athens.

7- 8 Correct: The Sage of Athens 🦉
Pericles seeks your counsel, Aspasia welcomes you, and the philosophers debate your ideas. Your wisdom is worthy of the Golden Age itself.

So, how did you do? Let us know in the comments!

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom

It’s strange to think…

These days, we tend to view philosophy and science as being worlds apart from one another.

That’s partly a product of our specialization-focused education system (and I’m sure all kinds of other social factors)… yet it doesn’t necessarily reflect the truth.

When you look back to the very origins of ancient Greek philosophy, such distinctions simply did not exist. To the pre-Socratics (or as we like to call them here at Classical Wisdom, the First Philosophers), philosophy was science.

Whether it was understanding the mystery and grandeur of the cosmos, or how the human mind and body worked, the task of the philosopher was indistinguishable from the task of the scientist.

We owe the First Philosophers a great deal: many important breakthroughs of thought came from them.

So today we’re looking at some of these early thinkers, how they came to understand the nature of the world around them, and how the history of science and philosophy have long been entwined with one another.

It just goes to show: perception doesn’t always reflect reality…

In any case, I hope it gives you something to think about!

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom

The ‘Big Bang’ of Philosophy

By David Hooker

As I read and re-read the philosophers, tragedians, poets, and other commentators of the ancient world, I am constantly amazed. The insights they came up with regarding natural and speculative philosophy, nature (and human nature), and the universe oftentimes drop my jaw! More than anything else, it’s stunning how close they were to our modern understanding of physics, the universe, and much of the knowledge we take for granted in the “settled” scientific world we live in today.

It was the pre-Socratic philosophers (Thales, Anaxagoras, Parmenides, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Empedocles, et.al.), however, that really set the stage for all of the great, critical philosophy to come. I like to call their era the “Big Bang” of Western philosophy.

They didn’t possess all the wonderful scientific tools we have today (the electron microscope, the Hubble Space Telescope, etc.) to better understand nature and our universe, but they, by mere reasoning and daring to ask critical questions, came up with astonishing insights. Here is a brief overview of three pre-Socratic philosophers you’ve likely never heard of, who, nevertheless, were really “on to something”.

Hermotimus of Clazomenae

Hermotimus (ca. 6th Century BC) was a member of the Ionian League and hailed from near Smyrna (modern Izmir) on the west central coast of what is today Turkey. Unfortunately, like many of the more obscure pre-Socratics, none of his original works is extant. As such, we rely on mentions by other philosophers and writers, such as Aristotle, to provide us with information about their thinking.

Hermotimus is credited with being the first philosopher to propose the stunning idea that mind is fundamental in the cause of things. He submitted that physical entities are static, while reason causes change. This sounds remarkably similar to one of the critical axioms of modern day quantum mechanics: that the human mind is an active player in “creating” the reality we perceive.

For instance, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that it is impossible to know simultaneously the exact position and momentum of a particle. That is, the more exactly the position is determined – from human perspective – the less known the momentum, and vice versa. Wrap your mind around that, dear reader! At the quantum level, nature is always in flux and unpredictable; chaotic in a sense. By observation and participation, we humans stamp our sense of “order” onto it, and it is thus a random universe to which we bring meaning.

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The Uncertainty Principle

Sextus Empiricus, a 2nd century AD philosopher and physician, places Hermotimus with Hesiod, Parmenides, and Empedocles as belonging to the class of philosophers who held a dualistic theory, that of a material and an active principle (reason) together being the origin of the universe (cf. Aristotle’s “Unmoved Mover”). While I don’t believe Hermotimus had anything like quantum mechanics in mind (he was likely presaging Aristotle’s “Unmoved Mover” in cosmology – a Creator, or First Cause in creation), he was definitely “on to something.”

Alcmeon of Croton

Born in 510 BC, Alcmeon was a contemporary of Empedocles and Anaxagoras. While none of his works is extant, we have comments from Aristotle and Theophrastus to enlighten us. Alcmeon was considered a brilliant physician of his day and lived during a transitional period in Greek medicine. While traditionally medicine was wed to philosophy and religion, it took a dramatic turn in the sixth century BC.

Alcmeon was a pioneer in the strictly empirical method of diagnosis, as opposed to the more “generalist” approach of his predecessors, who attributed a disease or problem to some transgression against a god. Instead, Alcmeon looked at the individual and wanted identifiable facts: how do the senses function in the case? Why does the patient present as so? What are the symptoms actually telling us?

He introduced his doctrine of physical equilibrium (isonomia) to define and explain the state of health in the patient. Alcmeon performed detailed physiological investigations of the different senses in order to explore the actual causes of the sensations and symptoms presented. Moreover, he thought that the human body should be “in balance” in a healthy person. Four aspects, or “powers,” of cold, hot, wet, and dry should naturally be in balance in the human body. If any of them gets out of whack, problems present. While primitive, this “four humors” pathology persisted well into the Middle Ages… And remember – physicians were blood-letting routinely as recently as two centuries ago!

The important thing is that Alcmeon set the stage for future physicians with the focus on the patient’s sense information. What did those symptoms say? His efforts to focus on empirical data, with a mind to keep the patient in equilibrium, were seminal in the advance of the medicine of his era.

Diogenes of Apollonia

Diogenes of Apollonia, born 460 BC, is often considered the last of the pre-Socratics and seems to have done most of his important work in Athens. He was influenced by Anaxagoras’ doctrine of Mind, and was indebted to the atomists’ view that coming to be and passing away were caused by the mixing or separating of elements of the same kind. Following Anaximenes, he proposed the physical theory that all things in the world are modifications (heteroioseis) of the same basic stuff: Air.

The assertion that everything in the universe is a modification of a single basic substance was made by Diogenes on the force of two related considerations: 1.) physical interaction would be impossible if each individual thing were radically and substantially different from everything else, and 2.) the uniformly exhibited harmony of nature would be a mystery if an underlying, all-pervasive intelligence did not control and guide everything. To deny these considerations would be equivalent, Diogenes thought, to ignoring the ways in which things mix, or help or harm each other, as well as the way things depend on each other (as in water to a plant, or any living thing breathing air). It would be tantamount to overlooking the balance, measure, and intelligible structure that characterize every aspect of nature.

Diogenes asserted that air is the basic cosmic substance, since it is the life principle and intelligence of the whole animate world. In his thought, air is the source and guiding power of every physical change. It is the most versatile and adaptable substance. Its capacity to manifest itself in a wide variety of forms, and under every conceivable condition – hot, cold, wet (humidity, vapor), and dry – is evidence of its rationality and divinity. To the extent that there is air in all animation, a part of God is in every living creature.

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Diogenes, in his time, was working in a period of transition in Greek thought. He attempted to reconcile ancient insights with new discoveries and bring pre-Socratic speculations inline with the systematic details of biological and natural observation.

The late, great cosmologist and astrophysicist Carl Sagan was very impressed by the ancient Greek thinkers. (Dear reader: if you haven’t read any of Dr. Sagan’s great books or seen his “Cosmos” series, what are you waiting for?!) He speculated that had they been allowed to continue to flourish, we as a human species would have become a space faring civilization centuries before the modern era. Think of that, my friends! And the bedrock of their scientific and philosophical ideas and speculations was formed by the pre-Socratics.

History has a habit of surprising us.

In our recent Classical Wisdom discussion on Pericles and the Myth of the Golden Age, one detail stood out. For all his influence, achievements, and popularity, Pericles, arguably the most famous statesman in Athenian history, once faced the very real possibility of being cast out of the city he helped shape.

Not because he had committed a crime… Not because he had lost a war… But because his fellow citizens feared that any individual could become too powerful.

It’s an idea that feels almost unthinkable today!

Modern politics often seems trapped between two unsatisfying choices: powerful leaders who are difficult to remove and bitter battles over how, and whether, they should be held accountable. Yet the Athenians approached the problem differently.

Indeed, their solution was one of the most unusual political experiments ever created by a democracy...

But then again, the ancient world was filled with institutions that seem strange to modern eyes. Some, I think we can all agree, deserve to remain firmly in the past, while others force us to ask uncomfortable questions about whether our own systems are really any better…

And then there are those rare ideas that sit somewhere in between, provoking debate more than two thousand years later.

Let’s just say the jury’s still out with regards to this one.

Read on to discover the strange process of Ostracism and consider for yourself: is this a historical feature we should bring back?

Please Note: Classical Wisdom Members can enjoy the full article as well as a special Classical Wisdom Ebook dedicated to The Men Who Changed the Face of Athens.

In this Ebook, we take a deep, but diverse, dive into the topic of fifth century BC Athenian hegemony in the Aegean Sea and how this came about due to the formation, and Athens’ manipulation, of the Delian League.

Focusing on Themistocles, Aristides, Cimon and Pericles, readers will come away with a greater understanding… and appreciation of the men who changed the Face of Athens and the Athenian Golden Age.

You can find that below the column.

*Not a member? Make sure to subscribe to unlock all our resources, from event transcripts and Ebooks to exclusive podcasts and in-depth articles.

Each week we explore the ancient world, including history, philosophy, mythology and more… don’t miss your next inspiration, join our growing community today:

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All the best,
Anya Leonard

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom

P.S. Members: you can also access the recording and transcript from our recent event “Pericles: The Myth of the Golden Age” with Paul Cartledge and Armand D’Angour here:

VIDEO: Pericles Event

Ostracism in the Ancient World

By Van Bryan

In The Politics, Aristotle tells us that ostracism was originally instituted as a means to allow the common people to check the power of the political players who had grown too powerful too fast and were abusing their position.

It was a way to give claws to the hare when he was going up against a lion.

…democratic states have instituted ostracism; equality is above all things their aim, and therefore they ostracise and banish from the city for a time those who seem to predominate too much through their wealth, or the number of their friends, or through any other political influence.

–Aristotle (The Politics, Book III)

The procedure was rather simple.

Plutarch tells us, in his Life of Aristides, that an ostracism vote was held once a year.

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In this captivating conversation, Classical Wisdom founder Anya Leonard is joined by two of the world’s foremost experts on ancient Greece to explore one of history’s most fascinating figures: Pericles, the statesman who ca…

Read more

We live in an age of information, of instant, accessible data reaching us from every corner of the planet, a remarkable feat unique to our modern age...

... and yet, amazingly, many of us feel less certain than ever.

Indeed, every day brings new reasons to question what we know, what we value, and how we ought to live. We are told to trust the experts, think for ourselves, pursue happiness, embrace uncertainty, cultivate resilience, challenge assumptions, and somehow make sense of it all.

It is no wonder that so many people find themselves searching for wisdom in a world overflowing with opinions. How can we, after all, distinguish what’s real and meaningful when there is so much noise?

Of course regular readers of this humble page will know that, despite the very modern technology, this is not the first time humanity has faced such questions.

More than two thousand years ago, philosophers in Greece and Rome wrestled with many of the same dilemmas that confront us today…

How do we know what is true? What should we believe when certainty is impossible? Can we live well amid political turmoil, social division, and personal loss?

Is happiness something we pursue...or something that emerges from living wisely?

These are the very questions that lie at the heart of our upcoming live event:

The Good Life: A Philosophical Face-Off on Stoicism, Skepticism, and How to Live

Thursday, June 18th at 11:00 AM ET

At the center of the discussion is philosopher Massimo Pigliucci’s highly anticipated new book, How to Be a (Happy) Skeptic: The Power of Doubt in a Meaningful Life. Exploring the philosophy of Cicero, Massimo argues that skepticism, properly understood, is not cynicism or indecision.

Rather, it is an intellectual virtue... the willingness to question, inquire, and remain open-minded while still pursuing a meaningful life.

But, does Skepticism offer us the answers we are searching for?

We often imagine certainty as the goal. Yet history suggests that certainty can be dangerous, while thoughtful skepticism can be liberating. The challenge, of course, is determining where doubt ends and wisdom begins.

That is precisely what our panel will explore.

Joining Massimo Pigliucci will be two distinguished scholars whose work engages some of the most pressing philosophical questions of our time.

Vittorio Bufacchi, author of Why Cicero Matters, is one of today’s leading voices in political philosophy. His work on social justice, political violence, and human rights examines how philosophical ideas shape the societies we build...and the injustices we tolerate.

Robin Reames, author of The Ancient Art of Thinking for Yourself, studies ancient rhetoric and its remarkable relevance to modern life. In an era of polarization, misinformation, and increasingly fractured public discourse, her work asks how we can become better thinkers, better communicators, and more independent minds.

Together, Massimo, Robin and Vittorio will discuss…

…whether skepticism a path to wisdom...or a recipe for indecision?

…if Stoicism helps us better to navigate modern challenges?

…how should we think about truth in an age of competing narratives?

…what does it mean to live a good life?

And is happiness the goal...or is something deeper required?

Whether you are already fascinated by Stoicism, curious about Skepticism, or simply interested in living more thoughtfully, this discussion promises to challenge assumptions, spark new ideas, and offer practical insights for modern life.

After all, the ancient philosophers believed that philosophy was not merely something to study...it was something to practice.

Join us as we put that idea to the test. Make sure to register here:

The Good Life

Event Details

The Good Life:
A Philosophical Face-Off on Stoicism, Skepticism, and How to Live

Thursday, June 18, 2026
11:00 AM Eastern Time
Live Online

Register HERE

Can’t attend live?

Register in advance and you’ll receive access to the full recording afterward, allowing you to watch at your convenience.

I hope you’ll join us for what promises to be a fascinating exploration of doubt, wisdom, happiness, and the art of living well…

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

Civilizations rise. Empires transform. Heroes rage. And somewhere amid the glory and tragedy of the ancient world, there is always another lesson waiting to be discovered.

This week’s Classical Wisdom issues explored three fascinating questions:

What makes a civilization worth defending?

How did Christianity reshape the Roman Empire?

And what hidden truths can we uncover when we look beyond the heroes of Homer?

From Pericles and Athens to Constantine and Rome, from Achilles to Briseis, today’s challenge invites you to test your knowledge while revisiting some of history’s most enduring stories.

Remember, some of this week’s answers were hidden in member-only articles... if you haven’t already, make sure to join Classical Wisdom and never miss a piece of the puzzle:

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Now…sharpen your mind and see where you rank on the Wisdom Scale!

Classical Wisdom’s Weekly Quiz

1. According to Pericles’ Funeral Oration, what made Athens truly great?

A) Its wealth and military power

B) Its vast empire and overseas territories

C) Its freedoms, culture, and devotion to civic life

D) Its superiority over all other Greek cities

2. Which Roman emperor launched the last empire-wide persecution of Christians?

A) Constantine

B) Galerius

C) Maximian

D) Diocletian

3. In Homer’s Iliad, what event sparks Achilles’ withdrawal from the war?

A) Hector’s attack on the Greek ships

B) Agamemnon’s seizure of Briseis

C) The death of Patroclus

D) Apollo’s plague upon the Greeks

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4. Why does Thucydides’ account of Pericles’ Funeral Oration still resonate today?

A) It reminds us that civilizations and their values require stewardship and sacrifice

B) It proves democracy always triumphs over empire

C) It explains how Athens defeated Sparta

D) It predicts the fall of Rome

5. What political mistake did Diocletian make after establishing the Tetrarchy?

A) He abolished the Roman Senate

B) He surrendered power to the Persians

C) He overlooked the ambitions of Constantine and Maxentius

D) He converted to Christianity

6. According to the article on Briseis, what does her story reveal about the heroic world of the Iliad?

A) That women frequently held political power in Mycenaean society

B) That war prizes were largely symbolic honors

C) That Homer intended Briseis to be the epic’s true hero

D) That male honor often depended upon the capture and subjugation of women

7. Before becoming a Christian symbol, what religious figure did Constantine and his father Constantius reportedly favor?

A) Apollo

B) Jupiter

C) Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun

D) Mithras

8. According to the article on Briseis, which person showed her the greatest kindness during her captivity?

A) Agamemnon

B) Achilles

C) Hector

D) Patroclus

Articles:

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Answer Key

1. C) Its freedoms, culture, and devotion to civic life

2. D) Diocletian

3. B) Agamemnon’s seizure of Briseis

4. A) It reminds us that civilizations and their values require stewardship and sacrifice

5. C) He overlooked the ambitions of Constantine and Maxentius

6. D) That male honor often depended upon the capture and subjugation of women

7. C) Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun

8. D) Patroclus

The Wisdom Scale

0–2 Correct — Novice Philosopher: Like a student attending their first symposium, you’ve begun the journey. The road to wisdom stretches ahead.

3–4 Correct — Aspiring Sophos: A respectable performance! You are beginning to see the deeper patterns hidden beneath the surface of history.

5 - 6 Correct — Agora Adept: Excellent work. You navigate ancient politics, literature, and philosophy with impressive confidence.

7 Correct — Guardian of the Polis: Impressive indeed. You have demonstrated both knowledge and judgment worthy of helping preserve civilization’s greatest achievements.

8 Correct — Master of the Classics: Outstanding! From Athens to Troy to Rome, you’ve demonstrated a command of the ancient world worthy of the Library of Alexandria itself.

How did you go? Let us know in the comments!

May your scrolls remain intact and your civilization worth defending…

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom

Rarely does history move at an easy pace, with one era transitioning cleanly into the next. When we are young, we are instructed to draw neat timelines, marked by small perpendicular dashes dividing one age from another.

But history is seldom so orderly. Sometimes one era crashes violently into the next, or the old world slowly crumbles until almost nothing remains.

Sometimes civilization itself seems to survive by a thread.

The rise of Christianity inside the Roman Empire was one of those moments.

Long before Constantine marched beneath the sign of the cross, Christians had already begun weaving themselves into the fabric of Roman life...adopting its language, borrowing its customs, and trying to reconcile their faith with the overwhelming power of empire.

Yet the relationship was never entirely comfortable, and beneath the grandeur of Rome, something deeper was shifting...

In today’s special guest column, generously provided by former Princeton scholar and one of America’s leading historians, Allen C. Guelzo, we embark on an important journey through the early persecution, and eventual ascendancy, of Christianity... tracing how the world moved from Roman power to Christian conquest.

What is remarkable is that the Romans living through these events did not know they were standing at the edge of a new world. They were simply trying to make sense of rapid change, political instability, shifting values, and a society that no longer felt quite as solid as it once had.

Read on and consider: how does a culture hold together when its old assumptions begin to fade?

What do people cling to in moments of uncertainty?

And how do ideas once dismissed slowly become powerful enough to reshape an entire civilization?

All the best,
Anya Leonard
Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom

P.S. You can find part one below, and part two on The Golden Thread, a new Substack created by Allen and longtime Classical Wisdom contributor James Hankins, the renowned Renaissance historian formerly of Harvard and now affiliated with the Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida alongside Allen.

If you are not yet familiar with The Golden Thread, I highly recommend exploring it. The publication approaches the Western tradition not as something frozen in the past, but as a living inheritance... one that continues to shape how we think about politics, culture, faith, and society today.

Explore the Golden Thread

Constantine’s Conquest – Part 1

by Allen C. Guelzo

The emperor Diocletian – or, to give him his full names, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus – was the last Roman emperor to inflict a system-wide persecution on the Christians of the Roman empire. The most important legacy of that persecution was its failure to stamp out Christianity in the empire; what is more ironic is how much of a surprise that persecution came to the Christians in the first place.

Diocletian assumed the imperial purple in 284 ad, mostly on the shields of the soldiers he commanded. He reigned for nineteen years without seeming to give much thought to the Christians, who were allowed to flourish and spread to the point where a church held open and public services across the street from Diocletian’s palace in Nicomedia.

So there was no hint of what was to come when, in February 303, Diocletian abruptly ordered the shuttering of Christian churches and destruction of Christian scriptures; the church in Nicomedia was demolished.

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The suddenness of the onslaught caught Christians flatfooted, and many caved-in to the demands of imperial officials to offer the symbolic pinch of incense on the altar of the emperor’s genius – his divine spirit.

But the impact of the Diocletianic persecution may have been due to something more fundamental than mere unpreparedness. Given the long history of persecution in the empire, the Christian Church ought not to have been surprised that a common-born traditionalist like Diocletian would, sooner or later, try to turn the empire’s clock back to some more traditional homage to the ancient gods.

However, as Christianity claimed more and more converts in the second and third centuries, it also received an influx of more wealthy and affluent Romans who were not willing to leave entirely behind them the cultural trappings of romanitas (or Roman culture). Tertullian, whose gasconades against the philosophers of the Augustan age are among the best known early Christian writings, was still a Roman, and there were moments when his eagerness to prove that becoming a Christian did not make him less a Roman led him to protest a quixotic loyalty to the empire.

“Without ceasing, for all our emperors we offer prayer,” he protested in his Apologeticus (sometime around the year 200 AD). “We pray for life prolonged; for security to the empire; for protection to the imperial house; for brave armies, a faithful Senate, a virtuous people, the world at rest, whatever, as man and Caesar, an emperor would wish.”

- “Apologeticus,” in The Writings of Quintus Sept. Flor. Tertullianus, eds. A. Roberts et al. (Edinburgh, 1872), 1:110.

A similar note was struck by Origen of Alexandria, who swerved from the initial Christian dismissal of Roman deities as δαίμονες (demons) to the suggestion that the pagan gods were simply manifestations of a universal revelation God had given to all humanity. The Jews, admittedly, had the benefit of a direct communication from God in the form of the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic Law. But the Greeks had not been far behind philosophically, and Platonism could really be considered a forerunner of the true Christian παιδεία (teaching). The Christian was not one who rejected Platonism, but one who used it as a stepping stone to a truer παιδεία.

“I would wish that you should take with you on the one hand those parts of the philosophy of the Greeks which are fit, as it were, to serve as general, or preparatory studies for Christianity,” Origen argued in 235, “and in the same way we might speak of philosophy itself as being ancillary to Christianity.”

- “Letter of Origen to Gregory,” Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Additional Volume, ed. A. Menzies (Edinburgh, 1903), 295.

Christians found other, subtler ways of accommodating the spirit of Roman culture.

Christians now began to appear among the ranks of the Roman legions, and Roman military terminology cropped up in Christian theological usage. For instance: the term sacramentum originally described the oath taken by soldiers to the emperor and the empire, but it soon become the term used by Christians to describe the rites which give them their Christian identity.

And the term paganus, which once referred simply to civilians, now came into use by Christians, who described themselves as milites Christi, to speak of non-believers.

On the tombs of third-century Christians, there began to appear carvings of Jesus the Divine Schoolmaster, “dressed in the simple robes of a professor of literature.” In the basilicas of many a Roman town, the bishop’s chair became a cathedra – the professor’s seat.

Christians who assumed that they had safely and quietly assimilated themselves into the Roman world received a terrific shock from the Diocletianic persecution, which made it as clear as transparency that in fact they were aliens to the Roman world, and subject to the most hostile inquiries and actions.

Some, like Sts. Felix and Audacta, defied the imperial enforcers and were executed. But so many surrendered to the demands of imperial officials for gestures of loyalty to paganism that the recriminations within Christian ranks would echo for decades.

More damage might have been done had not Diocletian come to their aid with a miscalculation of colossal political proportions. In an effort to make sure that all the far-flung provinces of the empire were being supervised with sufficient care, and fearful that assassinations of single emperors had been the signal for chaos and civil war, Diocletian proceeded to divide his imperial authority.

He retained the traditional title of Augustus for himself, but he created another Augustus who would be responsible for governing the vast regions of the empire that stretched west of the Adriatic Sea, and appointed his loyal but unimaginative lieutenant, Maximian to that post.

To support the work of imperial administration, he took the additional step in 293 of appointing an assistant, a Caesar, for both Augusti. As his own Caesar, he appointed a reliable soldier, Galerius; for Maximian, in the west, he selected as Caesar another loyalist, Constantius, who was then stationed in Roman Britain.

This tetrarchy (four-ruler) system worked reasonably well so long as Diocletian was on hand to make it work. But when, after a terrible bout of sickness, he announced his retirement on May 1, 305, he made the mistake of requiring Maximian to join him in retirement. In a further mistake, Galerius was promoted to Augustus in the east, and Constantius in the west, while Diocletian appointed Maximin Daia as Caesar for Galerius and Severus as Caesar for Constantius.

I call this a mistake, because these promotions came as unwelcome news to two ambitious individuals – Constantine, the handsome and commanding son of Constantius, and Maxentius, the son of Maximian, both of whom had expected that they would become the next respective Caesar in east and west, and both of whom suspected that Galerius had been the whisperer-in-the-ear of Diocletian, leading to their exclusion.

Constantine and his father were particularly alienated from Galerius because both worshipped Sol Invictus – the “All-Conquering Sun” – which put them out of Diocletian’s favor, since Sol Invictus was not among the traditional Roman deities.

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And on the premise that anyone else outside the circle of those deities had to be a friend, Constantius did little to press Diocletian’s anti-Christian decrees, apart from pulling down a few old churches.

When Constantius died in July of 306, Constantine was unwilling to see Diocletian’s pick as the western Caesar rise to claim the title of Augustus. The legions, which had been loyal to Constantius and to Constantine, now proclaimed Constantine as their Augustus. Meanwhile in Italy, the army in Rome mutinied and deposed Severus, hailing Maxentius as its new Augustus.

Thus, the stage was set for a three-way contest: Galerius refused to acknowledge either Constantine or Maxentius as a legitimate Augustus, and neither of those two would concede to the other. And at that unlikely moment, the single group which emerged holding the real cards to success would turn out to be the Christians...

Read Part Two of Allen C. Guelzo’s “Constantine’s Conquests” on The Golden Thread Here:

Read Part 2

For nearly three millennia, Homer’s Iliad has captivated audiences with its towering heroes, immortal gods, and unforgettable visions of glory and grief...

Yet the enduring power of the epic lies not only in its legendary battles, but in its remarkable ability to reveal something new each time we return to it, each time we read it once more.

That’s because beneath the bronze armor and battlefield triumphs are other, quieter stories...ones that allow us to look more closely at the human realities hidden within the myth.

One such figure is Briseis.

She is a woman who speaks little, yet whose presence shapes the entire course of the epic. Indeed, examining Briseis more carefully allows us to deepen our understanding of the world the poem emerged from, and the uneasy truths it preserves about honor, power, and the cost of war.

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It’s an important reminder that sometimes the most revealing insights are found not in the loudest voices of an old story, but in the silence surrounding those history almost forgotten.

Classical Wisdom Members: You can delve into the Mycenaean Civilization and the Bronze Age to discover some of the hidden tales inside the Iliad in today’s Member’s-only in-depth article on Briseis, below.

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

Don’t miss out on the lessons of the past! Subscribe today and bring the wisdom of the ancients into your life...

From articles like today’s in-depth look at Briseis, to our exclusive podcasts with professors and our extensive E-book library, joining our growing community also brings a wealth of resources to your fingertips.

If you aren’t a member already, make sure to subscribe today:

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Briseis: The Sound of Silence

By Mary Naples, author of Unsung Heroes: Women of the Ancient World

Before Achilles’ fatal war cry shattered her world, Briseis was a princess living a life of privilege. She was married to Mynes, the son of the king of Lyrnessus, a city in the Troad allied with Troy.

In the beat of a heart, everything changed when her city was destroyed during the Greek invasion; she witnessed the massacre of her husband, father, and three brothers, along with most other males—many of whom were mere boys.

As with Mycenaean Greek conquests, the women were spared, but they were treated as possessions, the spoils of war, stripped of their freedom and dignity and forced to serve their captors in whatever way their captors saw fit.

Briseis was no exception, it was in that very way she came to Achilles.

Briseis has intrigued scholars from ancient times to our own.

Although she plays a minor role in Homer’s Iliad, her presence looms large throughout the epic, as she unwittingly becomes a catalyst for a schism within the Greek expedition…

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More than 2,400 years ago, the city of Athens gathered to mourn its war dead.

The Peloponnesian War had only just begun, and already families had lost sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers. As was the custom, the fallen had been carried home and laid beneath a public tent while citizens came to pay their respects. Then, after the procession, an honored statesman stepped forward to speak.

That man was Pericles.

What followed would become one of the most famous speeches in history: the Funeral Oration, immortalized by Thucydides.

The Speech That Outlived the War

And yet, what is remarkable about Pericles’ speech is not simply that he praises the fallen.

It is that he asks a deeper question:

What exactly were these men dying for?

Pericles does not merely speak of military valor or patriotic duty. Instead, he describes Athens itself, its freedoms, its openness, its culture, its pursuit of excellence, and its devotion to civic life. He reminds the Athenians that their city was not great because it was powerful.

It was great because it stood for something.

“I would have you day by day fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens, until you become filled with the love of her; and when you are impressed by the spectacle of her glory, reflect that this empire has been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it.” -Thucydides, Pericles’ Funeral Oration

What Were They Fighting For?

In other words, the sacrifice of the fallen could only be understood through the civilization they sought to preserve.

And perhaps that is why the Funeral Oration still resonates today.

The freedoms we enjoy, the institutions we depend upon, the ability to think, speak, read, debate, worship, question, and create… none of these things arrive without cost. Every civilization rests upon generations of sacrifice, both remembered and forgotten.

The ancients understood this intimately.

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The Inheritance Left to the Living

Indeed, the Classics themselves are part of that inheritance.

Across wars, invasions, plagues, fires, and the collapse of empires, these works survived because countless individuals believed they were worth preserving. Philosophers copied manuscripts by candlelight. Scholars protected libraries. Teachers passed down ideas to new generations even amid uncertainty and upheaval.

And now, thousands of years later, those voices still speak.

They remind us that civilizations are fragile. That wisdom can be lost. And that memory itself requires stewardship.

At Classical Wisdom, this mission has always guided us: not simply to study the ancient world, but to keep its ideas alive and accessible for modern readers seeking meaning, perspective, and intellectual depth.

Why Pericles Still Matters

And perhaps this is why Pericles himself continues to fascinate us.

Was he the architect of democracy’s greatest flowering? Or the creator of an empire whose contradictions would ultimately help destroy Athens itself?

The age of Pericles gave rise to extraordinary achievements: the Parthenon, dramatic genius, philosophical inquiry, political experimentation, and cultural brilliance unlike anything the ancient world had seen before.

Yet behind that glory stood deeper tensions…questions about populism, imperial ambition, war, civic identity, and the limits of democratic power.

These are not merely ancient questions.

They are our questions too.

That is why we are thrilled to invite you to a special Classical Wisdom conversation featuring two of the world’s foremost experts on ancient Greece: Paul Cartledge of the University of Cambridge and Armand D’Angour of the University of Oxford.

Together, we will discuss the myth and reality of Athens’ “Golden Age”, Democracy versus empire in classical Athens, Pericles’ controversial legacy, the political and intellectual world of Aspasia and why the debates surrounding Periclean Athens still matter today…

It most certainly promises to be a fascinating and timely discussion!

Learn more here:

Pericles and the Myth of the Golden Age

All the best,
Anya Leonard
Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

Another week, another opportunity to test whether the wisdom of the ancients has truly sunk in… or merely floated past like a distracted philosopher in the Agora.

This week, we invite you to revisit the ideas, battles, statesmen, and historical warnings explored in this week’s Classical Wisdom articles.

From the dusty plains o…

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I’ve said it before….

But it’s crazy that there’s not a big film about it.

Actually, I’ve just checked, and there was one, it was only loosely inspired by it… and that was in 1959.

Yet unlike the much more widely retold Battle of Thermopylae, we’re talking about victory for the Greek forces.

A victory which changed everything.

The Battle of Marathon was undoubtedly one of the most significant and consequential battles in ancient history. The victory at Marathon was a crucial event for the Athenians, and had the battle gone the other way, many of Athens’ cultural achievements which followed may not have happened.

The world as we know it today could have looked very different.

Yet was it mere luck that won the day? Did the Athenians win by military skill… Or did circumstances align in their favor?

Read on below to discover the truth about the battle that changed history…

I’m telling you, it sounds like a movie!

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom

Marathon: The Battle the Changed History

By Jocelyn Hitchcock

When we think of Athens, we typically think “powerhouse.” The bustling Agora, the high functioning politics, the exhaustive building programs – all point to a city that exists not just high up on the social scale, but one of military power. And while Athens did become a militarized state, she was certainly not one originally.

Before the Persian War, Athens had already incurred displeasure by Persia. Athens had sided with the Ionians in the Ionian Revolt and sent help to Asiatic Greeks seeking to free themselves from Persian control. While they were not the strongest military power in Greece, they certainly were not shy about defending Greece from attack. They were indeed a player on the Mediterranean and exercised their influence and support when needed.

However, at the outbreak of the Persian War, Sparta still dominated in military power. And while Athens was beginning to validate herself, in the minds of enemies, she was not much of a rival.

Until Marathon, that is.

In 491 BC, Darius I, king of Persia, invaded Greece and sent envoys to ascertain the Greeks’ submission. When the envoys arrived, Athens and Sparta formed an alliance against the threat, vowing to protect Greece from the imminent invasion. What resulted was a decades long conflict between powers of Greece and Persia.

The Battle of Marathon was the first major battle of the Persian War and served many purposes. The Greek success in the battle delayed the Persians another 10 years, giving Greece time to amp up her army and navy – things that needed to be brought up to speed if they were expected to face mighty Persia.

The Battle of Marathon also served as a defining moment in the history of Athens. After her success at Marathon, Athens became more of a revered military power and eventually entered into a golden age. But was the Athenian success at Marathon sheer luck, or was it fine-tuned skill?

Turns out, a little bit of both.

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The first stroke of luck that the Athenians had at Marathon was the very location of the battle. The Persians set up camp and docked their fleets at a sandy plain surrounded by mountains and valleys, surely with the intention of invading Athens itself soon (only a short ~25 miles from the city).

This gave the Athenians two major advantages: where they positioned themselves for battle, and their line of supplies. Since the Persian camp was so close to Athens, the Athenians who went to meet them were able to stay well supplied and equipped, even during an 8-day stalemate. Things like water and food were available to the Athenian troops, a luxury which the Persians did not enjoy. Camping with somewhere between 15,000 and 90,000 men, the Persians struggled to keep mouths fed and water available. They were cut off from the Greek mainland and could not receive any reinforcements.

The low-lying plain that the Persians set up camp on was fine as a temporary base, but when battle was imminent, the location proved perilous to their troops. Athenians were able to march quickly to Marathon and set up camp and stations on the plain’s flanks, surrounding the Persians below. The only escape they had was by sea, which would have been time-consuming and slow going with so many men.

The second piece of luck the Athenians enjoyed was word that the Persian cavalry was away from camp. The Athenian commanders knew that they would not stand a chance against the highly feared and trained cavalry forces of the Persians, even if the Greeks had them surrounded. The horses and their warriors were fast, precise, and soldiers on foot would have been easily out maneuvered. After 8 days of holding off the Persians’ attack in hopes that the Spartans would arrive in time for battle, news of the horse-less camp proved too good an opportunity to pass up. The Athenians attacked the plain, knowing full well that if the cavalry forces were there, the day would have turned out very different.

The third prong to this lucky battle some may view as a disadvantage, but when discussing the success of the Athenians and their resulting power, it certainly ends up being a lucky advantage.

This would be the fact that the Spartans never showed up to battle. The Athenians and her few allies tackled the Persians alone. The Spartan troops had been sent for and they agreed to come, but only after their festival concluded. The Athenians were then able to prove their military prowess and potential without it being shaded by the Spartan showmanship. The Spartan absence made the narrative of the Athenian underdog possible, catapulting the Battle of Marathon to near epic standards. Had the Spartans arrived in time for battle, we can assume that the Athenians would not have received the confidence boost and military trust they did when they fought it alone.

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Of course, the Athenian success at Marathon was not just luck, but skill. The Athenians simply outmaneuvered the Persians and their tactics decisively won them the day.

Thanks to the low-lying plain and the vantage points the Athenians took surrounding the Persian camp, when it came time for battle, the Athenians attacked from the flanks, with weaker concentration in the center. This allowed the Athenians to constantly push the Persians back on all sides, their only avenue for retreat being the sea. So, even though the Persians greatly outnumbered the Athenians, it didn’t matter thanks to the limiting geography of the battlefield and the superior tactics employed by the Athenian army.

Either way you look at it, be it luck or skill, the Battle of Marathon truly transformed the Athenian psyche and perception in the Mediterranean. They became a military power and there was no doubt about it.

I’m always wary of politicians. The very word conjures cheesy smiles, hollow promises, and carefully rehearsed sincerity. Too often, the people who crave power most intensely are the least suited to wield it. They are hungry for control over others…an ugly attribute in even the greatest of men.

The opposite of the politician,…

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While not all in this month's issue may live up to his standards, nonetheless every example within this edition should be inspiring, educational or at least, thoroughly entertaining. It is a collection of great minds... and sometimes greater personalities. 
 
Click Below to access your Magazine, dedicated to Statesmen:

Access your Classical Wisdom Litterae Here

It is not often that an ancient Greek historian finds himself at the center of modern geopolitical headlines...much less in discussions involving arguably the two most powerful men in the world!

And yet that is precisely what happened... and so we would, of course, be remiss to not discuss it in these humble pages.

You see, during the recent meeting between US President Donald Trump and the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping, Xi referenced the question of whether the two nations could avoid falling into the so-called “Thucydides Trap.”

The phrase, drawn from the ancient Greek historian Thucydides, describes the dangerous dynamic that emerges when a rising power threatens to displace an established one. More than 2,400 years after Athens challenged Sparta, Thucydides’ observations on fear, ambition, and geopolitical rivalry remain more relevant than ever.

But what exactly is the Thucydides Trap?

What did Thucydides actually mean?

And are we truly doomed to repeat the same destructive patterns that consumed the ancient Greek world?

To answer those questions, we must return to the historian himself... and to the brutal war that inspired one of history’s most enduring political ideas.

Please read the article below on the Thucydides trap and discuss in the comments your thoughts on the topic...

Classical Wisdom Members: this week we will also be exploring the idea of the statesman. What separates a true statesman or stateswoman from an ordinary politician? And what can we learn from figures such as Pericles, Alcibiades, Cicero, and Cato the Younger?

Make sure to become a member to receive this special issue of Classical Wisdom Litterae Magazine, along with access to our ebooks, podcasts, courses, and more:

Become a Member

And now, onto Thucydides... and his famous trap...

All the best,
Anya Leonard

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom

What Is the Thucydides Trap?

By Anya Leonard

The ancient Greeks understood something uncomfortable about power... it is rarely static.

Empires rise... Rivals emerge... Fear grows.... and all too often, war follows.

This grim pattern lies at the heart of what we now call the “Thucydides Trap,” a phrase popularized by political scientist Graham Allison to describe the dangerous tension that emerges when a rising power threatens to displace an established one.

Of course dedicated classicists will recognize that the term refers to the ancient historian Thucydides, whose account of the Peloponnesian War remains one of the most penetrating studies of human conflict ever written.

It was in this work that Thucydides famously observed what happens when a rising power threatens an established one. As he wrote in Book I.23 of History of the Peloponnesian War:

“What made war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta.” - Thucydides

Essentially, Thucydides is saying that Athens’ rise in power is what caused the Peloponnesian War...the previous power feels threatened and doesn’t manage the emerging empire well, resulting in conflict.

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While Thucydides was writing specifically about the catastrophic war between Athens and Sparta in the fifth century BC, his work has endured precisely because it speaks to something larger than a single conflict. He discusses the battles and speeches, sure, but also explores the ideas of ambition, insecurity, pride, and the fragile psychology of nations.

Indeed, more than two millennia later, world leaders and political theorists still turn to his insights when trying to understand tensions between modern superpowers...

But let’s return to the exact conflict Thucydides was recording.

The 27-year Peloponnesian War erupted in 431 BCE after Athens transformed itself from a victorious city-state into an imperial maritime power. Flush with wealth, naval dominance, and cultural confidence, Athens expanded aggressively throughout the Aegean.

Sparta, meanwhile, had long been the dominant military force in Greece. Conservative, land-based, and deeply wary of change, Sparta increasingly viewed Athenian growth not merely as competition, but as an existential threat...This is what was at the heart of the ‘trap’.

What makes Thucydides so compelling is that he does not reduce war to simple morality. There are no cartoon villains in his history. Instead, he reveals how even rational actors can stumble toward catastrophe through fear, miscalculation, pride, and mutual suspicion.

This is one reason his work continues to resonate today.

War with Words

One of the most unsettling moments in his history occurs during the civil strife at Corcyra, where political chaos corrodes language itself. Words began to change meaning; violence became virtue and moderation became weakness. Thucydides writes:

“Words had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them.”
— Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Book III.82

This certainly feels like something we can relate to today... As culture wars rage, each side employs language as its battlefield.

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The enduring power of Thucydides lies not simply in his analysis of war, but in his recognition that civilizations are often undone from within as much as from without. During the plague at Athens, social order collapsed almost overnight. Laws lost authority while citizens abandoned restraint. The idealized image of Athens as democratic, enlightened, and exceptional disintegrated under this crushing pressure.

Thucydides deliberately juxtaposes Pericles’ glorious Funeral Oration with the chaos of the plague that immediately follows. The contrast is devastating... beneath the rhetoric of greatness lies the fragility of human society itself.

“Men, not knowing what was to become of them, became utterly careless of everything, whether sacred or profane.”
— Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Book II.52

Thucydides forces us to confront uncomfortable truths about ourselves. We like to imagine that history moves steadily toward progress, that technological advancement naturally produces moral advancement...But the Greeks were never so optimistic. They understood that prosperity can breed arrogance, complacency, and instability as easily as wisdom.

Thucydides himself hints at this darker realism in one of the most famous exchanges in ancient literature, the Melian Dialogue, when the Athenians coldly declare:

“The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
— Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Book V.89

Indeed, one of the great ironies of the Peloponnesian War is that both Athens and Sparta emerged diminished. Athens lost its empire and while Sparta gained temporary dominance, it ultimately exhausted itself as well. The war devastated the Greek world so thoroughly that it paved the way for outside powers, first Macedon, then Rome, to dominate Greece altogether.

In other words, victory can sometimes resemble defeat.

This is perhaps the most important lesson of the Thucydides Trap. The danger is not simply that war occurs when powers shift. The greater danger is that fear itself becomes self-fulfilling and Nations begin preparing so intensely for conflict that they make conflict inevitable.

Thucydides Then, Not Now

Modern discussions of the Thucydides Trap inevitably circle around the relationship between the United States and China. America has been the dominant global power for decades, while China’s rapid economic and military rise has fundamentally altered the international balance. The parallels to Athens and Sparta are tempting: a confident rising power challenging an anxious established hegemon.

But history is never quite so tidy....

While human nature may remain relatively constant, every historical moment contains its own unique institutions, technologies, and political realities, so it doesn’t behoove us to treat Thucydides as a prophetic blueprint. Indeed, the danger of the “Thucydides Trap” framework is that it can oversimplify the complexities of history and encourage fatalistic thinking.

After all, Athens and Sparta existed in a world without nuclear weapons, international organizations, economic interdependence, or instant communication. Ancient wars were brutal, direct, and personal. Entire cities could be enslaved or annihilated. Modern geopolitical conflict unfolds within vastly more complicated systems.

Yet despite these differences, the emotional dynamics remain familiar.

Rising powers still seek recognition...

Established powers still struggle to adapt...

Politicians still invoke honor, security, and national destiny...

And perhaps most importantly...societies still convince themselves that escalation is unavoidable.

But it is important to remember that history is not destiny...

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Thucydides does not offer easy solutions, nor does he promise that humanity will learn from the past. But by studying him, we can recognize recurring patterns and can become more skeptical of political certainty. We understand that civilizations, however advanced, remain vulnerable to the same passions that shaped the ancient world...

But above all, by considering this ancient war, we gain something immensely valuable: perspective.

I’ve helped out with a LOT of our events here at Classical Wisdom over the last few years…

But this week’s event on Why Myth Matters was honestly one of my favorite we’ve ever done.

With an incredible lineup featuring some of the world’s top Classicists, we looked in-depth at how myths spoke to the people of the ancient world, and how they speak to us still today.

Members can check out the recording now… to discover Why Myth Matters.

Not a Member? Join today to watch the recording and unlock ALL of our resources.

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Now it’s time for the Weekly Wisdom Quiz!

As always, all questions are based on resources published this week here at Classical Wisdom. A full roundup is available after the quiz, along with the answers.

Are you ready?

1. Which wise centaur was a mentor to heroes like Achilles and Jason?
A. Nessus
B. Chiron
C. Pholus
D. Eurytion

2. What epic poem did Alexander reportedly keep under his pillow beside his dagger?
A. The Odyssey
B. The Aeneid
C. The Iliad
D. The Argonautica

3. Why were some Roman slaves educated?
A. Religious law required it
B. Most slave owners were philosophers
C. Literacy made them more economically useful
D. It guaranteed freedom

4. Which philosopher was commissioned to tutor the young Alexander?
A. Plato
B. Aristotle
C. Socrates
D. Pythagoras

5. Which Greek hero entered the Labyrinth?
A. Perseus
B. Heracles
C. Theseus
D. Bellerophon

6. What city did Alexander intend to be an intellectual capital of his empire?
A. Babylon
B. Alexandria
C. Athens
D. Memphis

7. Why were Greek-speaking slaves especially valued by the Romans?
A. Greek was associated with education and culture
B. They were usually military experts
C. Rome legally required Greek tutors
D. They controlled Mediterranean trade

8. According to Joseph Campbell, what often happens symbolically to heroes during “The Ordeal”?
A. The hero gains political power
B. The hero returns home immediately
C. The villain changes sides
D. The hero “dies” before being reborn stronger

Answer Key

1. B. Chiron (Why Every Great Story Follows the Same Ancient Pattern)

2. C. The Iliad (Alexander the… Poet?)

3. C. Literacy made them more economically useful (The Price of Knowledge in Ancient Rome)

4. B. Aristotle (Alexander the… Poet?)

5. C. Theseus (Why Every Great Story Follows the Same Ancient Pattern)

6. B. Alexandria (Alexander the… Poet?)

7. A. Greek was associated with education and culture (The Price of Knowledge in Ancient Rome)

8. D. The hero “dies” before being reborn stronger (Why Every Great Story Follows the Same Ancient Pattern)

🏛️ The Wisdom Scale:

🧠 0-2 correct: Novice Philosopher – The journey of wisdom begins with a single step. Keep reading!
📜 3-4 correct: Aspiring Sophos – You’re on your way! More scrolls and symposiums await you.
🏛 5-6 correct: Agora Adept – Your grasp of ancient wisdom is growing. The ancients would nod in approval.
⚡7-8 correct: Master of the Classics – You are a true sage! The spirits of Plato and Aristotle smile upon you.

So, how did it go? As always, let us know in the comments below!

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom

Jeremy McInerney explained that myths gave shape to uncertainty and helped communities make sense of the world through storytelling, while Sarah Iles Johnston emphasized that myt…

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I think a lot of us, when it comes down to it, have the same experiences.

Or at the very least, the same kind of experiences.

Whether it’s a teacher who believed in us at a tender age, or finding a book that shaped who we are and how we see things. After all, there’s a reason the classic ‘coming of age’ stories get told and retold, and sing anew for different generations

Of course, if you’re Alexander the Great, your teacher was Aristotle, and the book was the Iliad.

So today we’re looking at another side of the great conqueror: not just the feared warrior, but the man beneath it all: a man guided by dreams and myths. Philosophical, intellectual, even… poetic?

(Of course, as is always the case with these things, that depends on what exactly we mean by ‘poetic’).

Discover how this crucial side of his personality informed his life, and led to his great ambition of founding a city that would serve as the intellectual capital of the world.

OK, so maybe we don’t have all the same experiences after all!

All the best,

Sean Kelly

Managing Editor

Classical Wisdom

Alexander the… Poet?

By Abigail Russell

Alexander’s brief and militant kingship won the renown of the ages and awarded him the title ‘Great.’ He is revered among the greatest military geniuses in history and with good reason! Bringing the mighty Persian Empire to its ruin, decreeing himself Pharaoh of Egypt, and spreading Greek culture as far east as India, Alexander amassed an Ancient Empire to rival any contester.

This impressive, militant, and somewhat brutal side of Alexander is often presented without hesitation and has crowned him the Warrior King… and rightly so. But while many think of him only as the warrior, there are those who keep a watchful eye from Mount Olympus that would frown at such an injustice.

The Greek biographer, Plutarch, said in his Life of Alexander:

“For it is not Histories that I am writing, but Lives; and in the most illustrious deeds there is not always a manifestation of virtue or vice, nay, a slight thing like a phrase or a jest often makes a greater revelation of character than battles where thousands fall, or the greatest armaments, or sieges of cities.”

Plutarch understood that achievements alone do not completely illustrate character and therefore sought to show us the man underneath the helmet. While his military achievements and undoubtedly brutal conduct cannot, and should not, be dismissed, it is not the Warrior King to whom I pay homage.

It is, instead, the Poet King.

By ‘poet,’ I do not mean to imply that Alexander was a profound writer, although that is not entirely farfetched either. Poet, here, denotes a man capable of poetic, idealistic, and creative thinking and whose life is shrouded in romanticism… something that began long before Alexander’s military endeavors.

So, with Plutarch as our guide, here begins the story of the Poet King and his Kingdom.

Ushered into this world by the hands of a goddess, Alexander lived a life full of divine encounters, dreams, and visions. His father commissioned the great philosopher, Aristotle, to tutor the young prince, and it was through his influence that Alexander developed a love of learning which lasted his entire life.

Aristotle also fostered in his pupil an intimate relationship with Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad. A gift from his teacher, Alexander slept with the work under his pillow and next to his dagger. He carried it with him on expeditions and considered it to be his most valuable possession. Enraptured with the story of the great hero Achilles, Alexander found both a role model and companion in the legendary warrior. His fascination with this work of fiction, and his constant attachment to it, likely influenced his own character and actions.

Coursing through his veins were stubbornness and competitiveness, mixed with a healthy amount of sentimentality. As a young boy he watched his father give up on a difficult horse and decided to take up the challenge for himself. Whether led by his competitive spirit, or by an instant connection to the animal, Alexander convinced his father to let him try and tame him. When, to his astonishment, his son succeeded, King Philip gave perhaps the greatest commission ever given by a father.

He said: “My son, seek thee out a kingdom equal to thyself; Macedonia has not room for thee.”

And so it was with that charge that Alexander set out to conquer the world.

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Accompanied by his new hooved comrade on his militant endeavors, his idealistic, romantic nature and his desire for civilized, educated subjects remained strong. In Plutarch’s analysis of Alexander’s fortune and virtue, he claims that it was, in fact, this side of Alexander’s character that made him a successful military commander in the first place.

“Was, then, Alexander ill-advised and precipitate in setting forth with such humble resources to acquire so vast an empire? By no means. For who has ever put forth with greater or fairer equipment than he: greatness of soul, keen intelligence, self-restraint, and manly courage, with which Philosophy herself provided him for his campaign?”

Plutarch goes so far as to call the people Alexander conquered his pupils and puts them on a level with those of Plato.

From this we can see that despite his martial methods, Alexander’s vision for a unified kingdom went beyond the vast geographic empire of which he was ruler. Instead, he sought unification in morals, knowledge, marriage practices, and language. Quite an ambitious and, dare I say, poetic ideal… don’t you think?

Yet it is not this noble, albeit morally suspect quest that paints Alexander as the Poet King in my mind.

No. Instead, it is his founding of one city; one among many that bore his name. Alexandria, Egypt soared far above the rest in its purpose, intent, history, and the romance that radiates from its existence.

One might easily conclude that Alexander’s charge to “seek thee out a kingdom equal to thyself” was accomplished in his immense geographic and cultural empire… and certainly for the Warrior King this is true. But I present that for the Poet King this single island city on the northern coast of Egypt was the “kingdom” equal to Alexander and the triumph of his identity as a poet, over his occupation as a warrior.

Legend tells that Alexander wanted to build a city of minds, where great thinkers could meet, learn, teach, and debate.

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Indeed, it would be the focal point of an intellectual empire. The story goes that the location came to him in a vision, in which his beloved Homer told him to build on Pharos, an island off the northern coast of Egypt. The building of Alexandria commenced under the watchful rule of Ptolemy, Alexander’s friend and officer. Alexander continued on his campaigns elsewhere, but left instructions for a great Library to be built with the grand intent that it would house a copy of every book in the known world.

Moreover, Alexandria became home to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

As magnificent as the lighthouse might have been, I believe Alexandria’s true glory shines from the very foundation of her existence. Imagine a city, home to the vast extent of the knowledge of man and gods, with streets walked by the greatest minds in the entire world, and walls that echoed with teachings of men and women like Hypatia, Archimedes, and Eratosthenes.

I don’t know how much more poetic you can get than a city that seems too wonderful to be true.

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Regrettably, Alexander never saw the completion of his beloved dream city, but he can rest in peace knowing that it was accomplished. His death at the young age of 33 from a mysterious illness marks the final flourish of the Poet King. Was it poison? Treason? Disease?

From his birth to his death, Alexander the Great has remained shrouded in mystery and romance. Indeed, he carries with him a story worthy of Homer. This Warrior King, so admired through history, is dishonored when remembered for nothing more than military conquest. As a poet, warrior, builder, and philosopher, Alexander deserves to be celebrated for all his being, not just the part that conquered the world.